Testimonials

"I have 2 teenage boys aged 13 and 15 and came to know the Davis method and Nina some 5 years ago.  When my eldest son was about 5 years old we started to get comments from his teacher about how distracted he was in class and that he was not focusing on the lessons.  Other children were starting to be very interested in reading and writing but not my son.  By the time he was 7 we knew that there was a big gap between his verbal ability and his writing and reading ability.  He struggled at the private school he was at and did not pass the 7+ entrance exams at the end of his time there, the head and teachers were not at all sympathetic or helpful.  We had him assessed at the dyslexia institute and they said that although 7 was a bit early to assess - he had mild dyslexia - and recommended that we came back later when he was older.  Luckily we found a place for him at a great prep school where they did not have a formal exam and they were charmed by his very engaging personality.  They had recently trained a classroom assistant in learning support and this seemed to work for a while.  However, all was going well until he moved to the senior part of the school aged 10.  He was becoming frustrated by the comments from teachers about his spelling and lack of focus and concentration particularly in subjects where he was not so interested like English! 
I had not been particularly impressed by the dyslexia institute assessment so was not keen to return there.  Then, by chance, I came across an article in the newspaper about the Davis Method.  I contacted them and they gave me the name of my nearest facilitator - Nina Pitoska!  We have never looked back.
I phoned her and discussed my sons issues and very quickly I could see that she may be the person that could help.  Nina is very kind, patient, flexible and really cares that both the child and the adults are getting a positive outcome from the sessions.  I guess you could describe her as our team coach!  After an initial session with my son we agreed to start the programme.  However, it is not for the faint hearted!!  Your child really needs to want things to get better and as the parent you need to be prepared to put in a lot of work yourself in between the sessions with Nina.  However, it is worth it in the end.  Having not got into his preferred school at 7, my eldest son tried again at 13 and passed with flying colours.  He still struggles a bit with spelling and English is not his best subject, however he is thriving.  The sessions with Nina really worked on his confidence and he started to be able to concentrate more easily, meaning that more of what he learnt was retained and not just in the subjects that he liked.  He was also less exhausted at the end of the school day.  Dyslexic children have to work so hard, much harder than other children, and so get tired.  This is not something that most teachers understand.

My younger son has more pronounced dyslexia and so we were keen to get him started aged 8, this was too young for him as he did not see the need to work on his issues as, at that time, they were not causing him such problems at school.  However, it did help with confidence building in particular, even at this early age, so was not wasted.  My youngest came back to see Nina before his Common Entrance exams.  He really struggles with maths and disorients very easily.  He is ok with the concepts but gets tripped up with signs and some of the numbers.  At his request he started to see Nina and this was a great help in the run up to the exams.  Confidence was a real issue and Nina got us through a