Alternative Learning Solutions Hawaii

The program is great and Vickie K*** You didn't give up on us! Many parents with children who have a specific learning disability like dyslexia in Hawaii find themselves in a gap service area The child may be bright and scores very high, even superior in cognitive thinking, verbal communication, and maybe even math but at the other far extreme for reading and writing Often times with this comes confidence, self-efficacy, and behavioral problems (e.g., like inattention) Since learning that my son was dyslexic, I researched and researched all the options available We tried the Orton Gillingham (OG) approach and made some progress but very slowly and over shadowing this was our biggest concern His lack of focus and his confidence in himself was starting to slip away I came across the Davis Dyslexia Correction Center based on Ron D*** research as documented in the “Gift of Dyslexia” — I listened to the entire audio book And really felt that this program had something different to offer — a complete system for visual learners Also of most interest to me was the techniques that teach you “how” to focus, “how” to be aware of your energy level and appropriateness for the situations, “how” to adjust to the right levelMy 7-year old son and I just completed the intensive 10-day Davis Reading Program for Young Learners facilitated by Vickie K*** You I think the only Davis certified facilitator in Hawaii The program is very well designed however I believe that our experience was positive because Vickie is an intuitive teacher She was able to go off script to adjust for my son's needs and believe me my son is an extremely strong willed child with a lot of energy but is also easily discouraged when challenged too much and can basically shut down and tune everyone out Vickie was able to work with him (and me) so that the tools and techniques are now part of our vocabulary We got everything that I wanted from the program— to give my son tangible tools to focus and to have confidence that he can read Now he at least tries to read and when he makes a mistake he doesn’t shut down as often During the post reading test— he read an entire short paragraph and self corrected one mistake; and answered all the comprehension questions correctlyA huge improvement from the pre-program reading testHis proud beaming smile just about made me cryAlso during the week for the first time I started to hear him trying to read signs and things…something started to click for himWe still have a lot of work ahead of us however we are so thankful to have worked with Vickie who didn’t give up on us and genuinely cares for her students and their support system She is not really a tutor…she is more like a life coach because the things we learned are life changing stuff beyond learning how to readNot a miracle worker because the child must be willing, the parent must be supportive and reinforcing, and everyone needs to “release,” focus, and just keep goingEach day we did a step at a time and no matter how difficult it was for my son to have concentrated short attention periods because he was really being challenged to focus (that took a lot of different kind of energy), each day he wanted to return — that said volumes in itself!

I must say it was the worst $100 I’ve ever spent. I called and talked with Vickie and spoke for approximately 30 minutes prior to scheduling my appointment to discuss with her the programs she has to offer and my child's needs (he has Autism, ADHD, and LD). He is in the 6th grade and cannot read; he can only read/write his alphabet. She seemed to understand. She said it’d be $100 for a 3-hour reading assessment, and to bring his handwriting samples.
When my child and I arrived, she had a marble game to keep him somewhat occupied. He was interested in the marble game for maybe five minutes. (The ADHD “Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder” does come with some attention deficit.) She had him write his name on a piece of paper and that was the end of her time with him until we left. The rest of the time gave her sales pitch. She flipped through his handwriting samples and kept putting both hands on her head and shaking her head and saying, “Uh... I just don’t know… I just don’t know.” This happened for approximately 30 minutes. I asked if we could finish the assessment and then maybe she would know. She said she just didn’t know. She then proceeded to pull out her laptop with a presentation for me to see. She had a program for Autism and another one for Reading. As she was going through her PowerPoint slide, each slide had pictures of dogs on it. She kept saying, “I just don’t know why these dogs are on here”, and then later said, “oh well this is someone else’s presentation”. I finally interrupted her presentation and asked if we could get to the assessment because there’s no need to give me the presentation on both the Reading and Autism program if she doesn’t know which one she’ll be using. Meanwhile my child is now going all over her house throwing one of her dog toys around her house. I said that my child is getting restless and if we did the assessment then maybe she would know something. She still wanted to show me the presentation, while I’m constantly scolding my child to be careful not to break something in her house. When I asked her a question about what something meant, she said she didn’t know. She even asked me a question about a term on her paper. What!? I thought she was supposed to be convincing me of what she knew and how she was going to help my child. Closer to the end of the session, I asked her what she did know. I got a blank stare and then she started talking about Dyslexia and hose the dyslexia program might be good for my child. I told her I was not interested in hearing anymore. She interrupted me to show me a book about dyslexia and talk about the guy that wrote it and how she does great work with children with dyslexia, and that Autism is also mistaken for Dyslexia. I had heard enough.
Later she texted me to see if we were interested in the program and to start is approximately $3,000 and she’d do the work at her home office and would definitely see measurable results.
No thanks!