Reading Season - Read for 10 Minutes A Day!

How stupid is this? It’s just as stupid as telling a blind man to see - it won’t work.

People don’t have a choice as to whether they find reading easy or hard. 80% of children develop reading and comprehension skills easily, but 20% find it difficult, no matter how hard they try! This is not teachers’ fault, nor is it parents’ fault. For the 20% of children who struggle with reading, extra practice will only make a significant difference in a small number of cases.

Research into the role of the skill learning centre of the brain (the cerebellum) will eventually reach education policy makers, when that happens they will realise that the big transformation in people’s ability to read will happen when they have completed a cerebellar developmental programme.

‘Strictly, …………..’ Kenny Logan

What a star - he puts absolutely everything into whatever he tries. It is wonderful to hear him kindly giving Dore credit for his ability to remember the complicated sequences. He has worked unbelievably hard in training - he does himself a disservice. .

So if you are not sure who to vote for - vote for Kenny, he deserves it!

What a result - congratulations to England for the Rugby World Cup Final

Every Britton was proud of them; they made such fantastic progress during the last few weeks and put their heart and soul into it!

There were, of course, several Dore graduates represented in International Rugby teams during the World Cup - they all did themselves proud too.

2011 will be a different story - we intend having a huge number of Dore graduates in many of the teams, I’ll keep you informed of this closer to the time.

Being Welsh myself, of course, I may have just a little bias towards my home country’s team!

Children Suffering From “Deep Anxiety” Over Modern Life

No surprise to parents and teachers here!
Many children that experience this are likely to be struggling with every day skills like reading, concentration and co-ordination. Usually they are very bright but are underperforming in their school work. Their self-esteem becomes damaged because often they are told that they are thick or lazy, when in fact the opposite is true.

I can’t wait for the day when the labels such as, dyslexia, dyspraxia and ADHD spell out that a child almost certainly has wonderful hidden talents. This would be in stark contrast to the negativity that surrounds these labels today.

We have a long way to go, but now we are gaining a much better understanding about what causes these symptoms and how these symptoms exist in those that are very intelligent “underneath” - a solution is insight. We ought to be providing all the training possible to teachers and parents so that they understand what is going on in the minds of children.

I’m a big fan of teachers worldwide - they do an amazing job. It’s not their fault that, in virtually every country, training for mainstream education only includes the smallest amount of time on learning difficulties. This is despite the fact that often teachers have to cope with learning issues in 20% of their class.

Perhaps someone will give these ideas a try and see if it takes away some of that “deep anxiety”.

Is Obesity More Common If You Have Learning Issues?

We have been asked this question a number of times - it would be a very exciting research project if somebody wants to do it! “Comfort eating” is something we tend to do when we are in overload, which itself is often caused by lack of automaticity, in some physiological process.

It would be logical to argue that someone who has a tendency to be impulsive is likely to give little thought to the consequences of the food they are eating.

Wouldn’t it be great to have a research project done in a school where truancy, obesity, bullying etc. are all measured to see if there is any link with the development of the cerebellum? It could be a great project for Jamie Oliver!

Brown's 'World Class' Pledge

Let's hope Gordon Brown’s pledge to make British schools 'World Class' can be achieved. There is a long way to go before our schools can reach this standard.

Here are a few suggestions for you Gordon.

1 Stop blaming teachers for poor literacy - it isn’t their fault.

2 Make sure that teachers have more than a total of half a day’s training on learning difficulties. 20% of the children they are going to teach struggle with different learning styles, up to 80% of their time can be spent dealing with them and yet we spend less than 1% of their training time on it - crazy!

3 Do some research on how exercise programmes, like the Dore Programme, can work together with good teaching and get results that you have never dreamed of (they would really be world class!)

4 Develop a totally different vision for SENCOs - instead of SENCOs only being given enough time and resource to get struggling children “on to the bottom rung of the ladder” develop a much more appropriate measure. We could develop programmes that get children “to where they could have been had they never had a problem”. To achieve this you will need to recognize that many children with learning difficulties have enormous talents and often their symptoms are simply a thinly veiled mask to a creative genius.

It is quite possible, of course, that Gordon intends to do all this - let’s hope.

Dyslexia Awareness Month

When will we get our priorities right? Dyslexia is an enormous issue, those who experience the problem do need all the “awareness” they can get. So few people know what causes it and hardly anyone knows what can be done about it.

A couple of weeks ago I was in Boston, USA during the “ADHD Awareness Day”, but sadly it didn’t get a single mention in the press, yet O J Simpson managed to take up at least 75% of news time over the whole day!

Here’s to October multiplying the number of people who start to understand this big concern.

The theory behind sport development

We are always being asked how the Dore Programme helps sporting skills - here’s the shorter answer. The cerebellum is the skill centre of the brain, it co-ordinates the brain’s ability to link mental and physical tasks together. With reading this involves the process of eye tracking and phonological understanding. With sport it is the ability of the brain to link eye movement with foot movement (to kick a ball for instance).

The cerebellum is the clever part that “hard wires” these skills. What Dore does is improve the areas of the cerebellum that are not fully developed. So whether it is improved reading skills or improved sporting skills, this exercise programme is targeting the precise area that can make all the difference.

Because of the amazing success we have seen in elite and amateur athletes (Paul Nixon who had a wonderful debut playing cricket for England at the age of 36, Kenny Logan who asserts that he had the best years of his professional career after the Dore Programme, Tom Rees who made an incredible rise into the English Rugby Team after doing the Dore Sport Programme, the list goes on). So, after some thrilling trials we are going to make it official - the Dore Programme can improve learning and sporting performance. For amateur and elite athletes we will be announcing a specialised Dore Sport Programme. Let’s hope a few Olympic athletes do it before next year!

Undiagnosed Dyslexia in the UK

Two million people in the UK are “undiagnosed dyslexics”. Some argue this might be a gross understatement, they may be right. I actually see it in reverse - “Two million people in the UK with undiscovered potential”! I can’t wait for the day when everyone realises that poor reading is usually a mask for significant intellectual capacity, something we can now release.

So, let’s stop spreading negativity and let’s point out the hidden potential.

I will not let you down

What a great promise from the Prime Minister at Bournemouth - “I will not let you down”. The trouble is he’s only going to make decisions based on the advice other people are giving him. He’s been very logical in his approach to advisers in many key areas, if only he was in the area of learning and behaviour.

So, if you bump into him please suggest that he gets some medical advisers who can educate him about the wonderful breakthrough in science that explains dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADHD and associated problems.

If he’s true to his word (and I think he will be) he will provide Government funding to help transform millions of lives.