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Testimonials

February 21st, 2010

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Dear Dawn, Greetings from the Faroe Islands! I am now back in the Faroes after a lovely, though rather hectic holiday in Australia and India. I am so grateful that you found the time to test my son Peter. I am so happy that now I will be able to help Peter better, having understood his special learning style.Thank you Dawn! I read the wonderully positive report you´ve written and now I will use it to show his teachers so that they, and others ,can understand dyslexia better.You asked for any corrections. I did find some mistakes but only in the name and address.The rest of the report is perfect!
— Sharon, Faroe Islands

Just a quick note to thank you for spending so much time with us yesterday. You were SO helpful and Liam feels so much better about everything and his self esteem has lifted! Just a couple of things FYI. I have spoken to the head of the learning centre at Liam's school (as suggested by you) and have an appointment with them on Wednesday. They are organising a laptop for his exclusive daily use commencing the beginning of term 2, is going to inform Liam's teachers, is going to organise locker checks to help Liam be organised, suggested the colour coding as you did, and are talking about scanning all Liam's worksheets into his computer for him (yay!) They were very encouraging, which was FANTASTIC, because I NEVER got this support through high school. I also went home and read your CD on dyspraxia straight away, and feel much more ready to face the world on Liam's behalf armed with all the information you gave us. So thank you, thank you, for helping us. You are very special and we are so thankful! So thanks again, Dawn. Liam says now that he's different, but special and smart! PS. He also thinks your dog is "cool"! Warm regards, Cathy.
— Catherine Maher

Thanks to Dawn for her insight with helping my 14 year old daughter. Dawn made her feel capable and confident again. The combination of tinted glasses from Eyes 5 Optometrists and Dawn's teaching skills managed to dispel my daughters anxieties with reading and assisted with expressing her thoughts on paper in a few short months. We will have no hesitation in revisiting Dawn should my daughter have any further worries - such as at exam time, and I thoroughly recommend that you do not delay contacting Dawn if you are reading this and wondering- "Will this work for my child?"
— Tonia van der Helm , Perth. WA

I just wanted to say THANK YOU ...i can’t say it enough ... Cheyenne has completed the first part of step 3 in your program and i must admit i had tears of joy watching her accomplish her first spelling list... Gone are the days of meltdowns over a 6 word spell list from school as i watched her accomplish 26/27 words!!!! In one sitting....it made me take stock of how far she has come in just a short year using your recommendations.... My heart swells with pride, joy and relief...all thanks to you for putting us on the right track. We can finish our home school term achieving our goals and look forward to relaxing over the summer hols. It gave Cheyenne so much confidence in herself and really proved to her that the 5 mins she spends each morning doing her audio/multisensory blends is paying off... Thank you so much! Wishing you a safe & Happy Christmas. Love from – Sue & Cheyenne Arkley
— susan arkley, perth

Hi Dawn I am having a little trouble logging in, so thought I would go this way. I can not say how greatful I am for your help. Although my 11 year old daughter was diagnosed with dyspraxia several years ago, I really didn’t understand how she saw the world or some of the funny little routines she has like being terrified of the dark. After reading your book, I now have a much better understanding. I read over some of the points in the book with my daughter and she said “That’s me, I’m not weird”. We are now using some of your strategies and things are running much smoother, particularly like giving her a little more time to do things ans say things. Hey the whole family is better organised, as we have just started a new daily routine.
— Withheld

Dear Dawn, Thank you for your Fabulous teaching skills, your patience and support. James has made so much progress with his math skills. Yours truly, Julie
— julie arnald

Dear Dawn I just wanted to say THANK YOU ...i can’t say it enough ... Cheyenne has completed the first part of step 3 in your program and i must admit i had tears of joy watching her accomplish her first spelling list... Gone are the days of meltdowns over a 6 word spell list from school as i watched her accomplish 26/27 words!!!! In one sitting....it made me take stock of how far she has come in just a short year using your recommendations.... My heart swells with pride, joy and relief...all thanks to you for putting us on the right track. We can finish our home school term achieving our goals and look forward to relaxing over the summer hols. It gave Cheyenne so much confidence in herself and really proved to her that the 5 mins she spends each morning doing her audio/multisensory blends is paying off... Thank you so much! Wishing you a safe & Happy Christmas. Love from – Sue & Cheyenne
— sue arkely

