Claire Ashmore, Dip. Teaching; Dip. TESL , MA Applied Linguistics

“You need to go to all the schools and find boys like me – and stop the torture! ... I thought there could be one more thing I could do – and you have done it for me!”
~ 19-yr-old Building & Construction student, Responsive Trade Education (RTE) Hamilton, New Zealand

This young man went on to redo parts of his course and… to everyone’s surprise including his own, 3 months later, was awarded ‘Student of the Year’ academic award which included $1500 of building tools.

This student’s results prompted me to take the Davis Facilitator training seriously and so I devoted myself full time to completing the training. Best decision I ever made!

"Hi Claire
Just a note to say how much of an improvement we have seen in S. since you have been working with him. Before you started, his ability to write a complete sentence was very poor and his spelling was extremely bad. He could spell phonetically but it took some interpretation with some of it. He could not write some letters properly and frequently used capital letters within a word and scribbled repeatedly over some letters to correct them, making them harder to understand.

He now has good control over his handwriting and it is easy to read now, and his spelling is also improving beyond what I could have expected. The help you have given him has been incredible and has changed him so much. He is more confident and enthusiastic."

~ Steve Bluett, Maths, Building & Construction Tutor, Responsive Trade, Hamilton New Zealand

“I want to thank you personally for your work with S. this year. As far as I am aware, this was the very first time that we have brought on board a programme of one-to-one assistance for someone with dyslexia. And I am very glad we did so. I feel that the Davis programme has opened a door for S. that had been tightly shut for some time.

Without a doubt, it’s really been an eye-opener for me just how dangerously easy it can be to write off people who have trouble learning things in the way that most of us learn things and, very fortunately, that quality non-judgemental assistance is available to help people with dyslexia.

Yes it’s taken longer than we originally planned but it has been very worthwhile for the organisation and very rewarding for me to see and hear of the changes that have occurred as a result."

~ Chris Beck. Area Manager, OJI Fibre Solutions. Kinleith Pulp and Paper, NZ

Before doing the programme, my daughter would get easily confused and overwhelmed. At the start of the course, she said she wanted to be clear. By the end of the course, she said she was.

During the programme, she learned how to focus when she needs to and to see written letters and words clearly. She had told me in the past that written text had been overlapping or jumbled, and she sometimes skipped lines when reading or said words mixed up. It blew me away that after the course, my daughter could read a page of text she’d never seen before correctly and without getting anxious.

Claire also taught her concepts to do with time. This is something my daughter previously struggled with. She can now tell the time on a clock with hands. I had tried to teach her myself for years.

I liked how the course was structured and I could see what would be covered beforehand, and the progress made that day. It gave me confidence that the program was professional and worthwhile.

Claire established a lovely, no-pressure connection with my daughter. She explained everything clearly and went at my daughter’s pace. It is clear that Claire is a very caring, experienced teacher and I felt good about her working with my daughter. I think it also really helped that Claire could also truly understand my daughter’s struggles, as a Dyslexic herself. This also made my daughter trust her and want to work with her.

Learning using clay is a really good idea. My daughter learns well when she can touch, hold, move and manipulate objects. She also learns best in a face to face, one on one learning environment, so working with Claire was ideal.

I am so glad my daughter did these two courses with Claire. I can’t explain it, but they helped something click inside my daughter. I feel that the progress she made during the mastery course has really set her up for life.

~ Mother of a 13-year-old, Auckland, New Zealand

"My son kept asking me what we were doing about his double vision as it was distressing him and, as he couldn’t see the board at school very well, he was falling further behind in his literacy skills. If you are a parent, you can imagine how helpless I felt... I brought my son to see Claire Ashmore when he was nine. My son did the week-long intensive program four months ago and we have been working on the homework since then.

Using the Davis focusing techniques my son was able to stop the double vision problem when he focused; this was in the first few days of the course...

The Davis ideas and teaching techniques are very original and fun. So different from the phonics they are teaching at school. Now, four months after the course, he tells me he never sees double anymore. He is becoming more willing to do his Davis homework, I think because it is getting easier for him to do.

His teacher comments on his very clear jump in ability – he is clearly thinking about what he is reading while he is reading now, he has moved up a reading group and willingly does his reading comprehension tasks and does them well...

It is a huge change in such a short time, I am so beyond thrilled and thankful and delighted. By doing the Davis course I feel we have changed the trajectory of my son’s life. I am so enormously relieved that I was able to find something that actually helped my son."

~ Mother of a 9-yr-old, Waikato, New Zealand