Does the tutor have expertise in your child’s academic needs?

When seeking a tutor for your child, make sure the tutor in NYC has extensive experience working on the skills your child needs help with. For example, if your child is in early elementary school and needs reading help, ask the potential tutor or tutoring company about their experience tutoring reading to students your child’s age. If your child is older and needs help with high level math, ask about their experience tutoring algebra or geometry if that’s what your child needs help with. Tutors tend to have expertise in specific skill areas, so make sure your child works with someone who can help them with the skills they are struggling with, and has ample expertise doing so.

Does the tutor have experience working with neurodivergent students?

If your child is neurodivergent and has specific learning needs, it’s important that they work with a tutor in NYC who specializes in working with students who have similar diagnoses to your child. For example, if your child has ADHD and struggles with executive functioning skills, including planning, organization, time management, and task initiation, ask the tutor about their experience working with ADHD students and the approach they typically take. If your child has dyslexia, ask if they have experience using specific methods, like the Orton Gillingham approach, to help your child build their reading skills. Students with dysgraphia may need to work with a tutor in NYC who uses a multi-sensory approach to teaching students how to express their thoughts on paper in an organized manner. Likewise, if your child has autism, dyscalculia, language challenges, or other related difficulties, ask the tutor about their experience tutoring students in NYC who have similar neurodiverse needs.

Does the tutor give an assessment and use a structured learning plan?

When your child works with a tutor in NYC, it’s important that a structured plan is in place. Ask the tutor if they typically start with an evaluation to gauge the student’s needs. If your child has an IEP or another evaluation, see if the tutor would be willing to read it before the tutoring begins and incorporate the relevant information into the tutoring. Ideally, your child’s tutor should begin with an assessment to determine their specific needs, including what aspects of a skill they struggle with, before beginning the tutoring. If your child has difficulty with reading, the assessment should gauge whether the challenge is with decoding words, reading fluency, comprehension, or a combination of these skills. If the challenge is with decoding, the assessment should determine the type of word patterns they struggle with. At a basic level, your child may struggle with blending consonant-vowel-consonant sounds together to form words. If that’s the case, the NYC tutor may use a multi-sensory approach like Orton Gillingham to teach your child how to read these types of words, then move onto words containing blends, consonant digraphs, vowel digraphs, silent e patterns, multi-syllabic words, and so on. The tutor should also keep you posted about any progress noted as the tutoring progresses.

Hiring a tutor for your child in NYC can be a great step towards helping them succeed in school. Asking the right questions and choosing the ideal tutor or tutoring company can impact your child’s academic performance immensely.

If your child is struggling in school, contact us today at www.eblcoaching.com to see how we can help them with one-on-one in person and virtual tutoring.

Frequently asked questions

How do I know if my child needs a tutor?

If you notice your child struggling academically with reading, writing, math, executive functioning, or a combination of these skills, they will likely benefit from a tutor. A tutor in NYC can help your child develop stronger academic skills and build their self-confidence.

Should I hire a tutor with special education experience?

If your child has ADHD, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, autism, or another learning challenge, you should hire a tutor or use a tutoring company that has expertise in working with students who have special education needs.

Is online tutoring effective for helping students build their academic skills?

Online tutoring can be incredibly effective for many students in building their academic skills. It offers flexibility and access to more tutors who may specialize in the areas your child needs help with.

The post What Questions Should You Ask Before Hiring a Tutor in NYC? appeared first on EBL Coaching.

If your child has dyslexia, you may see them struggling immensely with reading. Sounding out words may be a long, arduous task for them. They might also have trouble spelling words accurately or expressing their thoughts on paper when writing. If your dyslexic child struggles with any of these skills, specialized dyslexia tutoring using the Orton Gillingham approach can help them tremendously. What kind of tutoring is best for your child with dyslexia?

Best types of tutoring for children with dyslexia

The best tutoring for students who have dyslexia is structured, research-based, multi-sensory instruction, including tutoring using the Orton Gillingham approach. Dyslexia tutoring typically includes decoding lessons, reading comprehension strategies, structured spelling support, and writing lessons. These methods can help students improve their phonemic awareness, decoding, spelling, reading fluency, reading comprehension, and writing skills.

Orton Gillingham tutoring for dyslexia

Orton Gillingham tutoring is considered to be the most ideal approach for helping students with dyslexia build their reading and spelling skills. This method is research-based, systematic, and multi-sensory, and students often enjoy receiving this type of tutoring. Your dyslexic child should typically receive an initial evaluation before the Orton Gillingham tutoring begins to gauge their specific skill levels. They may have trouble reading basic consonant-vowel-consonant words, or perhaps they have difficulty reading words containing vowel digraphs or multi-syllabic words. The Orton Gillingham method typically follows a structured approach, as follows:

• Orton Gillingham lessons begin by teaching students the names of the letters and their corresponding sounds.
• Lessons then advance to words containing blends, consonant digraphs, vowel digraphs, silent e patterns, r-controlled patterns, multi-syllabic word patterns, and so on.
• Sessions include a review of previously taught concepts followed by the introduction of a new Orton Gillingham concept or sound.
• Orton Gillingham lessons typically end with oral reading of words, sentences, and decodable stories.

