As from today (20.5.09) selected questions and answers will be posted for general information. Names will be changed for obvious reasons.
1. Beth writes that she visited her son's classroom and found it to be total chaos.
Chaos creates nightmares for 'dyslexic' children. In the first place there is too much going on for them to cope with. Then there is no continuity in all the chaos, so he cannot get any track, any sense, of what is happening. This also means that he cannot predict what is going to happen next, so he is not able to calculate how to fit in. On top of this he will be aware that some adult (teacher) is going to want something from him in all of this shambles - work output, participation of some sort - and so his anxiety levels will be huge. All he wants to do is fit in, do the right thing and succeed - and chaos will prevent all of this, and create frustration and tension - a nightmare situation for him. this child is likely to refuse school, and to have nightmares.
This teacher needs to use structures to give predictability and sequence in her classroom - a predictable routine, a visual daily time-line across the top of the whiteboard, clear, consistent verbal instruction.
2. Amy writes that she is going to have to go away for a weekend - leaving her 'dyslexic' 7 yr old behind - and he is already starting to pine!
'Dyslexic' children typically have no concept of time - and mum going away is forever! They also tend to cling to a parent who is consistent and predictable, and loss of this parent for a period is really frightening.
Suggestion; Cut a strip of corrugated cardboard and mark it into 7 sections - one for each day of the week. Make the school days one colour, and the week-end days a different colour. Now put a highliter outline around the days mum will be away, and indicate the departure and the return days. Post this on the wall, with a drawing pin in the day you are up to now. Shift this pin into the next day each morning so as to help the child see the passing of the time.
As mum leaves home on that weekend, take off your used T-shirt and give it to the child to wear to bed or to use as a cuddly, until mum arrives home again. Not only will the T-shirt smell l;ike you, but it will be embued with your energy, which will be very comforting to the child.
This works equally with pets who miss you when you are away. I talk about these ideas in my parenting book, WITH, NOT AGAINST.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
FORUM; QUESTIONS
3. Amy writes that she understands that boys get the wrong picture when told not to do something ('Don't run around corners') - but that surely they must get to understand that 'don't' means don't and learn to accomodate and cooperate as they get older.
Basically the answer to this is NO. Boys, especially 'dyslexic' (picture thinkers) boys see their thinking as a series of pictures. Rather than words in their heads, they have pictures. If we say 'tennis racket' they get a picture of this in their head. If we say 'no step-ladder' they get a picture of a step-ladder in their head. There is no picture of 'no', nor of 'don't'. If we say "Don't leave your skateboard on the drive" - they get a picture of a skate-board on the drive. They do hear the words, but the words themselves have little significance for them - and certainly not the significant impact that the picture does, even at an unconscious level.
Recently I went to a friend's for dinner After patting the dog I headed for the bathroom to wash my hands. As I left the room my host advised me "Don't touch the towel rail, it is very hot."
I washed my hands, dried them on the towel provided, and as I turned to leave the room, my left hand reached out - and grabbed the towel-rail. It was a completely unconscious action on my part, and I left the room with a burned hand, much to the mirth of my friends.
I am 60 years old, of reasonable intelligence, and had just that afternoon presented a seminar looking at 'dyslexia', and the impact of the word 'don't'. To me it was just one more example of the difficulty of living with 'dyslexia' - although on this occasion with no significant outcome.
No, it doesn't go away, and many of us never get to to really be in charge of its impact.
4. Beth writes that she understand 'hyperactivity' and the role of various 'foods' in this, but she is sick of having her beauty-sleep disturbed 50 times a night by the sudden scratching and jerking of her hubby in bed at night. She sees a similar thing in her ten year old son.
This one really pushes buttons for me, because this has been my story for all my life, and it doesn't seem to be diminishing in any way.
For me food additives are the culprit - with ice-cream being one of the worst, although beer and wine are in there too. One small helping of standard ice-cream, or one small can of beer or wine and my whole night is ruined. The effect is two-fold.
In the first case there is the needling effect. About every five or six seconds it feels as if a single needle is being gently inserted into my skin. This happens at any point of the body, and demands instant direct attention - a vigorous scratch - much to the chagrin of my sleeping wife.
I've tried to ignore it, but it drives me mad. And it drives her insane.
The other effect is what I call 'hyper-energised' muscles. In this it is as if various muscles are grossly over-charged with energy, and they then suddenly flex - extend or contract - as a means of expelling or using up the energy - again invariably waking 'she-who-matters-most' who has just got back to sleep after my last scratch.
Diet control is my only weapon on this one, and it basically means personal deprivation of anything yummy after 3.30pm. But sometimes I think "Oh heck.... In reality there is nothing much I can do about it, but understanding my body reactions makes it a lttle easier to tolerate.
Basically the answer to this is NO. Boys, especially 'dyslexic' (picture thinkers) boys see their thinking as a series of pictures. Rather than words in their heads, they have pictures. If we say 'tennis racket' they get a picture of this in their head. If we say 'no step-ladder' they get a picture of a step-ladder in their head. There is no picture of 'no', nor of 'don't'. If we say "Don't leave your skateboard on the drive" - they get a picture of a skate-board on the drive. They do hear the words, but the words themselves have little significance for them - and certainly not the significant impact that the picture does, even at an unconscious level.
Recently I went to a friend's for dinner After patting the dog I headed for the bathroom to wash my hands. As I left the room my host advised me "Don't touch the towel rail, it is very hot."
I washed my hands, dried them on the towel provided, and as I turned to leave the room, my left hand reached out - and grabbed the towel-rail. It was a completely unconscious action on my part, and I left the room with a burned hand, much to the mirth of my friends.
I am 60 years old, of reasonable intelligence, and had just that afternoon presented a seminar looking at 'dyslexia', and the impact of the word 'don't'. To me it was just one more example of the difficulty of living with 'dyslexia' - although on this occasion with no significant outcome.
No, it doesn't go away, and many of us never get to to really be in charge of its impact.
4. Beth writes that she understand 'hyperactivity' and the role of various 'foods' in this, but she is sick of having her beauty-sleep disturbed 50 times a night by the sudden scratching and jerking of her hubby in bed at night. She sees a similar thing in her ten year old son.
This one really pushes buttons for me, because this has been my story for all my life, and it doesn't seem to be diminishing in any way.
For me food additives are the culprit - with ice-cream being one of the worst, although beer and wine are in there too. One small helping of standard ice-cream, or one small can of beer or wine and my whole night is ruined. The effect is two-fold.
In the first case there is the needling effect. About every five or six seconds it feels as if a single needle is being gently inserted into my skin. This happens at any point of the body, and demands instant direct attention - a vigorous scratch - much to the chagrin of my sleeping wife.
