I always tell families upfront that I can’t guarantee a good grade when their child commences tutoring – there are simply too many factors outside of my control. However, what I do guarantee is that I will work very hard with each student, and their academic support system (family, school and often therapists) to achieve the best grades for their children. And sometimes, just sometimes, that hard work and collaboration pays off.
One of my greatest success stories over these past six months was a Year 4 student. His parents had been concerned with his English grades for quite some time, but they didn’t seem to be getting the answers or the help they needed from the school.
The great thing about working outside the education system is that, during our consultation process, I was able to take the time to really get to know the parents and the child. No more 15 minute, heavily-scripted, parent-teacher interviews for me! After two hours of observing, listening and (informally) testing, I felt comfortable and confident in asserting my professional opinion that the student needed to see an Education and Developmental Psychologist.
The parents were quick to act on this professional advice and, within six months, a formal diagnosis of a Specific Learning Disorder was given. The student commenced twice-weekly tutoring – two hours of one-to-one, personalised tuition – and the student went from a C student, and in the bottom reading group in his class, to an A student in English.
There was no magic formula. No specific software program. No guarantees. Just hard work, collaboration, (student) determination, a strengths-based approach to filling literacy gaps that focused on research-backed practises and…the good grades came!