Newsletter July 2020

So summer is officially here… at last ! We hope you are basking in glorious sunshine and feeling some sort of respite from a very chaotic four months. 

WALK AND TALK THE ‘DYS’ OUT OF DYSLEXIA

is officially launched – and we are SO excited! When something is right, it seems to accumulate an energy all of its own, and our initiative has grown beyond our original idea.

• The first series of podcasts are all ready for Podbean – we will publish one every Sunday and Wednesday in August, and the second series is underway. 

• The walking part is spreading all over Canada like a very positive wildfire.

All the details are here (click here to visit our registration page) so I won’t repeat them, but please DO JOIN IN, just because you can; we will all be walking, biking, running, swimming or even climbing our way through August... skateboarding, sailing, paddleboarding any human powered movement counts.  We are a creative bunch, so photos of strange ways of moving and getting sponsored are all very welcome for our Facebook page and we can do all of the above safely, social distancing if we need to.

PINS

When thinking of a recognition we could provide for our walkers, Sue googled to see if there is a universal symbol for dyslexia, and there isn’t.  SO long story short, we decided to make one.  We have a very talented jewellery designer in our midst, and she was kind enough to consider designing a pin and getting it to the production stage.  One day, I would like to think that she will sell a beautiful silver version of this symbol, as the whole concept of being proud to be dyslexic goes viral !  Our sincere thanks go to her!  More details to follow…

COUNSELLING

I am delighted to be able to introduce Daniela Gielnik to you.  She is the mother of one of my students, a teacher and now is adding counselling to her bow.  I make this introduction because I feel many of you, and/or your children have challenges that she could help with.  There are always ‘knock-on’ effects when a person learns in a different way to the way they are taught. 

Over to Daniela:

 “Over the years I have worked with children, youth, adults and families, helping them navigate their way through difficult situations and unfamiliar territory. The world of the dyslexia is one which I have encountered as a West Vancouver educator and a parent. Over the years I have been fortunate enough to work with Sue Hall in promoting a better understanding of dyslexia as a gift in order to tap into potential as opposed to focusing on obstacles.

My own life experiences bring me to a place of empathy and understanding making me a compassionate, non judgmental companion in the counselling space. My experience of working in a recovery centre and school settings has allowed me to connect with the complex lives of adults, students, parents and their families. My expertise ranges from addressing issues around social emotional issues, anxiety, loneliness, depression, grief and relationships, to name but a few. I like to work together with individuals to explore obstacles, and develop tools for life in the pursuit of mental wellness and life balance.

I like to combine creative influences with evidence based approaches in order to make the counselling sessions meaningful. It is rarely the same thing that will resonate for everyone. I utilize a range of creative inspiration to explore emotions, and offer the client a variety of evocative ways to bring about new understandings. I have experience in Solution Focused Therapy, CBT, Motivational Interviewing, Narrative Therapy, Bibliotherapy and Play Therapy.

If you feel that you could benefit from some help in navigating new terrains, please contact me for a free consultation. I offer a sliding scale in order to reduce potential barriers to those seeking to improve mental health. Check out my website at www.danielagielnik.com,”

TECHNOLOGY

I may have shared my view of technology with some of you, so I apologise for repeating myself, but for the newcomers, here goes.  When a student comes to a Davis program they know they have challenges and they know they have goals.  They take responsibility for their learning by using their focussing, relaxing and energy tools, they free their alphabet of confusions, read with a visual recognition, and fill in the blanks for those trigger words, such as ‘the’, ‘if’, ‘of’ etc.   Post program, whilst continuing the reading exercise and mastering 200+ words, they often have to go back into the school system.  The system is relentless (most of the time) and may make demands on them that are still beyond their reach.

 I am not a fan of the school system’s provision of technology pre-remediation when a student cannot read or write – for me it is a crutch not an empowerment, a third party way of achieving a goal and later on may well become the only way they can survive in the adult world. I also feel, rightly or wrongly, that it absolves the education system of finding a way that does work for all the students (can you hear my bias to Davis Learning Strategies). However, I am a fan of technology being an interim measure while students complete their Davis follow-up, and cope with overwhelming tasks.