Fantastic, tangible helpful advice. Given me hope for my beautiful intelligent child who has been struggling for years thanks Dawn
— Catherine Maher

Dawn, I want to convey our gratitude to you for the assessment on and subsequent report you provided, for Nadia. The report was a great help to her School and to her teachers and they were able to structure and formalise Nadia\\\'s learning, according to your instructions. Whilst the class teacher and School had no experience/qualifications in working with dyslexic/CAPD children, they were able to follow your instructions with ease. This approach has seen Nadia position herself, based on performance, in the \\\'top\\\' group for English (a massive achievement for a dyslexic/CAPD child), Maths and other core subjects. Nadia also achieved above National and School average performance across her Yr 5 NAPLAN tests. Besides the academic improvements, Nadia show greater self confidence and is much happier with herself. Nadia could not have achieved these outcomes without your ongoing coaching, support and and the guidance given to her teacher/School. Thank you Dawn and we will see you soon, to pick up where we left off in 2011.
— rajiv rajan, perth

Thanks for all your info Dawn & time. When you have a child that never gives up, you want to keep pushing on. Our daughter Sarah, is an anxious child, loves being at home with her family, home body, and loves the water, beach. Sarah has ADD/ADHD, expressive language difficulties, learning difficulties, however very visual, and learns visually, Sarah is 9yrs old. I did the Tick box assessment / for the 8-13yrs for Dyspraxia, Sarah’s score was 19. I also did the Dyslexia late infant or early primary screening sheet Sarah’s score was 12. I am a little dyslexic myself, so probably from my side of the family. Sarah has had expressive speech difficulties since she started to talk, Sarah did speech therapy for 6yrs. Sarah is reading well, Sarah is doing tennis lessons at the moment and has really improved, plus we bought a trampoline, as she takes a while to try new things, and the trampoline takes her out of her comfort zone which is good, Dawn suggests the wobble board which is brilliant for balance also. Sarah is learning to surf on a surfboard, we are seeing big improvements in all area’s of her gross motor skills, all these things help her confidence, In the past I have tried Sarah on Omega fish oil since little, taken her to occupational behavioural optometry, speech therapy, neuro psychologist, you name it. I would like to say Dawn has up to date research and provides practical resources for children like Sarah who don’t learn the mainstream way. I wished all states in Australia would adopt Dawn’s methods of teaching children that learn differently, our daughter is very visual and Dawn’s resources are fantastic. Thanks again [name withheld, Sydney Australia]
— dawn

Thank you for your support and kindness you show. Also all your hard work you put in with my boys. Ros
— ros clarke

My son also has dyslexia and also auditory processing disorder, he goes to a good school but his self esteem is rock bottom, I would love to find a school that caters for it in SA as I would move house to get the best for him, his behaviour is now his mask because he finds things so difficult, I am at my wits end with problem after problem just wish he could have a lovely normal school life but its not going to happen and he is only 9 so we still have a long way to go.
— Sarah, Adelaide

Fantastic I have learnt so much. 100% on top of anything I have done before. without this in formation I have no idea how much worse things would have gotten, feeling very positive for my children's future.
— Rachel Harwwod

HI Dawn, I will leave my blog here about the amazing assessment that was done for my 12 year old daughter (Hannah) last month. Hannah had a Skype assessment done here in QLD, live from Perth. Once we semi darkened the room and moved the laptop about, Dawn was able to see most of what she wanted too via the laptop camera. Paying $200 for this service seems little in comparison to what I was quoted in Brisbane $600 for starters. It has been a relief to find out about Dyslexia and now Hannah and I can work together on it.’ She has just started high school here at James Nash, after being homeschooled and after a few discussions between the teachers, she has been able to stay in mainstream use a laptop and be placed in their new ‘digi’ class, class for mainstream kids to use computers etc….I have been really impressed at the willingness of the teachers to help her. I have made a special card for Hannah to show her teachers explaining how she learns best, i.e.) she needs hand outs etc. Keep up the great work to all the parents out there and thanks to Dawn for seeing her artistic ability and abilities. Will keep you posted as I feel like we are making new grounds into the school- educating the educated. I am encouraging my wonderful daughter to pave the way for other dyslexics and others who have a different way of learning. You will see me back as I have 7 other children, 4 of which could have some degree of dyslexia, but that will be another story, Encourage others about the new way of testing via Skype, you will be amazed and blessed!!!
— Withheld

