The Story of Helen Arkell
DYSLEXIA - A Personal Account
by Helen Arkell
with support and help from Elisabeth Waller and JoyPollock
This is a short record of how Helen became involved in dyslexia and established the Helen Arkell Dyslexia Centre. As she writes, she remembers some of the early days and the pioneering work that was done.
Revelation
The letter arrived just after the end of the Second World War. “We now know what is our elder son’s problem,” it read. “He is word-blind.” The letter was from my sister who was married to a Dane and living in Copenhagen.
My family was very scattered during the Second WorldWar. I had married in England and we were living near my parents in Frensham, Surrey. My sister and her family were in Denmark and my brother and his family were in Norway. As both Norway and Denmark were under German occupation, communication had been virtually impossible.
About once a year, we might get a Red Cross letter – 25 words including the address. Now we were told that Carl, my sister’s eldest, was wordblind. We wondered what that could be. We had already been told that he was doing badly at school and was becoming antisocial to a degree that was worrying. It seemed, however, that my sister had a feeling of relief at this turn of events.
It was the first time I had heard of word-blindness – now called dyslexia. Little did I know how it would change my life!
Next time I visited my family in Copenhagen was in 1948. It became clear that all the difficulties my nephew had with spelling, reading, number work, organisation, and so on, were virtually identical with my own difficulties, though mine were to a lesser degree. It was suggested that I should go and see the person who had diagnosed my nephew and was now teaching him.
This was Edith Norrie. She was said to be the first person known to devise a teaching method specifically for dyslexic/word-blind people. She had opened the Word-Blind Institute in Copenhagen in 1938. Samuel T.
Orton was doing similar work in the USA and in those early days, they were in touch with one another.
It was in fear and trembling that I went for my interview with this great pioneer in dyslexia. She was a brilliant but rather formidable lady. Even before I had described my problems, she astounded me by seeming to know my symptoms and how they must have affected my school life. She told me that a sizeable proportion of the population suffered from this problem and that it was nothing to do with lack of intelligence.
All this was amazing to me and I came away reeling. It took some days for the full significance to sink in. Two facts emerged: firstly, that I was not the only person to find this inadequacy acutely embarrassing and secondly, that I was not necessarily as stupid as I had always thought. My best efforts at school had met with little or no success. No one harried me about this; I think it was assumed that growing up with four languages had caused the confusion. But, comparing my results with those of my friends, my conclusions were not happy ones.
Understanding one’s problem is often a tremendous relief and this provides a great incentive to do something about it. It is also the vital first step to restoring one’s selfconfidence.
Training and First Pupils
Some years later, in 1953, I had the opportunity to spend two months in Denmark with my sister and, pressed by my mother (my confidence was still too low to voluntarily expose myself to anything academic) I took the teacher training course at the Word-Blind Institute. The experience of seeing so many people, both children and adults, coming for help there was astounding and comforting. I never had any intention of teaching, but taking the course seemed to be the only way I could learn more about this puzzling problem. Having lived in Denmark as a child, the language presented no difficulty.
The training course consisted of reading what little literature there was on “inherited spelling problems”. We were required to observe a minimum of fifty lessons given by various teachers. Lectures were given by Edith Norrie and the eminent Danish neurologist, Dr Knud Herman.
Finally, we were observed teaching a group of three. It had to be organised so that each pupil was taught at his or her own level, although age and ability varied greatly.I passed the course with flying colours - my first academic achievement!
Soon after my return to England, a friend told me her child was struggling at school. I gave him some lessons along the lines I had learnt, which proved beneficial. Soon there was another child ..... and then another ..... Although their symptoms varied, they all had difficulties with reading and spelling. Frensham Heights School agreed to a parent’s request that I should teach her son there. Soon I was asked to take on others.
First Assessments
I was enjoying the teaching immensely, but there were worries. I knew no-one else doing this type of work with whom I could share any problems, so I often felt rather isolated. There was no one to assess a child formally. As I gained experience, coupled with what I had seen in Denmark, I started doing informal assessments. These were useful as they gave me a picture of a child’s problems, but I felt it was a heavy responsibility to be the judge of whether a child was, or was not, what was later termed dyslexic.
In 1961, I had the good fortune to meet Dr Macdonald Critchley, President of the World Federation of Neurology, who had a long-standing interest in mirror-writing and spelling problems. He initiated a research group on Developmental Dyslexia and World Illiteracy. In 1964, he published his first book on the subject, called Developmental Dyslexia. For many years, this was the standard reference book. It was a great relief to be able to ask him to do a formal assessment on any child about whose diagnosis I felt concerned.
