Has anyone used the Dore method to cure dyslexia and is it worth the money

Loshad - what is toe by toe? Thanks

banana knickers - would be much more tempted to try toe by toe - will cost you about £18 iirc, we use it in school and at home, has made a huge difference (can progess onto wordwasp when get very skilled - costs another £15-20), also have you explicity said to scouts about the dyslexia - i have ds1 mildly dyslexic, and ds3 really quite dyslexic, and for both i cornered the scout/cub leader and told them that if they gave them written stuff to read/follow that they couldn't and weren't being diffult or unco-operative and haven't had any probs on that front at all (thank god as they get enough elsewhere0

I just wanted to add that if anyone has £2K to spend, that money would be better spent on 1:1 specialist teaching outside of school.

I amalso the mum to a dyslexic, who is now at a very good uni, so take heart and don't feel dyslexia is something that holds people back.

I have very strong feelings on this as you will see...
as an SpLD specialist teacher, I am aware of all themethods used with dyslexics.
The Dore method does not use any new theories- all the man has done (and he is a business man, don't forget) is to promote existing theories, packaged in a very expensive manner.

There has been research around for years that shows that some dyslexics have problems in the brain centred around the cerebellum. There are already books around that parents can use, showing exercises to do at home that stimulate this part of the brain- and that may eventually help with some aspects of dyslexia. This is not new.

There is no cure for dyslexia. All dyslexics need a structured phonics-based teaching programme to improve their literacy.

There are no concrete results for ths Dore porgramme, and the endorsements from ed psychs are not necessarily independent!

The other point is that the staff who administer the program have very little training, and thre are no long term studies of whether it works. It may be that the children respond to the extra focus on their problems, feel more motivated, and their parents also spend more time with them on their reading etc than they did before they started the Dore program.

What worries me most is the cost of thei treatment- if it were so good and offered a lasting "cure" wouldn't anyone who really wanted to help dyslexics want to make it available to as many people as possible for a very small fee- not thousands of pounds?

And finally, this method has not been endorsed by the BDA or any other independent dyslexia researcher.

My ds is doing Dore programme and he's better than he was last year but I don't know why - he changed schools and I trained as a dyslexia specialist teacher so I'm doing multi-sensory work with him as well. We signed up with a cynical attitude. He's certainly much more co-ordinated and fidgets far less, and his handwriting has improved as has his football and netball. He's more organised too but all of these could simply be to do with getting older. Not sure quite why though. We went into it knowing that we might well be wasting our money and we were happy to do so. (Being a teacher and a parent = over-analysing everything, poor dh!)

Yes, I would love to. (Haven't registered for CAT service yet, will do it tonight!) As I said before, this seems to be mainly a boy thing, so it's nice to hear of a girl having similar experiences.

Babygrand, glad you think the book might be some help. It was the drink/drugs bit that finally got my mother's head out of the sand from her "she will be fine when she is an adult you won't notice". I do think though that good intervention when they are young paired with finding things that they are good at and focusing on them a lot to build self esteem that the future can be quite a rosy one. Well I hope so anyway ! I've just realised that both our DDs are in Year 3, do you fancy having a chat off board ? If so CAT me and don't worry if you would rather not

we are on it at the mo even have all the books here if you want me to scan a couple of shets to let you look

TBH its not working yet and cost me £2000

bananknickers, been watching this thraead - we are also looking for the 'Holy Grail'
. Would you like to CAT me (or I could CAT you?) in order to let off steam/compare notes/ etc etc? I have a 9 year-old dswho sounds exactly as you describe your ds, even down to the audio processing problems and immaturity and having to leave Scouts beleive it or not!

Sorry, can't get link to work...

But at least I have mastered smileys

Bananaknickers

Books from this publisher might also be suitable for your son:

\link{http://www.barringtonstoke.co.uk}

The topic/interest level is for older children but the reading ability required is much younger. So a twelver year old, for example, would find a subject to interest him, and need a reading age of, say, 8, to be able to read the book.

I recommend "Gameboy". Our local library stock some but not many. They occasionally come up on eBay. And Amazon.

hth

Have just obtained the Madeleine Portwood book - am optimistic about being able to do something to help dd.