Hi Dawn I recently purchased your book and I just love it it is so user friendly and I just want to keep reading it. I am a teacher assistant at a secondary school and have been working with a year 8 girl who is dyslexic your book was mentioned to me in the holidays and after purchasing it can see that it is going to be very useful. So thank you. I would lke to know more about the course that is running at Tafe in WA, is it available on line what age or year level is it aimed at. Look forward to hearing from you Marisa
— Marissa

I feel Dawn has made a lot more practical sense. I Look froward to be working with Dawn in the future. Thank you very much
— Kevin Gervasi

Hi Dawn! I would like to thank you VERY much for seeing and assessing my daughter Sienna Carruthers last Thursday. It was wonderful to meet you and to talk with you about Dyslexia and to see how accomplished you are and that it doesn’t need to be something that holds you back from life. We have taken on board all that you said, and are eager to set a meeting with her school so that we can put in place what Sienna requires to catch up with the other students and continue learning as she needs to. I’ve purchased an Ipad2 to use in class, and am awaiting the downloads of the worksheets and phonics course from the website that you suggested, so that we can really get going. I was wondering if you have had a chance to put together an assessment of Sienna’s dyslexia and recommendations yet? I would prefer to wait for that before speaking further with the school, but would like to take full use of the limited school year to set processes in place to best help Sienna and get her ready for year 7. Sorry if I’m sounding pushy (not my intention), I’m just excited and keen to get going!! Many thanks again. Kind regards, Jodi Carruthers
— jodi carruthers

Just had to write a huge thankyou to Dawn for all the fantastic work she has done to help my daughter Maddie. Dawn is such a dedicated and passionate person and has always done her best to ensure that all her pupils get the individual teaching they need. I highly recommend all of Dawns books. You will find them invaluable in helping you and your childs teachers understand how these wonderful dyslexics think and learn…..and easy to read too! Dawns determination to change how schools treat and teach dyslexics and kids with learning differences can only benefit us all and see our kids really start to enjoy being at school and learning. Keep up the great work. Regards Gail
— Gail

Hi Dawn, I had parent and teacher interviews today. Hannah has an A – for science. Her teacher said she is looking at putting her into extension !!! canyou believe that. She has an A + for drama, a model student, For English, her teacher said she cannot believe how much she has improved, she is better than some in her class. Yesterday I read her writing and I cannot believe how much she has developed. This time last year she scribbled , now she writes using full stops, I reckeon it has been the use of the laptop- spell check and her determination to succeed. So thanks you for all you have done. I did not realise she could have improved so much. She is really an example to many of us , having the right attitude can bring success.
— Name Withheld

I am blown away after 10 min of reading Ur sight i feel a whole new undiscovered chapter of my life has opened up?i have struggled mentally frustrated and a father of 2 dealing with so many set backs all due to my own personal learning disabilities and knowing i can do better in life why aren't schools compulsory testing for such problems? i just completed the new TAE training and assessment it was not to bad as there was no maths involved,i cant comprehend anything over fractions,problem solving ,decimal points. i only remember certain times tables and i just end up with anxiety trying to calculate a maths problem always been that way ? but i calculate money in the hand OK but computer illiterate and stubble through life and now i understand why my 14 yr old boy struggles also i am 48 i want to teach and help others what course can i do to help kids so they wont struggle like i have?
— jon , elwood,victoria,australia