The Word-Blind Centre for Dyslexic Children
Dr Critchley was in those days on the Committee of The Word-Blind Centre for Dyslexic Children. The initiative for this organisation had come from Dr A. White Franklin, an outstanding paediatrician in charge of the Department of Child Health at Bart’s Hospital. Other members of the Committee included Dr M. L. Kellmer Pringle, Director of the National Bureau for Child Care, Professor T.R. Miles, Professor of Psychology at the University of North Wales, Miss K. Bird, Headmistress of Benenden School and Professor O. L. Zangwill, Professor of Experimental Psychology at the University of Cambridge. This organisation was set up for a five year period under the auspices of the Invalid Children’s Aid Association to research the problem of dyslexia/word-blindness.
Despite my lack of formal qualifications, I was offered the job as the first teacher at the Word-Blind Centre. Owing to my other commitments, I could teach there only two days a week. This I continued to do until 1967 when I left to have more time to manage my own ever-increasing number of pupils and enquiries.
In 1970 the Word-Blind Centre for Dyslexic Children, after one postponement, finally closed. The research programme was finished and its findings were published by Sandya Naidoo in her book. The existence of this organisation with its eminent Committee was influential in motivating some schools and psychologists to take a serious look at the problem. It was also realised that there was a need for a national dyslexia organisation. Dr White Franklin agreed to act as chairman of the steering committee and the British Dyslexia Association finally came into being in 1972.
The Network Widens
Dyslexia was seen at that time as being partly a medical problem and partly an educational one and anxious parents often turned to their GPs for help and advice. Indeed, with a medical diagnosis, BUPA would often pay for lessons.
However, many doctors would freely admit that they knew little or nothing about dyslexia. It was to the neurologists in particular that we looked for support. They were in the forefront of medical thinking on this subject, correlating existing information and advancing research. The three that I heard most frequently quoted were Dr Samuel Orton in the USA, Dr Macdonald Critchley in the UK and Dr Knud Herman in Denmark.
Meanwhile, various people were helping me with teaching in the Surrey area. My daughter, Jill, was the first, followed by Paula Hardwick, Betty Ridd and Adrienne Ackerman, amongst others. Some teachers within schools were also taking up the challenge with individual pupils whom they could see were intelligent but were failing in school.
The pressure for teaching became ever greater. One boy from Exeter came all the way to Frensham every week for a lesson. The school could not find the necessary teaching any nearer! Many independent schools were beginning to ask for my advice. On these occasions, I would try to get a member of staff to watch me teaching and become familiar with the methods I had learnt in Denmark and gradually take over the lessons.
The Education Authorities were still standing aloof and denying there was any such problem as dyslexia.
Nevertheless, the term dyslexia was beginning to creep into the language, though it was often ridiculed, as was the condition it described. Most psychologists and teachers at that time were adamant that it was merely a psychological problem.
Often the child’s failure at school was put down to some mistake his mother had made during his early years, especially when he started school. This still left the parents with the problem and with a feeling of guilt in addition. These attitudes persisted over a number of years. However, many parents were beginning to feel that their children’s problems should not be dismissed as psychological or as mere stupidity, but should be properly examined.
Meetings and seminars were beginning to be held on how various professional people viewed the problem of dyslexia. Those I was trying to interest were GPs, school medical officers, speech therapists, social workers and district nurses; others who were beginning to get involved were occupational therapists, psychologists and remedial teachers. Conferences were held at universities and schools. Talks were given at the meetings of a great variety of groups
Articles for or against dyslexia appeared in periodicals and newspapers from time to time, usually followed by a spate of angry letters from one or other side. There were also occasional radio or TV programmes. I was involved in many of these activities and particularly remember my terror at being asked to do the midnight epilogue on a live radio series called Overcoming Disabilities.
Requests for teaching in London resulted in my renting a room for two days a week from a friend. On my way to and from London, I would stop at various schools in the area of Woking, Chobham, Cobham and Esher to teach one or two children there. As the geographical area spread it became imperative that I share my rounds with other teachers and, preferably, have an organisation from which we could work. The difficulty in finding anyone with experience of teaching in this field had made this impossible.