I've tried to ignore it, but it drives me mad. And it drives her insane.
The other effect is what I call 'hyper-energised' muscles. In this it is as if various muscles are grossly over-charged with energy, and they then suddenly flex - extend or contract - as a means of expelling or using up the energy - again invariably waking 'she-who-matters-most' who has just got back to sleep after my last scratch.
Diet control is my only weapon on this one, and it basically means personal deprivation of anything yummy after 3.30pm. But sometimes I think "Oh heck.... In reality there is nothing much I can do about it, but understanding my body reactions makes it a lttle easier to tolerate.
Friday, May 15, 2009
OUR BOYS THINK IN PICTURES!
HELP!; OUR BOYS ARE THINKING IN PICTURES!
The headlines are emotional, sensational and repetitive, ‘our boys are failing’. Irrespective of how often we hear it, the message is none-the-less upsetting for anybody with a direct or indirect interest in children, the education system, or our future; our boys are not succeeding satisfactorily in their elemental academic learning.
Acknowledging that issues of academic failure on the part of our younger generation, particularly of our boys, is a journalist’s paradise-playground, the harsh downstream realities, so currently evident in our youth subculture, and so predictable from the evidence to date, raises concerns fueled by emotions ranging from love to fear.
Although recorded history shows clearly that there is nothing new about this situation, our current ‘progress to perfection’ mind-set leaves us little room to sit in complacency while the evidence dances so vividly before us. The education system is failing our little boys, somewhere, somehow. Our little boys stand to become big boys, and at this rate our big boys stand to become big problems – or at least enough of them stand in such a way as we see them as being a problem.
Although the reports persistently tell us there is a problem, they just as persistently fail to indicate where and how the problem lies, and fall glaringly short in terms of any suggestion or indication as to what might be done about it.
As a little boy who experienced such difficulties at school, and who ran perilously close to becoming one of the problematic youth, psychologist Laughton King believes he can shed light on the situation. He claims the explanation is as dynamic, yet as simple as the difference between petrol and diesel.
In his seminars and his books he reminds parents and teachers what happens when we inadvertently put petrol in our diesel car – the engine goes sluggish, overheats, then finally fails to perform. This, he says is what happens when we fail to recognize that many boys under the age of 12 years think in pictures.
He smiles when I look quizzically in response to this statement, as if expecting or indeed predicting my confusion. Thinking just happens – doesn’t it? Few of us probably ever bother to stop and think about thinking, let alone ponder such deep-and-meaningfuls such as how we might think. By way of explanation he gives a thumb-nail description which in essence hi-lights major differences between the way in which most males and females think. He describes girls and women as having a much greater natural skill – and a much greater tendency – to think in words. Boys and men on the other hand, he says have less skill in this arena, but correspondingly more skill in thinking in pictures. This he says explains a lot of the differences in the way men and women operate, and consequently a lot of the difficulties the two experience in communication. This part is familiar ground for most of us.
Despite our gender prejudices, this difference in style of thinking is not just a matter of personal obstinacy, but more a product of the different wiring systems that we have. He talks of ‘masculine’ wiring systems and ‘feminine’ systems, and neurological research that indicates that the feminine system involves up to eight separate centres for language processing (but few for spatial relationships), and that the masculine system has a solitary (and sometimes very lonely) centre for language processing, but has more processing space dedicated to the kinesthetic, tactile and spatial functions.
He points to the obvious – little boys are all touch, crash and go, where little girls are more physically reserved, but talkative in their style. He points to the more obvious – the café where we met for this interview has two or three groups of women talking with varying degrees of animation, and one solitary man hunched over his laptop. Through the window and across the way we see eight large motor-cycles parked outside a café-bar, and their red-and-black leathered owners – the current version of ‘middle-aged-gentlemen’ – sitting quietly with their bikes and their beers in the sun. Their bikes do the talking – or should it be, ‘their bikes make the statement’. Admittedly two women accompany the men, but Laughton draws my attention to their upper-arm tattoos, and with a wordless gesture suggests that I take this into account. What I notice is his distinctly male communication style – gesture, not words.
‘And the relevance to education, and educational success?’ I ask.
“Excuse me for generalizing”, he starts, “but after working with children – mainly boys – with learning difficulties for over thirty years, I feel it is reasonably safe to suggest that up to the age of about 12 years, most boys think predominately in pictures.” “Girls tend to think in words, almost in sentences, creating ‘straight-line’ or a linear thinking style which really suits our schooling system. Our schools are full of words – reading, writing, listening, talking etc – and girls lap this up, with words being a fuel to their thinking. It makes teaching the ‘feminine’ brain a piece of pie.”
He pauses, and a flash of pain passes his eye, “- but for many boys it is different. To varying degrees boys think in pictures. I call them ‘Diesels’. This is a function of their brain wiring. Words are just not a significant part of their system. Their fuel is different, their brain is different, their style is different, and as parents and teachers we need to know this.”
I listen to him speaking, and note the change in his own language, his shorter sentences, as he obviously reflects on personal experiences.
“Consider the teaching staff at your local primary school – primarily female?” Yes, in my case exclusively female, and I pre-empt his next question by acknowledging, ‘All very adept in their language skills.’
“What if they were inadvertently – with the best intention – putting petrol into these little boys’ diesel tanks?” “What I mean is, what if the words they are using were making little sense to the boys – what if their ‘masculine’ wiring system meant that they simply cannot make sense of the words – the language – that their teachers (and parents) are using?”
He invites me to draw a picture, a picture of the instruction “Hurry-up” – one of the most common instructions given to children. “If boys think in pictures, what is the picture that comes up in their head that will tell them what ‘hurry up’ means?”
I’m not much of an artist (more of a word-smith really) and he grins when he sees my rendition of someone running. “Nice picture of ‘run’, but I really wanted a picture of ‘hurry-up’”. Eventually I’m obliged to acknowledge that there is no specific picture of ‘hurry-up’, and he pushes his point by suggesting I draw ‘quickly’, (can’t do), or the instructions ‘tidy up’, (equally can’t do), ‘Put your gear away’ (still can’t do).
‘Enough of this, what should we be saying to boys’, I protest.
On his invitation I find I can draw “Put your bag on the hook behind the door” – it’s a bit like a comic strip, but any pictorial (diesel?) kid could comprehend my efforts there. Similarly the instruction “go brush your teeth – run” fits nicely into picture form, and I am beginning to think of my own family early-morning rush and some changes that might happen very soon.
