Motorvate (Scotland) Ltd.

Help needed with Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, DCD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Asperger Syndrome or ADHD ?  Do you want to learn more about symptoms and how to get help? Do you or your child have to cope with the challenges of any of these Specific Learning Difficulties?

Based in Perth, Scotland, Motorvate’s experienced team have years of expertise in working with children with specific learning and co-ordination difficulties, their families and Education staff. 

Motorvate  do assessment and intervention work with individual clients.  In addition we have intervention programmes which we introduce and support in schools.  We also provide training, with a range of courses for education staff, social services staff or parents.

Please explore our website to gain a greater understanding of what we are able to offer or scroll down to our Latest News Section.

New Year and Exciting Times Ahead for Motorvate

Happy New Year to everyone and what an exciting year this is going to be for all of us at Motorvate.  This is the year when we really will come of age with lots of exciting projects on the go.  The most exciting of these will undoubtedly be the arrival of Motorvate Therapies.  Motorvate Therapies is being set up as a  Social Enterprise company which should allow us to work with a greater range of services, give greater access to many more young people and their families and allow us to work more closely with Local Authorities and the NHS.

We have been working on this for several months which is a reason why things have been fairly quiet on here. Things will really liven up over the next month or so, watch this space to see how things develop.

All our existing services will continue as before.  Individual clinets are due to resume this Saturday 7th January with Perth Football on Monday 9th January and Sports therapy and Literacy Groups resuming on Thursday 12th January.

Merry Christmas!

We would like to take this opportunity to wish all clients, past, present and future a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  This has been a busy year for us at Motorvate and next year promises to be really exciting. We have some big changes coming which we hope will really help us work with many more families and professionals, to improve the lives of many more young people with Additional Support Needs.

Individual Clients will resume on Saturday 7th January, 2012 with the Perth football groups starting on Monday 9th January, 2012 and Sports Therapy Groups & Literacy Groups restarting on Thursday 12th January, 2012.

Groups Restart

Motorvate groups restart on Monday 24th October following the October break.  There are  very limited spaces available in our ASN Football groups on Mondays.

There are also limited spaces available in the Thursday Sports Therapy groups.  More information is available about our Thursday Groups in the Group Therapy area of the website.

 

Henry Winkler Inspiring Youngsters

Actor and Director Henry Winkler who was best known as ‘The Fonz’ in the American sit com ‘Happy Days’ was recently awarded an honorary OBE by the Queen.

 

Is Her Majesty a big fan of ‘The Fonz’, the absolute ‘King of Cool’ or has Winkler been up to something more significant.  The reality is that Henry is dyslexic and his award is in recognition of him banging the drum for those with learning disabilities and inspiring youngsters not to feel limited.

 

Currently on a tour of schools in England, Winkler was interviewed on The One Show by Alex Jones and Matt Baker.

 

Alex: “You are talking about your struggles with Dyslexia and motivating and inspiring children. As an actor it must have been incredibly tough for you to deal with scripts.”

 

Henry: “This is what I’ve found.  If you want something you figure out how you’re going to get it. So yes reading was hard, school was hard I just read my scripts a little slower than everyone else and I was able to memorise very quickly.  I couldn’t read but I could memorise.”

 

Matt: “How did you find out then that you had dyslexia ?”

 

Henry: “My step son Jed who is now 40 was tested and everything they said to him applied to me.”

 

Alex: “When you go out to schools what exactly do you do with the children ?”

 

Henry: “I tell them my story, that I’m in the bottom 3% in America academically but here I am talking to you, that I was told that I was stupid and lazy, I would never achieve and the Queen of England gave me an honour.  What a journey!  The thing that I tell the children is that it doesn’t matter how you learn, you have brilliance in you. Your job is to figure out what it is and give it to the world as a gift.”

 

Matt: “Alfie is one of those kids that you’ve inspired. What did Henry tell you when he came to your school ?”

 

Alfie: “He told us that you can be whatever you want you just have to believe in yourself  and everyone has the ability to be exactly what you want to be we just have to find it inside us.”

 

It’s refreshing for us at Motorvate to hear of another celebrity who shares our philosophy. Believe in yourself and focus on what you can do, not what you can’t!

 

 

Great Training with Fosterplus!

Motorvate have just completed 4 great days training with Fosterplus a nationwide independent fostering agency providing high quality, safe and supportive foster care for children in a family setting. 

Fosterplus has been established as a foster care agency since 1996 and has a wealth of experience in providing foster carers for local authorities throughout England and Scotland. In November 2009 they were providing a foster care service for in excess of 250 children across the country.

