Tania - son age 9

My son was in Year 4 when his teacher announced that she was concerned he was dyslexic. None of his teachers had flagged any problem before so this news came as a shock. He had never been the most academic of children, but I had always assumed that he was just a typical “boy” – only interested in sport.

When I started looking at his work, and the teacher’s reasons for “labelling” him, I found that the “diagnosis” did not fit with the child I knew.

I was considering taking the next step of having my son formally assessed by a child psychologist, (at considerable cost), but a friend showed me an advert for the Raviv Method.

Usha very kindly and patiently listened to my story and we agreed to meet for a more detailed discussion. She was great. Never judgemental. Very professional and uncritical of my son’s teacher while managing to simultaneously gain my trust – which was quite an achievement.

What I liked most was that after a few weeks of working with my son, Usha wrote a detailed analysis of what she had found to be his weaknesses. Her analysis found that he had a problem with his working memory, which she explained meant that he struggled when he was presented with new information, especially if it was not presented to him in a way that worked for him. She also helped by highlighting that his visual memory was very strong.

Suddenly everything made sense. I had written him off as not academic, but really even that had not made complete sense. There were times when he was sharp as a tack, and had a phenomenal memory for things that he found interesting. Things he learnt from “visual” rather than “aural” clues.

There were many aspects of my son’s abilities which were affected by his working memory. But it was not until Usha explained how this affected his abilities that this made sense to me. And it affected many areas of his life beyond the academic – such as sport and even his ability to play chess! Perhaps these are not essential skills in a child’s development but they were clues that helped Usha identify his difficulties. And they made sense.

I believe that parents have to be their child’s best friend when it comes to advice from others. Children can easily be pigeon-holed by professionals but it is a parent’s job to know his or her child better than anyone. Or should at least! Diagnoses and analyses in all areas of a child’s well-being need to make sense. Usha did.

What is great about the Raviv Method is that I felt I was doing something constructive to HELP my son.

Since working with Usha, my son has improved in many areas of his ability to work – his focus and concentration, his interest and keenness to succeed, and his academic results. But best of all, I know how to help him learn in a way which is most effective for him.