​What Parents and Teachers say about the Jumpstarting™ Process....

​Our son’s journey with Paula was truly remarkable.  He began as someone weighed down by his dyslexia, unable to believe in his own capabilities and not achieving his potential.  Working with Paula, we saw a dramatic change in our son.  He took time to really master the techniques which Paula seeks to embed, but the result was simply amazing.  It was inspiring and in many ways humbling and very emotional as I saw our son start to flourish and to begin to believe in his ability to spell, read and comprehend.  What we saw was a world of opportunities opening up as he relished his new found confidence.  We can’t thank Paula enough for the amazing transformation that she achieved with our son.    For all of us it was a genuinely eye-opening experience and one that was so worthwhile and memorable.  I cannot praise Paula, her attitude, her approach and her own desire to help people see themselves and approach challenges differently. Truly a life changing experience!
Father of Boy - Aged 14

​Less time spent doing homework, no conflict during. More confidence in her ability to carry out her homework. Fantastic approach to learning, should be across the board in all schools
Mother of Girl - Aged 6

Mrs Montie’s techniques have greatly helped me to start developing strategies for dealing with my recently diagnosed dyslexia. Of particular help to me are the techniques for clearing a fuzzy mind, grounding and replacing negative thoughts with positive ones.
Whenever I find myself struggling to concentrate I use the technique of speaking the alphabet while moving different sides of the body. I find this helps me to refocus my thoughts and to be able to take in more information from lessons and homework.
In lessons and during exams, if I need to bring myself back to the particular subject, I use the grounding technique to replace negative with positive energy and give myself a stronger, but calmer foundation to work from.
These two methods of improving focus and clarity of thought have helped me greatly to improve my performance during A level studies and I am hoping they will help when I take my exams in the summer.”
I hope you can find a use for this text to show that even 18 year old A-level students can benefit. Thanks again.
A - Student -18

​This way of learning has made it just much more enjoyable to learn without the usual stress.
This course, Jumpstarting, is after changing everything for F and I. It was an eye-opener for not just F but myself also. I would strongly urge any parent who struggles with helping their child with reading or spelling difficulties to do this course, it is an investment in your child’s future. You won’t get a better tutor than Sara to help you on your way to stress-free learning for your child.
Mother of Girl - Aged 12

​We became very interested in Jumpstarting after hearing about it from a local school. We are a small staff, with regular communication between classroom teachers and support teachers. A constant challenge for us was improving results of children with specific learning difficulties, particularly those for whom phonics was not working. We had tried a number of approaches and programmes, none of which we found to be effective. We decided, with the support of the Board of Management, to invest in training for our resource teacher and I.
We began using the methodologies as soon as we returned to school. We were amazed at how quickly children took to the new system and at the results they were achieving in such a short space of time. What was most rewarding about it was that children themselves recognised that they were improving and were confident about their own learning, making learning an enjoyable and relaxed experience for them. We found that the methods worked best with children who were experiencing the most difficulty with spelling and word recognition due to a diagnosis of dyslexia.
What we found most appealing about the programme, was that it was very simple to implement, it was in fact a methodology that fit into your day in the classroom, rather than extra work for the teacher to do. The rest of our staff was so impressed with the results that they saw, that they expressed interest in being trained also. They completed the Jumpstart Training, and so Empowering Learning is now being implemented in all our classrooms.
We are seeing astounding results in classrooms, and grounding leads to a more relaxed atmosphere in classrooms and around the school. We have found, however, that it does not work for all children. The children to whom spelling comes easy, prefer their own methods of learning to spell and this is fine also.
We have struggled over the past number of years as a staff to come up with an effective method of teaching spelling rather than relying on spelling workbooks and phonics which were proving ineffective for a number of children. We have attended a number of workshops and courses on the topic of spelling and have had a number of staff meetings on the topic.
When teaching spelling using Empowering Learning Methods, I know that this is how spelling should be taught. We hope to further implement the methods into the future and look forward to seeing the longer term results.
Sheila Ryan
Principal Saint Brigid’s National School, Ticknevin, Co. Kildare

​After working with Sara, the main impact on D is that he is a lot happier in school and at home. Homework time is no longer a stressful time or a struggle any more. I have applied the technique to Irish spellings and there are vast improvements in it.
I have found that D is working more independently on his homework. Also has taken greater interest in sports and school activities. A lot of teachers have comment on how he is taking part more in sports. Before this he showed no interest in it.
Mother of Boy - Aged 10