Tutoring & Consultations

At Learn Your Way we hope to introduce struggling readers to the joy of effortless reading.

Tutoring for Reading – What do we do at Learn Your Way?

Perhaps dyslexia is not the issue you face. Perhaps you simply have a reader who is struggling. At Learn Your Way, we set out to custom-fit solutions to your needs, your way. When a client comes for tutoring, the first thing we do is to evaluate their reading skills to determine the areas in which we need to work. We do not diagnose learning problems, rather we use evaluation tools to determine areas on which to focus and then to measure progress. We use various reading assessments to determine the reading level and areas of difficulty.

Then we set about to use a systematic, direct instruction, intensive, multi-sensory phonetic approach to bring the client to the desired level of ability. This is the approach (commonly referred to as an Orton-Gillingham based method) that helps most struggling readers find success in easily decoding words.

So, let’s define some terms:

• Systematic – following an orderly plan of instruction with skills that build on one another, not jumping around teaching rules as they come up in reading material.

• Direct Instruction – giving the student information directly regarding sounds and rules of phonics – not ‘discovery’ learning. Additionally, tricks and songs and gimmicks can confuse some students.

• Intensive – a euphemism for drill and repetition!

• Multi-sensory – engaging as many senses as possible during the learning process.

• Decoding – recognizing the word’s phonetic sounds and putting it together to make the word.

Not all programs that call themselves a phonetic approach contain all of these elements. Struggling readers typically need them all, in order to succeed.

We tailor the presentation to the needs of the student, to match how they best learn. One-on-one tutoring at Learn Your Way sets out to custom-fit solutions to your needs, your way.

What’s the Goal in tutoring for reading?

A confident, efficient reader is automatic, fluent, and comprehends the material read. Therefore, the goals for struggling readers at Learn Your Way are automaticity, fluency, and comprehension.

Let’s define those terms as they apply to reading:

• Automaticity – the ability to immediately read a word using rules, without stopping to think.

• Fluency – reading smoothly, with correct phrasing and intonation.

• Comprehension – what reading is all about in the first place – to derive meaning from what is read, to easily understand the author’s intent.

If a client doesn’t decode words automatically, their ability to read fluently is compromised, and therefore they struggle with getting the meaning out of the text. Habitually guessing at words undermines the reader’s ability to be certain of what they’ve read, so they are rarely confident and often dislike to read. Sometimes a client who feels they have a comprehension problem, actually has a deficiency in their ability to automatically decode words.

Consultations

Often with a good plan and recommendation of resources, parents can implement a program to remediate a struggling reader’s situation. Consultations are available to develop such a plan.