Answers at a Glance: Frequently Asked Questions
We tutor in person in Norman or Moore, Oklahoma and online anywhere. It is very rare for us to travel to your home, but it can happen on occasion for special situations. Our speciality is struggling learners. We focus on reading and writing, but we can also help with elementary math. We have advanced degrees and training in helping students with dyslexia as well as those who just need a little extra push. We specialize in Kindergarten-6th grade students, but also work with pre-K, middle school, high school, and even adult students. It’s never too late to learn to read!
Before tutoring can start, a diagnostic assessment is needed. It usually takes one to two sessions for reading and one session for math. Each testing session costs the same price as a tutoring session, which is $75/session. The purpose of this testing is to find all of the strengths and weaknesses of the child and to develop an action plan before tutoring.
You will book a regular lesson time, which will be reserved just for your child. We will not take other students during that time. We will meet consistently at your scheduled time(s). We use a tuition based model similar to piano, dance, or sports lessons. At the beginning of the semester, we calculate the number of sessions planned for the semester or the year (whichever you prefer). I include one absence for your student and one absence for myself per semester. Increased frequency of sessions per week may result in an increased number of allowed absences. We multiply that number (the number of sessions) by $70 and then divide by the total of months to get a consistent payment each month. Before we get started we will have an agreed upon calendar of dates. To avoid missed sessions, it is very important that you have the ability to switch to Zoom on days of inclement weather or illness.
Testing in conducted live, not through a computer program. We like to see and hear the student go through the process of taking the assessments because it provides us with feedback about the student. We use a variety of tests that change based on how the student reacts or performs on the previous assessment. We gather data from all aspects of reading – phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, comprehension, spelling, and writing.
Option 1: Schedule & Go
After testing, just start tutoring immediately. This option does not have an assessment report to be given to the parent, nor will the results be reviewed orally.
Cost: Free
Option 2: Short Report
Get a short report (2-4 pages) with a brief outline of the results only. You will be provided a digital copy for your records. A brief meeting to review the results is included.
Cost: $100
Option 3: Detailed Report
Get an in-depth report (8-10 pages) which explains how reading comes together, the strengths and weaknesses by component: phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, comprehension, spelling, and writing. Included are recommendations for how to strengthen areas of weakness. This also includes an oral review of the results.
Cost: $200
The number of sessions varies depending strengths, weaknesses, and special circumstances of the student. A minimum of twice a week is usually recommended for any student not on grade level. Since every child is different, the recommended frequency may increase or decrease. The further a child is behind, the more frequent tutoring the student needs. Often parents double up sessions over the breaks and summer.
There is no magic answer to this question. Improvement depends on the severity of the reading problem. Typically dyslexia therapy programs are at least a two-year commitment.
There are several other factors that account for how long it takes the child to get up to grace level:
- Consistency of tutoring sessions.
- Where instruction needs to begin and how many learning gaps need to be filled.
- If your child has a diagnosed exceptionality and if there is any treatment used to assist.
- Interventions and instruction at school.
- How much time is spent reading away from the classroom?
It depends on the program that your student is using. Often we’ll send home decodable readers or fluency passages to practice. Sometimes we’ll send home games to play working on a specific skill. Often, the best thing you can do is to encourage a fun, safe place to read.
Look for indicators such as:
◦ Grades slowly start to Improve in school
- The teacher says he/she is starting to participate in class or become less disruptive
- He/she becomes a happier child
- He/she becomes more confident in their learning.
- Homework starts to become less of a struggle or more independent
- There are no more tears, less whining, or temper tantrums
- He/she asks for you to read to them or picks up a book to read alone
- He/she listens to an audio recording of a book (may or may not follow along with the printed book)
- Brings home a certificate or award earned from school… or even went to the “treasure box”
- The “AR” test was passed! Or improvement on the reading screener done at school.
- In addition, we progress monitor during the tutoring sessions and do a more formal assessment every 4-6 months.
- We include time in our schedule for a quick 5-minute checkup if you have questions at the end of your child’s session.
If you’d like to schedule a more formal meeting, please reach out to discuss progress, test scores, assessments, etc. These meetings are scheduled in 15-minute increments and are prorated.
We will gladly help with homework but you need to know that this often takes away from our goal of filling in gaps based on the diagnostic assessment. The teacher in the classroom is often working on grade level and sometimes below grade level work. Between the effort of all those involved, your child’s weaknesses will become strengths and get them closer to grade level. If you want regular homework help, it is often better to hire a cheaper homework helper, such as a college student.
Dyslexia is only diagnosed by an educational psychologist. We do not have one on staff, but we are happy to refer you to a few people who can help you.
Education and learning to read do not allow for a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. Therefore we are trained in a variety of programs to help your student succeed. This is why we start all students with a diagnostic assessment and then formulate a plan based on the results of the assessment.
ADHD and Dyslexia are often comorbid. We understand ADHD challenges and keep the parts of our lesson short and changing so that we keep their attention. We also add in games and other activities to make learning more fun.
The majority of our tutoring sessions can be conducted online via Zoom. We don’t recommend online lessons for Kindergarten and below. While in-person lessons are often preferred, having the ability to switch to online lessons is important. Having this flexibility avoids breaks when we cannot meet in person.
We are firm believers in “The Science of Reading’. We have followed this approach to teaching reading for years, even before it back such a main-streamed topic. This means we use all the components of reading to help your child become a skilled reader.
We are often busy tutoring one student after another on most days and do not have personal assistants to send out reminders. Therefore, it is crucial for you to keep track of your own schedule. If you are late, your session will still end at the originally scheduled time
We assess during our first session or two. If you choose to pay for the report, then you have that and compare that to what you are seeing. We include time in our schedule for a quick 5 minute checkup if you have questions. If you’d like to schedule a more formal meeting, please reach out to discuss progress, test scores, assessments, etc.
Just send us an email and we’ll get back to you. We fill up pretty fast before the beginning of the school year, but you never know if we’ll have an opening available.
Please let us know as soon as possible if you need to cancel. You get one free cancellation included in your monthly fee(?). We can switch to an online lesson for the day or we can try to reschedule, but if rescheduling is not an option then you forfeit that lesson.
We use the tuition model for tutoring sessions. Your student gets one absence included in that model. If for some reason, we are unavailable to meet in person or on Zoom, then we will offer to reschedule. If we cannot agree on a time to reschedule, then a session credit will be given for the next month.