Thank You Cellfield

From Alice-Maree

There needs to be more life savers like you

My name is Alice-Maree and in 2005 I completed the two week Cellfield program. In the six years between then and now I have achieved a lot, I have grown from a child to a slightly awkward teenager and finally into what I suppose you can call a young woman at the ripe age of eighteen. Throughout these years I have had a lot to be proud of however I am writing to inform and even more so thank you for one thing in particular, my education.

I had just begun grade six when my mother and I flew from Melbourne to Queensland for what I can only call the beginning of everything. Of those two weeks I spent at Cellfield there are several things I remember clearly such as it being exhausting, I remember wanting to visit the theme parks but not having enough time, I remember wanting to enjoy the Queensland sun that felt like a privilege for a Melbournian but most of all I remember I wanted to be able to read like my friends back at home more than anything. And so, being the determined little eleven year old that I was, I muted my desire for a regular Queensland holiday and diligently sat in front of the computer to complete the program. I can remember when I realised that the program was starting to work, it became easier to read billboards as my mum and I travelled each day on the bus to the program and while this was only a small step was truly the beginning of all my success.

Upon arrival and being assessed I was informed that my reading level was of a grade two, leaving me four years behind my classmates. Once I had completed Cellfield I was at a grade four level, an improvement of two years, which at the time I had let my immaturities get in the way of enjoying the success, to me I felt like I would still not be normal when I would arrive back at school yet little did I know this was only the start of all the improvement that was yet to come.

Last year in 2011 I graduate high school at our Girls' Grammar School and received my Victorian Certificate of Education. I received an ATAR score of 70.40 which ultimately means that I am in the top 30% of the state of Victoria, I received As and A+s on all of my semester work and Bs and B+s on my final exams. Between grade six and year twelve there have been too many highs and lows to count, tears of frustration and tears of joy, a ton of hard work and always having to go the extra mile only to receive the same result as someone without a learning disability. I haven't only been a high achiever academically, in my final year at school I also took on a leadership position being our Girls' Grammar School's 2011 Performing Arts Captain, along with this I also played Alice in my school's musical Alice in Wonderland. 2011 has been the most challenging year of my life however it has been the year where I have achieved the most and ultimately has be the best year of my short existence.

For 2012 I plan to study a Bachelor of Commerce at university, being able to go to university has always been a dream of mine, one that I wasn't always so sure I could achieve, in fact for a long time I didn’t even think I would be able to finish highschool and yet here I am with a VCE certificate in hand and waiting for university offers to come out later this month.

There have been many people in my life that have doubted me, doubted that I had a problem, doubted that I actually wanted to learn and doubt that I would even be in the position I am standing in today. I have been made fun of, bullied and ignored because of my dyslexia and yet these people only push me to work harder and make me want to achieve my goals more than possibly imaginable. The goals I have achieved so far you, the Cellfield Team, are partially responsible for and at the very least you deserve my mere thanks. You have changed my life in the most positive way humanly imaginable. I am a better and more successful person because of the time you dedicated with me, you understood there was a problem and luckily had the right solution to solve it. You are all angels and I can't thank you enough.

I encourage you to keep changing lives as you did mine, there needs to be more life savers like you in the world. Thank you!

Kind Regards
Alice-Maree

From Jenny & Herb Adler

Two Success Stories in One - Anna and Luke
Luke is an unusual little 12 year old. Adopted from Thailand at 7 years old, he seemed to have missed all the usual milestones. Perhaps it was some genetic predisposition. Perhaps it was his IQ (55%). Who knows? We wasted only a little time trying to discover what caused Luke to have no literacy or numeracy building blocks.

We experienced a similar history with our daughter, Anna. She catapulted from still living in a fairy-like state at 14 years old, and having to attend a Special Needs school, and then morphing back to mainstream schooling as a consequence of Cellfield. Anna's focus, observation and knowledge, which normally little children build organically, now came to Anna as a direct result of attending Cellfield three years ago. We recalled how Anna, three years ago, glanced only at the pictures in the aeroplane literature on the way to Southport, Queensland, but read the text on the flight back! The memory of that buoyed me up no end. So we booked Luke to do Cellfield recently and enrolled Anna to do Cellfield again at a higher level.

As parents we look for reasons and excuses. But as parents who have tried an enormous gamut of remedies and therapies to help our children, we are so, so grateful that we ventured once more and invested our time and money and hope in Cellfield.

Luke and Anna have really benefited from the Cellfield program they did in July .

Anna so much that she is the FIRST student to move from a special school to a "normal" school, next year, to do her VCAL (Victorian Certificate of Advanced Learning).

Thank you with all our hearts, Dimitri!

From Danielle

Just logging on to update your contact details for yet another referral. Thanks to Cellfield in 2003 my son James not only improved his reading skills by 2 years in 2 weeks but went on to blitz his School Certificate. He has just completed his first year of carpentry and is on his way to becomming a builder, smiling as he goes, confident and strong thanks to Cellfield. You were the blessing for James and his parents.

From Brad

Its Brad I just got good news, my reading has improved I'm reading at a 12-13 year old.

I had a running record test at school today and that was the result! My teacher told the whole class that my reading had improved from 7-8 year old to a 12-13 year old and the class went WOW!!!!!!!

And I smiled and I'm still smiling

I'm working hard at spelling my words using the left to right rule and reading each night.

I hope that everything is going well up in Christchurch.

Hope you are smiling cuz I am!!

From Marianne Baker

"We are so pleased and we owe a huge amount of this dramatic improvement to Cellfield and Jarrett's Intensive reading class at school.

His school is very impressed at Jarrett's improvement and his self confidence now is just amazing. Jarrett has worked very hard to achieve this result, he has been so committed to wanting to improve his reading and that makes a huge difference.

Thank you again we are so grateful for all your help."

"Jarrett has gone ahead in leaps and bounds. The best thing I have ever done is take him to Cellfield. It has changed his life so much I am so lucky I had the opportunity."

"I also forgot to tell you Jarrett won an award for Excellence in Science and HSIE, at the end of last year. He was so proud and as a parent it actually brought a tear to my eye. Jarrett works so hard and he could not have done it without Cellfield. I can't speak highly enough of your program and your Team!"

From Marguerite Ellis

"Just letting you know that Damon has been making wonderful progress at school, according to both his classroom teacher and the reading teacher.

We feel we owe a great debt to you all, as Damon has really kicked on since doing the program. He has continued his one on one reading and writing lessons at school, three or four times per week. His spelling has improved dramatically as well, and he has recently made a poster about recycling, which has been put up at school. For the first time in his life, someone apart from his mother can read it!"

From Adele

"Cellfield has helped me because I have become more fluent with my reading and I am able to pronounce words better. I am now looking for harder books to read and I feel better in myself because I can now finish a book and remember what I have been reading."

From Adele's Parents

"Cellfield has been a wonderful experience for us as we have witnessed our daughter become enthusiastic about reading.

For the majority of her school life our daughter has not wanted to read and up until this year she has never finished reading a chapter book.

During the Cellfield program she has enthusiastically been reading every night and has asked to have people listen to her read because she is proud of the progress she has made.

She feels more confident because she can now read instructions and the best thing for us is that she has now found an author that she likes and has asked for these books to be included in her Christmas presents. Something that would have never occurred in the past. She is committed to keeping up her reading in the school holidays because she wants to begin next year as she finished this year - on a high!

Thank you to the people of Cellfield who supported and encouraged her and a big thank you to the special 'Ed' teachers at SAC who take a special interest in the children who need extra support"