 Julie Brewer is the mother of a student who took the program about a year ago and is very involved in his education. She is also a Montessori teacher, working with 3-5 year olds.  She has kindly agreed to share a fantastic personal review of the technology that has proved useful for her son, post-program, see link below. If you would like to contact her, just send Sue an email and she will pass it on – info@thewds.org. We are so grateful for such a comprehensive and road tested list !

Julie Brewer Dyslexia Tech Accommodations

Read More………….

Copyright 2020 Julie Brewer -All Rights Reserved

DAVIS FRIENDLY SCHOOLS

We think its time we made a list of schools that smile kindly on our Davis methods.  We are aiming for a whole Elementary School to be using the Davis Learning Strategies, however, at the moment, we can only list schools where there is one teacher using them, or a school where some of the staff are taking the children through the post-program follow-up, or there is a teacher who is a Davis fan and has referred children to us. I may well have forgotten some, and will keep collecting….

Mill Bay Nature School, Cowichan Valley School District – for those of you on Vancouver Island, I am excited to announce that a teacher who took a Davis program for herself, will be working at this school as of September 2020.  Always good to know that there is an empathetic presence for those with this wonderful way of thinking. info@thewds.org.

Wildflower School, Nelson, BC has one of their teachers using DLS.

Heritage Christine Online School – one of their learning support team has taken a DLS workshop and taken a student through her trigger words.

St. Michael’s Catholic School, Burnaby – have sent students to Sue, and four teachers attended a DLS workshop.

The Sacred Heart, Delta – have sent students to Sue and they assist them to complete the trigger word mastery at school.

St. Anthony’s Catholic School, West Vancouver – have sent students to Sue, and allowed us to host a DLS workshop there.

Donna Doerksen is the teacher/librarian in the Burnaby School  District where 5 teachers took a DLS workshop.

So there we are, we wish you a wonderful summer, very much hope to see many of you, and thank you for your support as we support as many like-minded people as we can. Warm sun-filled wishes, your Board, Sue, Laura, Denny, Carole, Paddy, Nadine, Gisa and Tristan.

Newsletter June 2020

Here we are in June – half way through a year that we might look back on as sort of never happening!  We all hope that your adjustment to our new circumstances has been as easy as possible, and that we are on our way to a slightly more normal life – maybe keeping some of the silver linings – not having to be so many places and do so many things – and making the most of the time in our own bubbles! The WDS bubble has been busy:

COMMUNITY

• This weekend some of us would have been at Camp Elphinstone for the Family Summer Camp weekend… and we take solace in the fact that we might have been a little wetter than planned – however, they are keeping May 29-31, 2021 for us, so we all have plenty of time to pre-order sunshine, and put it in our calendars, so we are hoping for a full house!

• Jan Hagedorn, a teacher, a homeschooling mom, was one of my students who became a Davis Facilitator for a brief period. She very kindly put this guide (click here) together, such a great idea, we are so grateful because not all parents were not designed to be homeschoolers.

OUTREACH

• Sue was extremely excited to be presenting a session at the Learning Ally’s Virtual Conference – Spotlight on Dyslexia, June 5, 2020.  She had no idea it was a worldwide audience, over 9,000 people registered.  The organisation has permission to scan any book and attach an audio recording to it, and apparently they had requests for Fish Don’t Climb Trees to be recorded.  They give audio books to their learning challenged members for free along with a scanned version of the text, with a highlighter that shows you where you are.

• Her session will be available on-demand session through September 30, 2020 to earn up to 16 CE Certificates. Click here to register

• Tristan and Sue have been busy recording a series of podcasts – apparently everyone listens to them these days!  They have recorded 6 already and we think you will really enjoy them; all from people who are sharing all their insights, stories, and the true knowledge gained for experience.  They aim to have 8-10 ready for August as they have more impact when released once a week or fortnightly in conjunction with our Walk and Talk Fundraiser (see below).