These phonics tutoring lessons should be tailored to your child’s needs, integrating multi-sensory tools, such as colored sand, magnetic tiles, audio-visual flash cards, and whiteboards, to engage your child and help them retain these key concepts. The Orton Gillingham approach is recommended by the International Dyslexia Association as being one of the most effective reading methods for students with dyslexia.

Learn more about Orton Gillingham tutoring in NYC at What is Orton Gillingham Tutoring? – EBL Coaching

Reading comprehension tutoring for dyslexic students

Some students with dyslexia struggle with reading comprehension and benefit from a multi-sensory approach to tutoring. They may, for example, respond well to a tri-colored highlighting approach for building active reading and reading comprehension skills. With this method, the student is taught to look for three key elements when reading: the topic, main idea, and important details. The topic is typically one, two, or three words describing the passage and should be highlighted in blue. The main idea is what the author is saying about the topic and should be highlighted in green. Finally, the important details are salient pieces of information depicting the main idea, which should be highlighted in yellow. For this type of dyslexia tutoring, your child should learn to read the passage first, then go back and highlight the topic, main idea, and important details using the appropriate highlighters. This multi-sensory strategy can help your child build much stronger reading comprehension and active reading skills.

Read more about reading tutoring for dyslexia in NYC at Supporting Students With Reading Comprehension Issues | EBL Coaching

Writing tutoring for students with dyslexia

Many students with dyslexia struggle with writing. They may have great ideas but have difficulty expressing their thoughts on paper in an effective manner. Dyslexia tutoring can help your child improve their ability to brainstorm, write, and self-check their ideas, a key skill for success in school. They may start by learning how to construct a well-written sentence and can later learn how to expand their sentences with adjectives and adverbs. Next, in writing tutoring sessions, they should learn how to write a well-organized simple paragraph, comprised of a topic sentence, three detail sentences, and a conclusion sentence. From there, the dyslexia tutor should teach them how to expand their paragraph into an extended paragraph, with three additional supporting detail sentences added after each detail. Later, with this dyslexia tutoring, your child can learn how to brainstorm, write, and self-check five paragraph essays and longer research papers.

Learn more about effective writing tutoring for students with dyslexia in NYC at How to Help Your Child with Dyslexia Develop Stronger Writing Skills | EBL Coaching

Specialized tutoring that is individualized to your dyslexic child’s needs can help them improve their academic abilities and self-confidence. Contact us at www.eblcoaching.com to learn how we can help your dyslexic child excel with specialized dyslexia tutoring in NYC, writing tutoring in NYC, and Orton Gillingham instruction in NYC.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which tutoring method works best for dyslexia?
The most ideal method for helping students with dyslexia build their reading and spelling skills is the Orton Gillingham approach. This approach uses multi-sensory tools and structured lessons to help students with dyslexia build their core literacy skills.

What are the benefits of dyslexia tutoring?
There are many benefits of dyslexia tutoring! Some of these benefits include:

• Improved decoding skills
• Stronger phonemic awareness skills
• Increased reading fluency and comprehension skills
• Stronger spelling and writing skills
• Improved self-confidence and school performance

Can tutoring improve dyslexia?
While tutoring can’t cure dyslexia, systematic one-on-one Orton Gillingham tutoring can help students with dyslexia build much stronger decoding, spelling, reading fluency, and writing skills.

Learn more about dyslexia challenges at
 Dyslexia Strengths and Struggles – EBL Coaching
Read more about dyslexia at
 https://dyslexiaida.org/

Dr, Levy holds her Doctorate Degree in Education and has been helping students with dyslexia through specialized reading tutoring, writing tutoring, and Orton Gillingham instruction for over twenty years.

The post Best Tutoring for Dyslexia: Orton Gillingham, Reading, and Writing Support for Children appeared first on EBL Coaching.

How can Nessy Reading & Spelling help students with dyslexia?

Nessy Reading and Spelling

Nessy Reading & Spelling helps students with dyslexia improve reading and spelling skills using the Orton Gillingham methodology. The app utilizes an individualized, engaging approach, including games, videos, and interactive exercises to help students build their phonics and spelling skills. Students start with an initial assessment to gauge their reading and writing strengths and weaknesses, and the app then creates an individualized learning path. Each student is given lessons and activities specific to their levels and needs. Students love the fun, engaging lessons and integrated rewards called “Nessy nuggets” that they can earn along the way. Detailed progress reports are also included! This is a great app to use in conjunction with Orton Gillingham tutoring.

Why Is Phonics Hero helpful for early readers with dyslexia?

Phonics Hero – Growing Reading and Spelling Superheroes with Phonics!

Phonics Hero is a helpful tool for early readers with dyslexia. It is an evidence-based app that helps students ages 4-7 develop their reading and spelling skills. It uses a systematic, phonics-based approach for developing these key literacy skills. Students learn individual letters and their corresponding sounds, how to blend them to form words, and how to read and write sentences. They love playing the over 850 interactive games that are part of the app. Parents and teachers also enjoy reading their child’s progress reports, which show which skills the student has mastered and other skills they need to work on. This is a great app that can be used with reading remediation sessions.

How Does Montessori Words & Phonics Help with Phonemic Awareness?

