Testimonials
“Ít was completely worth our money and time to do DEAR. It really made a difference for us in so many way: dyslexia, listening, speaking, motor skills. DEAR alone saved us money in general therapy efforts at other organizations. My kids had difficulty comprehending spoken information as well as speaking clearly and reading (as well as catching a ball, riding a bike, etc). They improved in all areas after DEAR. When we started I had an 11 year old who just couldn’t break through the 2nd grade phonics barrier despite years of trying the best of curriculums promoted to help with dyslexia. She did not do any independent reading or writing. Then I could see the dyslexic patters emerging in my 7 year old." “Before DEAR Susan had great difficulty with many things. I would watch her struggle and fail when having to interact with a computerized phone answering system. She would not comprehend the instructions and could not make the "Voice" understand her. Simple tasks like reading and understanding the contents of an email were difficult for her. In her Structural Integration practice, she would become so overwhelmed with the overload of her schedule that she would have to force herself to return phone calls because she didn't know what to do with all the scheduling challenges. Susan was tense and intense all the time, never relaxing, but always figuring and calculating and plotting and planning her next "move." If facing a new unfamiliar task or situation, she would map out ahead of time what she planned on it being like when she got there. It seemed that it was not okay with her to not already know all about something. She would analyze the tiniest thing to death in order to avoid the unknowns, the surprises. The Susan I work with now is a much calmer person.” “Mikayla was in K-5 two years and then socially promoted through the 5th grade. Her parents home schooled in 2010-11. Still struggling, she started D.E.A.R. on May 5, 2011, and graduated July 25, 2011.” The day Mikayla reached the midpoint and read aloud with 100% accuracy, her mom broke into tears and said, “To see her do something that we have struggled with for so long is awesome. I am so proud of her and so thankful for D.E.A.R.” Dear Mrs. Edwards, Just wanted to take a moment and tell you what a difference I am already seeing with Annalee and in her school work. Annalee is in 3rd grade this year and we were warned how hard the work load is moving forward. Praise the Lord we found DEAR. It has been like someone flipped a switch within Annalee's mind. She is so smart, but that was never reflected in her grades until now. She does homework without crying and is eager to learn new material—something I thought was never possible before. Thank you so much for letting the Lord use you in such a mighty way. I encourage anyone that is questioning if the DEAR program is different, let me just say IT IS! Give it a try, stick with it and you will see amazing things happen for your child. Thank you again!! ─ Lori Beth T. Cindy is a wonderful cook, but rarely could reproduce a new concoction for the next big event. She could not produce a recipe for a friend who wanted to try it because she couldn’t get the amounts and ingredients on paper. She couldn’t copy a recipe from a book because she couldn’t follow the recipe in a book herself—that’s why her wonderful dishes were always her own concoctions. However, since she has been enrolled in DEAR, she is now able to put her wonderful creations in recipe format for delighted friends. This is Will’s success story. Jason was a good natured young boy. He worked steadily at his schoolwork all morning long. The problem was that he also had to work at it all afternoon, finally finishing at about 4 o’clock. He especially struggled to find his place when moving from the text to the questions at the end of the selection and back to the text again. Jason responded quickly to the reading program. Much to the delight of the whole household, he was soon consistently finishing his schoolwork in roughly half the time! As for me, I was given much more than I had ever given Jason when I saw him (all on his own) reading a book I had found about a boy learning to take care of turtles. Maddie's reading is 200% better! She has come up roughly three grade levels in less than eight weeks (since mid way). When we started the program first grade readers were hard for her, and now she is just one grade level behind. We expect to be on grade level when we start school in September (roughly three more weeks). Her father and I are THRILLED with her progress. When we started she could not read at all if there were any distractions, and having five siblings there were always plenty of distractions. She has always had extra sensitive periphery vision and extra sensitive hearing with no real way to block it out and be able to focus on the task at hand. Now these distractions don't bother her nearly as much, and most times hardly more than my other children. She is offering to read aloud for the family (unheard of) and is reading to her younger siblings on her own. She also is picking up books and reading them just because she wants to, even if they are a bit above her current level. We have definitley reaped more than we have sown into this program, both in time and money. To whom it may concern: My son J.C. has always struggled through school. From the time he started kindergarten, I knew something was wrong when he was not learning his alphabet and wrote his letters backwards. His teacher told me not to be concerned—that eventually he would learn his alphabet and write his letters correctly. Today for the first time, I heard my little girl read without missing or making up any words. She took her time and read what was presented to her and read it well! When she came to a word she didn’t know, she paused and quietly sounded it out in her head. In the past if she was not sure of a word, she would