Who will I work with?
You’ll work with me, Elsie Johnson, Director and owner of Learning Options. I am a licensed and certified Davis Dyslexia Correction® Facilitator as well as a Learning Disabilities Network Registered Educational Therapist. As such, I’ve matched what I do to what the client needs and how they learn best, through the last twenty years in my private practice.
My very first teaching experience in 1970 showed me the suffering and frustration of an otherwise bright child. All of the instruction this third grade child had received was unable to provide him the opportunity to learn to read.
My five years teaching at the Campus School at Smith College in the 1980’s highlighted that differences continue to exist despite the best economic, social, and education resources.
Then in 1990-1995 the wonderful opportunity to teach at Landmark College, the only college in the world for students with specific learning disabilities taught me to look at the complex set of skills required to learn, an appreciation of differences in processing styles and speed, and how to address needs using the student’s strengths. Using preferred modalities [i.e. color and shape for visual thinkers, sound for auditory, touching and movement for kinesthetic/spatial] posed the issue of getting information to the student.
However, even with the advantage of these tools, some students still struggle. Even though the information could get in to the student, they were not always able to receive it; these inconsistencies were a barrier. Then in 1999 a student told me about his tools from the Davis Dyslexia Correction® program.
It makes total sense that Ron Davis, a dyslexic adult who’d suffered through the ‘retard’ label as a schoolchild, made the discovery that is so simple yet so sensible – how to use his gift of imagination and creativity that all dyslexics share.
Every student can benefit from knowing when he/she is oriented/focused, and how to use imagination to regain focus quickly and easily when confusion disorients him or her – this is the basis of Davis Orientation Counseling®.
For students who struggle with associating sounds with letters and meaning, using their creative imagination strength makes the connection that has been unavailable in any other way. Davis Symbol Mastery® modeling creates meaning for the student, and connects the symbol, the meaning and the sounds – this is Symbol Mastery®
The best part of all is individuals respect their individual differences and use them to their advantage to create success in their lives. In my full time practice based out of Western Montana and Western Massachusetts, I work with talented adults and children to use the learning style as an asset.
Professional services described as Davis®, Davis Dyslexia Correction®, Davis Symbol Mastery®, Davis Orientation Counseling®, Davis Math MasterySM and Davis Learning Strategies® may only be provided by persons who are employed by a licensed Davis Specialist, or who are trained and licensed as Davis Facilitators by Davis Dyslexia Association International.