A Nucleus of Three
However, in 1970 I had a visit from Elisabeth Waller (then Mackinlay). As an occupational therapist, she had been treating patients in Australia who had lost the ability to read and write. This was the beginning of her interest in literacy problems. She had already been on a two-week course in Bath in 1969 when Sally Childs came over from the USA and talked on the Gillingham-Stillman method. At the time we met Elisabeth was teaching a group of dyslexic children in a preparatory school, Dunrobin, in Sutherland. This school later moved south to Wicken Park in Buckinghamshire.
Elisabeth had planned to carry out some research into dyslexia and had visited Professor Zangwill and Dr Macdonald Critchley to acquire information. It was Dr Critchley who suggested that she should come and see me in order to get more teaching experience first. Elisabeth and I found that we had many views and experiences in common and it was an enormous relief to me when she agreed to teach some of the children on my waiting list.
Later in 1970, I met Joy Pollock. She had been working for Berkshire Education Authority since 1960, initially as a home tutor teaching illiterate children. From 1964, she became a peripatetic remedial teacher, which entailed teaching small groups of very poor readers and spellers in primary schools. In 1967 she, too, went on a course at the Word-Blind Institute in Copenhagen to find out more about their methods. This meant that Joy and I were doing much the same work, she within the Local Authority - though they still denied the existence of dyslexia - and I independently. I do not know which of us was the more delighted to meet the other!
We were now a nucleus of three and my dream of starting an organisation, which would become a focal point of help and information on the subject of dyslexia was at last a possibility. Joy, Elisabeth and I were all equally keen to set up a teaching centre, but there were innumerable problems to overcome. There was still overwhelming opposition, especially from the Educational and Psychological Services. We often found that there was contention over whether or not dyslexia even existed. Many people thought that the word had been invented by middle-class parents with rather dull children.
Despite the risk that we were taking, we were determined to go ahead. Each of us was aware, through our own varied experiences, that the lack of the right help in childhood could spell disaster in the life of a dyslexic. We had been shown how a possible tragedy could be avoided and we longed to pass on this knowledge.
The Centre is Born
At this stage, we were still without the two mainstays for the project: accommodation and financial support. But our hopes, I might almost say our faith, came to fruition. My friend, adviser and accountant, Christopher Campbell, managed to arrange my funds to finance the organisation. Premises were found. The great day came on 26 April 1971, when the doors of the first Dyslexia Centre in the UK were opened at 14 Crondace Road in South West London.
Crondace Road
This story is now continued by the three of us –
Helen, Elisabeth and Joy ......
The first day it snowed! The Centre was uncannily quiet. Suddenly a telephone call broke the silence. It was from an Educational Psychologist at Great Ormond Street Hospital. We had had a brief mention in The Times and he was interested to find out more about what we were intending to do.
We had agreed on a few ground rules:
- We would only take pupils who had had an assessment, either by a neurologist or by an educational psychologist.
- We would accept people of any age for tuition.
- We would not refuse tuition to anyone on the grounds of inability to pay, and would raise the money somehow.
These points decided, we needed a name. The London Dyslexia Centre was the obvious one, but, because we planned a second centre in Frensham and wanted a name to cover both, this was abandoned. In the end, we decided on The Helen Arkell Dyslexia Centre. Despite some initial foreboding our timetables soon filled up and that term - indeed the following terms and years – saw the quantity and scope of the activities that the Centre instigated, or was involved in, build up at enormous speed.
All the while, however, teaching (which was our bread and butter) was our priority. We soon found that we were teaching children from all backgrounds - from the richest to the poorest, from the highest in the land to the lowliest – all were welcome!
Lessons were mainly on a one-to-one basis, enabling a teacher to focus on a child’s individual needs. However, small groups - usually of three - enabled the children to realise there were others in a similar situation and gain reassurance from them. Many benefited from one of each type of lesson during a week. There were evening sessions for adults.
Activity in the field was increasing. One of our first visitors was the indomitable Marion Welchman, who had founded the first association - The Bath Dyslexia Association. By then there were eight Local Dyslexia Associations, including North Surrey Dyslexia Association. Its founder and chairman, Wendy Fisher, came to see us in 1972. She had just obtained premises in Staines and was soon organising teaching there. This later became The Dyslexia Institute.
During the same year, we were glad to welcome Bévé Hornsby and show her what we were doing. She later took over the department in Bart’s Hospital which had been set up to study reading and spelling problems. This was initially run by the clinical psychologist Maisie Holt, then by the educational psychologist Jean Gimson, who was often invited to speak on our courses and assessed a number of our pupils. After a year or two we obtained charitable status and were grateful for financial support from a number of organisations interested in education. Nevertheless, on occasions, we had to curb our enthusiasm; we had so many ideas we were sometimes in danger of outstripping our means and taking on too much.