Hi Dawn, You posted about your new materials on May 13th 2010 - on that day my son turned 5 - he has also displayed symptoms of Dispaxia for over 2 yrs now. I was putting it down to havnig a second child too soon which probably really affected him. Our second - is 2 yrs behind him and seems to have caught up with alot of thing more quickly than his older brother. To be honest - your checklist for Dispraxia literally explains what I see in my 5yr old and my heart goes out to him everyday. I can count all 45 ticks in your checklist and I hope I will be able to access your most helpful materials for him. Im thinking of putting him in a more expensive school this year. I feel like good surroundings should help him - and make him feel as comfortable as possible where he is recieveing an education. I've always thought of home schooling as I feel like Im in a better position to understand him and work with his condition. I appeciate any help that I can get through the programs that you are offering and I can already see my son getting better and getting through this. Sincerely - grateful mum.
— Mum to 5yr old boy, Port VIla, Vanuatu

Hi Dawn, My son Angus came to see you for tutoring due to his dyslexia about 6 or so years ago. He progressed really well and I know you always asked us to let you know how he got on after he finished school. He graduated from year 12 in 2009 and after spending a year at Tafe he is now a 1st year instrument/electrical technician apprentice at ALCOA in Kwinana. He is absolutely loving it and really excelling. He definitely became more confident after seeing you and if you saw his writing and spelling now you would hardly know he had dyslexia, the skills you taught have stayed with him. Thanks again, Melanie. Thank you
— melanie simpson

Thank you once again, dawn it is uplifting to see your passion for your work, the time and effort you put into it and most importantly that each child matters. Regards Aisha
— aisha zeedan, wa

I feel I have come away with a much to help my son already. Fantastic to hear someone confirm my suspicions and give me some tolls to use.
— Tracey Narkle

Thanks Dawn, . My son is working through your Dead Easy Phonics program, I have showed him how to use the spell check in the computer and he has been typing up the sentences in the computer, wow what a difference it is when he types and the computer tells him he's made a mistake instead of me. I can't tell you how much this DVD has helped me in words, it has taken away the stress, wow I feel human again. The best thing is seeing my son's smile when he prints his work out. Well done Dawn you are fantastic. Thanking you heaps Jenny Genrich
— jenny genrich, perth

This assessment went very well. Discovered everything I was Concerned about. Very Thorough. Dawn did an awesome job assessing Jayson. Jayson said he is glad he came and hopes Dawn can help him learn better. thanks a lot.
— Kylie Mann

this assessment was relevant to my child. I can put these strategies into place straight away which is fantastic. Its nice to hear the positive things that my daughter can do.
— Leisa reid

On the way home yesterday Robert said “you know I think that lady understood how my brain works which is pretty good because I don’t think anyone else has really ever understood me” Many thanks I will give the report to Roberts teacher and the flyer about the seminar you run for teachers. Cheers Jannette
— Janette

I have really enjoyed reading your book, now as a 37 yr old it is funny looking back on my education and seeing my learing tragedies laid out in front of me. I had no idea that people can actually see words before they write them down!! I really concur that it was terrible at reading aloud a school, one teacher told me to pull my socks up!!!. Even now, whilst reading to my children I am not the best, as not being able to read in front I get all the inflections wrong, as they are 3 and 5 they don’t know any better, but I do love reading to them anyway. However I really loved the number counting with the dots on the numbers, that’s what I did, I too found that seven was a hard one to figure where to place ‘seven’ dots when counting!!! When I tried to explain this to my beloved wife she didn’t understand at all. She looked at me strangely just like when I told her that I am unable to visualize the words before it write. I can still remember my yr 11 English teacher, saying with exasperation, “Stuart I don’t understand you, you read everything that is required and more, the your creative writing has far better potential than anyone else in class, but your spelling and grammar are terrible!. What is the matter with you?” I did laugh about trying to find words in the dictionary, and giving up and using another word instead, I did find the thesaurus quite handy for this, as I could work backwards and get the spelling of the word(s) same time. However, there is hope for people, like us, out there, I did finish year 12, however after a couple of years later I redid it, managed to get into uni, not UWA, not unsurprisingly due to not passing English. Although I tried my heart out. Went to ECU completed a BA in Sports Science, then a Dip. Ed in Phys Ed. and lately a BA In Bus, part time, and being asked to do honors!!! Not bad for a chap that can’t spell and has never worked out punctuation. Although I think I might try and work it out for myself. You are completely correct about maths text books and the wording, reading the text book was far harder than understanding the problem. All this time I thought it was me. Anyway, I could go on, luckily I haven’t turned out to be a medieval cleric!! Now both myself and my beloved will be very watchful of both our children, so we can proactively assist when and where required. Warm and best regards,
— Stuart