“That’s ice-berg number one – and there are lots more like it that sink many of our little boys, and severely deflate the self-concept of many others. We tend to call these children ‘dyslexic’ because we see that they are having trouble with language – reading, writing etc – and we tend to think that there is something wrong with them. There is nothing wrong with them, they are perfectly well formed diesels (picture thinkers), and they don’t need fixing. They also don’t need more petrol squirted into their engines – and unfortunately most of our remedial assistance approaches involve just that – more petrol.”
“What they do need is a basic understanding of their natural style, acceptance of their pictorial processes, and for teachers and parents to take this into account. Let’s stop blaming the victim. We need to change us, and what we do, rather than trying to fix the children”.
This is his mission as he moves around the country with Natalie, his portrait-artist wife, in their five ton mobile home. Currently in the South Island, they have dedicated several years to personally visiting most towns in New Zealand, visiting schools, running seminars, and introducing parents and teachers, social workers and policy-makers to what he considers to be one of the most commonly misunderstood social dynamics of our time.
The implications are horrendous, he says. Firstly it cuts so many of us out of successful education. This has a huge impact on the self-concept of a large proportion of our male population. This in turn is reflected in our use of drugs and alcohol, our physical and mental health, our employment dynamics, our incidence of domestic violence, our incidence of split families, our attitude to authority and the law, and directly to our prison population. His passion is obvious.
Our discussion goes on and on, and I learn the impact of negative language (Ice-berg No. 2) and can now clearly see the hypnotic effect when I tell my four-year-old son ‘Don’t use the front door’. My blaming the child now seems so unfair, and I begin to wonder about the label ‘Oppositional Defiance Disorder’.
Ice-berg No. 3 emerges as a series of school rules (e.g. ‘Respect other people’s rights’) which simply cannot be transcribed in pictorial form, and which therefore completely elude the pictorial child’s understanding. A sense of sadness floods me as I suddenly realize who it is who repetitively stands in front of the Principal for breaking the school rules – yet again – and I see a completely new causal connection between learning difficulties and behaviour problems.
Ice-berg No. 4 appears as a complete difficulty when it comes to ‘creative-writing’ in the classroom. So many of these children have a wonderful creative fantasy - which presents itself in pictorial form. They have a head full of pictures, but no words – there is nothing for them to write, because you can’t write pictures. For the person who thinks in words this is so hard to comprehend, and they just see the child as lazy, or unmotivated.
And here comes Ice-berg No. 5. The parent or teacher really wants this child to succeed, and so ‘remedial help’ is arranged. Done with the very best intention, so often this is more petrol for the poor little diesel, and he struggles to comply but ends up failing yet again. Whereas in the past he has been motivated to achieve, now his repetitive failure takes its toll and he becomes motivated to self-preserve – so he withdraws his co-operation and his effort. ‘If I don’t try, I can’t fail’. For his efforts he is tagged as ‘unmotivated’, and with ‘an attitude problem’.
Ice-berg No. 6 is apparently more like an ice sheet, and consists of a whole raft of further dynamics that predictably accompany the ‘dyslexic’ condition. These include a tendency to food intolerances, or even food allergies, a social lonliness born of other children’s intolerance and teasing, an inability to filter-out distracting stimuli (often called ADD – Attention Deficit Disorder, but really an Attention Overdose Disorder), a tendency to reverse direction in both reading and writing, speech and language difficulties (the butt of further teasing), and an inability to think before he speaks.
No. 7, predictably like the polar ice-cap, covers all and takes the form of a major lack of self-confidence and anger that often pervades the rest of his being. This then can either preclude any subsequent personal success, or in some instances creates such a powerful sense of purpose and determination that nothing is ever allowed to get in the way of achievement and success – what ever that means.
‘Is it all bad?’ I ask, recalling some reference to dyslexia as a ‘gift’. The look he returns is tolerant, but barely so. “No, it’s not all bad, but it can seem that way. At 58 years I still regularly have nightmares about my primary schooling. Before we start singing the benefits of being a diesel motor let’s start by getting clear about what a diesel motor is, how it works, and getting really clear about the fuel we put in it.” He pauses, breathes out then adds, “I guess that’s my job”.
I leave the café and our interview with a mixed sense of despondency and guilt, gratitude that I was never one of these, and a determination to join up and present as clear a picture as I can through the words of my profession. Yes, I have a lad of my own, fortunately not dyslexic, but certainly one who leans toward the pictorial.
Laughton’s books contain insights for teachers and parents. He is adamant that they do not contain programmes for the ‘dyslexic’ child. He avoids this approach on the basis that each child has a different presentation – and different needs, and that the teachers already know how to teach. He is convinced that the parents and teachers are already concerned and motivated. They just need insights as to how these children think, how they feel, how they react, so that we can reach them and then teach them. Then we may better work with them – not against them. Hence the titles of his two books; REACHING THE RELUCTANT LEARNER, and WITH, NOT AGAINST.
Laughton is pleased to be available for contact via his email; laughton.king@win.co.nz
Web; www.natalieart.com/ontour.htm Ph; 0274.171.804
Laughton King July 2008
The headlines are emotional, sensational and repetitive, ‘our boys are failing’. Irrespective of how often we hear it, the message is none-the-less upsetting for anybody with a direct or indirect interest in children, the education system, or our future; our boys are not succeeding satisfactorily in their elemental academic learning.
Acknowledging that issues of academic failure on the part of our younger generation, particularly of our boys, is a journalist’s paradise-playground, the harsh downstream realities, so currently evident in our youth subculture, and so predictable from the evidence to date, raises concerns fueled by emotions ranging from love to fear.
Although recorded history shows clearly that there is nothing new about this situation, our current ‘progress to perfection’ mind-set leaves us little room to sit in complacency while the evidence dances so vividly before us. The education system is failing our little boys, somewhere, somehow. Our little boys stand to become big boys, and at this rate our big boys stand to become big problems – or at least enough of them stand in such a way as we see them as being a problem.
Although the reports persistently tell us there is a problem, they just as persistently fail to indicate where and how the problem lies, and fall glaringly short in terms of any suggestion or indication as to what might be done about it.
As a little boy who experienced such difficulties at school, and who ran perilously close to becoming one of the problematic youth, psychologist Laughton King believes he can shed light on the situation. He claims the explanation is as dynamic, yet as simple as the difference between petrol and diesel.
In his seminars and his books he reminds parents and teachers what happens when we inadvertently put petrol in our diesel car – the engine goes sluggish, overheats, then finally fails to perform. This, he says is what happens when we fail to recognize that many boys under the age of 12 years think in pictures.