Exchanging Ideas
Even though the teaching staff was increasing, we continued our early tradition of having a two-hour lunch break on Mondays. On these occasions, we exchanged ideas on teaching strategies for various pupils. In this way, we all gained from each other. Not only did we learn from each other about teaching strategies, we also gained insight into how dyslexic people see the world around them. For instance, one small boy aged seven had been shown a capital B and asked what it was. Without hesitation, he replied “Apair of spectacles!”
An adult called Molly, recovering from a nervous breakdown, came from the North to see Helen. She was accompanied by her social worker. During the entire interview, she sat stony-faced while Helen continued to talk to the social worker about the problems of dyslexia. Molly returned three days later on her own and talked non-stop about her ‘flustrations’ and intermittently burst into floods of tears.
It was the first time she had ever been able to express her despair over her terrible frustrations, which were leading to angry outbursts at home. She visited us on and off over the next four years and on occasions bravely allowed herself to be the subject of a demonstration lesson for teachers on our courses; in these sessions she tended to talk about vowels and ‘continence’.
New pupils frequently came for their first session feeling reluctant and bolshie. Most had suffered ridicule in the classroom and some had already had remedial teaching which had not been successful. They were very much on the defensive and their confidence had to be gained before lessons could be successful. Teachers’ tactics for achieving this varied. One small new boy dived under the table and refused to come out, so that is where he had his first lesson.
Adults who had taken the big step of coming for help had great difficulties telling about their problems. They had spent most of their life trying to hide them and had found ingenious ways of doing so. It was immensely gratifying to see the change in our pupils once they accepted that, given the right teaching, they could learn. The rebuilding of their self-confidence would slowly start.
During the Monday lunch breaks, everyone was available to take the opportunity to discuss plans for the future development of the Centre and ways in which we could extend our influence throughout the country.
Towards the end of the 1970s, we were delighted when HRH the Duchess of Gloucester graciously agreed to become our Patron and we are extremely grateful for her continual interest and support.
H.R.H. The Duchess of Gloucester after a visit to the Centre
As early as September 1971, our first innovation had been to run teacher-training courses. These were in answer to requests from interested teachers. Staff from the Frensham area used to come up to London to speak on these occasions. The courses consisted of weekly sessions throughout the term with the emphasis on practical teaching strategies. Furthermore, each participant was required to spend a day at the Centre observing teaching in progress and discussing the methods used.
Expansion
Although the Frensham staff were not involved in as many projects as the London Centre, the number of teachers there was increasing, as was the number of pupils. So, when more suitable accommodation became available, all was in place for the organisation there to expand and it became our second Centre. The accommodation was the stable block of a large house, which had once belonged to Helen’s family. It was these premises, much enlarged and much improved, which later became the home also of the London Centre when it was decided to house both Centres under the same roof.
Dyslexia booklets by Helen Arkell
Publications
In the mid-1970s, we published a booklet - Introduction to Dyslexia. This became the first in a series on various aspects of the problem: The Problem of Reading, the Problem of Spelling, the Problem of Handwriting, Sequencing and Orientation, Motivation, Speech Therapy and the Dyslexic, and Books for the Dyslexic. These sold well on our courses and conferences, and also in Australia where Joy’s brother made contact with the SpLD organisations in each state.
Later, in 1978, we published Signposts to Spelling by Joy and it was illustrated by Vanessa Pawsey, who had been on one of our courses. This provided humorous and much needed spelling guides for teachers. With a favourable review in the Times Educational Supplement, sales took off immediately. It is now published by Heinemann in exactly the same format, though it has been revised from time to time.
We acquired the rights to publish an English version of the Edith Norrie Letter-Case. This ingenious multisensory piece of equipment adapted well from the Danish to the English language. It became standard equipment at the Centre and is still used widely throughout the country.
It was suggested that a film would reach a wider audience and in 1974, full of enthusiasm, we ventured into this unknown world. We were put in touch with Mike Gibbons, a professional producer, who came to our rescue. Finally, after many problems, our film “Dyslexia – Whose Responsibility?” was a reality. We had a grand première in a packed cinema in Shaftesbury Avenue and in due course, our film was shown in many places throughout the world, including USA, Australia, and Europe.
