These evaluations look at a variety of skills necessary for reading, spelling, comprehension, verbal expression, writing, vocabulary and critical thinking. We administer the same tests that a school district or educational therapist frequently use. The results from our evaluation are used to design an individualized program for the student to strengthen their areas of weakness.

Recommendations and Goals
After the evaluation, a consultation with a specialist is scheduled to review the evaluation. A written report is provided with a personalized recommendation on how to bring the student’s skills to a level that meets their full potential.

Post-Evaluations
At the end of a student’s program we administer the same tests, at no cost to the family, to statistically demonstrate the student’s improvement. We may use the results of the post-evaluation to offer further recommendations. A copy of the scores and summary report are provided to the family for their records after the consultation.

For most students, an intensive program is 1 to 4 hours per day, 3 to 5 days per week. The reason for this is to effectively and permanently remediate a student’s weaknesses in as short a time as possible. Benefits to an intensive approach include:

“Rewiring” the Brain
Intensive remediation allows for new pathways and connections to be made in the brain. The brain is like a muscle; you need to work it out on a regular basis in order to see relatively quick and significant change.

Motivation
An intensively scheduled program allows students to see the progress of their hard work quickly and helps to  keep them motivated.

Cost Effectiveness
If scheduling is irregular, changes happen more slowly and the motivation of the student decreases. This can actually add hours to the total amount recommended because concepts have to be reviewed more often rather than built upon as they are fresh in a student’s mind. You will be paying for fewer hours in the end.

One aspect that sets us apart from other tutoring services is that we work with our students in a one-to-one setting. There are several reasons why this setting is ideal:

Individual Attention
In school, the teacher has to move quickly from one concept to the next, whether the whole class understands the concept or not. A student can quickly fall behind when foundational skills are unstable. We meet the student exactly where they are and do not move on until concepts are fully grasped.

Step by Step Learning
Our programs teach skills in a step by step process from beginning concepts to grade appropriate levels of skill and beyond. This allows us to fill in any gap in skills and knowledge that the student may have.

Student Engagement
We use multisensory teaching methods that are interactive rather than worksheets or computer programs. In a group, students can feel intimidated to answer because of the social and group dynamics.

Being challenged in areas of reading, writing, and comprehension can make students feel negatively. One of our goals is to prevent this from happening, along with improving a student’s abilities.

Change Beliefs about Abilities
When a student offers a response, we ask questions to either reinforce the correct concept, or to have the student independently discover the appropriate response. This allows the student to take charge of their learning process, rather than simply telling them the correct answer.

Independence and Confidence
The ability to self-correct helps the student feel confident, and helps them to grasp concepts more quickly with greater retention of information.

Multisensory programs employ a combination of visual (what we see), auditory (what we hear) and kinesthetic-tactile (what we feel) cues simultaneously to teach concepts. Studies clearly show that hearing information, with simultaneous iconic visual input, is the most effective means of instructing. All of our programs are designed to involve more than one sense at a time to help students develop their skills and become independent.