He smiles when I look quizzically in response to this statement, as if expecting or indeed predicting my confusion. Thinking just happens – doesn’t it? Few of us probably ever bother to stop and think about thinking, let alone ponder such deep-and-meaningfuls such as how we might think. By way of explanation he gives a thumb-nail description which in essence hi-lights major differences between the way in which most males and females think. He describes girls and women as having a much greater natural skill – and a much greater tendency – to think in words. Boys and men on the other hand, he says have less skill in this arena, but correspondingly more skill in thinking in pictures. This he says explains a lot of the differences in the way men and women operate, and consequently a lot of the difficulties the two experience in communication. This part is familiar ground for most of us.
Despite our gender prejudices, this difference in style of thinking is not just a matter of personal obstinacy, but more a product of the different wiring systems that we have. He talks of ‘masculine’ wiring systems and ‘feminine’ systems, and neurological research that indicates that the feminine system involves up to eight separate centres for language processing (but few for spatial relationships), and that the masculine system has a solitary (and sometimes very lonely) centre for language processing, but has more processing space dedicated to the kinesthetic, tactile and spatial functions.
He points to the obvious – little boys are all touch, crash and go, where little girls are more physically reserved, but talkative in their style. He points to the more obvious – the café where we met for this interview has two or three groups of women talking with varying degrees of animation, and one solitary man hunched over his laptop. Through the window and across the way we see eight large motor-cycles parked outside a café-bar, and their red-and-black leathered owners – the current version of ‘middle-aged-gentlemen’ – sitting quietly with their bikes and their beers in the sun. Their bikes do the talking – or should it be, ‘their bikes make the statement’. Admittedly two women accompany the men, but Laughton draws my attention to their upper-arm tattoos, and with a wordless gesture suggests that I take this into account. What I notice is his distinctly male communication style – gesture, not words.
‘And the relevance to education, and educational success?’ I ask.
“Excuse me for generalizing”, he starts, “but after working with children – mainly boys – with learning difficulties for over thirty years, I feel it is reasonably safe to suggest that up to the age of about 12 years, most boys think predominately in pictures.” “Girls tend to think in words, almost in sentences, creating ‘straight-line’ or a linear thinking style which really suits our schooling system. Our schools are full of words – reading, writing, listening, talking etc – and girls lap this up, with words being a fuel to their thinking. It makes teaching the ‘feminine’ brain a piece of pie.”
He pauses, and a flash of pain passes his eye, “- but for many boys it is different. To varying degrees boys think in pictures. I call them ‘Diesels’. This is a function of their brain wiring. Words are just not a significant part of their system. Their fuel is different, their brain is different, their style is different, and as parents and teachers we need to know this.”
I listen to him speaking, and note the change in his own language, his shorter sentences, as he obviously reflects on personal experiences.
“Consider the teaching staff at your local primary school – primarily female?” Yes, in my case exclusively female, and I pre-empt his next question by acknowledging, ‘All very adept in their language skills.’
“What if they were inadvertently – with the best intention – putting petrol into these little boys’ diesel tanks?” “What I mean is, what if the words they are using were making little sense to the boys – what if their ‘masculine’ wiring system meant that they simply cannot make sense of the words – the language – that their teachers (and parents) are using?”
He invites me to draw a picture, a picture of the instruction “Hurry-up” – one of the most common instructions given to children. “If boys think in pictures, what is the picture that comes up in their head that will tell them what ‘hurry up’ means?”
I’m not much of an artist (more of a word-smith really) and he grins when he sees my rendition of someone running. “Nice picture of ‘run’, but I really wanted a picture of ‘hurry-up’”. Eventually I’m obliged to acknowledge that there is no specific picture of ‘hurry-up’, and he pushes his point by suggesting I draw ‘quickly’, (can’t do), or the instructions ‘tidy up’, (equally can’t do), ‘Put your gear away’ (still can’t do).
‘Enough of this, what should we be saying to boys’, I protest.
On his invitation I find I can draw “Put your bag on the hook behind the door” – it’s a bit like a comic strip, but any pictorial (diesel?) kid could comprehend my efforts there. Similarly the instruction “go brush your teeth – run” fits nicely into picture form, and I am beginning to think of my own family early-morning rush and some changes that might happen very soon.
“That’s ice-berg number one – and there are lots more like it that sink many of our little boys, and severely deflate the self-concept of many others. We tend to call these children ‘dyslexic’ because we see that they are having trouble with language – reading, writing etc – and we tend to think that there is something wrong with them. There is nothing wrong with them, they are perfectly well formed diesels (picture thinkers), and they don’t need fixing. They also don’t need more petrol squirted into their engines – and unfortunately most of our remedial assistance approaches involve just that – more petrol.”
“What they do need is a basic understanding of their natural style, acceptance of their pictorial processes, and for teachers and parents to take this into account. Let’s stop blaming the victim. We need to change us, and what we do, rather than trying to fix the children”.
This is his mission as he moves around the country with Natalie, his portrait-artist wife, in their five ton mobile home. Currently in the South Island, they have dedicated several years to personally visiting most towns in New Zealand, visiting schools, running seminars, and introducing parents and teachers, social workers and policy-makers to what he considers to be one of the most commonly misunderstood social dynamics of our time.
The implications are horrendous, he says. Firstly it cuts so many of us out of successful education. This has a huge impact on the self-concept of a large proportion of our male population. This in turn is reflected in our use of drugs and alcohol, our physical and mental health, our employment dynamics, our incidence of domestic violence, our incidence of split families, our attitude to authority and the law, and directly to our prison population. His passion is obvious.
Our discussion goes on and on, and I learn the impact of negative language (Ice-berg No. 2) and can now clearly see the hypnotic effect when I tell my four-year-old son ‘Don’t use the front door’. My blaming the child now seems so unfair, and I begin to wonder about the label ‘Oppositional Defiance Disorder’.
Ice-berg No. 3 emerges as a series of school rules (e.g. ‘Respect other people’s rights’) which simply cannot be transcribed in pictorial form, and which therefore completely elude the pictorial child’s understanding. A sense of sadness floods me as I suddenly realize who it is who repetitively stands in front of the Principal for breaking the school rules – yet again – and I see a completely new causal connection between learning difficulties and behaviour problems.
Ice-berg No. 4 appears as a complete difficulty when it comes to ‘creative-writing’ in the classroom. So many of these children have a wonderful creative fantasy - which presents itself in pictorial form. They have a head full of pictures, but no words – there is nothing for them to write, because you can’t write pictures. For the person who thinks in words this is so hard to comprehend, and they just see the child as lazy, or unmotivated.