Not only were there scenes of various aspects of teaching, but parents gave their views too. This was extremely important at that time because dyslexia usually went unrecognised and they had had dreadful struggles trying to get some help. We were particularly pleased that the governor of Hull Prison had it shown there. He evidently recognised that many prisoners were illiterate and that much work needed to be done in this area. It is now established that there is often a link between crime and undiagnosed dyslexia and the BDA is collaborating with Pentonville Prison over a teaching project for prisoners.
Mobile Units
Particularly generous gifts were made towards first one, and then two more, specially converted mobile units. This made three fully equipped small classrooms, which could be parked by our teachers outside schools that had agreed to our help. (However, at one comprehensive school, the teachers organised strike action because of independent tuition being provided. It is significant that with changing attitudes, the Centre has now been asked to provide partnership facilities at this same school.)
Susan Hampshire helped us launch the Mobile units
Using the Edith Norrie Letter Case in a Mobile unit
Apart from the facility for teaching wherever the mobile units were needed, they were taken to meetings and conferences. There our equipment could be displayed and our teaching techniques demonstrated. Many Local Dyslexia Associations in the 1970s were diffident about putting on conferences in case they were unable to cover their expenses.
As many of the experienced speakers at that time lived in London and the Home Counties, travelling expenses to the furthermost parts of the country were high. With one of the financial donations from the Linbury Trust, we were able to offer to pay the fees and travelling expenses of speakers to places in the North, Southwest, Northern Ireland and other distant parts and the Associations were only required to raise the basic contribution of £50. This scheme allowed conferences to be put on in all parts of the United Kingdom. The Centre ran Easter conferences at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford, and also York which was to meet requests from Northerners in particular who had complained that “it all happened in the South”.
Although Elisabeth left us in 1974 when she moved with her husband, Richard, to Essex, she continued her teaching and always returned to join us at these conferences and spoke at all of them.
Fund Raising
Financial donations from various sources were always greatly appreciated. Nevertheless, we did our own fundraising too. Occasional Sponsored Spellings were organised at some schools, where dyslexic children were sponsored - mainly by their parents. There have also been marathon runners, sponsored golf matches, swimming galas, tennis tournaments and other events that boosted our bank account. But perhaps the most exhilarating event was when Joy and her friend, Mary van Reyk, were sponsored for riding their horses from Robin Hood’s Bay on the Yorkshire coast to Hest Bank on the Lancashire coast - over a period of a week - with vital backup provided by Helen in one of the mobile units.
Helen even had an appointment to give a talk to teachers at Bedale, which was more or less on our route. That was the day that Peggy Heseltine and one of her sons took over as escort and provided hot soup as we made our way up Wensleydale in pouring rain and gusts of wind which tended to sweep the soup from the cups. On arrival at the village of Carperby, Joy and Mary stabled and fed their horses and trooped into the local pub soaked to the skin, only to realise after their hot baths that Helen had their dry clothes in the mobile unit.
They resorted to their beds and Peggy came to the rescue by searching her caravan for something suitable, but with a husband and four sons, her choice, though appreciated, gave us an unusual appearance in the pub that evening. Eventually, we arrived at Hest Bank and, crossing the main London to Glasgow railway line, got to the shore where we were met and congratulated by the local mayor.
Joy and Mary on Sponsored Ride
Conferences and Speakers
We were in demand as speakers or to help run short courses in many places, including Rome, The Hague, Frankfurt, Zurich and Geneva, and at a school in the unforgettable mountains above Lausanne. We also had the experience - sometimes nerve-racking - of participating in various radio and television programmes. We found that we were very newsworthy! We were also involved in writing articles in newspapers and educational periodicals, such as the Prep Schools Review and contributions made to The Dyslexia Review. Helen’s first article on Dyslexia was published in “Nursery World” in 1961.
Although an increasing number of people began to see that there were some children who, despite adequate intelligence, had particular difficulty learning the three R’s, the ‘opposition’ was adamant that these were just slow children. Opinions became increasingly entrenched and arguments more heated. Any meeting almost inevitably ended in controversy and even those who accepted the problem were arguing about what it should be called - word-blindness, specific learning disability, learning difficulties, developmental dyslexia, strephosymbolia and so on.
However, the attitude of some Educational Authorities towards us was beginning to thaw and the occasional teacher from a maintained school would come on one of our courses or conferences. We visited the ‘powers-that-be’ at the Inner London Education Authority and found them friendly and they sometimes paid for pupils to come to us.
We frequently organised day conferences in various parts of London and in the Frensham area. There was a well remembered occasion when we had a conference in the late 1970s at Westminster Hall in London. The audience consisted mainly of Headteachers. The first speaker was an HMI, followed by the Head of a Comprehensive School and then the Head of a Prep School. At the end of the afternoon, everyone’s attention was riveted by the story of Tim’s schooldays.
