Overcoming reading and learning difficulties
What are learning difficulties?
Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, Dyscalculia, Dyspraxia, Hyperlexia, Visual and Auditory processing disorders. Individuals with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Autism (ASD) & Aspergers may also experience specific learning disabilities
Learning disabilities are not related to your intelligence. They are neurologically based processing problems (Pro-Ed, NZ) and characterised as a difficulty to properly utilise your neural network (brain circuits) in certain areas of the brain.
“A child with learning difficulties is often a smart one.”- Dr. Alfred Tomatis
Statistics show that 15 – 20 % of each class has children with different degrees of learning difficulties. Auditory Processing Disorder co-exists in children with Dyslexia (25-61%),
ASD (9-53%), Speech Disorder (10-38%), and Dyspraxia (6%).
Learning difficulties can interfere with:
- learning basic skills such as reading, writing and/or math or new procedures required at work.
- our social functions and relationships affecting our lives beyond academics at school or in the workplace.
- performing higher level skills such as planning and organisation, executing tasks, time management, abstract reasoning, long or short-term memory, focus and attention.
Common Signs of Learning Difficulties
Reading
- difficulties with accurate and / or fluent word recognition
- replacing words when reading
- letter reversals, leaving out words or letters
- problems in reading efficiency and comprehension
- a high level of reading accuracy with low reading comprehension
Writing
- poor spelling and decoding abilities
- letter reversals, leaving out words or letters
- well below average writing speed, illegible handwriting, and inefficient at writing tasks
- difficulty putting thoughts into writing, despite good oral language skills
- complications with grammatical expression, confusion with punctuation and capitals
Maths
- struggles to grasp or apply mathematical concepts
Teach the Brain to Learn
Learning requires "brain plasticity", which is the brain’s ability to constantly reorganise the neural network to incorporate new skills and to facilitate their implementation. Thus, due to brain plasticity, when the same event repeats, behaviour in response to the event is faster, more accurate and more intuitive.
The Tomatis® Method acts and stimulates brain plasticity with sound contrasts arranged to surprise the brain in a natural manner. It helps the brain develop detection mechanisms and to analyse change. Thus, the Tomatis® Method aims to train the individual to focus and pay particular attention to external and new events. It facilitates the integration of new information and allows one to improve general and academic skills.
The purpose of the Tomatis® Method is to enable one to establish compensatory circuits. In other words, it may not be possible to cure a learning disability, but it is possible to bypass it, allowing the brain to exploit and use new neural networks. Neurologist Dr. Norman Doidge describes this in his book “The Brain’s way of Healing”, a New York Times best-seller.
The KingsFisher Institute, its programmes and protocols along with the TOMATIS® Method, are Educational Programmes and are considered neither medical treatments, nor a means to establish a medical diagnosis. The content of this website is for informational purposes only. It should be neither considered as, nor substitute for medical advice. We neither suggest stopping any medication or psychological treatments. The KingsFisher Institute is duly licensed by TOMATIS DEVELOPMENT S.A. which is the owner of “TOMATIS”, “TOMATIS +LOGO”, “SOLISTEN”, “TalksUP” trademarks www.tomatis.com
How We Can Help
KingsFisher unique assessment methods reveal the underlying, often undetected difficulties that hamper and delay development and progress:
- Our Cognitive Skills Assessment reveals the underpinning cognitive skills related to poor academic performance
- With our Tomatis® Listening Profile we can determine how efficient the relationship between the ears and brain is for information processing
- Using our Visagraph™, we can track and monitor eye movements indicating how orderly the brain deals with information, how it is fed into short-term memory and the ability to retrieve information. “There exists a functional relationship between ocular movements and central processes” as reported by Herman F. Brandt in The Psychology of Seeing
- Our Mineral Therapy Assessment reveals which minerals are lacking for optimal performance
Based on our findings, our intervention programmes and protocols are tailor-made for each individual
Ready to Get Started?
Get the help you need from Yolinda Bullians and our friendly team at the KingsFisher Institute.