I have had my son assessed by an expert in the field of learning difficulties for Dyslexia. Dawn Matthews has been a God sent in helping us to understand the issues that Roman has faced during his schooling years. During the three hour assessment, Roman was diagnosed with severe dyslexia. Dawn mentioned that in the 35 years of teaching children with learning difficulties and assessing thousands of children she has only come across 5 children who were more dyslexic than her and Roman is one of them! This would explain a lot of the Behavioural issues, lack of attention and basically the constant avoidance of work. He just simply couldn't do the work competently. During her assessment Roman had to draw a picture of his father. The attention to detail was well beyond his years it was at an age appropriate level of a 10 year old three years beyond his chronological age. Infact he is considered to be exceptionally bright! Unfortunately his Dyslexia was not picked up sooner in Kindergarten & year 1 and this is where more support is needed in the school. For the fact that Roman didn't know his alphabet when he came into your class was quite surprising & disturbing! For Dyslexics it is best to learn the alphabet phonetically in lower case then in upper case, not all at once. Introducing another language like Spanish & cursive writing is a complete disaster for a dyslexic. It's too confusing. Dawn has written several books and has produced a 3 year program for reading and writing for Dyslexia, ADD & ADHD children. I've bought the program for $200 and have been doing 30 mins a day with Roman and I have seen a significant improvement. It's a simple course that any parent can do at home or a teacher can incorporate into a classroom. As a parting gift I am buying & donating a copy of the program for his old school as a resource for the teachers. So please as a concerned parent who doesn't want any other parent to go through the anguish of not knowing what is going on with their child's learning difficulty. I highly recommend them to have their child assessed by Dawn Matthews her web site is www.dyslexia-testing.com.au It was the best $200 investment I made in understanding my son. Now knowing that he is dyslexic we have tools & resources to help him. I am looking forward to a new beginning in 2012 for both Ariana & Roman. I wish you well in your new classroom hope that 2012 is your year. As my good friend Dr Turi says - The Future is the Reincarnation of your thoughts! May your thoughts be positive! Love & Blessings Aurelia Sophia Popal
— aurelia sophia

"Dawn has made me understand dyslexia and my daughter's learning problems I feel like my own confidence has risen, as being a home educator we don't have help and feed back. we will be able to work on your program to help my daughter. Thanks so much Dawn 10/10"
— Heather

"I wish I had started here 1st as we have done so much and also wasted so much time previously. I really feel I now understand why my son is the way he is. Thank you so much. I can now see the light at the end of our tunnel 10/10"
— Snez