Tim was one of our adult pupils, by then in his early 20s. He had screwed up every ounce of his courage to tell the teachers what he had gone through. To alleviate some of his anxiety it was arranged that one of us should sit with him on the platform and give him a lead-in with questions: “What happened to you in your Primary School, Tim?” “I was put in a remedial group with some children who were not very bright. I knew I was bright and didn’t fit into the group. I knew the teacher did not know what to do with me” ... After he had finished, one of the Heads suggested that as the teacher had not known what to do, he could have gone to his Head. “Oh, no!” said Tim with feeling, “You were the enemy!”
All that he said had a huge effect on the audience and some 10 years later when Joy visited a school in the West Country the Head there could still recall the story of Tim’s days at school.
Furthering Links Abroad
We continued to share our accumulating knowledge. An increasing number of visitors, often from overseas, were coming for information or help. One we remember in particular was a dyslexic young man from South Africa who had already made his million. As a millionaire he spoke confidently about his days at school and said: “It wasn’t I who couldn’t learn, it was the teachers who couldn’t teach me.”
We also remember a woman from New Zealand who came to see what we were doing. In due course, she set up a centre with a colleague in Christchurch, South Island, which Joy visited years later when she was on holiday. We also had a number of Americans and Australians who visited us, some of whom we kept in touch with over the years.
The staff at both Centres was increasing all the time. We were in a good position through our courses to see which teachers would best fit into our organisation. The original teamwork that had developed so successfully among the three of us - Elisabeth, Joy and Helen - set a good basis for the future development of the Centre. And we had such fun – a wonderfully helpful ingredient in the work of the HADC which has continued to this day.
In 1979, Helen retired and handed over the reins of the Centre to Joy who, in due course passed them on to Margie Agnew. In 1987, the resources were concentrated at Frensham, the London Centre closed and Gail Goedkoop took over. Helen was asked to be President and so has kept very close links with the Centre. She has also been teaching for the Prison Service. Joy and Elisabeth have kept in touch with Helen and with the Centre and have remained active in the world of dyslexia. They have given joint talks on courses to schools, teachers and dyslexia associations. They have also collaborated over writing Day-to-Day Dyslexia in the Classroom which is aimed at classroom teachers and interested parents. Their most recent book is English Grammar and Teaching Strategies - Lifeline to Literacy.
Helen, Joy & Elisabeth on 25th anniversary
Joy also runs a much-needed consultancy service for parents trying to find suitable schools for their dyslexic children. Elisabeth, despite recent poor health, has continued teaching both children and adults and is always prepared to give helpful advice to any worried parents.
Strength to Strength
It gives the three of us great pleasure and satisfaction that the HADC has gone from strength to strength, and is now under the leadership of Gail Goedkoop and Assistant Directors, Rosie Wood and Bernadette McLean.
Approximately 2,000 teachers and classroom assistants have been trained on the RSA Diploma and Certificate courses; partnership support schemes have been run with a number of primary schools and a few comprehensive schools increasingly within Education Authorities.
The multidisciplinary assessment team comprises specialist teachers, psychologists, occupational therapists and a team of speech and language therapists. Approximately 100 teachers are on the staff supporting pupils in schools. There are Parent and Adult Support Groups, Study Skills Courses and Summer School Weeks. A research programme on ways of learning spelling has been carried out for the DfEE. And, our Easter conferences continue now at Alton and Cambridge!
In February 1999, Helen’s initiative and pioneering work in dyslexia was rewarded when she went to Buckingham Palace and received an MBE from Her Majesty the Queen.
ADDENDA
Bernadette McLean became Principal in August 2006. Rosie Wood was Executive Director from September 2000 – August 2006. Gail Goedkoop retired in September 2000 after 12 years as Executive Director.
The death of Elisabeth Waller, in December 2000, was the cause of very great sadness to all who knew her. Her courage and steadfastness during a long illness was truly amazing. Her knowledge, her wisdom and indeed her humour were beyond estimation in the setting up and running of the Helen Arkell Dyslexia Centre.
Not only her family and her many friends, but also the whole Dyslexia World will be the poorer for her death.
H.R.H. The Duchess of Gloucester visiting the Centre on our 25th Anniversary
This text is a copy of a book published by the Helen Arkell Dyslexia Centre Frensham, Farnham, Surrey GU10 3BW. Copyright: November 2000
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