Montessori Words & Phonics – Apps on Google Play

Montessori Words and Phonics helps students ages 3-8 build their foundational phonemic awareness and phonics skills – key components of reading. The app offers interactive activities, including moveable alphabet letters that students can manipulate to form words. There are also pictures and audio cues that students can use to create words, a sandbox for exploring letters, and visual rewards, including colorful animations when students successfully complete an activity – all great for students with dyslexia, including those who need reading remediation.

Is Epic helpful for students with dyslexia?

Epic 

Epic is a large library of digital books and audio books designed for students in grades prek-6. The app is particularly useful for students with dyslexia, as it helps with reading and processing information while listening. Users can choose a book, then read along while listening, helping to build decoding, fluency, and reading comprehension skills. Students love having access to such a wide array of books and being able to choose the ones that interest them. Each child is given their own profile that is customized to their age and reading level and is presented with book recommendations based on their profile. Students can also search in the app for specific topics of interest or types of books, and parents can monitor their reading activity. The more kids have a choice in their books and enjoy practicing their reading skills, the better!

Can Read & Write help students with dyslexia improve their writing skills?

Read&Write For Education – Reading, Literacy & Assistive Software

Read & Write is a great speech-to-text app for students with dyslexia that can help them improve their writing skills. Many students with dyslexia struggle to express their thoughts on paper when writing, and this app helps alleviate that challenge. In addition to speech-to-text, where students can dictate their ideas and the app transcribes them, it also offers text-to-speech and word prediction features. Additionally, it includes grammar check, picture dictionaries, and fonts that are optimal for those with dyslexia. This app can help students improve their overall literacy skills and encourage them to enjoy reading and writing, and is great to use in conjunction with dyslexia tutoring.

The International Dyslexia Association indicates that multi-sensory approaches like the Orton Gillingham method are highly effective for students with dyslexia. Students with dyslexia often struggle academically as they progress through school. In addition to Orton Gillingham tutoring, these apps scan help them build their core reading, spelling, and writing skills, and ultimately thrive in school. Learn about our Orton Gillingham tutoring program and how we can help your dyslexic child at www.eblcoaching.com.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best apps for students with dyslexia?
There are many apps that can help students with dyslexia improve their reading and spelling skills. Some of the best apps that build these skills include Nessy Reading & Spelling, Phonics Hero, Montessori Words & Phonics, Epic!, and Read&Write for Education.

Can apps replace Orton Gillingham tutoring?
Apps are great tools to use for extra Orton Gillingham practice and as a supplement to Orton Gillingham tutoring lessons, but they should not replace Orton Gillingham tutoring. Orton Gillingham tutoring lessons should be tailored to your child’s specific needs and levels, and these individualized tutoring sessions are much more effective at building their skills than using apps alone.

Can apps help students with dyslexia improve spelling?
Yes! There are many apps that can help students with dyslexia improve their spelling skills. Some great apps for spelling include Starfall, Reading Eggs, and Word Wizard.

Dr. Emily Levy, the director of EBL Coaching, has been helping students with dyslexia build their reading and writing skills for over 20 years.

The post 5 Best Apps for Students with Dyslexia appeared first on EBL Coaching.

What does neurodiverse mean?

A child who is neurodiverse has a brain that operates differently than the typical brain. Those who are neurodiverse, which includes diagnoses such as ADHD, autism, and learning disabilities, may learn and process information differently.

What are signs that my child may be neurodiverse?

Neurodiversity can include a learning disability such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, or dyscalculia; ADHD; autism; dyspraxia; and other diagnoses. If your child is neurodiverse, they may require specific supports and tutoring services to help them thrive academically. What are some signs that your child may be neurodivergent? Let’s take a look at different types of neurodiversity.
Signs your child may have ADHD

Individuals with ADHD often have difficulty with their executive functioning skills. They might demonstrate challenges in the following areas:

• impulsivity
• staying focused
• organization
• talking out of turn
• losing their belongings
• struggling to pay attention for long stretches of time
• making careless mistakes
• poor time management skills
• neglecting to self-check their work.

If your child demonstrates these challenges, you may want to consider having them evaluated and try some of the executive functioning strategies below:
To develop their time management skills, teach your child the Estimated Time (ET) verses Actual Time (AT) strategy. To do so, have them select a task, like a math worksheet they need to complete for school, and estimate how long they think it will take them to complete that task (and write down the ET). Then once they have completed the worksheet, they should note the AT, or actual time it took them to complete that task. Often, those with ADHD and poor time management skills will note a big discrepancy between the ET and AT when they start using this strategy, but the more they practice it, the more these times will merge, and their time management skills will improve.

For self-checking, which is a skill many students with ADHD struggle with, your child may benefit from the COPS strategy for checking their writing, which stands for Capitalization, Organization, Punctuation, and Spelling. At the bottom of their page, they should write these letters vertically with a check box to the left of each letter. After they have finished writing a paragraph or essay, they should self-check their writing for each of these elements one at a time, encouraging them to slow down and carefully self-check their work before turning it in. This strategy is also often used during dysgraphia tutoring sessions.

Signs your child may have dyslexia 

Dyslexia is another type of neurodiversity. Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that affects language skills, including reading, spelling, and writing. Those with dyslexia may struggle with learning individual letters and their corresponding sounds, decoding words, reading fluently, spelling accurately, and expressing their thoughts on paper when writing, amongst other related language challenges.

