Success Stories

Click here to watch interviews with parents and learners, or read the commentaries below:

Natasha Odendaal: “My son is a Grade 2 learner and had extreme difficulties in reading and spelling – he could hardly read at all. This resulted in Ryan having an awfully low self esteem. I was called in by his teacher at the end of term 3 where she had given me the choice to either let him go to Grade 3 or let him stay for a second year in Grade 2 because of his inability to read and spell. It was a very difficult decision to make but at the end I had to put his interest first and keep him in Grade 2.

“My second step was to get professional help and with the help of the internet I found Edublox and contacted the Claremont office.
Immediately an assessment was arranged, and afterwards classes which Ryan attended twice a week from the last quarter of 2009.

“Since the first term of 2010 Ryan has achieved a tremendous improvement in his school work. He is more confident and more focused. Even the teacher said that he is more eager to work in class, his concentration level is excellent and he is willing to participate in activities. Ryan is now able to do his homework with little help from me. He can now read on his own and can identify his own mistakes.”

Mrs Combrink: “Lurisca started at Edublox in August 2009 for assistance with the following difficulties: Concentration problems Slow work tempo – could not complete tasks time Reading below standard Poor word recognition Poor spelling Low self-esteem and always unsure about her work

“Within the first month her schoolwork improved significantly. By the end of the third term of 2009 the average for all her subjects was 3 (meets the required levels of performance), and by the first quarter of 2010 the average increased to 4 (exceeds expectation).

“Her reading, spelling, and work tempo have improved considerably. She now completes her homework without any help from her parents and the problem with low self-esteem is a thing of the past.

“A year has passed since she started with the Edublox classes and major improvements were achieved in various areas. Due to the excellent results accomplished to date, we decided to continue with the Edublox classes although she no longer needs help. Lurisca enjoys attending the classes tremendously and all the attention and sweets are obviously a bonus.”

From: Patrick Davids [mailto:patrickdavids@yahoo.com]
Sent: 21 June 2010 11:29 AM
To: Marietha
Subject: Re: Edublox evaluation

Hi Marietha
Thank God for your good heart to take this programme and bring it to our area. If there is one thing destroying me daily is to see how many kids future is being destroyed because of lack of support; my prayers will always support this programme and I'm prepared to preach the gospel of edublox to many parents.

Thanks
MP DAVIDS

Mrs Teresa Hudson: “My son went to school in the year that he turned six. I was advised by my concerned sister-in-law and pre-primary teachers that he should only go to Grade 1 once he had ALREADY turned seven. His birthday is on 24 December. So, in Grade 1, while his class mates turned 7 within months of starting their schooling career, my son was still 6 years of age. This might sound normal if you are a parent who went to school yourself at the age of six. The problem today is the fact that the curriculum is NOT the same as when you went to school. By the end of term 3 of his first grade, his teacher called me in and said that he lags behind other children, and that failing him is a consideration and would probably be to his advantage in the future. He swapped b's, d's, p's and q's, would read words backwards e.g. was for saw. He was still too young, immature, not responsible enough etc, etc.” Read more…

Mrs. S. Ridout: "Sean had a reading and spelling problem. He was mixing his b's and d's. After an assessment in both Grade 2 and Grade 3 we were told that he had an emotional problem and nothing more. He had to repeat Grade 3, after which we still felt that he had not progressed as he should have. He had had just over one year of remedial which helped, but still the same problem persisted. I tried all I could at home, to no avail. His work tempo was slow. He didn't finish work and in exams had to be given extra time to finish. He would not do his orals either.

"In mid-September (Sean was now in Grade 7) I was called in to see the school psychologist and principal. They said they felt he would not cope in high school, and suggested that he be transferred to the special class and then to a special high school. After many years of battling with few results we decided the only answer was to give your program a try as we were not willing to put Sean into a special school without a fight.

"Sean's confidence has improved, enabling him to do orals. He has begun reading for pleasure, and finished all his December exams within the time limit. Both his reading and spelling have improved and also his handwriting. He has passed Grade 7."

Mrs. Lombard: "The first term I had to teach him and he had to memorise everything; the second term, after starting with the program he studied on his own with some help from me. By the fourth term he was able to study on his own and I did not even check his work. His reading speed as well as his comprehension had improved, and his spelling is also a lot better."

Kitty Venter: “Pedri (a Grade 6 learner) had been diagnosed as dyslexic. His reading ability was on a Grade 2, second-semester level. He underachieved in Maths, his concentration was poor, he had a spelling problem, poor self-esteem, perceptual problems and his memory was poor.

