Claire Ashmore

About Me

As a literacy teacher and lifelong learner, for many years I noticed children and older students who, no matter what I did or how many ways I tried to help, had difficulties moving forward academically.

It turns out that I was dyslexic and dyspraxic myself! That was when I found out about the Davis Programme. Wow, once I saw and experienced the results and positive change for myself, I just had to do the training. I am passionate about this work now as I have found something that really helps.

I am so happy now to offer Davis programmes at my home in Cambridge, New Zealand. My clients learn to use the simple visual and kinaesthetic Davis tools and do the creative and interesting follow-up to achieve their goals and finally move forward.

I also facilitate programmes for individuals in schools, tertiary institutes and organisations anywhere in the world.

Davis programmes to help your child to become and remain focused

It turns out that Dyslexics are intelligent people who experience great difficulty with some or all of the following; reading, writing, spelling and mathematical symbols.

However, dyslexia is not limited to literacy issues. It can affect a range of areas, including motor skills, organisation, focus, time and processing difficulties.

Because the root cause of dyslexia is not understood, individuals are often treated as though they are being deliberately ‘difficult’ and uncooperative or lazy.

Davis programmes address the root cause of disorientation which can, interestingly, be an underlying strength. Once the Davis Tools are applied – simple visual and kinaesthetic tools – disorientation is controlled and symptoms naturally fall away.

Before you choose a Davis programme for your child, you book in for an initial consultation to see if the programme will suit. It is interesting and is at no cost and no obligation.

The most successful programmes are those where the family participates in the programme at the end of each day, setting aside the time to really understand why their child has had these issues and what the underlying strengths and confusions are, and how to support them during and after the programme.

It’s a very positive and family-centred approach. It’s gentle, positive and step-by-step.

I am also happy to pop into your child’s school to explain the process to your child’s teachers. This can be helpful, so the teachers know how to support your child.

 

Sometimes the positive results are so dramatic by the end of the 5-day programme that parents and child may think they do not need any follow-up. Actually, you need to do the follow-up to strengthen the new neural pathways for permanent change to occur.

The follow-up support is in the form of ‘Team client’ or whānau support. Not only do the family members learn and even experience what their child is learning at the end of the day, but, on the final day I explain how they will be helping their child post-programme. I am also available for questions via text, phone, email for the 5-6 months of the programme. The communication and engagement post-programme is lovely and we all celebrate milestones as they occur.

Physical environment

Families come to my home in Cambridge where I run the programmes in a dedicated room with peaceful, rural views. This gives it a relaxed homely feel. I can also travel (travel and accommodation costs would be extra).

I provide morning and afternoon teas unless the child has special dietary needs in which case, I ask parents to provide the food your child can eat. Family members usually take the child out to lunch for an hour for a good break after the morning session. There is plenty of parking here.

I am available for questions via text, phone, email for the 5-6 months of the programme. If you would like to know more about how I can help, then check out our website or text me and I can give you a call back.

Services

  • Free initial consultation
  • Dyslexia
  • Dyspraxia
  • ADD/ADHD management
  • Remediation of dysgraphia (handwriting issues)
  • Davis Dyslexia Correction
  • Davis Maths Mastery
  • Davis Attention Mastery
  • Davis Reading Programme for Young Learners
  • One-to-one, individualised assistance
  • Bedwetting beyond normal age

Services

  • Free initial consultation
  • Dyslexia
  • Dyspraxia
  • ADD/ADHD management
  • Remediation of dysgraphia (handwriting issues)
  • Davis Dyslexia Correction
  • Davis Maths Mastery
  • Davis Attention Mastery
  • Davis Reading Programme for Young Learners
  • One-to-one, individualised assistance
  • Bedwetting beyond normal age

Jared* has always struggled with reading. He was read to a lot, and read with a lot. Homework reading was always done but when he stumbled on words, I would encourage him to sound it out, which is how I (even in old age) find out what words are. However, nothing seemed to work. Over his school years he had a lot of help, but somehow, he did not progress.

He has always been a super-bright, super-interested and super-aware child loving to learn and fascinated with science. He wanted to do it, but it just didn’t happen. There were many behavioural problems throughout his schooling also.

Since the programme, he is quietly confident. He worked hard learning and claying all his trigger words, constantly calculating when he would be finished and when he would have learned them all. That became an enjoyable game. His reading improved, and he could finally do it. When the sentences made sense, he wanted to read on.

Not long before he had completed all the trigger words, he was unexpectedly asked to read in front of a class and I happened to be present – there were difficult words and my heart was in my mouth wondering what would happen and how he would manage it. He took a deep breath, checked he was on point, and set off – no one in that room could have guessed there had ever been a reading problem, he did it superbly – his satisfied smile as he sat down said everything about his achievement.

Throughout the time he worked on his trigger words, we saw many examples of the triggering process, and it was great to see how once the trigger word was mastered, he immediately knew it, stopped unconsciously skipping over it in his reading exercises and how this lead to accurate comprehension.

This has been a wondrous process, seeing him master the skills to enable him to read. Yes, it was hard work; yes, it took commitment; yes, it took consistency and self-discipline; and yes, he did it. It was exciting for me, and a privilege to be part of the process. I learned such a lot and will always treasure it as one of my special highlights.

Best wishes and thanks for all your help

Jared’s Nan