My child couldn’t read at all. After
the orientation counselling and symbol
mastery, she could read fluently. She
was so thankful and delighted that she
almost cried and could not thank me
enough. According to the classroom
educator her spelling performance also
improved a lot. [From Interview 7]
Researchers at University of the Free State in
Bloemfontein, South Africa, compared the progress of 18
dyslexic students who were given instruction using Davis
Dyslexia Correction techniques with a control group of
students from the same school. They reported that over a
period of nine months, the Davis students performed
significantly better on tests of word recognition skills
and spelling than a control group of students taught
with phonological strategies.
The researchers used a pre-test, post-test design,
with matched experimental and control groups.
Participants were Afrikaans-speaking dyslexic children
in grades 4, 5 and 6, between the ages 10 and 14.
Students selected for the study had average intellectual
ability and a reading discrepancy of at least two years
between their chronological age and their reading age.
The groups were also balanced for age and gender, with
12 boys and 6 girls assigned to the Davis group, and 11
boys and 7 girls assigned to the control group.
Eight post-graduate education students were involved
in the design of a literacy intervention program based
on Davis methods. The program incorporated Davis
Orientation Counselling to help students control their
mental focus and overcome perceptual confusion, and
Davis Symbol Mastery, using clay modeling to master
alphabet letters and words. The graduate students worked
one-on-one with their assigned pupils, for 30 minutes
each week, over a period of nine months.
Students in the control group received no special
intervention beyond the methods already used in their
classroom. However, they did receive additional support
from their regular teachers, meeting individually with
each for 30 minutes each week, where the teachers
continued to focus mainly on phonological strategies to
build literacy skills. Thus, the students in the support
group received the same amount of instructional time and
individualized attention as the experimental Davis
group.
Prior to intervention, pre-test results showed no
significant difference between the experimental group
and controls. However, after the nine-month program,
post-test results showed that the Davis group performed
significantly better than the control group on tests of
word recognition and spelling performance.
In addition to relying on the quantitative tests, the
postgraduate students who worked with the dyslexic
students were also interviewed. Many reported
qualitative observations of improvement in other areas,
such as greater self-confidence or improved behaviour.
One postgraduate remarked, "After just one month, I
observed a great improvement in the learner's
concentration abilities and reading and spelling
performance."
Another volunteer tutor stated, "Initially, I was
very sceptical about the literacy programme, but the
results obtained in the end were very positive. The
learner enjoyed the clay-modelling of letters and words
and it resulted in better sound knowledge and word
recognition and her reading comprehension skills also
improved"
Another participant reported that one of her pupil's
had a severe problem with stuttering, but was able to
read an entire page without stuttering after the
orientation counselling.
Citation to Full Research Article:
van Staden, A., Tolmie, A. &
Badenhorst, M. (2009). Enhancing intermediate dyslexic
learners' literacy skills: a Free State community
project. Africa Education Review, 6(2), 295-307.
doi:10.1080/18146620903274605 Cite this
page as:
Marshall, A.(2010). South African Researchers Report
Reading Success with Davis Methods. Retrieved May
01, 2010 from Dyslexia, the Gift. URL:
http://www.dyslexia.com/science/freestate.htm
