The Reading Clinic received a $50,000 donation for its reading programme from Tokio Millennium Re.The Bermuda-based reinsurance company is the lead sponsor of the clinic’s Core Reading Programme.Staff members have also supported the charity, raising $11,000 on its behalf at the Centre on Philanthropy’s Give Back Games in September.They also volunteered during the clinic’s recent tag day, helping to raise more than $13,000.The Core Reading Programme offers diagnostic assessments and tutoring for students with specific reading disabilities. More than 4,500 hours of tutoring were given to 79 reading students between 2011 and 2012.“Our primary goal is to support what we believe to be a key social problem,” said Tatsuhiko Hoshina, CEO of Tokio Millennium Re Ltd. “We feel that there is a general lack of educational and community support for youth.“As such, we are committed to combating this problem by facilitating the building of community support systems and creating educational opportunities for Bermuda’s youth. Therefore we are very happy to be able to support The Reading Clinic in their work.”Julie Dunstan, executive director of The Reading Clinic, added: “We are extremely grateful for Tokio Millennium Re’s generous gift to The Reading Clinic.“Their sponsorship provides support for the critical quality control functions of tutor training and supervision, student observations, progress monitoring and annual student and programme evaluations.“The Core Reading Programme is at the heart of who we are and plays a critical role in reducing the secondary effects of school failure for children with dyslexia.“The earlier students enter the programme, the more likely they are to be successful in learning to read and spell and to close the performance gap between themselves and their peers.”The programme is most effective with children who have a pattern of dyslexia — children who have strengths in some learning-related skills but struggle with reading and spelling due to difficulties working with the sounds in words.