If your child is struggling with these skills, you may want to consider having them evaluated for dyslexia. However, Orton Gillingham tutoring can also help children with dyslexia tremendously. The Orton Gillingham method is a research-based, multi-sensory technique that helps students with and without learning disabilities develop stronger reading and spelling skills. It follows a systematic approach, integrating previously taught sounds and concepts as new ones are introduced, and is highly effective in developing these core skills. Students also tend to enjoy the multi-sensory tools that are part of Orton Gillingham tutoring lessons, including colored sand, magnetic tiles, shaving cream, mini whiteboards, and other related manipulatives.

Learn more about Orton Gillingham tutoring at
What Is Orton-Gillingham Tutoring? Multi-Sensory, Structured Help | EBL Coaching

Signs your child may have autism

Autism is part of a spectrum, so the signs can vary. Children with autism often have challenges with social skills, engage in repetitive behaviors, and have sensory differences. They may also have trouble with executive functioning skills – including planning and organization – and reading comprehension, especially when it involves abstract or inferential thinking.

If your child shows any of these difficulties, autism tutoring can also help them immensely. To develop their reading comprehension skills, an autism tutor may teach them to identify three key elements when reading: the topic, which is one, two, or three words describing the passage; the main idea, which is what the author is saying about the topic; and the important details, or salient information describing the main idea. They will learn to highlight the topic of the passage in blue, the main idea in green, and the important details in yellow, helping to make them a more active reader. Their tutor can then ask them inference questions and have them write a short summary describing the passage in their own words.

Learn more about helping your child with autism at: Tips for Helping Your Child with Autism Improve School Performance | EBL Coaching

When should you have your child evaluated?

If you notice your child struggling with any of the following skills, you may want to consider having them evaluated and seek specialized tutoring or executive functioning coaching for them:

• Demonstrates challenges with reading, writing, or math
• Struggles with organization, planning, or time management
• Shows consistent attention challenges
• Avoids doing their homework
• Demonstrates social challenges
• Shows low self-esteem or frustration related to school

Many children are neurodiverse, and with that comes numerous strengths. However, getting through school can be a challenge for these children. If you notice any of these signs of neurodiversity in your child, you may want to consider having them evaluated and consider ADHD coaching, Orton Gillingham tutoring, or autism tutoring. This instruction can help them immensely.

Learn how EBL Coaching can help your child with one-one-one dyslexia tutoring, learning disability tutoring, autism tutoring, ADHD tutoring in NYC, and executive functioning coaching by visiting www.eblcoaching.com.

Frequently asked questions

How is neurodiversity diagnosed?
Neurodiversity is diagnosed through a comprehensive evaluation, typically administered by a neuropsychologist or psychologist.

Can tutoring help neurodiverse students?
Yes, absolutely! Research-based, multi-sensory tutoring that is individualized to each student’s needs can help neurodiverse students thrive. Students with dyslexia tend to respond exceptionally well to Orton Gillingham tutoring and those with ADHD benefit from executive functioning coaching.

What does research tell us about early identification of learning disabilities?
Research tells us that identifying learning disabilities early can significantly improve academic outcomes. Don’t wait! If you see your child struggling, seek an evaluation and academic remediation as soon as you can.

The founder and director of EBL Coaching, Dr. Emily Levy, has been helping neurodiverse students in grades prek-12 excel academically with individualized tutoring for over 20 years.

The post Signs Your Child May Be Neurodivergent: ADHD, Dyslexia, And Autism appeared first on EBL Coaching.

Summer is a time for fun in the sun, relaxing days, and outdoor play. Yet the school year is just around the corner and many children have trouble with the transition from a laid back summer to a more structured fall. Try some of the ideas below to help your child jump start the new school year on a positive note.

Set routines

During the summer, many kids enjoy less structured free time with fewer routines. While this can serve as a well-needed break for children, once they transition back to the school year, having structured routines typically becomes the new reality. Begin setting routines before the school year starts to avoid a challenging transition. You can start by changing your child’s sleep schedule. If they’re used to going to bed and waking up late, set an earlier bedtime two weeks or so before the school year starts and have your child follow that new time so they get used to it before school begins. You may want to also discuss with your child a morning routine that they will adhere to once the school year starts. This might include getting dressed right when they wake up, eating breakfast, brushing their teeth, and making sure their backpack is filled with everything they need for the day. You can even discuss breakfast options with them before the school year starts to avoid any delays in decision making over what to eat. The more routines you can set now, the easier the transition to the new school year will be.

Homework timing

Before the school year begins, it’s helpful to discuss with your child what time they plan to work on their homework each day. Some kids prefer doing their homework right when they get home and are still in “school mode”. Others like to have a small snack or physical activity break before beginning their work, and some enjoy working at night, after dinner. Any of these options can work; the key is setting a regular homework time and sticking with it. If there are days when you know your child will have an after school activity or event and won’t be able to complete their homework at their usual time, set an alternate time for those days so a plan is in place for the week.

