My son Raphaël is dyslexic. Very dyslexic. Aged 11, at the beginnning of his 6th form, without wasting any time, his school call me in, to tell me that he can’t stay on because he can’t read. His speech therapist recommends that I turn towards the techniques of Professor Tomatis practised by Dominique and Justin Waddell, as all the other techniques attempted in 5 years of speech therapy have failed. Whilst not really convinced at the outset, I went, telling myself that I didn’t have the right not to try everything to help this lively and intelligent child, but completely blocked with regards to reading, and therefore prey to teasing at school and full of anxieties. Following that, all that would be left would be to go out and get a voodoo doll …
We therefore came for the 12 sessions in the holidays at the end of October, followed by 6 sessions at Christmas. The effects have been astounding : he reads without stopping even if it is still very slow. Moreover, very quickly, he noticed that whilst writing, his hand was much less tense, enabling him to write quicker and above all for longer than before (it’s really quite practical to have his school exercise books no longer coming back home with just the beginning of sentences, unfinished paragraphs and lots of blanks …). As to the most marvellous effect, it is psychological : Raphaël is much calmer, confident and happy. Having always been very determined in his work, he no longer has periods of discouragement. (He gets down to his homework by himself : isn’t that a miracle ?) And the school has stopped talking of finding a more suitable class elsewhere …
He has well understood the benefits of this method because he himself asked me for an additional session, in English, to help him tackle this language without the usual apprehension of all dyslexics on learning a foreign language. He has been happy to come every morning.
As for me, I yielded with great reticence to the demand of also remaining with a headset on, without reading, for all this time. And incredibly, although I have always suffered from permanent back pain following a serious horse-riding accident in my youth, I then spent the best Christmas holidays I have ever had without any back pain for 1 month. Unheard of in twenty years ! (and that’s good for one’s humour as well, ask my husband …)
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