What is dyslexia?
Learn more about our expert therapies and read the stories of how we have set over 1000 children free from learning difficulties.
How do I know if my child has dyslexia?
A child or adolescent who has normal vision and hearing and appears to be a bright, inquisitive learner, but is not developing literacy skills at the expected rate for their age and intelligence, will most likely be suffering from some form of dyslexia.
Most likely your child will also have a number of other symptoms besides the obvious reading, writing or spelling difficulties. We have developed a checklist of common symptoms which you can take in the form of a quick online test. This will be the first step towards accessing help for your child. It will indicate whether they would benefit from a full assessment with one of our expert therapists to discover the underlying causes of your child’s difficulties.
Free Online Symptoms Test
Is your child showing Dyslexia Symptoms? Our purpose is to set children free from Learning Difficulties. We offer tests, assessments & treatment for children across all of New Zealand.
Take our online symptoms test to understand if your child is displaying symptoms of learning or behavioural difficulties.
Start Test
Alternatively, you can read more about the specific symptoms of dyslexia in our detailed article entitled ‘How do I know if my child is dyslexic? The Common Symptoms of Dyslexia’ for you to further identify the symptoms associated with dyslexia.’
How can the Developmental Learning Centre help?
We primarily offer two therapies for children with dyslexia:
Developmental Movement Therapy
Can you imagine trying to build a house without putting in a firm foundation? Trying to remediate a child with dyslexia who simply does not have the equipment ( wiring) and foundation (mature neurological system, good spatial awareness, listening skills and visual perception) for their “house of learning” is very difficult.
At the Developmental Learning Centre, we believe our first task is to address the underlying immaturities and develop a good neurological foundation. To do this we use Developmental Movement Therapy (Extra LessonTM). Central to this therapy is the idea that learning and behavioural difficulties are a result of developmental issues in a child’s early years. This means they may not have received some of the sensory input they needed that form the basis of our learning processes. By repeating early childhood movement patterns, we are able to ‘rewire’ brain and rebuild the pathways and foundation of learning.
Click here to learn more about Developmental Movement Therapy and the amazing results it can have by reading our testimonials here.
Auditory Retraining Therapy
If your child has dyslexia, it may also be a result of an auditory processing difficulty or disorder, and they will be likely to benefit from Auditory Retraining Therapy. This therapy uses filtered music to mature the pathways in the brain needed to recognise different sounds when reading and spelling and to process spoken language quickly and efficiently. Music therapy is also used to treat children who are easily overwhelmed, hypersensitive and anxious, and have difficulty regulating their emotions.
It is relatively new and is not used by audiologists and speech and language therapist in NZ as a rule. In fact your GP, your audiologist and your speech and language therapist may not have heard of it. However it has been in existence for approximately 40 years. It was developed by a French ear nose and throat specialist, Dr Alfred Tomatis (www.tomatis.com ) and is incredibly effective for children with auditory dyslexia.
You can learn more about Auditory Retraining Therapy and the amazing results it can have by reading our testimonials here.
Testimonial - Child who was struggling with the symptoms of dyslexia
Sarah, 9 years 11 months and struggling with symptoms of dyslexia.
Sarah‘s teacher noted that “She struggles to comprehend the text when reading, confuses similar sounds and words, still needs concrete materials for mathematics, has poor letter formation, uses capital letters randomly throughout her writing, and is talkative in class….. She is easily distracted, especially by noise….. “
Her parents also are concerned because “she is feeling increasingly frustrated by her situation and is easily overwhelmed.”
“She is getting additional one to one help at school but she is still struggling.” At a reassessment 6 months after completion of an Auditory Retraining Therapy programme her parents reported “Her reading and writing are now at National Standards”.
Testimonial - Dyslexia and ADHD (Reading and Behavioural Difficulties)
Dyslexia James aged 9 years Before Therapy….James was disruptive and violent at school and constantly in trouble requiring daily phone calls to me from his teachers. He used inappropriate behavior to try to enter or engage in social playa and had great social difficulties.
He was having daily meltdowns and tantrums, and had great difficulty dealing with his own frustration, and he struggled to express verbally how he was feeling. At night he does not fall asleep easily, is restless while asleep and currently he is sleeping 6-8 hours per night.
James was 1 to 2 years behind national standards in maths, writing, and reading even with extra support in class. He didn’t sound out words when reading and his retention of learned words was inconsistent - there one day but gone the next. His writing was untidy and very slow, making lots of reversals of numbers and letters. His focus was poor and he didn’t listen to or follow instructions in class.
After Therapy…. After completing his Auditory Retraining Therapy programme James is more confident, he is happier and he is able to focus better and for longer. He is also more spatially aware.His grades are now closer to National Standards in all academic subjects and he recently met the standard for reading for his age for the first time ever! Joanne (Mum)
Testimonial - Dyslexia and Asperger’s Syndrome (Reading and Learning Difficulties at school)
Mother’s testimonial:
"Josh was so anxious all the time that he followed me everywhere. He was very sensitive to noise, and especially to the echoing noise in the hall during assembly, which he said “makes me want to run away”. He was also diagnosed with ADHD. Joshua would become very oppositional when overwhelmed or anxious and was prone to meltdowns…..
He struggled to make and keep friends….. he stumbled over his words, had very poor listening skills and had very poor eye contact. He was very much behind in academic learning and writing was particularly difficult. His self-esteem was also very low."
Now at 20 years of age Joshua has grown into a fine, confident young man. He has recently landed his dream job on a dairy farm and has been given the added responsibility of milking the herd each day on his own.
Joshua's hand written testimonial can be seen below. 
Does your child display Dyslexia symptoms?
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Unlike other treatments, we take a 100% natural and holistic approach to learning and behavioural difficulties. Instead of looking at your child's symptoms on a superficial level, we assess for the underlying neuro developmental causes and are then able to remediate these to ensure lasting change.
The majority of parents surveyed agreed that the Developmental Learning Centre’s therapy improved their child’s well being at school, reduced anxiety, improved their child’s physical ability, and overall improved their child’s general happiness & relationship with their family.
Pre and post therapy standardised academic testing also shows significant improvements across all areas of learning. We often see an increase of up to 2 years in reading age after 6 months of therapy.
Call 0800 543 399 or Request a free call back with the Developmental Learning Centre to understand if your child could benefit from our natural and holistic therapies.