just guess. It was so awesome to see her do something that we had struggled with for so long that I broke into tears. I am so proud of her, and we are so thankful for the D.E.A.R. program. This program is releasing my daughter from the things that have held her back. It is showing her that she is smart, and she can learn. Her confidence grows more and more each day. It’s like she was living in a dark room and someone came in and turned on the light! The best part is not that we can see the change in her, but that she can see the change in herself! The other night I was making tortillas for dinner. She was watching me and said, “Oh I see you divide the dough into fourths”. Needless to say I was shocked! Addison is doing excellent. She is reading more and more each week. I would put her at a beginning 2nd grade level right now, which is a lot farther than a few weeks ago! DEAR has changed my son's life. He had struggled to read throughout elementary school. I spent hours working with James every week for several years. He would read a few words and lose his place. It was a very frustrating experience for both of us. James started DEAR in February of 2018, when he was in the 5th grade. The program requires a lot of commitment from the child and the parent. He graduated from the program in September of 2018, and James made straight As in 6th grade. He is planning on taking all advanced classes next year. James said that the words "twisted and turned" on him before the DEAR program. James said, "I like to read now and my handwriting has improved." -L. Eklof |
“Yesterday at church, Molly volunteered to read a scripture, out loud, to our group of ladies during a fellowship. I was shocked as she found the reference all on her own, Romans 8:20. She proceeded to read the verse and only needing assistance with one word. This is not the young lady that enrolled in DEAR just a few months ago. The entire church is aware of her extreme circumstances and was as shocked as myself.” "As I was working with my 8 year old daughter, I put a 5 word sentence on the board with words that I had taught her that contained only the letters she could remember. I had spent an inordinate amount of time working on these words. We talked about the sounds, sang about the sounds, drew the letters, cut them out, and then posted them on her wall. The first word in the sentence was her name. I thought this would make the first word easy because she has been writing her name daily since she was three. Finally, we were going to read our first sentence, and I was excited. I explained to her what we were going to do and then pointed to the first word. Of course, I knew she would know this word, but when I asked, “What’s this word?” Bekah proceeded to answer with, “Uh, uh, uh, “ and various body language gestures that told me she was trying to figure it out. I proceeded to say, “You are going to be so surprised when you find out what this word is.” She squirmed and wriggled and thought. Finally I said, “That’s your name! Bekah. I ended the lesson and immediately called Mrs. Edwards. If there was any word Bekah knew, it was her name. She had written it thousands of times in the last 5 years. How could she not know it? Also, because Bekah was my fifth child and my youngest dyslexic, I had already learned that showing frustration and anger were not conducive to learning. I wanted her to love learning and to love school so I made her lessons short and fun. “Molly, only after our first week, is putting sentences together verbally and orally. After the second week we see that her writing is greatly improved. Numbers have had no value for her. She is working a latch hook rug. Today she counted the rows left and let me know she had 20 more to complete the project. To some this may not seem like much, but for Molly to UNDERSTAND she has 20 rows left was a major step. “ The lessons have been helping me in school and are really fun to do. DEAR is not like the other stuff Mom has tried with me in the past." I am twenty years old, attending a junior college, and I am dyslexic. It has been five weeks since I began the DEAR program and I have noticed a change during my class lectures. I am able to take in information from slides with a single glance (sometimes two) and write them down without having to look back six times. I can listen to my teacher dictate and write down what he or she says without having them repeat it. I am improving and days are becoming less of a headache. Although it may be up to me to focus and not become snappy, focusing on school has become easier and background noise is less of a factor in regards to stress. I am becoming more confident in myself and realize this program is working for me. ─ Caleb C. College Student My children started DEAR in April, 2012. My Daughter Brooke was 14 years old. She had struggled all through school with reading and writing. When we began DEAR she was finishing 8th grade but was at about a 3rd grade reading level and could not summarize a story. She struggled with being able to write a sentence on paper that made sense. It is now May of 2013 and I have seen a huge growth in her. She is at a 6th grade level in English, Word Building, and Social Studies and is enjoying learning. For years she felt like she was unable to learn and now has confidence in herself and her abilities. She is looking forward to being able to take her driving test. About a month ago she had to write 6 sentences about what was happening in a picture in her English PACE. A year ago this would have been impossible for her, but not only was she able to do it, but her sentences had a great amount of detail and flowed well together. The DEAR program does work! I have struggled right along with my daughter for years. It is very difficult to read! She would get so frustrated and upset. She would ask me, “ What Was Wrong With Her.” But the fact is that it’s not her; it’s the method in which her brain