Larry Smith, who has autism and dyslexia, earned his teaching degree from the University of Idaho. He spent three years teaching in public schools before choosing to make a greater impact by working one-on-one with neurodivergent individuals who were not succeeding in the regular school system. Larry now helps them employ their unique thinking styles to not only overcome challenges but also to amplify their strengths.
Together with his wife, Larry co-founded a learning center in Calgary. Rocky Point Academy has assisted over a thousand children and adults with how to use their gifts to advance both academically and socially. Larry has increased his impact by becoming a trainer of the Davis learning and autism methods, enriching the skills of others dedicated to supporting the neurodiverse community.
While working with clients, Larry engages each one’s innate learning strengths revealing how easy learning can be. This is the start of a journey toward independence and self-confidence. Although many improvements are made in reading, writing, math, focusing and socializing, the most obvious gains commented on are the changes in self-esteem seen in his clients.
Larry not only draws from his own experience as a neurodiverse individual, but also as a father of three neurodiverse daughters.
Larry eagerly anticipates meeting each new client, discovering their distinct talents and experiences, and helping them achieve their full potential.
Licensed to provide:
Licensed since: January 21, 2001
Travel: I am willing to travel to clients
Online services: I coach online or in person
Delivery Languages: EnglishEnglish
I am writing this letter of recommendation for Rocky Point Academy because of the huge differences we have seen in our son since taking the program.
Before Matt took the course at Rocky Point Academy, he was always getting in trouble at school. He couldn’t seem to stay in his seat, he blurted out his thoughts in the middle of class, he didn’t follow classroom rules, and every day we picked him up, we were told “another problem” that he had caused. Because of his behaviour, he was rejected by his peers. We gave him consequences, as did the school, but to no avail. As a last resort, we tried Ritalin on the recommendation of my son’s school and our physician.
The medication made him calmer, but he seemed tired, lost his appetite and was overall subdued. It looked like he was “paying attention” in class, but he was just daydreaming and his school work didn’t improve. The school was pleased because the behaviours seemed to be a bit less, but we were determined to find another solution.
We went to a psychologist for an assessment and were referred to Rocky Point Academy. What they had to tell us at the first presentation made so much sense to us- it was as if they knew our son!
We attended Rocky Point Academy when Matt was eight. The first thing we noticed was his confidence boost. They really spent a lot of time showing him what he was capable of and how far he could reach. The first day, he got into the car at lunch and said, “If I’m too energized, just tell me, and I can control it now.” … and he did!
By the end of the week we noticed improved confidence, the ability to look ahead before acting, less anger, more appropriate energy level, much less fighting at homework time, he fell asleep easier, and reading went up 3 grade levels. All without medication!
Now, it has been four years since the program, and Matt is completely “with it.” He is on student council, has good friends, gets good grades and is a happy young man.
Like many other parents with dyslexic children, I knew my daughter to be an intelligent, articulate child with an inexplicable inability to read. This is in a family that is addicted to reading! She's always been surrounded by books, yet she couldn't read. When I expressed my concerns to her teachers at school, they never seemed to think there was a problem, and when I insisted on testing, her performance was low but not low enough to qualify for any special help.
I was frustrated, and Molly was frustrated. Sadder, though, was I think she had already given up and decided that she really was stupid, that she couldn't do better. All this at the age of 8.
Which was the situation when we started at Rocky Point. Initially Molly didn't want to go. She knew she would never learn to read. She didn't want to spend a whole week of her summer vacation in summer school. She hated school!
But that one week has changed our lives!
By the second day of sessions with Larry, she was looking forward to going. This wasn't like school at all. The difference was easy for her to express. In school it didn't matter how hard she worked, she would just do worse and worse; but with Larry, if she followed his direction, it got easier and easier, and she could do it! And just like that, within a day or two, my little girl had the confidence and self-esteem that she had lost years before. By the end of the week, she was in tears when she had to say goodbye to Larry. She wanted to stay and work with him forever, she felt so smart when she was there.
Our lives were changed by our week at Rocky Point Academy. From my experience listening in, I understand much more clearly how Molly's brain works. And Molly, well Molly has decided she can do anything.
In December 2000, our son Levi attended Rocky Point Academy under the tutelage of dyslexic corrective specialist Larry Smith.
The program ran for 4.5 days. Each day, Larry and Stacey greeted Levi with a warm smile. On the fifth day, parents were invited to join the group to view the progress made. Forming words with clay was one of the new tools he learned. This has helped him memorize words. He is also finding it easier to focus. Larry made Levi feel very comfortable, and so he really enjoyed working with him. Larry helped to build Levi's confidence.
Levi can now work with his newly learned tools at school. They help him to concentrate on his school work and not get so easily distracted.
As much as the session at Rocky Point Academy helped, Levi knows that he must do it on his own. Only he can apply himself to improve in his school work and so earn better grades. He is the one who has to want to make these changes.
Levi has a schedule that he has made up for himself from the Academy. He follows this schedule because it's making everything easier for him, whether it's reading for 15 minutes, building words with clay (Symbol Mastery) or using the Koosh balls.
We would recommend this program to people who are wanting to improve. This program shows you a way to improve, if you are willing to work.
It is our pleasure to write a letter of recommendation for Rocky Point Academy. Our son has struggled with reading and writing since kindergarten. Over the years, as teachers, we tried many learning strategies, drills and tutoring with him. He made some improvement but was always below his grade level. Homework and reading were difficult tasks for him to complete. With assistance, he only scored about 50% on his Provincial Achievement Tests for Grade 6. At that time he was still getting words like "and" & "the" mixed up.
Last summer, we had the opportunity to hear Ron Davis speak and then made an appointment with Larry Smith to spend a week with our son. This was the first program to significantly help our son with his reading. It has helped him with the root causes of his reading and not just with the symptoms.
He has always been a creative and artistic child and has enjoyed working using clay to work through the 'trigger words.' Rocky Point gave us several resources to share with his teachers at school and they have been receptive and encouraging. The "koosh balls" have helped him learn to be 'on point' and focussed and the writing plans have helped him in his writing. We felt that the one-on-one tutoring that Larry provided was exactly what our son needed and that his individual learning problems were addressed in a very positive manner. Everyone at Rocky Point Academy was very kind and understanding and our son really enjoyed his time there.
We have continued the exercises that Larry provided and we have seen our son continue to improve in his reading and writing, both at home and at school. We also appreciate the extra help they have provided since his initial assessment and that we are able to contact them for further assistance whenever needed. For us, the cost of the program and the services that they provide are well worth it and have given us a sense of hope and direction for our child's education and future.
My teenage daughter took the Davis Autism Approach program at Rocky Point Academy. She has kept her room clean and has not had uneaten food in her drawers since June. She has been able to plan a trip to visit a friend in Idaho, earn the money for it, book the trip and pay for it, and know what to do if things went wrong on the way there. She remembered to get off the bus at the right place to meet her friend in Yakh, B.C. for the car ride to Idaho. She remembered to take her ID to cross the border. She did not lose any money while she was away. She owns her own emotions and they are not tied to others'. She has arranged, by herself, how she wants her violin lessons to be, through personal conversations with teachers. She has consistently done her chores on time and in the correct manner since June. She completes tasks. She plans ahead and carries through on most of her plans. Her hygiene has improved. She is working on being in a classroom at Chinook Learning Centre and keeping up with the class. She now hears and sees correctly 95% or more of the time.