• Sue was asked to present two sessions to the UK Davis Facilitators at their virtual Professional Development Day.  Despite the fact that it required a very early start, it was lots of fun, and should any of the facilitators take up her support documents, she suggested they could donate to the WDS.

• Sue and Carole have put in an application for the UVic Conference to be held on October 28 which is very likely to be online. 

FUNDRAISING

• We need to fill our bursary fund. The programs we advocate are not available in the public sector, yet, and it is likely we will receive more requests for bursaries following the CoVid financial hardships. To this end, Gisa has worked tirelessly to send off an application to the Canada Post Foundation, asking them for $15-25,000 for our bursary fund. It was a lot of work, and we are so grateful to her. Grant writing is hardly ever fun !

• At our last Board Meeting it became evident that we also need more funds in our general account. The foundations who are often able to help us are struggling with their own fundraising, no events, no tins at cash checkouts, no car washes etc. SO:

  • We are registered with Canada Helps and for the month of JUNE they are giving us a chance to win $20,000 for our Society – every $1 donated to us is an entry to the competition. Click here or the donate button below to help us win $20,000

  • AND, we are delighted to announce our very own WALK and TALK the DYS out of Dyslexia initiative for the month of August…Read More.

PREVENTION

• We do have funding in our account for Davis Learning Strategies and are looking to hold another workshop in 2021.  We feel teachers have enough to cope with this year just being online and adapting to the new guidelines.  We will be in touch with them before the end of the summer term to see if they need a refresher before September. Details are always to be found at www.davislearn.com.

We wish you all a wonderful summer - we hope to be in touch with many of you as we all walk across Canada - and thank you SO much for helping us to do all we need to do!

Sue, Laura, Denny, Carole, Paddy, Nadine, Gisa, Tristan.

The Learning Ally Spotlight on Dyslexia On-Demand Sessions Available Now

Sue Hall was extremely excited to be presenting a session at the Learning Ally’s Virtual Conference – Spotlight on Dyslexia, June 5, 2020. 

“Spotlight on Dyslexia delivers powerful and impactful professional learning suitable for educators of all levels.

• Learn the impact of early intervention to put students with dyslexia on the path to success.

• Discover instructional strategies to help your students achieve their academic potential.

• Hear how research-driven technology and tools can boost classroom effectiveness.

• Connect with the experts and other educators to share first-hand experiences.”

Their on demand sessions are available until September 30, 2020. To register visit their website here.

Canada Helps chance to win $20,000 for the month of June

We are registered with Canada Helps and for the month of JUNE they are giving us a chance to win $20,000 for our Society – every $1 donated to us is an entry to the competition.

Global Morning News - Month of Giving

Following on from the CKNW Telethon Sue received an invitation to the Global Morning News. Global was featuring small local charities during the December Month of Giving, and Accents Inns donated $500 to every interviewee. You can see Sue’s interview on Facebook - The Whole Dyslexic Society page, and the Positive Dyslexia page or view below. We are grateful to both Global and Accents Inns for rounding off a fabulous 2019.

Sue Hall and one of her students took part in the CKNW Kids Fund Telethon on Giving Tuesday, 2019.

Sue and Becca visited the CKNW Kids Fund Telethon on December 3, 2019 at the Fairmont Hotel, Vancouver. The CKNW Kids Fund has graciously donated funds to students who need some financial assistance, so they can receive a Davis Dyslexia Correction Program. Sue and Becca were delighted to be able to speak on behalf of the Fund. The whole event was quite magical, you could feel the joy in giving; see the phone lines busy; listen to various choirs from local schools, and see the donated amount rising rapidly. Congratulations to all involved as the final total was over 2 million dollars ! Click on the link below to hear the interview.

100 Women Who Care of The North Shore Support The WDS

On December 2, 2019, 100 Women Who Care will be awarding The Whole Dyslexic Society $10,000. The funds will go towards workshops for educators specifically on the prevention methods for Dyslexia. Thank you 100 Women Who Care.

North Shore News 100 Women Who Care

North Shore Community Foundation Grant

The Whole Dyslexic Society has been granted an award of $2,400.00 from the North Shore Community Foundation. The grant presentation ceremony took place on November 28th at 5.30PM at the Polygon Gallery (101 Carrie Cates Court, North Vancouver).

