Bold textJan is a qualified teacher with over 30 years experience in schools and across various education sectors. As a teacher, she became very aware of the poor self esteem and low self confidence of so many of the neurodivergent children she taught and searched for ways to help and support them.
This took on a new urgency when her youngest son, who was bright, inquisitive and talented in many ways, became withdrawn when he started school and felt stupid because he couldn’t read like his friends. He was labelled lazy and disruptive but excelled in sport and art. When he was ten and still struggling at school, Jan came across a book that, she says, changed everything: The Gift of DyslexiaBold text by Ron Davis.
All the mixed results of educational assessments and psychologist reports suddenly made sense. It was as though Ron was writing about her son. Also, the mere thought that Dyslexia could be seen as a gift and learning difference rather than a disability was a paradigm shift.
She appreciated that Ron Davis, as a dyslexic himself, had an insider's view. In his book, Ron recognised the gifts, talents and great strengths that are part of dyslexia and therefore never aimed to 'cure' it but rather to use the natural learning style and abilities to address the learning difficulties and enhance the positives.
Jan shared the Gift of Dyslexia with the special education teacher at her son’s school. As a result, she decided to follow the Davis methods outlined in the book instead of following the Education Department’s intervention with intensive phonics and rote learning. Jan says that as soon as her son began the Davis Mastery for Dyslexia program, his self esteem grew and he began not only reading well but excelling in creative writing. Having watched him blossom with newfound self esteem, Jan started to use Ron Davis' methods in her teaching.
Some years on while helping a group of struggling students using the Davis method strategies, she found she could train as a Davis Facilitator.
While training she found that she was also dyslexic; so much of her struggles suddenly made sense. After doing her own Davis program, Jan describes its effect as coming ‘out of the fog’ she had lived in. It was transformational.
Jan completed her training and has been working as a Davis Program Facilitator since 2013. In the years since, she has had “the joy and privilege of watching many lives, both young and old, be transformed using the Davis methods” and is excited to continue this important work as a Davis facilitator with the ever-expanding suite of Davis programs, both in person and online, to enable and equip neurodivergent individuals to discover their gifts, recognise their potential and begin to live a transformed life with confidence and hope.
Licensed to provide:
Licensed since: December 16, 2013
Certifications:
Travel: I am willing to travel to clients
Online services: I coach online or in person
Delivery Languages: EnglishEnglish
Salomi – aged 19 – Davis® Mastery for Dyslexia
I want to say thank you again for being my guide through the program. I have gained a confidence that continues to grow not only in my reading ability but overall understanding of myself. I feel that has been the biggest and most gratifying outcome for me. After striving all through my schooling to simply not stand out as someone who was different or struggling, I realised at 19 that it could be a possibility that my brain worked differently. I ended up deciding that I wanted to do tests to see if my gut feeling was right, all while still convincing myself that I’m not different, I’m just not working hard enough and I’m looking for excuses. I thought so negatively about my efforts because that was the response I got from teachers whenever my grades weren’t ‘average’. When I finally did the tests with a psychologist, I found the whole experience so negative and degrading. As I was trying to answer the questions I was constantly being told that “that shouldn’t take you that long”. I felt so exposed having to sit in front of someone while they watched and analysed my ways of coping with reading and writing that I had conditioned myself into doing. When the testing was done and I was told I was dyslexic, it was told to me as a negative, that there was “nothing I could do about it", it’s a learning 'disability'. It took some convincing from my mum, who found the Davis Program, that it was going to be a positive experience. I am so grateful for her and for you, Jan. Like I mentioned before, the biggest thing I feel I’ve gained from the program is confidence. I started embracing the fact that I think differently, and realising how it’s shaped me as a person. I am not a creative, smart and talented person in spite of my dyslexia; I am those things because of it. Thank you for being my guide into helping me realise that. :)
Miranda – aged 13 – Davis® Mastery for Dyslexia
"Doing the Davis Dyslexia program with Jan Stead of Dyslexia Unlocked has been life-changing for us. Having just discovered my 13 year old daughter is dyslexic, and hearing about the effectiveness of the Davis program through others, we recently booked in for the 5 day program and have been thrilled with the results. Our daughter has her confidence back, and has been taught effective ways to make reading, spelling and grammar much easier, as well as tools to help her focus better. She also had a lot of hands-on fun with Jan along the way. She now sees dyslexia as something that has benefits as well as challenges and, with the immediate improvement following the 5 day course, is motivated to continue ‘mastering’ her dyslexia in a positive, creative way. Jan’s positive, patient and encouraging way of teaching and supporting her students is remarkable. She is an excellent communicator and goes above and beyond to customise learning for the individual and guide the whole family through the process, including through followup sessions. The Davis Dyslexia program has rigorous standards for its facilitators and, being a learning approach researched and developed by someone with dyslexia, its results speak for themselves. I’m so glad we found Jan as a Davis program facilitator through Dyslexia Unlocked and recommend her very highly."
Molly – aged 10 and 11 - Davis® Mastery for Dyslexia, and the following year,Davis® Mastery for Attention
From mum: Molly took it upon herself to start [tidying] her room today. I have been observing her and she has her own sorting process going on!! I should be thanking you for unpacking this with her! ...She was also proud of herself today when she used her new strategy for when the boys annoy her."
"She's amazing and I'm loving seeing her applying everything she has been learning. It's so fascinating at the same time! We are just so happy we were able to be recommended to you, one of the best decisions we have made! Your help has been beyond amazing!
Iggy 5 - 6 years old - Davis® Foundations for Reading
We had Iggy’s parent - teacher interview yesterday. It went really well. She is now reading at year level. I cried! Thank you so much Jan. I’ve passed on your details on to Iggy’s teacher, who will email you. She’s very keen to know how she/the school can support Iggy.
Gillian – adult – Davis® Mastery for Dyslexia
You are never too old to learn new techniques. I have quietly struggled with dyslexia for many, many years. Before the age of computers I was too embarrassed to write letters or do any other form of writing because of my poor spelling. Early last year I met Jan and discovered the Davis Dyslexia Programme; a programme that looks at dyslexia as a gift rather than a disability. Jan encouraged me to do a course with her and I had fun as I learnt new ways of learning. This programme does not rely on hours of phonics.
Jan is a wonderful facilitator and will build your confidence as you do the programme. She will look for your strengths and improve your self esteem. At the beginning of the course we set clear goals to aim for so I could see my improvement. Throughout the course there were several ah-ha moments when a problem was solved.
Jan is very flexible in the way she teaches the technique and will adapt to your individual needs.
Over the years I have done various courses to help me improve my reading speed and spelling but I have found the Davis Dyslexia Programme the most beneficial. I highly recommend the Davis Dyslexia programme and Jan Stead as a Facilitator!
