After School Tutoring Ideas

I did it with PG and most of the students had accommodations removed from their IEP because they could read well enough so that they didn’t have to have the tests read to them. I did the remdiation in two days a week for about 10 weeks for an hour a session. It worked. Oh by the way, I teach high school.

Certainly help is help. I think if you are providing this program to students who are not what I would term truly LD, I mean kids who need explicit decoding instruction who are NOT receiving this in their classroom reading programs (we have been teaching explicitely for years, but some places still use so-called “whole language”), these kids will profit and I believe this is the same group that makes really impressive gains in reading in a very short time.

I have not found pervasive, multiple processing issues to respond that quickly to good teaching. Usually the teaching must be accompanied by abundant guided and, later, independent, practice over time to get the gains to become noticeable IN READING text.

Yes, if you pretest with an assessment of pure decoding, ala decoding nonsense syllables and then you teach 20-25 hours of heavy decoding that includes practice on words and nonsense syllables and reading decodable text, you will get gains in a post test. Unfortunately the more disabled kids who appear to have several processing deficits usually need far more to translate into REAL gains. I am usually considering 2-3 years of strong, comprehensive instruction that includes strong decoding, fluency, comprehension…………to get the child close to grade level with a reading rate of more like 70-90 wpm, still below grade level, but reading is not within grasp and doable. Some will get close to grade level in the decoding but still fall really short on fluency.

So, to conclude my lengthy commentary, if you select the kids who WILL PROFIT from this intervention and then deliver a very focussed intervention program, you should find that the program does help the youngsters. If you mix decoding issues and comprehension issues in the same group……….don’t waste your time.

Thanks for the helpful information

… friend of mine says they started an after-school tutoring thing for kids behind in reading and the kids are just “flat” and, suffice it to say, not eager beavers and seh says she hardly blames ‘em — who wants to have the privilege of doing MORE of what you aren’t any good at after you’ve been at school for the full day???

Shay - totally off the subject, but…I have an 8th grade boy who has auditory processing issues, dyslexia, ADHD - inattentive and medicated, etc. He has real difficulty reading, much improved, but slow, poor fluency - good decoding, though, because he got alot of pure phonics. While he can get very frustrated, he has not given up…yet. The other day he was telling me how much he wanted to learn to read “like everybody else.” I know it’s difficult to do this online, but I’m looking for a tutoring program/summer program to help him. I went to an OG tutor, but she didn’t think he would be a good fit - however, he does some OG (root words) at school. LMB sounds good, but there’s no tutors around the Pittsburgh area that I can find, and it’s SOOOO expensive (although i know that can’t be too much of an issue). Do you have any ideas? You seem to have a good success rate and I’m encouraged to see any teacher still working at it at the high school level.

What do you think of PG for kids this age? Are you familiar with NDSL?

Hi Laura,
I like LMB for some of the ways in which it teaches reading but I don’t care for the way it teaches digraphs or the advanced code. I don’t think that it develops fluidity. I use Phono-Graphix for all age groups but mostly older students; my specialty. I would certainly use PG with him because I think that his slowness may be because he is trying to think of the rule that goes with the structure of the word also, he probably has bad reading habits. My bet that once tested using the tests in the PG program, you will find that he still doesn’t understand what digraphs represents a sound and decoding MS words are a problem. He may be able to decode but not fast enough to become a reflex reader. Also, some of these kids that are older may have a problem with ever being what we call fluid. We set the rate of reading too high for those kids with poor reading skills. I think that we should help them read to a speed that they will be able to comprehend print, not compare them to really good readers like ourselves. I don’t think that my daughter will ever be a fast reader but she has become a good reader and comprehends what she reads, her college books. If you need help with presenting PG to this student, email me privately with your phone number and I will help you. Presenting PG to older students is quite different than to a beginning reader. It goes very fast and that is the secret! Good luck.

Shay - thanks for theinfo. I’m really not expecting “fast” reading, but fluid reading that doesn’t interfere with his comprehension. It’s such a struggle to get through material, textbooks or literature, that it tires him and he can’t cover the material. I switch off with him - he reads one page, or one paragraph, then I read one, but he’s getting too old to want me to do that. Anyway, I think I am going to give PG a try - i’d like to try to find an outside tutor as it’s a bit difficult for me to be the tutor. Again, he’s getting too old for that. But he always cooperates with other teachers. I’ll keep in touch. Thanks again.

I think my 8th grade son is that category you describe as “truly disabled.” I must say, I think your assessment of kids with several comprehension problems is accurate, if discouraging. Specifically, how do you deal with these students? Thanks for any info.