Exclusive Insights: Guest Hearts

Becky Ansley, Mother of Discovery Student

June 2016

Becky Ansley is our wonderful office manager and my dear friend! We met because of the learning struggles of her youngest daughter, and she was so affected by the changes in her daughter that she has dedicated her considerable talents to Discovery Therapies for many years now. She is a marvelous example of how not just learning challenges, but also learning victories affect the whole family!
​
-Donna Weston, Founder and Executive Director

​Our journey into the world of education was not always an easy one. After I withdrew my first child from public school following her third year, I taught her and my next daughter starting from the beginning. Reading, math and all the rest seemed to progress well.  We all had fun and they were learning.

Just as I thought I had a handle on what I was doing, however, I got thrown a curve ball. I began noticing things that seemed “odd” to me with our third daughter when I was trying to teach her to read and write. “What is it?” I would ask myself. Something seemed wrong. 

As I began to ask questions and seek answers, I was assured that she would “just outgrow it”. But as a mother, I knew something wasn’t right.  At this point, there were tears, both hers and mine, as I watched this happy, curly haired little girl become angry and more distant. It wasn’t until after I went to a home school support group meeting and saw a demonstration of educational therapy that I knew we had found our answer.

At the beginning of therapy, my daughter was withdrawn, held a low level of self-confidence and was unable to read or perform at grade level.  Reading out loud in front of her peers was out-of-the-question. Through educational therapy, she was gradually led to a much higher level of academic performance, but much more importantly, her therapist was able to show her that working through her learning disabilities was indeed possible. The structure of the program continued to challenge her while her therapist was sensitive to her limitations and frustration levels.

That little girl will be turning twenty-four this month and would tell you now that educational therapy was hard work, but it well worth it. This confident, well balanced young woman has insights into life that I never dreamed she would have. She designed her own high school program and graduated “on time”– something, at one point, I wasn’t sure would happen. She considers her therapist a good friend, someone she has kept in touch with all these years, and is still known to come hang around the office to help out on occasion and visit her mother. 

Yes, I would say Discovery Therapies holds a special place in our hearts. That’s why I’m here. I believe in what we do and I know it can change the life of a child. It did mine.