Beth realized something had to change in 2007 when she found herself yelling at her 8-year-old. “What is wrong with you? You could read this yesterday! You aren’t even trying!”. The battles and tears were too much for everyone. It was time to do something drastic!
When Beth was madly searching for help for her own child in 2007, she happened on the book “The Gift of Dyslexia”. It was the first time she read anything that recognized her child's innate intelligence and talents and didn't describe her as "disabled". It was also the only thing Beth could find that explained WHY her daughter was having trouble and HOW to fix it. It was the first time anything made sense - how she could read words like “caterpillar”, but she could not figure out the difference between the words "what" and "that". It was also the only thing that explained why one day she could read and the next day (or minute) she couldn't. Now Beth understood why main-stream methods using phonics, repetition, and drill confused her daughter and caused everyone involved so much frustration.
The teachers were skeptical. Davis is so unlike anything they had ever encountered. They also weren't sure a week out of school was a good thing for a struggling student. However, they were convinced when she came back after 5 days reading at grade level! They couldn't believe that she no longer needed to take breaks from the classroom to walk around to regain her focus. In fact, they were so convinced of the power of Davis methods, that they brought some of the strategies into their classroom for the whole group.
On the last day of the program, Beth was astounded as her daughter smiled, held her head high and read from a chapter book. She couldn't get through a paragraph of it a week before, even with assistance. More importantly, she enjoyed reading it because she understood what she read. And she liked it! Beth wanted to be able to give this ability and self assurance to other children, and, as a Licensed Davis Dyslexia Facilitator, she has been since 2009.
As Beth began working with clients, she quickly realized that many of them were coming to her with a diagnosis of ADHD, but there was something more going on. In fact, she realized her 5-year-old daughter was one of them! Many of them struggled socially or were unmotivated to take care of themselves or their belongings. Many of the families were in turmoil. These clients didn’t seem to be able to manage change and didn’t understand consequences and had a great deal of difficulty regulating their emotions. This was also the time that she realized her 6-year-old daughter was on the autism spectrum.
Beth got her daughter help with the Davis Autism Approach and was astounded at the changes. Gone was the little girl making pterodactyl noises under the dining room table and here was a little girl who exclaimed “I’m a person!” It was then, 2010, that Beth became licensed as a Davis Autism Approach Facilitator/Coach. Adding that program to her practice gave her exactly what she needed to help all of her clients to be able to participate fully in a life of their choosing. Not long after, the Davis Concepts for Life program became available, and she added this program to her repertoire for anyone wanting to better themselves.
Beth’s practice is her full-time career. For 13 years, she had her own office in Oakville and later took over the Oakville Success Centre when Dr. Cathy Dodge-Smith retired. She routinely travels to provide programs in Nova Scotia (her home province), and many countries over the world. She very often works with entire families – the first client comes for a dyslexia or attention mastery program, and then another relative comes for a math program and a parent comes for a Concepts for Life program.
Beth was instrumental in the founding of Athena Academy, a private school for bright dyslexic students in Palo Alto California. Serving as the Founding Director of Faculty and Curriculum in its first two years, Beth was honoured to get Davis methods and theories to be the foundation of the school. Athena celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2022 and is going strong.
Beth has also created a parenting program specifically designed for families whose children have done a Davis program. The program is called “Response-Ability: Parenting Strategies for a Harmonious Family”. She has trained over 25 other facilitators to provide this program in their own practice and offers it as a separate service in her practice.
The pandemic brought great uncertainty to the Davis community. How would Beth help her clients if they couldn’t be in the same room? Luckily, the Davis organization was able to quickly provide training to facilitators who wanted to provide online programs. In spite of being skeptical, Beth jumped at the opportunity to give in a try. She has found that these programs are just as successful as those done in person while being more convenient and economical for families. Sometimes on-line programs are even more successful because the parent is often present for the sessions and sees first-hand the “ah ha” moments that happen along the way.
Now, in 2024, Beth specializes in providing online programs with clients locally as well as the world over - especially when there isn’t a facilitator nearby. Due to years of experience, she is often called in to help with more challenging clients and enjoys being a mentor to less experienced facilitators. She is training to become a Supervisor of other people wishing to provide the Davis Autism Approach/Concepts for Life program.
Due to being able to work mostly online, Beth was able to leave the GTA and move up to Muskoka with her husband where she continues to provide programs in person and online. Of course, She will happily travel to provide programs to those who can’t or won’t do online.
Licensed to provide:
Licensed since: December 15, 2009
Certifications:
Travel: I am willing to travel to clients
Online services: I coach online or in person
Delivery Languages: EnglishEnglish
"I haven't been to the principal's office since my program!" Emily, age 10 (Completed Davis Dyslexia Correction and Davis Attention Mastery Programs)
"Beth was incredibly patient and understood my goals. So many ideas that we don't usually think about. I feel confident I can become senior partner at my law firm now. I learned so much about who and what I can and can't control. I'm taking care of myself now. I became a vegan and started to run marathons. I really needed to understand what sequence of importance meant to me."
Ethan, age 45 (Completed Davis Concepts for Life Program after 14 year old son did the same program as well a the dyslexia program with great results)
This is part of a speech Beth's first ever Autism client gave at his university graduation party. He did the program at age 6 and is now 20 (he is brilliant and went to university at age 16).
"...but before I could be helped by these wonderful teachers, pastors, boy scout leaders and professors, I had to be 'tamed'. I don't remember much from this time in my life, but I've seen home videos - boy - I was a LOT! And so Beth taught me about life and how I fit into it. You can pay anyone to show up. But you can't pay someone to care. Beth cared. And she still does..."
Matthew, age 20 (Completed full Autism Approach Program program at age 6, dyslexia program at age 9)
"Beth and the Davis methods literally saved my son and my family. My son was in a contained classroom, frequently having meltdowns and causing injury to other students. The classroom was evacuated at least twice a week. His future looked dim. We seriously were looking at having to send him to a facility. His younger brother suffers from PTSD from the trauma of the household. Now, there hasn't been an incident at home in 4 months or one in school in 2 months. We are looking at his future with new eyes - with hope. We couldn't be more thankful. Beth's parenting program has been a life saver for us too. I wish we had found Davis sooner."
Michelle, Mother of TJ, 12 (Son did Davis Autism Approach program, father did Davis Concepts for Life, both parents did Beth's parenting program)
"I see Teddy's world opening up. I see him engaging. I see him using more words and at the right time. I see less repetition. I see him making connections with letters and numbers. His teacher says he has been trying to make friends."
Carrolyn, mother to Teddy, age 5 (not fully verbal yet and doing Stepping Stones program)
