As a university student in New Zealand, I fell into tutoring children with a wide variety of learning challenges: dyslexia, dyspraxia, Asperger’s and Autism; children with auditory and visual difficulties, gifted and twice-exceptional children (those who are gifted, with specific learning difficulties). I began a graduate teaching course but was disheartened when I realised that in a class of 29 students it was simply impossible to give each child the individual help I was accustomed to giving. I was also disillusioned by the lack of training given in special needs. Unfortunately, even with a wealth of new knowledge about learning styles and needs, so many children are overlooked or misunderstood in these classrooms.
At 23 I took a life-changing step and moved to Sydney to train with Jim Hooson, of Learning Creations. In Jim’s Screener and Program training courses I learned to assess children for learning difficulties or physical and developmental ‘blockages,’ to write assessment reports and to create individual 5 day programs, in which I worked one-on-one with a child on areas of difficulty. I would then follow this work up with monthly sessions to check how activities were progressing and to add new, more challenging exercises. Often, I tutored these children weekly, for months or years, and I can’t even explain the feeling of fulfilment, watching these children grow in confidence and ability over the years.
The courses with Learning Creations taught us far more than identifying maths and literacy weaknesses. We learned about the vestibular system, proprioception, visualisation and fluid reasoning. We studied retained primitive reflexes, repatterning and brain-movement exercises. We had to learn how to say the alphabet backwards, mould letters in clay, juggle, perform kinesiology stretches and turn a hula hoop across our bodies (no easy task!). I have a cheerful and vivid memory of our group discussing cases, massaging each others’ hands across the table, writing creative stories together and collapsing into giggles upon reading them out. I found the lessons cathartic and fulfilling. However, the tasks we undertook were by no means easy. We each had our own personal struggles with addressing our own weaknesses – whether memory, metabolic, visual or movement-related. Nearly every one of us in a group of 10 underwent huge personal growth and a period of difficult change following the courses – as we were forced to look honestly at ourselves, and to learn about our development, strengths and weaknesses. At this time, Jim became more than a teacher – he became a mentor, therapist and friend.
In essence, this was why Jim’s work was so successful, with a constant stream of clients. He did not advertise – ever. He cared, above all, about children’s happiness. Improving academic skills was simply a positive by-product of getting the body systems to work together. Jim cared about keeping children healthy, improving their quality of life and igniting a passion for learning. He took children broken by unhappiness and failure (some suicidal) and helped them to improve without embarrassment. He picked up on emotional and seemingly insignificant physical and health issues and addressed these to enable children to grow confident and contented. He was trusted and beloved by children.
My personal journey – continued…
