CHILDREN suffering with Dyslexia in West Devon can now access extra help.
The Dyslexia Centre, which has operated in Plymouth for 12 months, has opened a branch at the Alexander Centre in Tavistock.
An open day is to be held on Monday February 26 for anyone who thinks their children might benefit. There will be two sessions, one at 2pm and one at 7pm
Joanna Jeffrey, who runs the centres, said: 'The aim is to enable as many children as possible to access literary skills. It's for those people that need a little bit of extra help. The schools are doing very good work — we are just trying to enhance that.'
Mrs Jeffrey said Dyslexia was a very specific learning difficulty and needed to be addressed by professionals, but stressed that it was vital for the centre to work in harmony with the schools.
The centre would be tailor-made to address the needs of Tavistock and the surrounding area and new teachers would be trained if there were a demand.
Youngsters attending the sessions will get tuition once a week on Monday's.
'An hour a week is enough to reap the benefits,' said Mrs Jeffrey. 'If they do more, the children start to think there's something wrong with them — this is all about building self-esteem — I just enable them to cope. An hour a week is enough to turn them around.'
Mrs Jeffrey, a specialist teacher herself, moved to the South West a year ago and set up the venture with £15,000 of her own money.
'I came down to Devon and found there was a need and no opportunities for me to get a job, so I have started up my own business to meet the needs of the children,' she said.