Personalized Educational Tutoring for Students:

Learning to read and write truly opens new worlds to our children.I know as a parent it is difficult to watch your child struggle, so I offer literacy interventions tailored to each student's needs, whether or not there is a formal diagnosis of dyslexia or a learning disability.

My services, commonly called "tutoring," differ significantly from traditional tutoring. My extensive education, training, and experience in the theory and practice of literacy remediation enable me to tailor a reading program based on your child’s unique learning profile of strengths and areas of need. I will help your child improve their literacy abilities and build confidence as well. You can trust that your child will be in good hands when he or she is with me, and together we can open worlds of understanding!

Considerations:

Following are some considerations that go into choosing effective and efficient programming for a student:

The age of the child

· Certain programs have published guidelines for the age range of students who will benefit from its intervention. The developmental stage of the child is also critical in making instructional decisions.

The child's specific strengths and areas of need

· Does the child struggle in all five areas of reading? Are some areas of struggle more pronounced? What is the child’s skill in the areas of spelling and writing? What are areas of strength?

Other interventions

· Has the child received previous interventions? Which ones and what was the child's experience with them?

· Is the child currently receiving intervention at school?

· How is that experience going? Would it be best to continue that intervention in a more intensive setting or does a change need to be made?

Other concerns

· Does the child have other academic, cognitive, social-emotional, or medical concerns? These can sometimes impact how well a certain program fits the child's overall needs.

ACADEMIC LANGUAGE (DYSLEXIA) THERAPY FOR STUDENTS

Academic Language Therapy instruction is based on the Orton Gillingham approach (see Orton Gillingham tab for more information) and is multi-sensory, explicit, structured, systematic and cumulative. Dyslexia therapy lessons contain the 5 components (Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Vocabulary, Fluency, and Comprehension) of effective reading instruction supported by the National Reading Panel, and mandated by Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

The lessons I create for students will follow an appropriate scope and sequence to teach the alphabetic principle, phonemic awareness, phonics, reading, spelling, and writing. In order to develop strong and efficient connections in the brain, every learning activity will incorporate the V(visual)-A(auditory)-K(kinesthetic)/T (tactile) triangle which engages multiple learning styles. Also, the discovery approach allows me to ask questions to guide students to new learning. This also strengthens connections in the brain by making the new information relevant to the child, and therefore easier to remember.

EDUCATIONAL TUTORING

In addition to the Academic Language Therapy - Orton Gillingham instruction, I have many different resources and options that I use in my personalized tutoring sessions depending on your child’s unique needs. It is my job to determine where the child is, meet him or her there, and tailor my approach to move each student to success.

Educational tutoring services are typically one hour in length and are provided a minimum of two times per week. Kindergarten students may be seen for 30 minutes per session. Please click on the Scheduling tab for more details and to submit a Contact form.

Rights and Responsibilities of Children and Parents

Confidentiality, Children’s and Parents’ Rights:

1. The child has the right to considerate and respectful care.

2. The child and his or her parents or legal guardian have the right to obtain complete and current information concerning the tutoring in clear and understandable terms.

3. The child has the right to expect that all communication and records pertaining to his or her tutoring are treated as confidential unless a waiver is provided by the parent (s)/guardian (s) or as exempted by statute or order of court.

Children’s and Parents’ Responsibilities:

1. A parent or legal guardian is responsible for reporting any significant changes in the children’s home and school situation to the tutor.

2. A parent or legal guardian is responsible for keeping scheduled appointments and, when the child is unable to attend appointments for any reason, for notifying the tutor 24 hours in advance whenever possible. If the tutor is given no prior notice of a child’s absence, the session fee will still be charged.

3. Any disruptive behavior by the student towards any individual during the tutoring session shall suspend or terminate that tutoring session and may terminate any or all future tutoring sessions. No refund will be due. 

4. The tutor can suspend or terminate tutoring for any child if the child or his or her parents or legal guardians violates any of these responsibilities.

Transportation and Dismissal:

1. No child shall be dismissed into the care of anyone other than a parent or legal guardian except upon written request of the parents(s) or legal guardian(s).

2. The tutor is not authorized to transport a child.

3. Children should be picked up by the parent or legal guardian at the tutoring table promptly at the arranged end of session time. This is necessary because another tutoring session typically starts immediately following the previous session.

Observations:

Parents/legal guardians may observe tutoring sessions non-intrusively, subject to the approval of the tutor, once a month.

Friends and siblings of the student are not to be at the tutoring table, nor within sight, during a tutoring session.

Fees:

Individual tutoring sessions are $60. They are scheduled for 50 minutes, which includes lesson preparation and time to talk to parents or legal guardians about the student’s progress.

Fees may be pre-paid directly to the tutor for the upcoming month, or paid directly to the tutor at the beginning of each session. 

A $30 fee will be charged for any checks returned due to non-sufficient funds.

Tutoring sessions cancelled with less than 24 hours notice will have a 50% cancellation fee paid before the next scheduled tutoring session.

There are always more requests for tutoring than my time will allow and as such I must ask that you be committed to the program. Tutoring semesters coincide with school semesters. I cannot help the student if they are not in attendance regularly, therefore during each tutoring semester I allow 2 absences. Repeated absences will cause your child to be dropped from my tutoring schedule so another child may be included.