What is summer learning loss and why is it more critical for students with dyslexia?

During the summer, many students experience academic learning loss, also known as the summer slide. This slide typically happens because students do very little (if any) academic work over the summer. In fact, research tells us at over 50% of students in the United States lose an average of 39% of gains from the school year over the summer.

For students with dyslexia, summer learning loss is often even greater because:

• They typically need consistent instruction year-round
• They need regular repetition of concepts taught in order to retain them
• Gaps in reading and writing skills can widen quickly without consistent reinforcement
• Even a short break over the summer from consistent learning can lead to learning loss for students with dyslexia and can make the start of the new school year much more challenging for them.

Why is summer such an important time for dyslexia tutoring?

Some parents may feel that their child needs a break from academic work during the summer, but consistent learning is critical for students with dyslexia. They can still have fun during this time while continuing to build their academic skills. Additionally, during the school year, it can be challenging to find time to build foundational skills and fill in learning gaps, but summer is an ideal time for that work, when there are usually fewer homework and school constraints.

When students with dyslexia receive tutoring over the summer, they tend to start the new school year feeling more self-confident and prepared, instead of feeling nervous and behind their peers academically.

What does effective summer dyslexia tutoring look like?

Tutoring for students with dyslexia should follow evidence-based, multi-sensory techniques that are catered to the needs of each student. Most students with dyslexia don’t respond as well to traditional, non-specialized tutoring or homework help. The type of methodologies used in the tutoring sessions and the expertise of the instructor are key elements to successful dyslexia tutoring.

Read our guide on how to find the best dyslexia tutor in NYC for your child at How to Find the Best Tutor for Your Child in NYC – EBL Coaching
Structured, multi-sensory summer tutoring

Students with dyslexia respond best to structured, evidence-based tutoring methods such as the Orton Gillingham approach. This type of instruction breaks down reading into clear, sequential steps. It also integrates the visual, auditory, and tactile/kinesthetic modalities to help engage students in their learning and retain the information taught.

Learn how Orton Gillingham tutoring helps students with dyslexia at What Is Orton-Gillingham Tutoring? Multi-Sensory, Structured Help | EBL Coaching

Consistent tutoring sessions

Tutoring sessions that are occasional and inconsistent are not ideal for students with dyslexia. They need regular, consistent tutoring on a fixed schedule to make the most progress. Students with dyslexia often need multiple sessions per week, especially during the summer when there are fewer constraints of school and foundational skills building can be addressed.

Individualized one-on-one tutoring

Each student with dyslexia has an individual learning profile with unique needs. One-on-one tutoring that begins with an initial assessment and focuses on the specific areas that the student needs the most help with is most optimal for students with dyslexia.

Foundational skills building

During the school year, many students struggle to keep up with their schoolwork. However, because in the summer there are usually fewer school and scheduling limitations, and the tutoring can focus on filling in any learning gaps and building foundational reading and writing skills. Dyslexia tutoring sessions can focus on skills such as phonemic awareness, decoding, spelling, reading fluency, and writing expression. Building strong reading and writing foundations can help improve your child’s overall academic performance.

How much summer tutoring does a child with dyslexia need?

The frequency of tutoring sessions for students with dyslexia varies based on their individual needs. While some students may only need 1-2 sessions per week, students with more profound learning challenges often need multiple sessions per week to effectively build their reading and writing skills.

What are signs your child with dyslexia may benefit from summer tutoring?

You may want to explore summer tutoring for your child with dyslexia if they:

• Struggle with decoding words and reading fluently
• Have trouble spelling words accurately
• Show frustration around reading and writing
• Received poor grades during the school year
• Have an IEP or 504 plan
• Has low self-confidence related to their skills

Keep summer tutoring positive!

Some parents may feel like they are “punishing” their child with summer tutoring. Yet the opposite should be the case – with the right tutor, methodologies, and engaging approach, your child will see how much summer tutoring can help them. By providing your child with one-on-one tutoring, you are giving them tools and strategies to help them feel good about themselves and improve their academic performance. Just like soccer or baseball players receive coaching to improve their athletic performance, tutoring is like having a learning coach to help your child excel.

How can I find a summer dyslexia tutor near me?

Finding the right summer tutor for your child with dyslexia is important. Try to find someone who utilizes the Orton Gillingham approach (which is ideal for students with dyslexia) and who connects well with your child. When searching for a tutor, use specific search terms when looking online. Instead of searching just “tutor,” try searching:

• “Dyslexia tutoring near me”
• “Orton Gillingham tutoring near me”
• “Dyslexia summer tutor near me”
• “Special education tutoring near me”
• “Multi-sensory summer tutoring near me”
• “Summer tutoring for students with IEPs near me”

Discover what to look for in a one-on-one summer tutor near you at One-on-One Summer Tutoring Near Me: What to Look For

Closing thoughts

Summer should be a time filled with enjoyment and fun activities, but it should not be a time when learning is ignored. Students with dyslexia need continued learning over the summer to help reinforce concepts taught, continue building their academic skills, and avoid the summer slide.
Regular one-on-one structured tutoring during the summer can help students with dyslexia improve their self-confidence and start the new school year strong.

