Colours
January 31, 2012…
As I sit at my desk I am thinking back eight years and thinking of the research, discussions, idea storming, planning, dreaming and hard work that I have put into reaching 5 years of The Dyslexic Dyslexia Consultant being in business, and I smile as I realise that today is The DDC’s 5th Birthday and that tomorrow is the 1st day of my 6th year!
I vividly recall my visit to Priorslee Tax Office on the 31st January 2007, full of nerves and excitement they must have thought me slightly mad as I pronounced that I have come to notify them that I was officially self employed!
My very first client was a neighbour of the tax office, RICOH UK also in Priorslee; I was called in for consultation and to work with an employee, a fabulous lady who they were keen to help. Next client it was the Defence College of Aeronautical Engineering (D C A E) based at RAF Cosford here I was asked to build and deliver a bespoke training programme for 400 of their trainers. Since 2007 The DDC clients have included both corporate & private clients alike, be they schools, colleges, training agencies, parents, individuals, Academy’s, local fire service and many more.Services provided to date include training, teaching, staff development awareness, tuition sessions, one-to-one specialist tuition, dyslexia screening tests, Mears Irlen screening tests, consultations and advice & guidance and much more.
I would say the joint first place for job satisfaction is the Dyslexia and SPLD Awareness training that I deliver; the Gestalt moments, the moments where the penny drops and the people I’m training or teaching suddenly realise and start to believe and understand; what dyslexia is, how it effects their students, trainees or employees and then, the realisation that I was serious, when I told them that dyslexia really wasn’t about – reading, spelling & writing! Those moments are why I started The DDC. They are amazing moments!
The other joint first place is my work with individuals, the 1:1 specialist SpLD tuition that it is my privilege to provide. Exhausting work but so worthwhile, I get to work with the most amazing people. People who the compulsory education system is sadly letting or has in one way or another let them down, is failing or has failed them. These individuals who demonstrate a passion and determination with a thirst to learn and achieve that is second to none, are an absolute pleasure to work with! It is testament to their abilities that they learn so much in the short time I work with them.
A warm sense of achievement fills me as I reminisce over the last five years. All that has been achieved, all the people who have been enabled, trained and made aware that dyslexia isn’t about reading, writing and spelling! Then a jolt of realisation that this work is not finished, with approximately 30 before I reach retirement age, then makes me nauseous but exhilarated, as much as I did 5 years ago when starting The DDC … 30 years… I start to wonder the possibilities of how much more could be achieved in 30 years? How many more people can I reach, train and enable in that time …WOW now 35 years that really would be an achievement!
Congratulations on The DDC / The Dyslexic Dyslexia Consultants 5th Birthday Eli. You have done so much worthwhile work in that time and gained so many achievements. There are many people now reaching their potential because their were lucky enough to have your help and support.
Roll on the next 30 years ….. when the world will be a better place because of you.
Well done as always Eli – you inspired me to learn about dyslexia and the impact that it has one someone’s life. I am now thanks to you able to help those people overcome their difficulties and prove to the rest of society what fab and inspirational people they are. Keep it all coming Eli! Much love and respect. x
Thank you for your kind words Julie, you have been an absolute pleasure and delight to teacn and mentor, the education system needs thousands more like you x