“Reading and spelling have improved tremendously. Previously I had to read aloud all his schoolwork. After 6 months he virtually studied on his own for this exam. He had made so much progress that he was now ready to attend extra Maths classes. His concentration and memory have improved as well as his self-esteem. At this point in time reversals in numbers are virtually non-existent, while there are no more reversals in spelling. For the first time in his school career he received a merit prize.”

Mrs. A. Hartzer: “At the end of Grade 1 she could not read at all. She did not know her sounds and was therefore also unable to spell. Because her friends could do what she could not do, she completely distanced herself from them.

“Now, at the end of Grade 2, she can read anything! Her spelling is also good. Her relationship with her friends has also improved. She even participates in athletics now, which she previously avoided.”

Hesti Geldenhuys: "Karla has always been a dreamer who liked playing in her own fantasy world, but she was also an obviously intelligent infant, who was able very early to sing many songs and to recognise shapes and colours. When she started Grade 0, her teacher complained that she was unable to focus her attention on and complete tasks. I wondered whether she was ready for school, and had her assessed at the University of Pretoria. She did very well on the tests, and on some of the tests scored as high as a nine-year level, although she was only five at the time. They assured me that she was intelligent and ready for school, although they also remarked that her work speed was rather slow. After a discussion with the school principal and the Grade 0 teacher, I decided to let her start school.

"In Grade 1, however, the situation quickly became worse. She almost never finished her work and often had to stay behind to complete tasks; the teacher complained that she did not pay attention in class. Once more I had her assessed, this time by an occupational therapist, who identified various developmental problems. We started occupational therapy, once per week. The therapist advised that she should jump on a trampoline, and I bought one. I forced her to jump for at least ten minutes every day. We followed a home program and had to do home work on the days that she did not receive therapy. And she still sat every afternoon with all the unfinished work of the day, sometimes up to one and a half hours.

"In Grade 2 there was no improvement yet. There was more homework, and although it was still a relatively small amount of work, it took her a long time to finish, in part due to the fact that she is perfectionist and puts lots of detail into her drawings. I discontinued the occupational therapy, because it had become extremely boring and had made no change whatsoever in my child's learning speed. I spoke to the teacher and explained the problem to her, and she faithfully sent all the school books home, so that I could help her to complete her work in the afternoons.

"In Grade 3 I put her into another school. At parents' evening I spoke to the teacher and she complained that Karla worked extremely slowly and did not complete her work. In December 2005 I read in the You magazine about children who were incorrectly diagnosed as ADD and who actually had an eye condition. This seemed to me to make a lot of sense. Karla had all the symptoms that were mentioned. I phoned the lady in Somerset West and made an appointment for the following week. They assessed her and diagnosed a binocular instability, which meant that she had difficulty focussing in class, and then lost interest. A program of eye exercises was worked out for her, and we were sent back to Gauteng with a whole knapsack full of work to do. We worked harder than ever, because I believed that we had finally arrived at the right answer. Eye exercises three times a day; it was terrible. After about a year we found out about the Visual Therapy Centre in Pretoria – and there we go again. Again she got assessed and they said that some things had improved, but there was still a lot that needed improvement. Now it was eye exercises once a day and once a week at the centre. After a further year I gave up. There was still not much of an improvement.

"Of course everybody had an opinion on what I was supposed to do, from Ritalin to reading machines. When I saw the advertisement of the Reading and Learning Clinic, I immediately felt that this might work. I thought she had simply never learnt to concentrate, and in the class set-up she simply got lost.

"Her marks had always been average, but to achieve that we had to work extremely hard. I had to sit with her every afternoon for hours to complete unfinished work. Test weeks were a veritable nightmare. I had to teach her everything orally because her reading was so poor. All the story books that I had bought for her stood on the shelf, or else I had to read them to her.

"Imagine my surprise when she came home with her first report this year. After the first few sessions at the Reading Clinic her marks moved up to above average, and we started doing a lot less work in the afternoons. She manages to finish all her work now and easily learns by herself for her tests. This has made an incredible difference. Another important aspect is that she enjoys these sessions. She looks forward to going, whereas previously she was already so bored with doing the same eye exercises over and over, this is now something different and she enjoys it – it does not feel like therapy at all.

"Many thanks, Reading Clinic, for all that you do for Karla."

Report from Roland's teacher:

An example of a Grade 4 learner's schoolwork just before he started:

A striking improvement after six months: