The Gift of Dyslexia: Why Some of the Smartest People Can't Read and How They Can Learn

Rating:
Summary: Thank God for this book!
Review: My family and I first read this book four years ago when it was confirmed that my nine year old nephew was dyslexic. The concepts explained by Ron Davis were difficult for me to visualize because I am not a "picture thinker," but they certainly made sense, His general observations regarding these gifted individuals described my nephew in almost every way. After years of struggling with educators and nay-sayers, he was recently able to attend the Davis Dyslexic Center. With only four days of help and instruction there, he advanced from a 3rd to an 8th grade reading level. Absolutely amazing! His pride and self confidence are at a level we have never seen before. We are grateful to the wonderful staff at the clinic and to Ron Davis in particular for sharing his methods for correcting dyslexia. If you wonder whether or not his methods work, just try them. They opened up a whole new world for my nephew!

Rating:
Summary: The book that changed our lives
Review: I first read this book four years ago when my nephew (then 9 years old) was confirmed as dyslexic. The concepts were difficult for me to grasp because I am not a picture thinker, but they made sense! After years of struggling with educators and nay-sayers, my nephew attended the Davis Dyslexia clinic where he learned first hand the methods described in Ron Davis' book. He went from a 3rd to an 8th grade reading level in only four days! His progress was astounding and his self confidence is at a level we have never seen before. My family and I will be forever grateful that we found this book. It has made a tremendous difference in our lives. Thank you, Ron Davis!

Rating:
Summary: A teacher and a parent who's not worried!
Review: As a primary teacher responsible for teaching children to read I couldn't believe I couldn't help my own child overcome this hurdle. Many reading "specialists" and schools still don't understand and therefore don't recognize dyslexia as a real set of behaviors common to a percentage of the population. The simple "test" or first step in the appendix helped prove to me and my child that this was a very helpful approach to isolating and changing her learning behaviors.

Rating:
Summary: Understanding Dyslexia for the Non-Dyslexic
Review: Extremely helpful for the parent struggling to understand a dyslexic child - we sought out the therapy -drove a considerable distance, paid a lot of money - therapist was very competent but our child was a little young at the time (8). We thought doing it a year later would have been better, as he was resistant to it because he still wasn't clear how important reading was going to be in his life. We still could go back for a follow up (for free) and we may. Our child now reads slightly above grade level (he's almost 12 now) but he will never spell. (By the way he is also extremely gifted, off the charts in almost all tests and is three years ahead of grade in math). Davis is right about the gifted part - no question. Our psychiatrist works at NIH, says the brain scans on dyslexic kids are just plain different- my theory is whatever makes the brain not see some things correctly (or the way the rest of us see them)enables these kids to see other things more clearly - in our son's case it is spatial reasoning and the ability to understand mathematical concepts. Best thing in the book is the page where Davis shows how many different ways these kids see each letter before they have to decide what it is -and demonstrates how they actually read faster than the rest of us (many times faster)in order to decipher it at all.

Rating:
Summary: Worried!
Review: As a special education teacher who has worked with children with reading problems for 20 years, I am very concerned with the misinformation presented in the book "The Gift of Dyslexia". Mr Davis does not present any research to support his techniques and the ideas he presents further promulgate myths about dyslexia. I was referred to this book by a parent of a student with whom I worked and it very much concerns me that this book does more harm than good. Mr. Davis' techniques are ridiculous to a real reading teacher. Please do not buy this book.

Rating:
Summary: It will change your life!
Review: My daughter went through the Davis program with a facilitator nearly a year ago. It has changed her life. The Davis methods work. If I had listened to all of the others who left me NO hope, I wonder where my daughter would be right now. I thank God that I did not give up like I was encouraged to do. Many thought I was nuts, and still do, but the Davis methods worked!
I see others with her learning style failing miserably in the academic setting---suffering from low self esteems as well, and I am so very thankful that I found Davis' web site. His program isn't a gimmick---in fact, it requires a lot of work from the dyslexic to complete the Symbol Mastery portion of the program.
Once you truly understand how dyslexics think, you understand how they learn. Every single day I'm discovering more about the picture thinking process, and I am making new connections as to how to teach those with this learning style. I also have a deep understanding of disorientation and have learned what exactly causes my daughter to disorient---more importantly, so has she.
She has an incredible understanding of how she thinks and learns. She also has an incredible understanding of her numerous talents. More importantly, she knows why school is challenging to her right now, knows she is very intelligent, and doesn't mind working hard to correct the difficulties. There are not many 7 year olds who can make those claims!
I look forward to meeting Ron Davis someday and telling him what an incredible impact he has made on our lives and so many others.

Rating:
Summary: A must for all people working with Dyslexic students
Review: This is a must read for anyone who is dyslexic, a parent of a dyslexic or a teacher. I am dyslexic and Ronald Davis is able to put into words how I think. Any person who wants to know about one of the more common learning disabilities should read this book. (and please if you are a teacher READ IT and then watch the movie F.A.T. City!)

Rating:
Summary: No research supports this book
Review: As a professional who works with children and adults with learning disabilities, I was, of course, quite interested in this book. I encourage any parent who is looking into treatment for their child's dyslexia to look for clinical research and not personal anecdotes about appropriate treatments. An article on this book in the International Dyslexia Association's quarterly journal, Perspectives, discusses this and other controversial therapies. According to Theme Editor Larry B. Silver, MD, "This book is not based on research. The approach relies primarily on visual perception in the learning process even though we have such solid research relating reading disabilities to auditory processing and phonological awareness. The approach described has no focus on teaching to read or even teaching to learn." (Perspectives: Summer 2001, Vol. 27, No.3, IDA) In order to effectively remediate dyslexia, the underlying processing breakdowns need to be addressed. Research has shown over and over that dyslexia is genetic, not a matter of choice. Teaching compensatory strategies only sticks a Band-Aid on the problem, it does not remediate it. Programs such as Orton-Gillingham, Wilson, or Lindamood-Bell (when done correctly by trained individuals in a clinical setting) can offer such remediation. I have spoken with several parents who claim that this program was "throwing money down the drain." Again, I encourage anyone doing research on dyslexia remediation to investigate the research--or lack thereof--before deciding to spend thousands of dollars on a program. A reputable, research-based program will not mind sharing its data with you. While Ron Davis' approach may have worked for him, it's a crapshoot as to whether or not it will work effectively for others.

Rating:
Summary: The best book on dyslexia I've ever read!!
Review: I am a homeschool mom with a very dyslexic son. Over the years I have read more books on dyslexia than I can count but none of them seemed to really describe my son's problem or be of help. As I read "The Gift of Dyslexia" to him he became more and more excited!! He kept saying "Yes, mom that's exactly what it is like!!" The fact that Mr. Davis himself is dyslexic,and has overcome so many obstacles to reach success meant a lot to my son as well. The exercises helped him and he was able to read at a higher grade level after completing them. My son will be graduating this year. He is now a machinist and an apprentice in computer programming. God bless Mr. Davis.

Rating:
Summary: educational
Review: When I started this book I didn't know what to expect,but as I continued to read, it was difficult to put it down. It is very informative and enlightening and I know more about dealing with Dyslexia now than I did before. I have even pass it on to my son's teacher.It is difficult to deal with this problem in our public schools and to help him I need all the information available hoping that it will also help other teachers in his school cope with this problem too.