Set up a study space

At the start of the school year, it’s important that your child has a designated clutter-free spot in your home for completing their homework. Ideally this should be a desk in their room, but it can also be a spot at your kitchen or dining room table if a private space isn’t available. Make sure they have all the supplies they need for completing their work at this spot, including pens, pencils, paper, scissors, and so on. If their supplies run low, refill them right away to prevent your child from wandering around your home looking for supplies mid-homework session. If their designated homework spot is on a common table, create a transportable homework bin for them containing all the necessary homework supplies that they will carry to and from their bedroom. Some kids also like having a reading nook in their room, or a designated spot devoted just to reading, separate from their homework space.

Meet your child’s teachers

If your child has historically struggled in school or has an IEP or 504 plan, make sure you communicate this information to their teachers at the start of the school year. When the year begins, try setting up a meeting with your child’s teachers and any service providers to tell them about your child, along with strategies that have or have not worked for them in the past. Additionally, set up a plan for communicating with them on a regular basis to discuss how your child is doing – perhaps once per month via email, phone, or in-person meetings. Try to be proactive rather than reactive; don’t wait until later in the year to find out your child is struggling. Stay on top of communicating with their teachers to help ensure they continue to thrive.

The transition back to school can be a challenging one, but try these ideas and your child will be on their way to a successful new year.

The post Tips to Help Your Child Get a Positive Jumpstart on the School Year by Dr. Emily Levy, Founder & Director, EBL Coaching appeared first on EBL Coaching.

For some children, the transition back to school is seamless. They look forward to the excitement of reconnecting with friends, meeting their teachers, and starting new after school activities. Yet for other students, especially those who are neurodivergent, the transition back to school can be challenging. Help your neurodivergent child start the new school year strong with the ideas detailed below.

Routines

For many children, summer is filled with free play, outdoor activities, and unstructured days. When the school year begins, however, routines become paramount. Rather than springing this transition on your child, start to integrate elements of their fall routine now, before the school year begins. You can discuss wake-up times and bedtimes with your child, both for school days and weekends. If they have been waking up closer to 9am in the summer but need to wake up at 7am during the week once the school year starts, have them set an alarm progressively earlier in the summer until they reach 7am right before the school year begins. The same applies to bedtime; if they have been going to bed later in the summer, have them start to go to sleep a little earlier each night. You can also create morning and afternoon checklists for tasks they’ll need to do once the school year begins. For example, their morning checklist might include getting dressed, brushing their teeth, eating breakfast, and preparing their backpack for school. You may want to come up with a list of menu items for breakfast and have them decide what they will eat for breakfast each day at the start of a given week, so you can prepare accordingly.  Their afternoon checklist might include having a snack when they get home, completing their schoolwork, turning in or putting away their homework in their backpack, eating dinner, and going to bed. The more structure you can integrate into your child’s day now, before the school year begins, the better!

Get organized!

Having strong organizational skills is a key component to school success, especially for neurodivergent children who may struggle with executive functioning skills. Shop for school supplies with your child as early as you can so you have plenty of time to organize them. You may want to color code items by subject. For example, you may select green for science, blue for math, yellow for social studies, and so on. For each subject, there should be a folder and a notebook in the color that corresponds to that class. Encourage your child to write down their homework daily in an assignment book when they are at school, and perhaps highlight the assignment for each subject in its corresponding color. You may want to designate one day per week as a “clean out my backpack and folders day” where your child cleans out any items or papers from their backpack that they no longer need to be carrying with them.

Distraction-free workspace

Neurodivergent students often become easily distracted when trying to complete their homework. Before the school year starts, set up a distraction-free work zone where your child will do their homework every day. This could be a desk in their room or a spot in a communal area, like a kitchen or dining room table. Make sure they have all the supplies they need for completing their homework, like pens, pencils, paper, a calculator, scissors, and highlighters. When the supplies run low, refill them right away to avoid having your child wander around in the middle of a homework session looking for more supplies. If they plan to work in a communal area, they can carry a portable supplies bin from their bedroom to their homework spot and back when they’re done, containing all the supplies they will need to complete their homework.

Connect with your child’s teachers

Most neurodivergent children have very unique needs. Before the school year begins or right after it starts, set up a meeting with your child’s teacher and their other service providers if relevant. Tell them about your child, including which techniques have and haven’t worked for them in the past, and set up a line of communication going forward. Perhaps you will check in with them once per month via email or set up regular phone calls to discuss your child’s progress. Additionally, you should consistently advocate for your child; while they may be doing well in school at one point in time, that could change quickly and their academic performance could take a downturn. Don’t wait for your child to struggle. Be proactive in helping them succeed and seeking additional support for them if needed. If the school year progresses and your child continues to struggle academically despite these interventions, you may want to consider private tutoring, which can be custom-tailored to your child’s needs and help them thrive in school.

The transition to the new school year can be challenging, especially for neurodivergent children. These strategies can help your child get excited for the new year and start school on a positive note.

The post Help Your Neurodivergent Child Prepare for the New School Year appeared first on EBL Coaching.

In this podcast, Dr. Emily Levy explains what Orton Gillingham tutoring is and how the Orton Gillingham method works. She delves into what an Orton Gillingham lesson looks like and how this type of reading intervention can help struggling readers tremendously.

What is Orton Gillingham Tutoring?

