I remember feeling amazed at the progress of my two P4 students early on in my teaching career. They arrived in my classroom not able to spell simple 3-letter words such as “pin” or “top” even at the age of 10. However, with a mere three terms of intervention, were able to spell 5-letter words confidently and were even able to construct simple sentences.
This stood out in contrast to a very hard working Sec 4 student I taught, who no matter how she tried, could never seem to grasp the concepts which came so naturally to the P4 students. And there was limited progress even as I tried to help her to the very best of my abilities.
It was only after reading some research about it that I understood why this was the case. Emilio Ferrer, a UC Davis Professor noted in his paper that:
“If the persistent achievement gap between dyslexic and typical readers is to be narrowed, even closed, reading interventions must be implemented early, when children are still developing the basic foundation for reading acquisition.”
I realise that this was because neuroplasticity is most apparent at a younger age and the child’s brain is able to change and reorganise itself to accommodate the techniques taught to them, which is also a point noted by psychologist Moshe Shtuhl.
Here at The Alternative Education, we offer early intervention for your child from Primary 1 and beyond.
Email us at the.alternative.edu@gmail.com or text us at 8749 2441 to find out more about our services.