was learning! Brooke is in fifth grade now, and I am very proud to say that reading is getting easier. The program helped Brooke learn to focus in steps so that it did not overwhelm her. I am very pleased with the program and will recommend this program to struggling families. My three youngest children are dyslexic. In January I found an incredible dyslexia program that in three months has made a huge difference in my twins' lives. My youngest will be going through the program in September. As a home school mom, I have seen the struggles that they have been through and I feel as though God is calling me to make a difference in other children's lives. I will be taking the instructor course in June. The training our 9 year old son has received from ‘Dyslexic Education Association of R's’ has been phenomenal. His first diagnosis by a professional, before we found out about DEAR, was “the most extreme case I’ve encountered”. He is now reading. We stand amazed at how the Lord is using DEAR to equip His saints. Thank you for helping our 9 year old son learn to read. It is a blessing to hear our 9 year old son read. Thank you to DEAR for your patience and diligence. "I'm so grateful for D.E.A.R.. My grandson attended public school through 4th and was a non-reader. They couldn't diagnose his disability. As a grandmother it broke my heart to watch him struggle for five years. The only thing he learned to do was write his first name. In 3 months he completed D.E.A.R. while attending MVCA where he became an "A" Honor Roll student and completed 2 years of work in one year. It's truly remarkable the difference it has made in his life." "My desire to introduce D.E.A.R. in our Literacy Class stems from a BBTI grad's email from PNG. It said "A man here can read individual sounds but cannot put them together into words no matter how hard he tries. Are there some people who just can't read?" Our 10 yr old daughter has dyslexia. She is not a typical dyslexic, however, she was still struggling to read first grade readers in the fourth grade. We had been praying for a while about what direction to take. A friend told us about Mrs. Bea Edwards with Dyslexia Dear, a not for profit organization that she helped to found. We started the 12 week program last May, and finished in late August. It took roughly twelve weeks. This program deals with the root cause of dyslexia, not just the symptoms. She has had great success! She is now working her way through the Sonlight third grade readers, and we are not very far from starting the 4th-5th grade readers, putting us on grade level! This may not sound like a very big achievement, but unless you have a dyslexic you do not know their pain. This is a three grade level jump for her- remember I said she was struggling with first grade readers. Her sisters and brothers can see the huge difference in her reading, and so can we. I am so very thankful that God led us to this program. We could have wasted a lot of time, energy and $, not to mention self esteem. My only regret is that we didn't find this two years ago. My name is J.C. When I was younger I could not read. I remember being in school and feeling alone. The kids at my school would call me bad names and bully me just because I could not read. I felt so sad and mad at myself because every time I tried to read I failed. Then I started the D.E.A.R. program. WOW!! I felt like for the first time my brain was starting to work. I began to read for the first time. I will never forget the feeling of being able to read a word for the first time. Now I read every day to my Mom and Dad. Sometimes I feel scared and ask my Mom, “What would have happened to me if I had never learned to read?” My parents tell me not to worry—that I’m reading now and will for the rest of my life. So I read every day, and I’m so happy that I can. To anyone having the same learning problems that I had—don’t give up! There is help. I know you feel alone and feel like nobody’s going to help you. That’s how I felt before D.E.A.R. D.E.A.R. will work. It worked for me when everything else failed. I thank God for this program. My daughter is 13. When she was nine we spent two years in a program to help her brain and eyes work together. After two years I knew I needed something different because we saw no success and my daughter still felt "dumb". After completing DEAR my daughters life has changed and learning has finally begun. I felt so stuck with her and for her as a home school mom but DEAR made all this possible for my daughter... No more headaches from book work, no floaters when reading, words no longer get mixed up in sentences, eyes follow word to word, eyes no longer wonder off the page, words don't run off the page at the end of each line, she can figure out story problems in math ( we had stopped math, it was impossible for her), has begun to finally remember math facts after all the different methods we have tried, D's and B's are no longer backwards, no more crying through school days, can do longer periods of school without fatigue or daydreaming, can follow music and even look ahead at the notes as she is playing instead of note to note, beginning to remember facts from reading and answer questions after listening to me read. Is beginning to be able to verbalize what she is thinking instead of giving no explanation, and just starring at me. She is on the road to being able to think through situations which in the past she would wait for someone to tell her. She is confident and has the mental ability that was missing for so long. I knew something was special about her from when she was just a toddler, her concentration span was incredible as she would color a whole page completely full at one sitting at age two even if it took an hour, she excelled in music beginning as a toddler all by ear. She has been diligent to make it through DEAR and she has a whole different future ahead of her. The Lord is so good! T. Stangl |