Orton Gillingham is a structured, research-based, systematic approach to teaching. It integrates multi-sensory tools, such as audio-visual flash cards, whiteboards, and magnetic tiles, to help students develop stronger reading and spelling skills. All students can benefit from this type of instruction but students with dyslexia and other learning disabilities need this approach to effectively develop these skills.

What does an Orton Gillingham tutoring lesson look like?

When an Orton Gillingham tutor uses this methodology, they follow a systematic approach to teaching, integrating previously taught concepts as they introduce new concepts. If a student has grasped how to effectively read consonant-vowel-consonant words, words with blends, and words with consonant digraphs, for instance, they may be ready to move onto words with vowel teams. If they are learning the sound “oo”, the lesson might be structured as follows:

1. Review previously taught Orton Gillingham sounds and concepts.
2. Audio-visual card drill: Start the new lesson with an audio-visual card drill. The Orton Gillingham tutor would hold up a flashcard with the letters “oo” on the front and a key picture on the back, like “boots”.
3. Audio-visual card drill student practice: The Orton Gillingham tutor would say aloud to the student, “These are the letters oo, like boot, it makes the sound /oo/“ while flipping the card around, showing the letters, then the picture, then the letters again. The student would repeat that sequence with the tutor and then try it on their own.
4. Skywriting: The Orton Gillingham tutor would move onto skywriting; using large gross motor muscles, they would draw the two o’s in the sky, saying “around and around” as they form each letter. The student would then try it together with the tutor and then independently.
5. Sand or shaving cream writing: The Orton Gillingham tutor might move onto writing using colored sand or shaving cream. They would start by modeling the formation of the two o’s, then ask the student to do it with them and then on their own.
6. Orton Gillingham workbook practice: The tutor would then move onto Orton Gillingham workbooks that offer practice exercises using that vowel digraph.
7. Student practice: The student would practice blending sounds together to form words using magnetic tiles or flash cards. Finally, the lesson would end with the student reading words, sentences, or a story containing the “oo” sound and any previously taught sounds.

How Orton Gillingham Tutors Help with Reading Comprehension

Students with learning disabilities often struggle with reading comprehension in addition to decoding and need dyslexia tutoring or reading intervention in this area as well. A multi-sensory approach, such as the tri-colored highlighting strategy, can help with this skill as well.

To use this strategy, the tutor would explain to the student that when we read, there are three elements we should look for: the topic is one, two, or three words describing the passage, like winter, outdoor sports, or airplanes. The student would highlight the topic in blue. Next, the student should look for the main idea, which is what the author is saying about the topic, such as “There are many activities you can do in winter” if the topic is winter. They should highlight the main idea in green. Finally, the student should look for the important details, which are important pieces of information found throughout the passage describing the main idea. They should highlight the important details in yellow, trying to only highlight salient details, and only words and phrases, not sentences, if possible. The tutor may then ask the student to write a 1-2 line summary in their own words describing the passage or even produce a written response to the passage, detailing whether they agree or disagree with the information found in the passage and why.

Students with learning challenges thrive with a multi-sensory approach to teaching. Orton Gillingham tutors can help students develop much stronger reading and spelling skills and ultimately help them excel in school.

If your child is struggling with reading, contact us at www.eblcoaching.com to learn more about our individualized Orton Gillingham tutoring programs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who benefits from Orton Gillingham tutoring?
Orton Gillingham tutoring was originally designed for students with dyslexia but all students who are demonstrating reading challenges can benefit from Orton Gillingham tutoring. They tend to enjoy the multi-sensory approach, and Orton Gillingham is a highly effective method for building stronger reading and spelling skills.

Is Orton Gillingham only for students with learning disabilities?
Orton Gillingham tutoring is not only for students with learning disabilities! Students with learning disabilities, especially dyslexia, benefit from reading remediation using the Orton Gillingham method. However, all students who are having reading challenges can benefit from Orton Gillingham tutoring.

How is Orton Gillingham tutoring different from general tutoring?
Some tutors help students with homework or use generic lessons that may change from session-to-session. With Orton Gillingham tutoring, a structured approach is followed, starting with foundational reading skills and building upwards as students grasp concepts. Orton Gillingham tutoring sessions also integrate multi-sensory tools, such as colored sand, magnetic tiles, and white boards.

Dr. Emily Levy, the founder and director of EBL Coaching, has been helping students with dyslexia and learning disabilities for over 20 years using the Orton Gillingham approach.

You can listen to this full podcast HERE!
Learn more about Orton Gillingham tutoring at
https://eblcoaching.com/what-is-orton-gillingham-tutoring/.

The post Orton Gillingham Workbooks for Dyslexia and Reading Success appeared first on EBL Coaching.

Summer is a time for outdoor play, fun in the sun, and relaxation. Yet it is also a time when many kids experience significant learning loss from a lack of consistent instruction. In fact, research tells us that students may lose two months of reading skills and three months of math skills during the summer. Help your child avoid the summer slide and jump-start the school year on a positive note with the ideas detailed below.

Create a reading plan

Reading is one of the most important tasks your child can do over the summer to prevent the summer slide. Help your child come up with a reading goal for the summer. Perhaps they’ll read one book per week or six books for the duration of the summer – there’s no exact formula or number of books that is ideal for every child. Help your child come up with a goal that is realistic for them. When they finish each book, have them put together a mini book report summarizing the book and illustrating it with colorful pictures, or ask them to create a presentation on each book, summarizing the plot and key characters as well as aspects of the book they did or didn’t like and whether or not they’d recommend it to others.