And here comes Ice-berg No. 5. The parent or teacher really wants this child to succeed, and so ‘remedial help’ is arranged. Done with the very best intention, so often this is more petrol for the poor little diesel, and he struggles to comply but ends up failing yet again. Whereas in the past he has been motivated to achieve, now his repetitive failure takes its toll and he becomes motivated to self-preserve – so he withdraws his co-operation and his effort. ‘If I don’t try, I can’t fail’. For his efforts he is tagged as ‘unmotivated’, and with ‘an attitude problem’.
Ice-berg No. 6 is apparently more like an ice sheet, and consists of a whole raft of further dynamics that predictably accompany the ‘dyslexic’ condition. These include a tendency to food intolerances, or even food allergies, a social lonliness born of other children’s intolerance and teasing, an inability to filter-out distracting stimuli (often called ADD – Attention Deficit Disorder, but really an Attention Overdose Disorder), a tendency to reverse direction in both reading and writing, speech and language difficulties (the butt of further teasing), and an inability to think before he speaks.
No. 7, predictably like the polar ice-cap, covers all and takes the form of a major lack of self-confidence and anger that often pervades the rest of his being. This then can either preclude any subsequent personal success, or in some instances creates such a powerful sense of purpose and determination that nothing is ever allowed to get in the way of achievement and success – what ever that means.
‘Is it all bad?’ I ask, recalling some reference to dyslexia as a ‘gift’. The look he returns is tolerant, but barely so. “No, it’s not all bad, but it can seem that way. At 58 years I still regularly have nightmares about my primary schooling. Before we start singing the benefits of being a diesel motor let’s start by getting clear about what a diesel motor is, how it works, and getting really clear about the fuel we put in it.” He pauses, breathes out then adds, “I guess that’s my job”.
I leave the café and our interview with a mixed sense of despondency and guilt, gratitude that I was never one of these, and a determination to join up and present as clear a picture as I can through the words of my profession. Yes, I have a lad of my own, fortunately not dyslexic, but certainly one who leans toward the pictorial.
Laughton’s books contain insights for teachers and parents. He is adamant that they do not contain programmes for the ‘dyslexic’ child. He avoids this approach on the basis that each child has a different presentation – and different needs, and that the teachers already know how to teach. He is convinced that the parents and teachers are already concerned and motivated. They just need insights as to how these children think, how they feel, how they react, so that we can reach them and then teach them. Then we may better work with them – not against them. Hence the titles of his two books; REACHING THE RELUCTANT LEARNER, and WITH, NOT AGAINST.
Laughton is pleased to be available for contact via his email; laughton.king@win.co.nz
Web; www.natalieart.com/ontour.htm Ph; 0274.171.804
Laughton King July 2008
NEW ZEALAND LIVE OILS ARTIST
Natalie Tate Painting her People, her Country.
(click on picture to see full enlargement)
(click on picture to see full enlargement)
As a portrait, and landscape and contemporary artist of some 40+ years, Natalie brings precision and creativity to the canvas using a full range of styles, materials and techniques.
Painting from 'live' sittings, from photographic record, photo montage, historial document, or 'in situ', she can capture your family, your moment or your place - for prosperity.
Family portrait in oils on canvas painted from separate photos supplied by client or taken by Natalie. $400.00 to $600.00 per head.
At basic level, black charcoal on toned background, each head $150.
At basic level, black charcoal on toned background, each head $150.
In full oils, full colour, each head $600, with water-colours, pastels being priced between, - with top-quality canvass stretched on wooden frame adding approx $100 to the total price.
Natalie travels in partnership with Laughton King (dyslexic psychologist) and the proceeds of her work go to supporting his work, bringing information about 'dyslexia' to educators, school teachers and parents around New Zealand.
For more samples see her web-site http://www.natalieart.com/ or contact her at natalieart@xtra.co.nz
Thursday, May 7, 2009
The movie THE READER presents DYSLEXIA as a life-force issue
The Movie THE READER presents 'DYSLEXIA'as an adult daily life-force issue.
Went to see the movie THE READER last night. I hadn’t seen any reviews of this movie, so had no idea of how it is being promoted. Now I see it as the perfect complement to the Indian movie of last year, that so cogently presented 'dyslexia' as a social and learning difficulty in children. (Title eludes me). But for my money THE READER is a brilliant presentation of the impact of ‘dyslexia’ on one woman’s adult life.
So now we have the adult version.
It has WWII as a background context, and some viewers might see ‘pride’ as being a major theme. But if we change what we see as pride, to see it really as FEAR – fear of being seen to be dumb and stupid - we now see the impact of ‘dyslexia’ as a daily life issue. More than this, we see the fear of not being accepted, creating a desperate need to fit in, to comply - and yet to always remain aloof, to remain safe.
With 'dyslexics' , a life-time of struggle and failure creates a huge fear of not being 'good-enough' , of not being acceptable, and of eventually being rejected by the people we love. This creates the 'perfectionist', the 'do-gooder', the 'workaholic', the 'critic', and the person who cannot be wrong and won't accept any criticism - a person whose 'solution' to the fears in his/her life creates the very lonliness he/she is desparately trying to avoid.
I will say no more, but hope that these comments will give a context and an insight into the depth of this movie that we otherwise may miss.
In this, the movie is brilliant (as it is otherwise as well), and I would urge anybody who wants to see what ‘dyslexia’ is as an adult life-force issue to see this movie. This is ‘dyslexia’ as I know it.
Laughton King
Went to see the movie THE READER last night. I hadn’t seen any reviews of this movie, so had no idea of how it is being promoted. Now I see it as the perfect complement to the Indian movie of last year, that so cogently presented 'dyslexia' as a social and learning difficulty in children. (Title eludes me). But for my money THE READER is a brilliant presentation of the impact of ‘dyslexia’ on one woman’s adult life.
So now we have the adult version.
It has WWII as a background context, and some viewers might see ‘pride’ as being a major theme. But if we change what we see as pride, to see it really as FEAR – fear of being seen to be dumb and stupid - we now see the impact of ‘dyslexia’ as a daily life issue. More than this, we see the fear of not being accepted, creating a desperate need to fit in, to comply - and yet to always remain aloof, to remain safe.
With 'dyslexics' , a life-time of struggle and failure creates a huge fear of not being 'good-enough' , of not being acceptable, and of eventually being rejected by the people we love. This creates the 'perfectionist', the 'do-gooder', the 'workaholic', the 'critic', and the person who cannot be wrong and won't accept any criticism - a person whose 'solution' to the fears in his/her life creates the very lonliness he/she is desparately trying to avoid.
I will say no more, but hope that these comments will give a context and an insight into the depth of this movie that we otherwise may miss.
In this, the movie is brilliant (as it is otherwise as well), and I would urge anybody who wants to see what ‘dyslexia’ is as an adult life-force issue to see this movie. This is ‘dyslexia’ as I know it.
