Ellie Barham, aged 11, was on a downward spiral; her parents were desperate to get her help. Ellie suffered from dyslexia and dyspraxia, for years she hated school and had to be forced to go at all.
Ellie’s parents concerns began a while ago. When Ellie started to be able to write she would leave her parents letters saying ‘she was stupid and thick and did not want to go to school anymore.’ She would do anything to avoid it and would very often be absent due to apparently feeling ‘sick’. Having seen an Educational Psychologist about their fears caused more anxiety because nothing could be done to help her.
I believe that none of this would have been possible if Ellie had not been on the Dore Programme.
Ellie was about two years behind in her reading age and wasn’t showing any signs of improving. Her handwriting was unrecognisable, it appeared as a scrawl on the paper; she was years behind her peers. At school in year five she was doing year three and four work making her feel useless and inferior, which was very damaging for her self esteem.
Ellie’s parents knew their daughter and believed in her verbal intelligence, however the problems would arise when she was asked to put anything down on paper.
The story is very different now. After six months on the Dore Programme Ellie’s reading had gone up a whole year! She now loves to read, her mother is astounded and thrilled as she never thought she would see the day when Ellie would read for her own enjoyment. She is also now able to read out load in class, which is something that she would never have done and would have hated in the past.
Ellie’s mother said homework was always a nightmare. She would put off doing it and become frustrated and things would usually end in an argument which made the daily routine very stressful. She recently completed a World War Two project almost entirely on her own – something her Mother said was a miracle to see. Her marks in tests have risen by two levels.
Ellie has also seen vast improvements with her writing; she actually likes to write and does so fluently, fast and neatly. She is also now able to copy from the board without leaving sentences out – a huge help for her school work. Also her organisation has become much more structured; she no longer forgets things like her games kit or her lunchbox. She is even able to tie her own shoelaces which would have caused her a real problem before.
Ellie’s self esteem and confidence has risen dramatically. She no longer dreads going to school, her attendance has risen to 100%. She doesn’t become tearful or upset anymore. Ellie is now asking for harder work as she enjoys setting herself the challenge whereas before she would have not even tried. She actually wants to succeed. Ellie’s mother told us ‘I believe that none of this would have been possible if Ellie had not been on the Dore Programme.’