Are you looking for a summer dyslexia tutor for your child?

EBL Coaching can help! We specialize in providing one-on-one tutoring to students in grades prek-12 with specialized learning needs, including dyslexia. We use research-based, multi-sensory techniques to help students with dyslexia, ADHD, autism, specific learning disabilities, and other academic skills challenges develop their reading, spelling, writing, math, and executive functioning skills.

Sessions can take place at our learning centers, located at 17 East 89th Street, Suite 1D, New York, NY and 50 East Palisade Avenue, Suite 201, Englewood, NJ 07631. We also provide virtual tutoring and in-person tutoring at your home.

Frequently Asked Questions about Summer Dyslexia Tutoring

Is summer tutoring necessary for all students with dyslexia?
While summer tutoring isn’t absolutely necessary, many students with dyslexia face significant learning loss without continuing learning over the summer. Instead of experiencing the summer slide, help your child continue developing their academic skills, reinforce content taught, and start the new school year on a positive note.

Can even just a few weeks of tutoring really help my child with dyslexia?
While longer stretches of tutoring time of the summer are ideal, even just a few weeks can help. The key is consistency and targeted instruction. If your child is only available for tutoring for a few weeks in the summer, you may want to consider a more intensive summer tutoring program for them.

What type of tutoring is best for dyslexia?
The ideal type of tutoring for dyslexia is systematic and multi-sensory, ideally using the Orton Gillingham approach. This technique is research-based, structured, and individualized to the needs of each student.

Should dyslexia tutoring be in-person or virtual?
Students with dyslexia can respond well to either in-person or virtual tutoring. Virtual tutoring typically offers more flexible scheduling and access to tutors who may not live in your local geographic area, while in-person tutoring offers face-to-face connections. Both modalities can be effective if the instruction is systematic, targeted, and engaging.

Learn more about virtual tutoring at Can Virtual Tutoring Help My Child? – EBL Coaching

Dr. Emily Levy, the founder and director of EBL Coaching, has helped thousands of students with specialized learning needs build their academic skills over the past twenty years. She is the author of the Strategies do Study Success student workbook series, the Flags and Stars Orton Gillingham student workbook program, and the Flags and Stars Multi-Sensory Math student workbook series. She speaks nationally at educational conferences and frequently appears on podcasts as an educational expert.

The post Summer Tutoring for Students with Dyslexia: How to Prevent Learning Loss appeared first on EBL Coaching.

How Can Summer Tutoring Help Your Child With ADHD?

Many students lose critical skills during the summer. Research tells us that students can lose up to 2.6 months of math skills and 2 months of reading skills during their summer break, and this learning loss is likely even more profound for students with ADHD. Because of this learning loss, students may start the new school year behind their peers, struggling to catch up while new material is being introduced. Prevent this summer slide and help your child with ADHD jump-start the school year on a positive note with one-on-one tutoring. ADHD tutoring can help your child in the following ways:

Build stronger focusing skills

Many students with ADHD struggle to stay focused for long stretches of time. Take advantage of the summer time to work on building your child’s focusing skills with one-on-one ADHD tutoring. Your child’s tutor can use a method like the Pomodoro Technique to help them stay focused for longer time periods. To use this strategy, the tutor would select a task and ask your child to work on that task for 25 minutes. This might involve reading several chapters in a book, working on math worksheets, or even doing an organizational task like cleaning out a drawer. After 25 minutes, your child would take a 5 minute break to relax or do anything of their choosing, then work for another 25 minutes followed by a 5 minute break, and so on. Once they have completed three segments of 25 minutes plus 5 minute breaks, they can take a longer break of 30 minutes or so before starting the process again. Your child’s tutor can teach them this strategy and show them how to apply it during the school year when their workload piles up.

Work on time management

Many students with ADHD struggle with time management. Summer is a great time to work on building this skill! Your child’s ADHD tutor can teach them the ET/AT, or Estimated Time/Actual Time Strategy. To use this technique, your child’s tutor would ask them to complete a task, like writing three pages in a journal or completing one sheet of math problems. They will ask your child to estimate how long they think it will take to complete that task and write down the ET, or estimated time. Then your child will complete the task, noting the time it actually takes them to complete it, and write down the AT, or actual time it takes. When your child first starts using this strategy with their ADHD tutor, there will likely be a big discrepancy between the ET and the AT but the more they practice this strategy, the more likely these times will start to merge and the more their time management will improve.

Set up organizational systems

Summer is a great time to set up notebooks and systems to help start the school year off on a strong note. Having solid organizational skills is a large part of being successful in school. Your child’s ADHD tutor can help them set up a color-coded system, where each class is designated with a specific color. For example, math might be blue, science might be green, English may be yellow, and so on. They should designate a folder and notebook for each class in the appropriate color. Once your child starts school and (hopefully) writes down their assignments regularly in their planner, they can highlight the assignment for a particular subject in its designated color. If your child takes home papers on a regular basis, their tutor can help them set up an organizational system where they designate one day per week to be the “clean out my notebooks and backpack day.” On this day, your child would clean out all of the papers they don’t need to be carrying with them on a regular basis and file them into an accordion file or file drawer that they keep at home.