Laughton King
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
MY SEMINARS AND MY BOOKS
LAUGHTON KING - SEMINARS ON DYSLEXIA - for teachers and parents.
- AFFIRMATIONS/VALIDATIONS/REFERENCES
- SEMINAR TOUR - itinerary
- SEMINAR CONTENT
- Precise of my two books - REACHING THE RELUCTANT LEARNER,
- WITH, NOT AGAINST, a parentinmg manual.
“As a dyslexic person myself, I have a fair understanding of the nightmare that many of these children are living through.”
“There is nothing ‘wrong’ with the child – just as there is nothing ‘wrong’ with a diesel engine – we just need to learn that it works differently from a petrol engine, and needs different fuel.
“Being dyslexic, and being academically qualified, as well as being professionally experienced, I am in a reasonably rare position. I see this as being a privilege - but it carries an obligation.
“My obligation, and my mission is simply to assist the teachers, and the parents of these children, to understand their style and their reality.
“I am currently on a self-funded, four-year tour of New Zealand, taking every opportunity I can to assist these children – of which there are probably five or more in every classroom in the country.
“Short teacher training seminars, sessions for Teacher Aides and Learning Support workers, evening seminars for parents – an introduction to a different way of viewing the child. This can make all the difference.
……………………….
Laughton King,
Educational Psychologist,
Author
Visiting speaker,
offers short seminars at your school.
Having practiced as an Educational, Child and Family Psychologist for thirty years, Laughton has now closed his practice in Whangarei, and is touring New Zealand. With his partner, oils artist Natalie Tate, he is taking his life-time experience as a ‘dyslexic learner’, and his thirty years as a professional practitioner, to the road.
From their 5-tonne mobile studio/home, their aim is to spend four years touring the country, visiting both cities and the smaller centers, with Laughton offering short seminars to local communities – teachers, teacher aides, parents and specialist educators – around the topics of learning difficulties (including ‘dyslexia’) and co-operative parenting.
Recognising that smaller communities are generally by-passed by the ‘visiting speaker circuit’ it is Laughton and Natalie’s intention to bring their skills to ‘heartland New Zealand’ in an enjoyable and economic manner.
Their proposed itinerary will bring them through the South Island in 2008/09, spending; May – July (08), the Nelson/Marlborough area,
August – February, (09) in Christchurch,
March – April, the West coast,
May – August, the Dunedin area,
September – December (09), Southland.
In 2010 they will be back in the North Island, progressively working northwards through the year.
SEMINARS
The seminars would be 2-3 hours in length (typically to teachers and teacher aides during the day), and for groups of 12 to 100 participants – from your own school, or from the wider general community. By inviting the wider community and other local schools, the seminars could become cost-free to the host school.
These seminars will involve three major components;
A. Developing a working definition of ‘dyslexia’, and understanding the difficulties in establishing such a definition.
B. Looking at the implications for the child – the child’s experience.
C. Looking at the implications for the teacher and parent.
This will allow both parents and teachers to identify the child in question, to perceive them differently, and thence to respond to them differently.
The gains for both child and adult will be marked, and immediate.
Laughton is happy to be contacted by e-mail; laughton.king@win.co.nz
SAMPLE FLYER
OUR KIDS, OUR PARENTS, OUR SCHOOL, OUR COMMUNITY
Laughton King was a sad and lonely dyslexic kid, who hated school.
That was 50 years ago.
Now he is a Child Psychologist, therapist, author and visiting speaker
– and will be at our school to talk with parents about children,
and the way their brains tick.
TUESDAY 2nd DECEMBER 7.00 p.m.
SCHOOL LIBRARY
No need for the Terrible Twos, Ferocious Fours, or the Fearsome Fives.
No need to scream and shout repeatedly at your children.
Laughton will share from his 30 years of working with families.
He will show us the tiny changes we can make in what we do,
that will allow our children to make huge changes in what they do.
These changes will allow your child to give you the behaviour you are looking for.
Author of
‘WITH, NOT AGAINST’, and ‘REACHING THE RELUCTANT LEARNER’
Laughton will help us understand the differences between male and female thinking, and what ‘dyslexia’ is all about. His books will be for sale on the night.
Join us for a fun, friendly and informative evening.
Contact Laughton at any time (ph 0274 171 804, or laughton.king@win.co.nz) for further articles regarding dyslexia, information regarding his books (REACHING THE RELUCTANT LEARNER, and WITH, NOT AGAINST), or to discuss staff training, or parenting seminars.
(Further info available on their shared website; www.natalieart.com/ontour.htm)
OTHER OFFERINGS
Laughton offers simple, brief and insightful articles clarifying many of the issues around ‘dyslexia’. These include amongst others;
1. Help! – our boys think in pictures. – a simple look at the way boys think – and learn – that sheds useful light on our language of instruction.
2. What is it like to be ‘dyslexic?’ - speaking from his own experience as a child, Laughton offers insights into the mind-space of the child who struggles with language.
3. What do you mean ADD/ ADHD? – would we continue to use such labels if we really understood what the child himself is experiencing?
4. What else goes with being ‘dyslexic’? – describing a child as ‘dyslexic’ is like describing a dog as ‘something that doesn’t fly’. There is a raft of characteristic style that frequently presents in the ‘dyslexic’ child – but which we may not recognise. More information may allow more understanding, and a lot more tolerance – on the part of teachers and parents alike.
LAUGHTON’S BOOKS
“REACHING THE RELUCTANT LEARNER – a manual of strategies for Teachers and Parents.
- Laughton King. 178 pages. 3rd edition, self-published 2006, NZ.
This very practical and helpful manual focuses on the learning difficulties that come under the ‘umbrella’ notion of ‘Dyslexia’. The author examines why such difficulties are so common in our schools - right around the English-speaking world - and before giving parents and teachers insights as to how to work usefully with these children, demonstrates what the world is like from the inside for these children.
He looks at how these children think, at how they understand the world, at the impact on their behaviour, and at what life is like for them – on the inside. He includes a biographical section based around his own personal experiences as a ‘dyslexic’ child.
In clarifying the fundamental differences between linguistic and pictorial thinking styles, and the connection between learning difficulty and behaviour problems, this book opens the way for parents and teachers to reach, and therefore to effectively teach so-called reluctant learners.
Cost: $50 plus postage.
Orders: e-mail; laughton.king@win.co.nz
Laughton King is a registered New Zealand psychologist who has worked with children and parents in schools and their homes over the last thirty years. He has published in parenting magazines all around the world, and is well-known as a public speaker/trainer. His other major book “WITH, NOT AGAINST” is dedicated to supporting positive parenting strategies.