This award will provide funding for the Society’s Community initiative for the 2020 Family Summer Camp weekend. Children who have completed a program, and some parents enjoy a multitude of activities and a rare chance to be with like-minded people for a whole two days !

Many thanks to the Foundation for helping us achieve our mission.

Newsletter November 2019

Dear Everyone… October was an amazingly successful month for The WDS … I hope it was for you too. We are excited to launch our new Newsletter format. We hope you enjoy it and look forward to hearing from you.
Warmest Wishes, Sue Hall, Chair

Achieving our Mission

You may remember that in September Sue went to her first meeting of 100 Women Who Care. All over Canada there are groups of 100 Women Who Care, 100 Men Who Care, 100 Children Who Care, and for smaller communities 100 People Who Care.  They meet 4 times a year, everyone donates $100 each time, local charities put a nomination slip in a box, and three are drawn out at each meeting.  The three charities make their pitch, the ladies vote, and the winning charity gets $10,000.  Well the North Shore branch had just achieved their 100th member when Sue got to the meeting in September, which in itself was an achievement, so it was the first time they had their goal of $10,000.  Guess who was first out of the box of nominations… the WDS…. Sue spoke first, (asking for money to fund Davis Learning Strategies Basic Teacher Workshops) then two other charities spoke, they all voted, and guess who got the first $10,000.   WE DID !!!!   So many women came up to Sue afterwards to say how learning challenges had affected themselves, or their children or their grandchildren.  At their next meeting, December 2, Sue will speak to the assembled women telling them what the money is being used for, and anyone is welcome to come as a guest, it’s at Amica just off Taylor Way.  Let her know … info@thewds.org

Prevention

On October 25/26 there was a scheduled DLS Workshop; 16 teachers attended from Burnaby, Victoria, Nanaimo, Nelson and Surrey.  The presenter, Colleen Millslagle came from Texas, and luckily for us, the workshop was the last part of Stacey Smith’s DLS Presenter training, so fingers crossed, we now have a Canadian DLS Presenter.  It was the perfect photo opportunity for the giant cheque from 100 Women Who Care to be presented.  Thank you to Naomi Chard and Mary McGivern who give philanthropic women the opportunity of supporting local charities… especially us !   I’d like to point out Donna Doerksen in the photo – 3rd from the right front row – I will never be able to thank her enough for all her support over the 17 years she has known about the work we do.  She is currently a teacher/librarian in the Burnaby School District, a total non-picture thinker, and our strongest advocate.  For this event, she got 5 teachers to come and provided the most amazing baking!   

Your Board will be meeting shortly to discuss the best use of this money.  It has always been Sue’s hope that three schools will use these methods wholeheartedly, and provide success stories/statistics that other schools will envy and replicate.  Paddy Carson, Edmonton Facilitator, and antipodean is currently in New Zealand visiting some of the schools using DLS.  This article is an update on DLS schools down under, click here to read more 

Resources

Stacey’s husband Larry Smith was also at the Workshop; he is a Davis Autism Approach Facilitator and Trainer. Many of our children have a few autistic characteristics and he recommended this book, Parenting, Love and Logic. I am also a fan of Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne. In the latest Dyslexic Reader there was an article entitled ‘Ten Reasons why handheld devices should be banned for children under the age of 12’ and the author, Cris Rowan, lives on the Sunshine Coast, working out of Zone’in Programs. Her latest book is The Virtual Child – the terrifying truth about what technology is doing to children.

Outreach

Sue spoke at the Decoda Conference, November 22, 2019, Radisson Hotel, YVR. The audience was made up of literacy proponents from all over BC, who were all wonderfully receptive. Sue received one such response:

‘Your presentation was definitely one of the best that I attended during the conference. I really enjoyed it – so valuable. Thank you for the information and for your good work!’

