About Brain Power Tutorial Games

Brain Power Tutorial Games was started by Olive Douglas who qualified as a teacher in Britain in 1969. For the past 30 years she has taught in primary schools in England and South Africa, mostly in special education.

In 1985, after her own daughter was diagnosed as Dyslexic and benefited so much from the tuition which she received at the Dyslexia Institute in England, Olive completed a Diploma from the Institute. She subsequently taught there for a short time before opening a school for children with Specific Learning Difficulties in Berkshire, England.

In 1991, she opened a remedial clinic in Durban, South Africa and then completed an Advanced Diploma in Adult Education at the University of Natal Durban. During all these years of experience Olive created a huge amount of material, mostly in the form of card games made for the specific needs of particular children. After 4 years of programming, over 90 games were made into two CD-ROMs with voice-overs so that everything can be heard as well as seen. Both CDs have been upgraded four times so that they are now called Spelling 1d and 2d. Olive says, "I also had reading and spelling problems as a child. At that time nobody seemed to take any notice and I had to battle against the fear of making mistakes in front of peers. When my daughter also had reading and spelling problems I thought, as a teacher, I could help her but I did not really understand her perceptual problems. It was therefore a great relief when she received help from the Dyslexia Institute and subsequently passed her O level and A levels, obtained an Honours Degree in Mathematics and Education from York University, a post graduate teaching certificate from Cambridge University and has now completed her second Masters Degree with Distinction. This would not have been possible without the right help. It was after her experience as a teenager I decided to train at the Institute and entered the rewarding field of Special Education with particular reference to Dyslexia. I feel passionately about finding a solution for these children and have therefore produced this CD for parents to use at home with their children. It is not intended to be instead of specialised help but to be used for reinforcement of the learning process and as a motivational tool which parent and child can enjoy as they share learning together." Together you will learn new terminology that will become pegs on which you hang ideas. These ideas will in turn help your child to make the correct spelling choices eg drop silent 'e' when adding a vowel suffix, hope + ing - hoping but keep silent 'e' when adding a consonant suffix, hope + less = hopeless. Gradually as your child experiences success, his/her confidence will grow so that although it is rare for all traces of Dyslexia to be eradicated, s/he will have the coping mechanisms to accept the challenges life has to offer, knowing that success is possible.

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