What Tutoring Services are Available?
I offer reading and writing tutoring using proven multi-sensory, Orton-Gillingham based processes. These explicit strategies build phonemic awareness, reading fluency, word recogniton, comprehension, spelling. and writing skills. I use a variety of multi-sensory strategies, materials and programs, depending on each struggling reader’s needs. These may include, but are not limited to: Lindamood Bell LiPS® Program, Lindamood Bell Seeing Stars®, Lindamood Bell Visualizing and Verbalizing®, PRIDE Reading Program®, Step-Up to Writing®, and Handwriting Without Tears®.
READING: Phonemic Awareness, Phonics
What is Phonemic Awareness?
Phonemic awareness is understanding that words are made up of sounds and being able to hear, recognize and manipulate the individual sounds (phonemes) that make up a word. It is primarily an auditory skill, and is critical to reading and spelling success. It is the building block for reading!
What is Phonics?
Phonics is the connection between letter symbols (graphemes) and sounds. Readers use phonics to sound out (decode) unknown words.
What are signs of poor phonemic awareness & phonics?
- adds, omits, substitutes, or reverses sounds in words when speaking, reading or spelling
- difficulty judging sounds within words
- struggles with blending sounds, decoding (sounding words out), spelling, and syllabication (breaking /chunking words into parts)
- avoids reading and is reluctant to read aloud
- combines auditory, visual, and motor information, so the reader can use this multisensory feedback to judge and compare the sequence of sounds within words
- develops a process to determine whether what they say matches what they see, enabling them to become self-correcting readers and speller
READING: Symbol Imagery, Fluency
What is Symbol Imagery?
Symbol imagery is being able to picture, or visualize, the individual letters and sounds of a word in your mind, and compare this picture to what is actually printed on the page. Symbol imagery allows a person to self-monitor and self-correct rapidly.
What are signs of poor symbol imagery?
- difficulty recognizing and remembering basic sight-words (all of those most-used words that just don’t play fair)
- poor spelling
- slow reading (poor reading fluency)
- improved spelling (orthographic awareness)
- more rapid word-reading and self-correction
- improved reading fluency
- improved reading comprehension
READING: Comprehension
“If I can’t picture it, I can’t understand it.” Albert Einstein
What is Concept Imagery?
Concept imagery is the processing skill of “picturing.” It’s being able to make mental pictures of things and ideas, and creating a whole image (gestalt) out of all the parts or details. An underlying cause of language comprehension problems, whether oral or written, is poor concept imagery.
What are signs of poor comprehension and concept imagery difficulties?
- struggles with remembering what is heard or read
- information seems to “go in one ear and out the other”
- recalls a few details, but the big picture gets missed
- trouble understanding and following oral directions
- seems scattered and has a hard time getting to the point
- may have been labeled as having an attention problem or “not trying”
How does developing Concept Imagery strategies help with comprehension?
- teaches “how” to comprehend oral and written language
- teaches how to get the “big picture”
- teaches how to combine non-verbal and verbal information
- teaches how to sequence ideas, infer, predict, and evaluate
- teaches how to remember what is read
- improves reading and listening comprehension, memory, oral vocabulary, higher order thinking skills, and writing.
WRITING: Spelling, Dysgraphia, Writing Process
Why does writing seem so difficult for my child?
Writing is one of the most challenging skills individuals must master. It requires putting together the motor process of handwriting, sound-symbol association with spelling, vocabulary, grammar, organizing language into coherant written thoughts, and a wide variety of writing styles and audiences.
What are signs of writing difficulties and dysgraphia?
- struggles to spell
- simple and unorganized writing
- feels blocked or frustrated when writing
- messy handwriting and difficulty with letter formation, spacing and placement
- cramped grip
- rushes through written assignments
- loves to talk but hates to write
What should explicit writing strategies include?
- orthographic coding (spelling)
- creating and organizing ideas
- composing meaningful sentences and paragraphs
- revising and editing work independently
- following grammatical conventions
- opportunities to practice and apply explicit strategies
