Probably an unpopular opinion, but I don’t think you need fancy tutors. Our DS very easily could have been diagnosed with dyslexia in 1-4th grade; he was right on the edge. He was diagnosed with dysgraphia and dyslexia in 5th, but we always knew he struggled with reading. He definitely understands words and reads differently than we do. However, we just kept reading with him, he worked with our school literacy specialist, tried a tutor for a few months that he hated, etc, and then he finally found books he loved. Dog man and wimpy kids. We were adamant that he wouldn’t learn to hate reading, and that has made all the difference. He likes to read. Sometimes he still struggles with new words, so he is still working on it, but he likes to read, and that came from us reading with him, working through it, and still reading with him now. He went from below average to the 80th percentile on his MAP reading tests now.

Anonymous wrote:My niece is struggling with reading and has a SAHP who could potentially help tutor her. Has anyone tried this approach? If so, what evidence-based resources are available? They live outside of the DMV and are on a tight budget.

This really isn’t something you DIY. You need to find a certified CALT or OG tutor. If they must, I suppose they could try getting certified themselves, but it takes a lot of work.

I'm a certified Dyslexia tutor, so I will weigh in. If the SAHP really wants to commit to tutoring their own child, then I would recommend they get trained. IMSE offers a 5-day training that is all virtual (they have in-person too) and you are given all the materials you would need. It isn't cheap, but it may be cheaper than hiring a tutor (rates depend on the area they live in).

UFLI is a great resource that is really inexpensive and has a great reputation. A previous poster had some other great resources that are relatively inexpensive.

Anonymous wrote:My niece is struggling with reading and has a SAHP who could potentially help tutor her. Has anyone tried this approach? If so, what evidence-based resources are available? They live outside of the DMV and are on a tight budget.

If they must tutor her on their own, I strongly recommend looking at an Orton Gillingham curriculum. It’s what any good tutor would use.

I have two children diagnosed with dyslexia and dysgraphia. One attends a specialized school because she needs more intensive remediation and support. They were each diagnosed in grade 2. When my older child was diagnosed the psychologist who did the testing told us the key is early and intensive support. She also recommended our child be tutored by speech language pathologist who specializes in language based learning disorders like dyslexia because they not only know OG but they also have additional training on other approaches that can be interwoven in to the support. This is important because while OG is the most well known training it doesn't work for every kid in every situation. I would encourage you to get either an certified CALT or an SLP for tutoring. It works best if they can meet at school during the day a couple days a week but some also do tutoring virtually. Some health insurance plans will cover at least part of the cost. You can also ask for a sliding payment scale to help with the cost. I know several of the SLPs we've worked with offer to work with parents who can't afford the tutoring because they care about helping these kids. I would discourage you from working with someone training to be a CALT because while it is less expensive because they are working to gain training hours as part of their certification, proper training critically important. If you get turned down by a provider move on to someone else. You will find someone to help you within your budget. If your child requires a specialized school be sure to ask about financial aide because all of the schools we looked at for my child offered it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Orton-Gillingham is the gold standard for teaching dyslexic people to read.

Orton Gillingham are not lessons though - it’s a framework for doing things and a parent (mostly untrained) would still have to develop the lesson. UFLI is much better where everything is laid out for you and incorporates many things in a typical OG lesson.

Actually, IMSE has updated their teacher guides so that they are lessons rather than a framework.

I’m an elementary teacher and a certified Orrin-Gillingham teacher. My best advice would be to see if they can find an OG certified tutor to work in-person 2x/week minimum. If they are outside the DMV area, it may not be too expensive. For example, I know someone that does OG tutoring in WV (1hr away from MD suburbs) and can charge around $30/hr. In the DC area, a tutor is easily $100/hr. If that isn’t in the budget, the parent should get properly trained through an organization like IMSE or OGA. It will cost about $1500-2000, but may save them money long term. Training is really important if the parent takes this on themselves.

Just wanted to cosign that dyslexia often goes hand-in-hand with other learning disabilities that make the rest of it all difficult, and that if you’re going to pursue reading intervention at home, definitely pursue what else your district has available to support executive function or writing. I really get what you’re saying about being on a tight budget but I also don’t want this parent to think that if they can’t pull this off it’s because they’re not doing a good job.

Also ask this question in special needs forum.

ASDEC based in Rockville has Ort G programs to train people to become academic therapists. You should reach out to them as they also have other programs.

I am the parent of two kids with dyslexia. I was not working at the time. We decided I would go back to work to afford the specialists. I know this is not what you are looking for, but just saying, ultimately, this is how important we learned it was. Our younger one is one year away from graduating, and it has been a STRUGGLE, but I do not know where she would be if we had not done this for her. Just my two cents from a parent who has BTDT. Sorry, it is just not fair that some kids require SUCH expensive interventions. 😢

(Another thing to consider is that dyslexia often comes hand in hand with ADHD, anxiety, dysgraphia, and/or other challenges. Someone else mentioned math — definitely true.)

Has your child undergone private Psychoeducational testing?

Anonymous wrote:How can you find an OG tutor?

https://members.altaread.org/Find-an-ALTA-Professional

How can you find an OG tutor?

Anonymous wrote:Orton-Gillingham is the gold standard for teaching dyslexic people to read.

Orton Gillingham are not lessons though - its a framework for doing things and a parent (mostly untrained) would still have to develop the lesson. UFLI is much better where everything is laid out for you and incorporates many things in a typical OG lesson.

Neuralign helped my child a lot. YMMV — I’m not sure how widely studied it is. I took a chance and it really helped. It’s not inexpensive but adds up to less than a weekly OG tutor after a few months.