Our revamped Introduction to Normal Development & Specific Developmental Conditions Course followed up with the new version of Specific Strategies was really well received by a very knowledgeable and committed group of carers based in the east and the west of Scotland.  Feedback on the evaluation forms from every delegate gave us as trainers full marks on every day (1 gave us 4 out of 5 on one occasion!)

Having improved these courses we hope to have further opportunities with other organisations soon.

Special Education Week

This week is Special Education Week.  Spare a thought for all the children who have to try extra hard to do well in school and in life.

Video of Summer Football Group Online

Motorvate’s ASN Summer Football Group  can be seen on a small video clip on our new YouTube Channel.  This is only available to those who visit via the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL1EfyrljDU 

It ‘s always abit of a dilemma to publish material like this online as these youngsters can be vulnerable and there can be a fine line at times between feeling embarassed or proud of themselves. 

One thing at Motorvate we are very clear about is confidentiality of our clients and we would never publish personal information or specifically identify any of our clients on line.  We would always specifically seek permission from parents before publishing any such materials and if parents were unhappy with the final product we would ensure it was taken down.

In this case the parents have been really supportive and the feedback we have had from parents and the boys themselves has been really positive. 

“Really enjoyed watching the video - XXX was very excited to see himself on the computer too!!”

“Video looks great! Well done to you and the team XXX will be delighted to be ‘famous’”

“Brilliant!!!!”

This is fantastic as so much of what we try to achieve is about building self esteem and if, as it seems, the boys are proud of their new found fame then this has to be a good thing.  That is why presenting this in a positive light is absolutely critical.  It looks like we got it right.  Have a look for yourself and see what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL1EfyrljDU

Summer’s Over! : -(

Summer’s Over!

What?! 

- We could actually get into a big debate about wether or not it actually started!  There’s certainly been some record rainfall with only sporadic warm sunny days here in Perth.

We don’t want to depress you here at Motorvate though so don’t worry, we’re sure the best of the summer weather is still to come but with schools returning next week locally our summer break ,as far as our core work is concerned, is coming to an end.

Motorvate groups and regular individual client intervention restart again as from Monday 15th August.  As we have mentioned a few times recently we are almost operating at capacity in Perth with only limited spaces available.  We hope to have new groups operating in Dundee soon although our latest proposal for a Social Skills Group is planned for Perth.

More info coming soon.  Enjoy the remainder of the summer however long it lasts for you!

Spaces in Groups

Motorvate currently run a number of groups for youngsters with Additional Support Needs.

Groups Run in Perth on a Monday and Thursday from approx 4.00pm  – 6.00pm with more groups proposed for Dundee on a Tuesday 4.00pm – 6.00pm starting soon.  We are currentlyoperating at close to capacity in Perth with only very limited spaces available.

Each group has a different focus and youngsters are placed in the group most appropriate to their needs.  Each group is led by a Motorvate Therapist  supported  by one or more assistants as appropriate. 

There are three types of groups Football, Sports Therapy and Fine Motor / Literacy.

Motorvate Football is based on the Motorvate ‘Big Goals’ Programme which was introduced for  those with Additional Support Needs or indeed any youngster who finds the playground a challenge.  This group will give youngsters the opportunity to play and develop their skills and self confidence and have lots of fun through football.

Motorvate Sports Therapy focuses on developing the  Motor Skills of Balance, Gross and Fine Motor Skills, Bilateral Integration (Using both sides of the body together and independently) and Motor Planning as well as building Self Confidence and Social Skills through fun games and activities.  A detailled example of this is illustrated elsewhere in the blog.

Motorvate Fine Motor / Literacy is designed specifically for youngsters with Dyslexic type challenges.  Again looking at fun, fine motor activities the group allows the youngsters to have fun and develop their social skills as well as strategies to help with literacy.

Limited places in groups are available to any youngster and the criteria above are generally used as a guide with the children being placed in a group by a member of the Motorvate team if they will fit in to the social / skill base mix of the group.  The groups are all about having fun and addressing any developmental, motor or social skills based issue through involvement in fun games and motor skills activities.  The groups operate with up to 8 youngsters at any one time although we do limit some of the groups to 4 or 6.

Some children come in to the group for only a short time but we have a number who have been attending  for several years.

The groups cost £6 -£8 per session payable by block in advance. Discounts are available for two or more siblings.  More information is available by emailing us at motorvate@live.co.uk