"Learning to visualize what I read and hear has been the best thing I've ever experienced for my learning."
The Reading Foundation offers Discover Meaning, a program designed to help children, adolescents and adults develop their comprehension/thinking and writing skills.
The heart of reading is understanding and enjoying what you read. There are learners who can read and spell fluently, but who have difficulty remembering or understanding what they read. According to "dual-coding" theory, a powerful and well-researched theory of comprehension, such students typically are not producing mental images to represent the concepts they are reading (or hearing). Therefore, their only recourse is to memorize, which becomes more difficult as the length and complexity of information increases. Visualizing information is fundamental to comprehending it. The Discover Meaning Program makes use of this important principle. It teaches the student, in a systematic and interesting way, how to make mental images for all kinds of information, including the kind of information the student will likely encounter in his or her school work.
Key Features:
Creating a complete mental image from language concepts
Using the complete mental image as the base from which to develop the higher level comprehension/thinking skills of: getting the main idea; making inferences; drawing conclusions; predicting; evaluating
Older students are also taught basic writing skills through the process and learn many other helpful strategies such as note-taking, studying and listening to lectures
Rates
The cost of the initial assessment is $250 and includes the contact time with the student, consultation with parents and a written report. Cost of individual one-to-one instruction is $60 per hour. (All prices in Canadian dollars). The average length of a program is 80 hours, which amounts to $4800. There is no Goods and Services Tax (GST) on this service.
You may be able to deduct the amount paid to The Reading Foundation as a medical expense on your Canadian income tax return if the student attends the Calgary clinic. A properly worded receipt for this purpose is provided once the student exits the program in Calgary. (For income tax deductions, a referral from your family physician or an independent psychologist is strongly recommended.)
Dr. Truch is a chartered psychologist in Alberta. Because of this, fees may also be partially recovered from private health care plans that cover psychological services, provided the student attends the Calgary clinic.
If you are a US citizen visiting this web site, a trip to Calgary or Vancouver may be surprisingly affordable for you. Our hourly charge is usually less than a comparable clinical program in the United States. Use the calculator to determine the cost of our program (80 hours over four weeks) and the cost of travel and lodging in Canadian dollars. May we suggest planning a summer holiday in beautiful Calgary or Vancouver and bringing the gift of learning to your son or daughter at the same time? To discover more about Calgary and Vancouver, please click here.
Ideally, students attend each day for four hours of one-to-one instruction. They come five days a week for an average of four weeks. This represents a total of 80 hours of instruction. The impact on both learning and self-esteem in this short time frame is very dramatic. (Some students who have a severe reading/spelling issue or difficulties in more than one area may require more than 80 hours of intervention in the long run. Once the initial assessment is completed, a reasonable estimate of the time it will take to bring genuine change can be provided). A modified routine is available for students who cannot miss school time. We offer after school and Saturday times for this purpose. Alternatively, students can attend for a few half days during the week, as well as four hours on Saturdays. Summer break, or other school holidays during the year are also a great time to come without having to miss school.
Creating a complete mental image from language concepts