Davis Program Success – Elias Stolzberg

by Laura Walter

One year ago in August 2002, my son Elias arrived at the Davis Dyslexia Correction Center in Burlingame, California, sad and frustrated, yet hopeful. At age eight he had been receiving remedial help in the form of tutoring and various forms of therapy since the age of five. The day Elias walked into the Davis Center he was reading at pre-kindergarten level. I quickly learned that he became visually disoriented not only with any two dimensional symbols, but also auditorily and in relation to time and space.

In addition to not being able to read, follow oral instructions without multiple repetitions or write anything legible, it was hard for my child to move within his classroom without bumping into someone or anything.

Perhaps the most disheartening thing was that all of the remediation experts we encountered before finding the Davis Program were approaching Elias using a phonetic format. Some were even discouraging about the progress he could ultimately make. After three years of watching Elias struggle with no increased ability or skill in reading, it made so much sense that he was a picture learner. For the first time in my child’s young life, I began to understand his frustration and the uncovered gifts which no one had yet acknowledged or assessed.

Following the Davis Reading program week, we began the arduous process of tackling the 217-word Symbol Mastery list. Now, one year later with pictures for all the trigger words, Elias is reading at a third grade level and is improving steadily. His writing has become more uniform and legible. I see my nine-year-old much more comfortable with academics and his peers.

Elias is continuing to increase the skills he learned in the Davis Dyslexia Correction Program so he is in control of his learning process. I am so grateful for this program and the amazing facilitators who have given Elias the tools he needs to unlock and let his full potential shine.

Program Success

by Madeleine Ziemba

My ten-year-old son, Ted, arrived at the Davis Center in January 2002 as a fourth grader who was barely reading at a second grade level. Needless to say, school was a disaster. He was quite skeptical about starting another program as he had been getting some kind of remediation, therapy, or tutoring for years, with very little improvement, tremendous frustration, and expense(over $25,000).

During the first few days of the program, his speech improved, his attention (always a problem before) was more focused, and he wanted to read to me! He had never volunteered to read before. I was also trained at the Davis Center during the five days that we were there. For the first time, I was able to understand how my son learned and how I could help him be successful. We continued the post-program work at home, incorporating it easily into our school day. We completed the Davis Symbol Mastery List in six months and the changes in my son were phenomenal. During the post-program work, Ted’s reading level jumped more than two years and he is now working at grade level in all areas (showing great strength in science and math). He can also, for the first time, remain focused for long periods of time and complete his work. Many experts had advised medication—something we never wanted to do. Most importantly, Ted feels very capable now and knows that he can learn anything. I highly recommend this program and only wish that Ted had gone through it years earlier.