What Is Different About A Davis Program?

Davis programs are different. You don’t just enlist, you have to qualify. We do not tutor. We do not use phonics or endless repetition or drill. Instead, we facilitate clients to use their inner strengths/skills/abilities to unfold the cause of their struggles and hence make improvements in a matter of days. Not everyone qualifies to partake in a program and here are the reasons why.

Firstly, programs are conducted by rigorously trained facilitators.  Facilitators by definition are  people that make things easier. They plan and guide a person to meet their goals whereas teachers use their subject matter expertise to design curricula, presentations, and learning materials. One Google definition states “Facilitators get things done.”

In order to define goals, there is a degree of self awareness involved.  Children go to school without clearly defined goals and get taught general things based upon a curriculum designed by adults who deem that at a certain age a child should know certain things. Whereas a person who visits a Davis program, has something in mind they want to fix or improve, a goal. This requires some ability of self awareness and that is why the suggested age to enroll in a program is 8 and up.  At that age, children enter a developmental phase known as the age of reason which refers to the developmental cognitive, emotional, and moral stage in which children become more capable of rational thought, have internalized a conscience, and have better capacity to control impulses. Being the right age doesn’t always qualify you for a program. It’s just the first step. 

The second qualification in goal setting requires a feeling of meaning and purpose. Without it, you can lose focus. The goals need to be specific and not general e.g. “I want to pass school”. A child needs to break that down into something more concrete such as to be better at spelling, reading, doing division problems or making friends. 

This requires the child to use their self-awareness to be aware of how they feel about their abilities. The stronger they feel about their inabilities, the better it determines the motivation of the client. The more emotional they are about their negative experiences, the stronger the motivation is to act in order to experience positive emotions and minimize the probability of feeling negative emotions.  

Continuous positive change keeps the program going and we often ask if their goals are being met. That’s why we orchestrate a program to client’s goals because they are the ones “doing it”. So if they are aware that they are having a problem in some aspect of their life and want to fix it there is a good chance they qualify for a program. Intertwined with this goal setting is a desire for change.

The third qualification is finding a good support system to follow up with the program’s inroads. With a child, it is often the parent who assists. The reading and orientation exercises take about 15 minutes a day until child is reading at grade level. The clay work on the sight/trigger words is another matter as it depends upon the client’s goals. Depending upon what was accomplished in the program and client’s goals and schedule, the clay work can take around a year to complete. The more words that get done, the greater results. If the parent has a history of “not being able to work with the child,” they should hire someone who can, and support training is provided for them. Facilitators are there to help following a program but it’s the helper’s responsibility to ask.

In my office, there are three rules that clients follow.

• The first is to go slow. This is so they can identify the confusion.

• The second is to make mistakes and not to let it bother you. This can be a deal breaker for some as it is embarrassing to make mistakes and feel stupid. However, it is the mistakes that tell us what is going on and once a client knows how to correct them, they often feel relieved In order to relieve anxiety around this, I jokingly say, “You have to make at least five per day”.

• The third rule is to have fun! 

If all these things are in place, success is on its way!

Sharon Roberts, Davis Facilitator, Ontario https://dyslexia.ca/