The Gift of Dyslexia: Why Some of the Brightest People Can't Read and How They Can Learn [Paperback]

"The Davis method... tackle(s) the causes of dyslexia... helping
clients to understand and take control of their own thought processes."

"I found a Davis facilitator and came away from a five-day workshop with my
creativity intact and my problems solved."

"Promises to put an end to the problems of dyslexia once and for
all."

"Presented in a dyslexia friendly style... I would recommend this
book."

New, enlarged edition of a breakthrough book that gives dyslexics the key to literacy. Here at last is a book that brings real help to people who have dyslexia, a disorder that inhibits the reading and writing ability of nearly fifteen per cent of all children and adults. Dyslexic children lose out under the educational system, unable to keep pace with their classmates, and may even be hived off into schools for children with learning disabilities. Written by a dyslexic who by his own efforts discoverd how to overcome the barrier to reading, this book sets out the practical step-by-step techniques, using visualisation and multisensory learning, which helped him to read and have since helped more than a thousand dyslexic children and adults. More than that - for the first time the experience of being dyslexic is fully explained, from its early development to its gradual entrenchment as a child comes to rely on non-verbal perception. Dyslexics will instantly identify with the author's descriptions of confusion and disorientation, and will recognise the 'trigger' words that make comprehension difficult. These revelations should be read by all teachers, educational psychologists and parents. For this second edition the book has been substantially revised and enlarged in the light of continuing research, with three new chapters and much additional material throughout, including many new photographs. It all adds to the value of a book that places dyslexia in its true context - as a disorder of perception - and marks a turning point in the teaching of reading.

If the schools can't help, hopefully parents will
I am the co-author of this book, which is by an American who is himself dyslexic. Over the past few years, it has been published in seven foreign editions, with a few more coming in 1999.

Since we first published the American edition in 1994, Ron Davis has been giving training seminars in the methods throughout Europe and North America. There is an active web site for the Davis Dyslexia Association International where you can find out more about the schedule.

There have been a number of articles in the UK, but my favourite* is a recent one in The Independent entitled "I Can See Clearly Now." It gives a good synopsis of the Davis methods, and was on their web site last time I checked.

I encourage you to take a look at these training procecures and try doing them as laid out in the book. They do work very well for students who have been struggling in school. They are available from trained professionals, but what gratifies me most about my own involvement is how many parents are successful at applying them at home, straight out of the book.

* Any misspellings I didn't catch are correct in the United States. I'm not dyslexic, just American ;-)