Was disturbed to read in that Sunday Times article that a large proportion of children with dyspraxia will go on to have drink/drugs problems. It just gets worse...

sorry I realsise i missed abit-
between 11 and 17 I got very keen on cycling. cycled A LOT, was given a fair bit of freedom to do this by my parents. Spot the simiailarity to teh DORE thing -Regular exercise, motor control, vision control, concentrating on other things whilst exerciseing.

"cure" dyslexia ? Thats a BIG claim and one Id be very sceptical of. Dyslexia isn't an ilnes, its a condition. You can help give a child coping stratagies and find good ways for them to learn things, but "cure"? might as well say hearing aids are a cure for deafness.

Hard as it seems to believe now, lots of unhappy dyslexic kids DO grow up into confident happy dyslexic adults. If it were my child I'd be looking other more affordable ways to boost his confidence and self esteem before taking out a loan to fund a gamble.

Is there something your boy enjoys doing that you can surport him in doing and getting good at. 11 is a difficult age for LOTS of reasons, but he will get older and will change.
personally at 11 I was a bit of a mess like your son and my parents were where you are now. By 17 I was confident & knew what I wanted to do for a career. It didn't require exams needed some practical training in craft skills nad is what i still do a for a living. Just dont; ask me to type acuratly, I still can;t do that.

I have just found a link to the article I read if anyone wants to read it. But I can't find the letter that Cat64 is referring to.

That's interesting Cat64, it must have slipped under my Mum's radar. I gave up with the Sunday papers ages ago as I never got round to reading them and she has been very good at keeping me informed on bits she thinks I should know.

Hopefully this will make Bananaknickers feel better about not borrowing the money

Sorry Babygrand for not being back to you before. The Madeleine Portwood book is very good and well worth the money, I need to get mine back from a friend I lent it to. My Mum saved the article for me, it was from the Sunday Times and I think within the last 8 weeks or so, sorry not to be more specific.

Have just found the Madeline Portwood book on Amazon for £21.50. Definitely worth a shot before going down the £2K route!

My son had it.

Biggest waste of f money ever. It made no difference at all. Meant to take 18 months, at end of 14 months no change at all. Then suddenly told because he has dyspraxia (he doesn't) it would take 2 years.

However, am a teacher, and SENCO at my school, knew of 2 students who had improved with it.

I am v cynical TBH

A reading tutor who uses a Synthetic Phonics method should be able to help him with his reading and spelling. You could ask if there is a tutor near you on any of these sights:

www.syntheticphonics.com
www.rrf.uk.org
www.dyslexics.org.uk.

It would be a lot cheaper than Dore. Also, it might help with the audio processing problems as it concentrates on the sounds in words.

You could also get help and advice on these sites from other parents who have tutored their children themselves and overcome similar problems.

Does he get extra help at school?

ChocTeapot - I believe my dd is dyspraxic, although haven't got an 'official' diagnosis. She doesn't get any help at school. Would be really interested to read the article you mentioned and find out more about Madeleine Portwood. Do you know the date of the article?

I read an interesting article about Dyspraxia in the Times that my Mum had saved for me. There was a lady whose daughter had done it and she felt it had been successful. But it was interesting to see it contrasted with Madeleine Portwood's work which she says she is happy for parents to try and basically will cost the price of a wobble board. Also the stuff that the DORE technique is based on isn't new and nothing that someone determined can't get hold of and have a go.

A friend of mine has a DS with dyspraxia and I think they have tried the DORE method, she was a little unconvinced. I'm not tempted with DD, she gets access to a lot of excercises through school & when she had physio. We could afford to pay for it at a push but I am not convinced by it.

My knowledge of dyslexia is very limited, however I personally think you are better off using your time rather than borrowing money to really push for access to the help that can be available for your child. It's really rubbish that some teachers have made you feel like cr@p. I would be going to school and really pushing that he gets the support he needs. Maybe ring IPSEA (do a google) and have a talk with them, they should be able to advise you what support is available and help you deal with the school to ensure that he gets this.

Please don't feel guilty for not having the money.

I read the book and looked into Dore for both DC.The book is well written and tugs at your heart strings but the thing that gets me about Dore is there is no independent peer review and has been no independent monitoring of its effects.We can't afford £2K on something that might not work. Anyway you can't "cure" dyslexia but you can help DC to live with it and manage it with different strategies.