Our Story |
My Story
Tanya McDonald and daughter Abbie
This is my story, how I became part of The Alison Lawson Treatment program for Dyslexia.
It all started with my eldest daughter, Abbie (pictured above). Abbie has always been a very anxious child, cried on separation at school a lot. A very emotional child. However she always had lots of friends and has a lovely personality.
Abbie went to Kindergarten crying every morning when I had to leave. However once in class she had a lovely time. Abbie excelled through her school work, sight words and readers. Towards the end of Kindy the government eye testing was done and it showed a problem in one of her eyes, we had to go to an optometrist to have it further investigated. Without this test I would not have know there was a problem at this point. Early in Year 1 we had been recommended to a Behavioural Optometrist. They diagnosed Abbie with a teaming problem (eyes not working together properly), subscribed glasses (for all close work) and we had to buy a computer program. We struggled through the exercises, Abbie didn’t like doing them and it was causing arguments to make her do them. In the end the Behavioural Optometrist said “ now she is 8/9 years old, this is just how she will be for the rest of her life and we will have to work out ways for her to cope”. He said it only really effected her 3D sight which is not used for much. (Little did he know!!!) Anyway we went back to our yearly appointments with the Optometrist. Abbie stopped wearing her glasses when she was 9, as even the Optometrist said there was nothing else we could do. Her schooling at this stage was still very good, she was reading independently and all reports showed she was at the acceptable level. It wasn’t until Year 4 that we started to notice that she was not comprehending what she was reading. This was effecting her writing, maths and her speech (not able to tell a story fluently). Unfortunately her teacher didn’t think there was a problem. In year 5 her report was very poor and with discussions with her teacher we started along the tutoring track. We persisted with tutoring until Year 6 when I had further discussions with her teacher and she suggested trying a different tutor as Abbie had not progressed much at all. We tried lots of things and I was becoming very worried for High School. A friend had suggested looking at the Alison Lawson website where she had sent her daughter and was extremely happy with the results. Maria had been working on the Central Coast but by this time had gone back down to the Moss Vale Clinic. I contacted her and arranged an assessment appointment. Abbie and I drove down for the day, I was blown away at the results they said they were able to achieve and that she was the perfect patient for their treatment. We booked in for the ten treatments to be done in a two week block in June 2011. Abbie loved the treatment, including the homework. I had not seen her this keen in a very long time. We could see some changes straight away, especially the commitment and dedication she put into the homework. When she went back to school she started receiving A+, A, B+ in her projects (previously C’s and D’s). She was finishing time tables tests in class, which she had never done before. She was going to bed and reading for pleasure... I cringed when I had to tell her to stop reading at night because it was too late. Abbie also gained confidence with friends and stood up for herself and walked away, if it was not something she wanted to do. She was even on fire at netball... she was always pretty good but often fumbled, batted or just missed the ball. Now she was intercepting and catching. The treatment changed many aspects of her life, although I think she is still in catch up mode with schooling. But she now has the determination to excel... it helps when she can see clearly! So basically seeing the awesome results first hand I fell in love with the idea of being able to help many more children and adults achieve fantastic life changing results. I actually knew this was what I wanted to do after Abbie’s initial examination. I understood the need for this service in our community. Most of all I love it and am very passionate about the results it can create for so many people. There are many more stories like mine. Click HERE to read Kiera's Story. Click HERE to read more testimonials. Do you have a story to share? Tell us HERE! Note: Previously, I would never have said Abbie had dyslexia. She never did her letters back to front etc there are just so many varied symptoms that fit the profile. Even if you only show signs of a few symptoms please CONTACT US to discuss as during the assessment we can accurately diagnose if you or your child have this visual fixation issue. |
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