Dyslexia: The Davis Method - NéoSanté article

NéoSanté, a Belgian magazine devote to Global Health, includes a detailed article about the Davis program in a recent issue.

The article, written in French, is titled La Méthode Davis: Un espoir pour les dyslexiques (translation: The Davis Method: Hope for Dyslexia)

The article is written by Davis Facilitator Betty Rossitto. There are now more than 50 licensed European facilitators who provide French language services.

A Gift of Dyslexia workshop is scheduled in Paris from May 3-6.

More information;

• Contents of NéoSanté Issue #18 
• More Information 
• Apprende Autrement web site

Dyslexia: The Davis Method - Symbol Mastery

Davis Symbol Mastery — the modeling of words in clay – is based on the idea that each word has three parts: what it means, what it looks like, and how it sounds.

When all three parts are fully understood and learned, the word is mastered.

Brain research shows that all skilled readers make this connection, but the balance struck between sight, sound, and meaning may differ depending on the written form of language.

In languages that are phonetically consistent, such as Italian, readers tend to rely first on letter-sound correspondence (phonology).

Readers of a character-based alphabet, such as Chinese, rely more heavily on the correspondence between letter shape and meaning.

English uses an alphabetic system but an orthography (spelling system) that is influenced largely by word meaning (morphology). That is why English spelling is inconsistent.

Noted psychologist and research professor Uta Frith, explains that skilled readers make instant mental links between the sounds, appearance, and meanings of words.

English readers rely more heavily on the meaning element, because knowing the meaning is often also the key to knowing how the word sounds.

Dyslexic readers typically struggle because it is harder for them to make the connections automatically.

That is why the Davis system relies on modeling word meaning together with mastering the visual sequence of letters and the sound of the whole word.

Learn more:
Three Parts to a Word
Davis Symbol Mastery Support
Davis Symbol Mastery Kit

Dyslexia the Gift: Picture at Punctuation and Reading Comprehension

An extract from the Davis Dyslexia site:


"Picture at Punctuation" is a multi-faceted tool that builds many dyslexic weaknesses into strengths if it
becomes a habit by being practiced every day for the first 30 days after a Davis program. It is the third and final tool introduced as part of Davis' "Three Steps to Easier Reading." — but it offers much more to students than merely improving reading skills.

The tool begins with a mental picture, that is formed by the reader whenever encountering punctuation in print. The key is to take the words, stopping at the end of each thought, segment, or sentence, and translate them into the pictures the dyslexic mind processes and retains. It can be used effectively with spoken as well as written words.

The picture can be very simple. It needs to depict every important thing in the sentence or clause, and it should not have anything that doesn't belong. Just as with the clay models formed in Davis Symbol Mastery, it should be "as simple as possible, as complex as necessary".

This process teaches the dyslexic and builds in the reader the ability to harness the imagination and limit it to what the writer intended. If the author didn't mention a dog, but that dog is "necessary" to the reader in order to picture the "comfy home" the author did mention, the reader may picture it until it becomes confusing and a detriment to comprehension/retention — but recognize the author didn't place the dog there, the reader did.

The purpose of writing is to pass the thoughts of the writer across time and space — it is the responsibility of the picture thinking reader to get the writer's intention/inflection by limiting his picture to what is written and properly using the punctuation to gain intention/voice inflection.

When a reader/listener adds too much to the picture, the intention of the written/spoken word is lost as the reader "writes" his or her own story or instructions. Likewise, when a dyslexic reader/listener cannot picture something, it doesn't exist for him or her and is not included in the retained picture.

Forming pictures helps with oral expression and the ability to listen and follow instructions.

For more information click here Dyslexia the Gift: Picture at Punctuation and Reading Comprehension

The Davis Method for Dyslexia and Dyscalculia

The Davis Method Learning Foundation in the UK