“WITH, NOT AGAINST”
- a compendium of positive parenting strategies.
- Laughton King. 121 pages Self –published Second Edtn 2008.
Written with the busy parent in mind, this book is orientated to taking the head-on fight out of parenting, and is based on the author’s thirty years of clinical work with parents of young children.
This book is written as a practical manual, has a simple, bite-size presentation and is free from the pages of theory that commonly restrict easy access to useful information.
The book focuses on the small things parents do that make it difficult for children to comply and co-operate, and gives examples and illustrations of how we can easily work with our children to achieve happier households.
Includes; Bedtime strategies, Behaviour management, Language of parenting, Toileting, Mealtime behaviour, Arguments, use of Praise and Humour, amongst other issues that can make parenting a lonely and difficult role.
Cost: $50 plus postage.
Orders: e-mail; laughton.king@win.co.nz
Laughton King is a registered New Zealand psychologist who has worked with children and parents in schools and their homes over the last thirty years. He has published in parenting magazines all around the world, and is well-known as a public-speaker/trainer, and for his major educational contribution “REACHING THE RELUCTANT LEARNER” – a manual for teachers and parents of ‘dyslexic’ children.
VALIDATIONS
‘We are really pleased with the interest that has been generated from your workshops… and it seems that those who attended your Gisborne sessions were very pleased, and the evaluations indicate its success.’
REAP Tairawhiti
‘One of our parents attended your course and she came back absolutely ecstatic about the info you had given her to work with her son. The changes at home are starting to already be apparent at kindergarten and she had a lot of light-bulb moments during your talk.
So thanks again’.
Lynne
‘I’ve just had a conversation with my Teacher Aide who attended your evening last night at Victory School, (Nelson) and she raved about you and your presentation.’
Pam
‘I attended thinking I was going to learn about my son, but came away with a much better understanding of my own life. For the first time it all made sense.’
Brian. Carterton
‘Hi,
Can you please add me to your database I bought 3 of your books at South Intermediate. It was an excellent evening and have already put into practice many of the things you suggested and things in our house-hold have changed already. - love the 3 minutes in the dark. Would like to know when else over the next few months you are speaking in CHCH as many people I have talked to would like to hear you speak.
Raelene
‘Hi Laughton,
Last night was great. I've been mulling over bits of it all day’.
Glenys
‘Hi Laughton,
My sister in law informed me about a seminar of yours, which she attended at Halswell School last week. From what she told me, I am disappointed I missed it. She came away inspired.I home-school my son and we are members of a couple of home-school groups. I believe your talk would be of benefit to members of these groups.’
Linda
‘Dear Laughton,
Just wanted to thank you for last night at Halswell school. This morning I have been able to find the words that clarify the benefits of our chosen multi-sensory approach to 'picture' learners and thinkers. I also feel that the petrol engine thinkers will benefit greatly from tapping into their emotional, intuitive and creative side’.
Liz
‘Hi Laughton,
Wow have you got our staff thinking. Thank you so much for your presentation on Tuesday. You have really opened the staffs eyes as to the impact our teaching and 'phrasing' of instructions really affects our children day to day. Many of the staff have commented they are coming to the community night on Monday’.
Emma
‘Dear Laughton,
Thank you so much for today. I am so thrilled that you have turned up out the blue and moved our staff to a new level of thinking. I really believe they will come in tomorrow and think more carefully about their class. I hope many other schools invite you to do what you have done for us. See you soon’.
Penny
- AFFIRMATIONS/VALIDATIONS/REFERENCES
- SEMINAR TOUR - itinerary
- SEMINAR CONTENT
- Precise of my two books - REACHING THE RELUCTANT LEARNER,
- WITH, NOT AGAINST, a parentinmg manual.
“As a dyslexic person myself, I have a fair understanding of the nightmare that many of these children are living through.”
“There is nothing ‘wrong’ with the child – just as there is nothing ‘wrong’ with a diesel engine – we just need to learn that it works differently from a petrol engine, and needs different fuel.
“Being dyslexic, and being academically qualified, as well as being professionally experienced, I am in a reasonably rare position. I see this as being a privilege - but it carries an obligation.
“My obligation, and my mission is simply to assist the teachers, and the parents of these children, to understand their style and their reality.
“I am currently on a self-funded, four-year tour of New Zealand, taking every opportunity I can to assist these children – of which there are probably five or more in every classroom in the country.
“Short teacher training seminars, sessions for Teacher Aides and Learning Support workers, evening seminars for parents – an introduction to a different way of viewing the child. This can make all the difference.
……………………….
Laughton King,
Educational Psychologist,
Author
Visiting speaker,
offers short seminars at your school.
Having practiced as an Educational, Child and Family Psychologist for thirty years, Laughton has now closed his practice in Whangarei, and is touring New Zealand. With his partner, oils artist Natalie Tate, he is taking his life-time experience as a ‘dyslexic learner’, and his thirty years as a professional practitioner, to the road.
From their 5-tonne mobile studio/home, their aim is to spend four years touring the country, visiting both cities and the smaller centers, with Laughton offering short seminars to local communities – teachers, teacher aides, parents and specialist educators – around the topics of learning difficulties (including ‘dyslexia’) and co-operative parenting.
Recognising that smaller communities are generally by-passed by the ‘visiting speaker circuit’ it is Laughton and Natalie’s intention to bring their skills to ‘heartland New Zealand’ in an enjoyable and economic manner.
Their proposed itinerary will bring them through the South Island in 2008/09, spending; May – July (08), the Nelson/Marlborough area,
August – February, (09) in Christchurch,
March – April, the West coast,
May – August, the Dunedin area,
September – December (09), Southland.
In 2010 they will be back in the North Island, progressively working northwards through the year.
SEMINARS
The seminars would be 2-3 hours in length (typically to teachers and teacher aides during the day), and for groups of 12 to 100 participants – from your own school, or from the wider general community. By inviting the wider community and other local schools, the seminars could become cost-free to the host school.
These seminars will involve three major components;
A. Developing a working definition of ‘dyslexia’, and understanding the difficulties in establishing such a definition.
B. Looking at the implications for the child – the child’s experience.
C. Looking at the implications for the teacher and parent.
This will allow both parents and teachers to identify the child in question, to perceive them differently, and thence to respond to them differently.
The gains for both child and adult will be marked, and immediate.
Laughton is happy to be contacted by e-mail; laughton.king@win.co.nz
SAMPLE FLYER
OUR KIDS, OUR PARENTS, OUR SCHOOL, OUR COMMUNITY
Laughton King was a sad and lonely dyslexic kid, who hated school.
That was 50 years ago.
