Elizabeth Waters
From school reject to ‘high flyer’
Vital stats
Age – 17
Problem areas – Reading, writing, spelling, confidence, social skills
Completed Dore – January 2004
Background
From as early as five, Elizabeth Waters showed early signs of dyslexia, a condition her mother Jeannette also suffered from. She couldn’t learn colours, her spelling and handwriting was below average, and she had no interest in reading and struggled with vowels. As a consequence, she fell behind at school and quickly became labelled as an underachiever. She was placed in the bottom sets for all her subjects and showed no signs of improvements as she struggled through the education system. Elizabeth’s self-confidence was being eaten away at on a daily basis and with a lack of support from her school and National Health Service her mother turned to Dore.
"When the education system let us down Dore came to our rescue and now the world is her oyster."
Jeannette Waters, Elizabeth’s mother
Elizabeth’s journey
At the age of seven, Elizabeth’s lack of confidence meant she had few friends and had been effectively written off by the education system. Her mother first came across an article about Dore in the paper, which quickly resulted in an assessment and an acceptance that Elizabeth had a problem. Elizabeth worked hard for two years building the exercises from the Dore Programme into her daily routine. From as early as month one her reading began to show signs of improvement. With additional support from her secondary school Elizabeth’s maths ability followed in the same direction, followed closely by handwriting and finally a belief in herself. For the first time in her life she was able to see that she wasn’t the failure she had been labelled earlier in life.
The future
Since completing the Dore Programme Elizabeth has passed 14 GCSEs and is now studying for four A- Levels, including Chemistry, Biology, Philosophy and English. It’s not all plain sailing for Elizabeth but without going through the Dore Programme both Elizabeth and her mother are certain she would have failed at school and consequently not have the options in life she currently has. Elizabeth is now 17 and considering a range of careers including a university Philosophy degree and joining the RAF where she plans to travel the world and study. Quite literally, Dore has opened up a world of opportunity for Elizabeth, which she has grabbed with open arms.
“Self-esteem is no longer a problem, Elizabeth now reads for pleasure and can keep up with others in her class. My only regret is that we didn’t start Dore earlier.”
Jeannette Waters, Elizabeth’s mother