Cook with your child

Cooking with your child can be a lot of fun and it’s a great way to build reading, math, science, and even time management skills over the summer. Start by having your child read through recipes online or in cookbooks and select recipes they’d like to make. Once they have chosen a recipe, have them read it aloud to you and measure out all the ingredients they will need. If the recipe is for two people but you are a family of four, have them figure out how much more of each ingredient they will need to feed your whole family. You can even discuss how much less of each ingredient they would need if they were only cooking for one person instead of two. Build sequencing skills by having them follow the steps detailed in the recipe from start to finish. You can discuss measurement, such as how many teaspoons are in a tablespoon, and chat about how the outcome might change if they used a large casserole dish or cooking tray verses a small one. If they cook more than one dish, they will need to manage their time by cooking certain items while others simmer or bake and they’ll need to make sure items are done in the appropriate time.

Plan a vacation

Another way to build key academic skills is to let your child help plan a summer vacation. Have them start by spending time reading articles or searching the web to read about various places they can go. Give your child a budget for the trip and have them come up with specific ideas that fit into that budget. They might choose a destination they have to fly to and should look into ticket pricing, or they may choose a driving destination, like a more local beach vacation. If they choose a driving destination, have them research how much gas costs per gallon (and the cheapest places to get gas), how many miles away the destination is, and roughly how much money it will cost in gas to get there. Ask them to search for hotel options with per-night pricing, along with the cost for meals and daily activities. They should detail all of this information in a document or presentation that you can review with them. In doing this activity, not only will they learn valuable academic skills to help prevent the summer slide, but they will likely feel proud that they were able to help plan the vacation and even more excited to embark on it.

Grocery shopping

Take your child to the supermarket with you to build math skills over the summer. For young kids, have them pick out produce, like peaches and plums, and work on addition and subtraction concepts. If they grab three peaches and two plums, how many pieces of fruit did they select all together? If one peach doesn’t look good and they put it back, how many pieces of fruit do they now have? For older students, have them calculate how much an item on sale might cost. For instance, if a box of cereal is normally $4 but it is 50% off, how much does it now cost? If spaghetti sauce is buy one, get one half-off, and one jar costs $6, how much would it cost for two jars? When you are waiting in the checkout line, have your child estimate how much they think all of the items will cost, then compare it to the actual cost and see how close they were. The more you can bring math concepts into real life, the better!

The dreaded summer slide can negatively affect your child’s academic performance when they start school in the fall. Don’t let this happen to your child! Prevent the summer slide with the ideas detailed above and help your child start school feeling confident, prepared, and excited for a great year.

The post Tips for Avoiding the Summer Slide by Dr. Emily Levy Founder & Director EBL Coaching appeared first on EBL Coaching.

Reading is one of the most important skills for success in school. When students read regularly, they tend to perform better academically and demonstrate stronger comprehension, fluency, vocabulary, spelling, and writing skills – skills that affect nearly all aspects of school. For some children, the idea of reading is dreadful, especially when there are so many other ways to spend their free time. Help your child learn to love reading with the ideas detailed below.

Make it a ritual!

Start reading daily to your child when they are very young, even if you don’t think they will understand every word on the page. Just exposing them to books and language is a great start for developing a love for reading. Choose books that are colorful and engaging so your child enjoys the experience. When they are a little older and begin learning how to read, have them try to sound out some basic words in the books you read to them, including simple words like “in”, “mat” or “tub.” Later, you may want to bring in two types of books: shorter decodable books at your child’s reading level that they can read to you, and longer, colorful, more language-rich books that you read to them, which helps build higher level vocabulary and auditory comprehension skills. When your child is in elementary school and capable of reading on their own, have them read either out loud or independently for at least 20 minutes per day. You may want to encourage them to read right before bed, which creates a ritual and helps them wind down before going to sleep. Physical and electronic books are both great options; whichever one they prefer is fine, as long as they read consistently.

Let them choose the topic

Another great way to help your child enjoy reading is encouraging them to read books on any topic of their choice. Just about any topic can work – dinosaurs, rainbows, tornadoes, zoos – you name it! Help them find reading material on that topic and don’t just limit it to books; newspapers, magazines, and articles from the internet count too. Once they develop proficiency with reading material on topics they love, they will likely start to venture into other topics and begin reading a more vast array of books and reading material as their confidence and joy for reading improves.

Create a cozy reading space

Help your child set up an inviting, cozy reading space in your home dedicated to reading. Perhaps you can create a fort made out of pillows with a small seating area inside it. Your child can even decorate it with mini lights and pictures and maybe even keep a flashlight inside it for nighttime reading. Start a ritual that your child can look forward to, where at a certain time each day you crawl into this space with them and read together. Eventually they will likely start to read on their own in this space, finding comfort and joy in this uplifting and cozy spot for reading.

Family time!