Now he is a Child Psychologist, therapist, author and visiting speaker
– and will be at our school to talk with parents about children,
and the way their brains tick.
TUESDAY 2nd DECEMBER 7.00 p.m.
SCHOOL LIBRARY
No need for the Terrible Twos, Ferocious Fours, or the Fearsome Fives.
No need to scream and shout repeatedly at your children.
Laughton will share from his 30 years of working with families.
He will show us the tiny changes we can make in what we do,
that will allow our children to make huge changes in what they do.
These changes will allow your child to give you the behaviour you are looking for.
Author of
‘WITH, NOT AGAINST’, and ‘REACHING THE RELUCTANT LEARNER’
Laughton will help us understand the differences between male and female thinking, and what ‘dyslexia’ is all about. His books will be for sale on the night.
Join us for a fun, friendly and informative evening.
Contact Laughton at any time (ph 0274 171 804, or laughton.king@win.co.nz) for further articles regarding dyslexia, information regarding his books (REACHING THE RELUCTANT LEARNER, and WITH, NOT AGAINST), or to discuss staff training, or parenting seminars.
(Further info available on their shared website; www.natalieart.com/ontour.htm)
OTHER OFFERINGS
Laughton offers simple, brief and insightful articles clarifying many of the issues around ‘dyslexia’. These include amongst others;
1. Help! – our boys think in pictures. – a simple look at the way boys think – and learn – that sheds useful light on our language of instruction.
2. What is it like to be ‘dyslexic?’ - speaking from his own experience as a child, Laughton offers insights into the mind-space of the child who struggles with language.
3. What do you mean ADD/ ADHD? – would we continue to use such labels if we really understood what the child himself is experiencing?
4. What else goes with being ‘dyslexic’? – describing a child as ‘dyslexic’ is like describing a dog as ‘something that doesn’t fly’. There is a raft of characteristic style that frequently presents in the ‘dyslexic’ child – but which we may not recognise. More information may allow more understanding, and a lot more tolerance – on the part of teachers and parents alike.
LAUGHTON’S BOOKS
“REACHING THE RELUCTANT LEARNER – a manual of strategies for Teachers and Parents.
- Laughton King. 178 pages. 3rd edition, self-published 2006, NZ.
This very practical and helpful manual focuses on the learning difficulties that come under the ‘umbrella’ notion of ‘Dyslexia’. The author examines why such difficulties are so common in our schools - right around the English-speaking world - and before giving parents and teachers insights as to how to work usefully with these children, demonstrates what the world is like from the inside for these children.
He looks at how these children think, at how they understand the world, at the impact on their behaviour, and at what life is like for them – on the inside. He includes a biographical section based around his own personal experiences as a ‘dyslexic’ child.
In clarifying the fundamental differences between linguistic and pictorial thinking styles, and the connection between learning difficulty and behaviour problems, this book opens the way for parents and teachers to reach, and therefore to effectively teach so-called reluctant learners.
Cost: $50 plus postage.
Orders: e-mail; laughton.king@win.co.nz
Laughton King is a registered New Zealand psychologist who has worked with children and parents in schools and their homes over the last thirty years. He has published in parenting magazines all around the world, and is well-known as a public speaker/trainer. His other major book “WITH, NOT AGAINST” is dedicated to supporting positive parenting strategies.
“WITH, NOT AGAINST”
- a compendium of positive parenting strategies.
- Laughton King. 121 pages Self –published Second Edtn 2008.
Written with the busy parent in mind, this book is orientated to taking the head-on fight out of parenting, and is based on the author’s thirty years of clinical work with parents of young children.
This book is written as a practical manual, has a simple, bite-size presentation and is free from the pages of theory that commonly restrict easy access to useful information.
The book focuses on the small things parents do that make it difficult for children to comply and co-operate, and gives examples and illustrations of how we can easily work with our children to achieve happier households.
Includes; Bedtime strategies, Behaviour management, Language of parenting, Toileting, Mealtime behaviour, Arguments, use of Praise and Humour, amongst other issues that can make parenting a lonely and difficult role.
Cost: $50 plus postage.
Orders: e-mail; laughton.king@win.co.nz
Laughton King is a registered New Zealand psychologist who has worked with children and parents in schools and their homes over the last thirty years. He has published in parenting magazines all around the world, and is well-known as a public-speaker/trainer, and for his major educational contribution “REACHING THE RELUCTANT LEARNER” – a manual for teachers and parents of ‘dyslexic’ children.
VALIDATIONS
‘We are really pleased with the interest that has been generated from your workshops… and it seems that those who attended your Gisborne sessions were very pleased, and the evaluations indicate its success.’
REAP Tairawhiti
‘One of our parents attended your course and she came back absolutely ecstatic about the info you had given her to work with her son. The changes at home are starting to already be apparent at kindergarten and she had a lot of light-bulb moments during your talk.
So thanks again’.
Lynne
‘I’ve just had a conversation with my Teacher Aide who attended your evening last night at Victory School, (Nelson) and she raved about you and your presentation.’
Pam
‘I attended thinking I was going to learn about my son, but came away with a much better understanding of my own life. For the first time it all made sense.’
Brian. Carterton
‘Hi,
Can you please add me to your database I bought 3 of your books at South Intermediate. It was an excellent evening and have already put into practice many of the things you suggested and things in our house-hold have changed already. - love the 3 minutes in the dark. Would like to know when else over the next few months you are speaking in CHCH as many people I have talked to would like to hear you speak.
Raelene
‘Hi Laughton,
Last night was great. I've been mulling over bits of it all day’.
Glenys
‘Hi Laughton,
My sister in law informed me about a seminar of yours, which she attended at Halswell School last week. From what she told me, I am disappointed I missed it. She came away inspired.I home-school my son and we are members of a couple of home-school groups. I believe your talk would be of benefit to members of these groups.’
Linda
‘Dear Laughton,
Just wanted to thank you for last night at Halswell school. This morning I have been able to find the words that clarify the benefits of our chosen multi-sensory approach to 'picture' learners and thinkers. I also feel that the petrol engine thinkers will benefit greatly from tapping into their emotional, intuitive and creative side’.
Liz
‘Hi Laughton,
Wow have you got our staff thinking. Thank you so much for your presentation on Tuesday. You have really opened the staffs eyes as to the impact our teaching and 'phrasing' of instructions really affects our children day to day. Many of the staff have commented they are coming to the community night on Monday’.
Emma
‘Dear Laughton,
Thank you so much for today. I am so thrilled that you have turned up out the blue and moved our staff to a new level of thinking. I really believe they will come in tomorrow and think more carefully about their class. I hope many other schools invite you to do what you have done for us. See you soon’.
Penny
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