Developmental Learning

1. Develop Learning SET YOUR CHILD FREE FROM LEARNING DIFFICULTIES

2. ABOUT (Our Story) Welcome to The Developmental Learning Centre. My name is Rosemary Murphy and alongside being a mother, wife and teacher, I am the founder of the Developmental Learning Centre. I began my career path at the tender age of 4 when I entered a small primary school as their youngest pupil. From the first day I loved school so much that I knew I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up! I trained as a teacher at Waikato University and began my first job in 1970 teaching a delightful class of 7 year olds in the Far North. As the years passed by I moved out of classroom teaching and specialised in the remediation of children with learning difficulties. However, not content with the ‘What’ of learning difficulties, I found myself asking more and more the ‘Why’ question. This led me to a three year course of study with The Institute for Learning Difficulties, gaining my Grad. Dip. in Educational Studies (Learning Difficulties) in 2003. I started working with Developmental Movement Therapy and Auditory Retraining Therapy from a small spare room of a school in 2000. Before long, I was receiving referrals from other schools and my waiting list became so long, I needed to find another practitioner and a new space. A brainstorming, mind-mapping session resulted in my vision: A child friendly, dedicated centre for children with learning difficulties where they could receive the help they needed.

3. Autism What is Autism? Autism (or Autistic Spectrum Disorder) covers a range of developmental disorders characterized by widespread abnormalities of social interactions and communication, severely restricted interests and highly repetitive behavior. This includes individuals who are non- communicative or mute at one end of the spectrum and those who are gifted or with genius IQ with mild autism at the other. How Do I Know If My Child Has Autism? An Autistic child will demonstrate some of the following characteristics. It is important to note that many of the symptoms below are shared with other categories of learning difficulties and may indicate common, underlying developmental or auditory processing delays. Why not take our FREE online test to understand if your child is displaying common symptoms of learning or behavioral difficulties and to understand if your child would benefit from our natural and holistic therapies.

4. Dyslexia What Is Dyslexia? Dyslexia is a significant, persistent difficulty with reading, spelling and writing skills in a child, adolescent or adult of normal intelligence. At the Developmental Learning Centre we believe that although dyslexia is not an illness, it does have underlying causes. These are obstructions or immaturities in the pathways in the brain needed for the development of literacy skills. Through our natural and holistic therapies, including Developmental Movement Therapy and Auditory Retraining Therapy, we are able to address the underlying causes and set your child free from their difficulties to reach their full potential. How Do I Know If My Child Has Dyslexia? A child or adolescent who has normal vision and hearing and appears to be a bright, inquisitive learner, but is not developing literacy skills at the expected rate for their age and intelligence, will most likely be suffering from some form of dyslexia. Most likely your child will also have a number of other symptoms besides the obvious reading, writing or spelling difficulties. We have developed a checklist of common symptoms which you can take in the form of a quick online test. This will be the first step towards accessing help for your child. It will indicate whether they would benefit from a full assessment with one of our expert therapists to discover the underlying causes of your child’s difficulties.

5. Dyspraxia What Is Dyspraxia? Dyspraxia is a neurological based disorder. It is the condition in which the motor planning system in the brain and body does not function well from birth. This means that at some point in the process of planning, carrying out that plan and storing that plan for future use, the neurological pathways needed for these tasks are not connecting properly. How Do I Know If My Child Has Dyspraxia? The effects of Dyspraxia range from very mild to more severe with symptoms such as difficulty coordinating movements and an inconsistent ability to do motor tasks. The most severe cases are usually picked up in early childhood by paediatricians because of delays in milestones. Milder cases are picked up by parents or early childhood teachers, and the very mild may not be noticed until later on in primary school where tasks become more complex and demanding.

6. Contact Us Address: 1412 Cameron Road, Greerton, Tauranga 3142, New Zealand. Phone: 0800 543 399 Email: info@developlearning.co.nz