 She will also be supporting the CKNW Kids Fund at their Telethon, December 3, 2019. They have been kind enough to support some of our bursary applicants for the past few years. Sue was there 3/4 (?) years ago. Donna and Sue have put in an application for the Burnaby School District Pro D Day, February 28, 2020.

Thank you to our Donors and Sponsors

And finally… if you are still awake… more good news… the Canadian Davis Facilitators Association is donating another $1,500 to our bursary fund.  They have been kind enough to do this for several years now and this donation enables us to support clients in other provinces, so thank you!

Ed Roman is an incredibly talented, generous singer/songwriter who is donating some of the profit from his prize winning Red Omen Video (based on his dyslexic struggles) to the WDS – it will be available in Canada shortly.  So many congratulations to Ed, and so much gratitude.  To read more click here.

Thanks to Zella and Maela Aufochs we now have three Christmas Cards added to the WDS selection in our Card Project.  To read more click here. 

Thank you to the North Shore Community Foundation who has granted us an award of $2,400.00 for the Society’s Community initiative for the 2020 Family Summer Camp weekend. Children who have completed a program, and some parents enjoy a multitude of activities and a rare chance to be with like-minded people for a whole two days ! Many thanks to the Foundation for helping us achieve our mission.

Copyright ©2019 The Whole Dyslexic Society, All rights reserved.

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345 East 11th St, North Vancouver, BC, V7L 2G9

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Davis Learning Strategies Basic Teacher Workshops - the missing piece.

The Whole Dyslexic Society sponsored a Davis Learning Strategies Basic Teacher Workshop in Burnaby, British Columbia on October 25 & 26, 2019. 16 teachers participated and we hope to be able to sponsor more of these workshops. The goal is to give K-3 classroom teachers an effective and efficient way to develop the beginning reader into an accomplished reader by the end of 3rd grade and to give their students life long skills in ‘how to learn’. To read more about Davis Learning Strategies visit our page here. We are so grateful to our sponsors, presenters and volunteers for making this possible.

Thank you Davis Dyslexia and Autism Facilitator’s Association of Canada for your gracious donation

This month, DDAFAC has awarded The Whole Dyslexic Society $1,500 for our Bursary Fund. Thank you facilitators ! To read about the need for our Bursary Fund please visit our page here.

Thank you 100 Women Who Care

On October 25, 2019 participants of our Davis Learning Strategies 2- day workshop watched representatives from 100 Women Who Care present a cheque for $10,000 to Chair, Sue Hall. Funds will support our Davis Learning Strategies Basic Teacher Workshops. To read about DLS please visit our page here. We are so grateful to the North Shore 100 Women Who Care. Sue will outline our plans at their next meeting, December 2, 2019.

Ed Roman's "Red Omen" - partial proceeds to support The Whole Dyslexic Society

Many Thanks to Ed Roman for his generous contribution to raising awareness and supporting our mission.

Follow Red Omen the Video on Facebook

Purchase/Rental available in US/UK at this time. Canadian options coming soon !

What if English were phonetically consistent

Fun video that highlights why phonics is a disaster for many.

The Dyslexic Reader Issue 11, 2019, Vol 79

Community Flax to Linen Growing Project

The WDS Newsletter - July 2019

Dear Everyone

The summer holidays have arrived ...... I am sure there is much relief amongst my students and their families! The weather is gorgeous and touch wood it will be a fabulous summer for you all.

The WDS Newsletter - March 2019

AGM - Year in review

Well, fingers crossed no more snow, and Spring is here ! Major news is a SAVE THE DATE for our Family Summer Camp weekend, May31 -June 2, 2019, see attached email.

On February 23 we had our AGM.

The WDS Newsletter - January 2019

Year in Review

Dear Everyone,

We all hope you had a lovely Christmas break, whether full to the brim, or nice and quiet, and of course, we hope that 2019 will bring you all that you could ever wish for. This year has blown me away already.

The WDS Newsletter - October 2018

Dear Everyone,

Last week was Dyslexia Week – apparently, created by the ‘regular’ dyslexia community. SO, I thought it would be appropriate to send this Newsletter bringing hope to our ‘irregular’ community, even though I am a bit late !