The Skype assessment with yourself and subsequent recommendations was terrific and as well as the strategies - it gave me a lot of reassurance to push forward in my discussions with school. The difficulty I\'d had was trying to explain to school that My daughter had dyslexic tendencies when she read so well. As you know it was affecting her spelling, writing and areas of maths (e.g. learning timetables). I used the information in your report as my talking points when I met with the School Principal and her class teacher. They were very accommodating in implementing recommendations for classroom - where she sat, how to give her notes, giving her extra time for writing etc. I also explained that I just wanted my child to be able to work to her potential - whatever that happens to be. The School Principal then said she was happy to refer us to the School Counsellor who could complete some psychometric testing. This was great as. My daughter scores well on IQ tests but there was such a huge range in how she performs in other areas e.g. Reading age of a 15 year old, spelling age of a 7 year old (she was 9 at the time). The report prepared by the School Counsellor I suppose speaks the language that the school and the Dept of Education are familiar with. I think it helped them get a better idea of what I was talking about (even though I think there is a reluctance to use the term dyslexia) To cut a long story short: My daughter did qualify for extra time in the Year 3 and 5 Naplan. She was also offered a place in a Year 5 Opportunity Class this year (an extension class offered in NSW primary schools - students are assessed for this in Year 4 - school assessment and sit an exam). She has moved schools to attend the Year 5 OC class and it has been fantastic. Her teacher has been most understanding and seems to really get how My daughter works. She makes sure she is given extra time for certain tasks. Makes sure that there are plenty of visuals for My daughter etc. So for now, things couldn\'t be better. But I know we\'ll have to be on top of everything again for High School applications and sit down with teachers again when she starts High School. Fortunately, she will have her current class teacher for Year 5 & 6. I don\'t think there\'s any quick fix with schools as I don\'t really think a lot of the teachers get it. But when you\'re lucky enough to get a teacher who will listen at least you get a chance to implement some things in the classroom to improve the learning environment for your child. We are in a very good place at the moment. We have in recent years done lots of therapies - vision therapy, occupational therapy etc But for now - we have been able to ease up on these appointments. I also have a class teacher who will tell me if she sees anything slipping so that we can stay on top of things with the appropriate support. I\'m not sure where the other NSW mum is based - but I have done a lot of research and have names of local therapists. I\'d be happy for you to pass on my email address if you thought it would be helpful for her. I think it is good to include the School Counsellor if you\'re not getting the response or assistance required from the class teacher. Kind regards, Nicki in NSW
— nicki, NSW

We Now have the answer, it has been the best meeting and advice we have ever had. Thank you so much dawn, you have given us hope.
— Janice Whyte

Dear Dawn, Thank you so much for assessing the children yesterday, it was a long day and we appreciated the amount of time you'd spent with us answering all those questions. You should have seen my kids faces when I told them that dyslexics are some of the smartest, creative & successful people in the world. We went through the list and they were so surprised and overjoyed! Thank you for your support and we look forward to starting your program. I'm sure we will be in touch! Love & Blessings Joanne Popal S
— joanne popal

Thank you Dawn. It looks as if it is all there. At least now I have something to take to school and hopefully his new teacher will work with me on this. I've made an appointment with Jean-Pierre and we are starting on your phonics course tomorrow. George even seems happier now we have an explanation for his schoolwork issues and is telling everyone he is dyslexic just like Bear Grylls. I'm so pleased that I came to see you as I now feel better equipped to help him. I'm sure I will be in touch again. Emma
— emma kelly

this mother had gone to a good developmental optometrist before seeing me so her daughter's reading had picked up. she was also getting help. Its is stupid to think that dyslexics cannot be taught to read to read. i mean do teachers think that Einstein could not read, or Darwin, or Richard Branston? or for that matter me? the parents who get on the best are those who are polite and grateful for what the school has done so far, but very firm about the changes they want. dawn
— dawn, perth

Hi Dawn Rebecca Mackenzie here the home school family from Safety Bay. Just wanted to let you know how great things have been since we saw you had how much we have achieved, particulary Ruby, the program has made my life and the kids sooooo much easier and they are actually learning yay !!!!! Ive been meaning to let you know for ages but we have been on such a roll there has been no time to waste !!! The home school moderator was equally impressed. 'So thank you thank you thank you, you have changed our lives !! Regards Rebecca
— Rebecca MacKenzie

Dawn, I want to convey our gratitude to you for the assessment on and subsequent report you provided, for Nadia. The report was a great help to her School and to her teachers and they were able to structure and formalise Nadia\\\'s learning, according to your instructions. Whilst the class teacher and School had no experience/qualifications in working with dyslexic/CAPD children, they were able to follow your instructions with ease. This approach has seen Nadia position herself, based on performance, in the 'top group for English (a massive achievement for a dyslexic/CAPD child), Maths and other core subjects. Nadia also achieved above National and School average performance across her Yr 5 NAPLAN tests. Besides the academic improvements, Nadia show greater self confidence and is much happier with herself. Nadia could not have achieved these outcomes without your ongoing coaching, support and and the guidance given to her teacher/School. Thank you Dawn and we will see you soon, to pick up where we left off in 2011.
— rajiv rajan

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