Learn more about these types of executive functioning strategies at https://eblcoaching.com/executive-functioning-strategies-for-your-child/.

Fill in learning gaps

Many students with ADHD miss out on key concepts during the school year. They may be day dreaming in class, show up to school late, or forget certain skills that may have only been briefly been covered by their teacher. Summer is a great time to review content that was conveyed the previous school year, fill in any gaps, and preview material that may be taught in the new school year. You or your child’s tutor can reach out to their teacher from the previous school year to discuss any skills or concepts that might need development over the summer. Perhaps your child didn’t quite grasp multi-digit subtraction or long division; they may need to work on elaborating their writing; or perhaps they need extra practice with finding the main idea when reading and making inferences. Summer is a wonderful time to work on these skills, when there are fewer academic constraints from school, and tutoring can be focused more on remediation.

The transition from summer to school in the fall can be a tough one for students with ADHD. Help boost your child’s self-esteem and improve their organizational skills over the summer with ADHD tutoring. In doing so, your child will likely feel more confident and well-prepared to start the school year on a strong note.

Learn more about study skills strategies for your child with ADHD at https://eblcoaching.com/study-skills-strategies-for-your-child-with-adhd-by-dr-emily-levy/

The post How Can Summer Tutoring Help Your Child with ADHD? appeared first on EBL Coaching.

Summer is a time for rest, relaxation, and fun in the sun. Yet it is also a long period of time without consistent academic instruction, and many students show significant skills regression during this time.‎ Some ‎children receive consistent tutoring during the school year, but what happens when summer comes? If your child is in camp all day or is exhausted from long days in the sun, do you continue with tutoring over the summer?‎ For struggling learners, the answer may be obvious, but even those who may not be struggling can benefit from the many advantages of summer tutoring.

Remediate Academic Weaknesses

For students who struggle in school, summer is an ideal time for tutoring – often at a more intensive level. In fact, numerous research studies support the importance of intensive tutoring, especially for struggling learners. ‎A study conducted at the University of Chicago Urban Education lab found that ninth and tenth graders who were struggling with math learned three years’ worth of skills from intensive tutoring over an eight month time period.

During the summer, students are relieved of the academic constraints of school, which can prevent them from receiving proper remediation of their academic weaknesses. Students with dyslexia, for instance, may need to learn how to sound out words starting at a very basic level and gradually progress upwards as they master each sound, syllable, and word type. Yet with a full plate of homework and tests, it can be hard to fit in proper reading remediation. During the summer, however, students can make significant progress with intensive remediation.

Build Stronger Study Skills

‎Many students, particularly those with ADHD or executive functioning weaknesses, have poor study skills. They often lose belongings, forget to turn in homework, neglect to bring home the proper books or notes, and are generally disorganized. Summer is a great time for students to receive tutoring in specific tools and strategies to help them develop stronger study and executive functioning skills. For instance, they may benefit from learning a 3-tier organizational system that their tutor can help them set up prior to the school year starting. Tier 1 is a working notebook, or a notebook your child takes to school with him on a regular basis. Tier 2 is an accordion file that he leaves at home, and that contains three sections for each class: tests, homework, and notes/quizzes (the tutor can help your child set up and label this accordion file prior to the school year starting). Tier 3 is a long-term filing drawer or cabinet, designed for projects or essays he may want to keep for the long-run. The key to this system is setting up a “clean out my working notebook” day prior to the start of the school year, where your child plans to clean out all papers he absolutely does not need to be carrying with him on a regular basis and files them into the appropriate section of his working notebook.

Review & Preview Material

Many students feel academically “checked out” by the end of the school year. Yet their teacher may continue teaching new concepts up until the very last day. As a result, your child may miss out on key concepts that she will likely need for the following school year. Thus, summer is an ideal time for your child to work with a tutor on reviewing previously taught material to make sure she fully understands it. Summer is also a great time to preview material to come, whether it’s new math concepts or content-specific subjects. You may even be able to ask your child’s school for the topics that will be taught in the upcoming year, so that you or your child’s tutor can give her a head-start.

Boost Your Child’s Self-Esteem

Some children end the school year feeling happy and successful. Yet others feel tired, burnt out, and frustrated with poor performance. Having your child work with a tutor over the summer can help her build stronger academic skills, which can ultimately help her feel better about herself and help her start the school year feeling proud and confident. ‎It’s hard to imagine a better way to begin the school year!

Summer can serve as a nice break from school. Yet all play and no school can have lasting consequences. Many students regress academically over the summer. Don’t let your child’s skills slide as the summer months progress; instead, provide him with the proper tools and instruction to strengthen his academic skills and help him jump-start the new school year on a positive note.

The post How Summer Tutoring Can Help Students with Learning Disabilities and ADHD appeared first on EBL Coaching.