When encouraging your child to read more, it’s important that you lead by example. It’s easy for adults to neglect reading and instead spend time on their phones or devices looking at social media or writing emails late into the evening. Instead, create a designated family reading hour – perhaps right before or after dinner or before everyone goes to sleep. During this time, all family members should pick a book or reading material of their choice and gather around a comfortable area. The entire family should read together at the same time. As an added activity, at the end of the reading hour, you can go around and have everyone discuss what they read and why they would or would not recommend it to others. If one hour is too long, try smaller segments, like 30 or 45 minutes, and if every day is too much, try starting with just two or three times per week. The key is making it a fun, comfortable, and consistent experience that your child will look forward to.

Go to the library!

The library is a great place, filled with wonderful books on so many different topics. Take a trip to the library with your child. Let them grab any books that call out to them and spend some time at the library either reading to them or letting them read to themselves. They can even just turn the pages of books and browse the pictures if they aren’t able to read. Let them check out any books they’d like and encourage them to read them at home before returning them and picking out new ones.

Reading is a key skill that affects nearly every aspect of school. The earlier you can foster a love for reading in your child, the more likely they will find confidence and academic success.

The post Tips to Help Your Child Love Reading appeared first on EBL Coaching.

It is well known that students with dyslexia struggle with reading. They often have difficulty decoding words, reading with proper fluency, and processing information that they read. Yet many students with dyslexia also have difficulty with writing. They may have great ideas but struggle to express their thoughts on paper in an effective manner, a skill that becomes increasingly important as children progress through school. Help your child with dyslexia develop stronger writing skills with the ideas detailed below.

Spelling

Students with dyslexia should start developing their writing skills at the word level by learning how to accurately spell words. The Orton Gillingham method can help students develop stronger decoding and spelling skills simultaneously. After learning the names of each letter and its corresponding sound, using the Orton Gillingham method, they can learn how to blend these sounds together to read and spell basic consonant-vowel-consonant words. Once they have grasped that skill, they can learn how to read and spell words with blends, such as flag, plug, or trap. From there, using a structured, multi-sensory approach, they can learn how to read and spell words containing consonant digraphs, vowel digraphs, r-controlled patterns, silent-e patterns, multi-syllabic words, and so on. They can also learn Orton Gillingham spelling rules to further develop their spelling skills. By following this systematic, multi-sensory Orton Gillingham approach, students with dyslexia can drastically improve their spelling skills.

Sentences

After learning how to accurately spell individual words, students should begin learning how to write simple sentences. A simple sentence consists of a subject and predicate, like Jack walked. They should then learn to expand their sentences with adjectives and adverbs, like Jack walked home or Jack quickly walked home. They should also learn about different sentence types, including declarative, exclamatory, imperative, and interrogative sentences. They can also learn how to write compound and complex sentences to further elaborate on their ideas. They should be given ample practice and repetition writing these sentences and should receive direct and actionable feedback from their teacher or parent.

Simple Paragraphs

Once students have learned how to write well-structured sentences, they can then learn how to write effective simple paragraphs. A simple paragraph consists of a topic sentence, three detail sentences, and a conclusion sentence. For example:

There are many types of vegetables. You can eat broccoli. You can also eat cauliflower. Some people prefer potatoes. I love vegetables!

Students should learn how to write four different types of simple paragraphs: example, process, reason, and compare/contrast. They should be given a great deal of practice and repetition writing each type of paragraph, and should also learn to brainstorm, write, and self-check their work. They should be taught how to write increasingly complex sentences within their paragraphs and apply the different sentence types they learned to their paragraph writing.

Extended Paragraphs

Once students have grasped the simple paragraph, they can learn to expand their ideas in the form of an extended paragraph. An extended paragraph is similar in structure to a simple paragraph, but includes three supporting detail sentences added after each detail sentence. Students are essentially learning to stretch out their writing while maintaining its organization. They should still learn four types of paragraphs – example, process, reason, and compare/contrast – but now in the form of an extended paragraph. They should also continue to practice brainstorming, writing, and self-checking their ideas in an organized fashion.

Five Paragraph Essays

After learning how to write well-structured simple and extended paragraphs, students should be ready to learn how to write a five paragraph essay. They will learn how to write an introduction paragraph, consisting of an opening, lead-in, and thesis statement. Students can learn various options for how to begin their writing, including starting with a question, general statement, opposite statement, quotation, or story, and should learn that a thesis statement can consist of an opinion and plan and should set the stage for the organization of their essay. Next, students will learn how to write three body paragraphs, including transition sentences, and will learn to end their essay with a well-written conclusion paragraph restating their ideas. They should learn how to write four types of essays, including example, process, reason, and compare/contrast essays, and should remember to always brainstorm, write, and self-check their ideas.

Learning to write effectively can be a challenge for most students, but those with dyslexia tend to struggle even more. Try using this structured approach to teach your child to write effectively, and you will help set them up for success at school.

EBL Coaching specializes in one-on-one in person and virtual tutoring for students in grades pre-K-12 with specialized learning needs. They use research-based, multi-sensory techniques, including the Orton Gillingham method, to develop students’ reading, writing, math, note taking, test taking, and executive functioning skills. Each student is evaluated and then receives an individualized learning plan to address their specific academic needs. Learn more at http://www.eblcoaching.com/.

Dr. Emily Levy, Founder & Director, is happy to hear from anyone who is in need for their child. You may reach her through her website.

The post How to Help Your Child With Dyslexia Develop Stronger Writing Skills appeared first on EBL Coaching.