When Your Child Needs A Tutor

By Kathryn Wage

Learning was difficult for eight-year old Amy. She was having trouble with verbal expression, hand writing and the academic skills that go with it. So her parents hired a tutor to help her. Today at 18, she has graduated from high school and is going to college. “The work we did made a difference for me, so I could be successful,” says Amy.

Are your children’s grades slipping? Are they having trouble managing time well? Do they lack confidence and seem to be constantly confused? These may be signs that they need a tutor.

10 Reasons You Need to Hire a Tutor

1. Helps Establish an Early Foundation: Children in the early elementary grades are learning mathematics and acquiring reading comprehension. Tutoring can support a child’s ability to acquire comprehension skills and decipher concepts before the situation becomes too stressful.

2. Supports One-on-One Learning: Overcrowded classrooms limit a teacher’s ability to answer every child’s questions. Tutoring gives your child the opportunity to take as much time as he or she needs to understand the work in front of them.

3. Builds Confidence and Self Esteem: A good tutor will take time to get to know your child, creating a safe space for them to discuss issues that might be affecting their ability to learn.

4. Offers Strength-Based Training: Tutoring a child in their strong subjects as well as their weaker ones helps build confidence.

5. Helps with Common Core Standards: Common Core focuses on short answers and essays, rather than multiple choice questions. This requires a lot of mental application, so tutors are needed to help with the transition.

6. Transitions a Move to a New Location: A change of classmates and unfamiliar environment might make it harder for your children to learn. The support of a tutor who is focused solely on their needs can help them make the transition.

7. Gives Your Child Permission to Struggle: Individualized instruction and extra time gives the child permission to struggle without shame and then succeed away from the eyes of peers who might make fun of them or teachers whose expectations may not be realistic.

8. Helps Maintain Acquired Skills During the Summer: Tutoring can be beneficial to children during the summer months, if you have concerns that they will lose some of the ground they gained over the past year.

9. Helps Children Ace Standardized Tests: Having a tutor who is trained on tests such as the SAT’s can really help a child perform up to his best.

10. Eliminates the Parent-Child Homework Wars: By the time it’s homework time, most parents are pooped. Tutors can take the pressure off and add to the family’s tranquility of life while teaching kids to be responsible for their own work.

Different Types of Tutoring

Most children can benefit from having someone focused on them, who can support their learning and help them to understand their own learning styles. A good tutor can unlock the door to self-confidence, love of learning and self acceptance.

There are many different types of tutoring. To help kids with learning and attention issues, it is important for parents to study the different types to determine which might work best for your child.

Remediation

This refers to teaching and practicing specific skills to help your child catch up or get closer to grade level. It can focus on areas that are difficult for him or on skills he hasn’t yet mastered.

You might consider this type of tutoring when you child struggles with grade level skills or is falling behind in certain subject such as reading, writing or math.

Maintenance

This refers to practicing skills to help your child stay on track meeting his academic goals. It may include organization, time management and study skills to help him manage his workload.

This type of tutoring is good when your child works at grade level, but needs help to keep doing so. It’s good for kids with ADHD, executive functioning issues or a tendency to be overwhelmed by changes in routine or workload.

Support

This is a combination of remediation and maintenance tutoring. It focuses both on trouble spots and on current work so that your child doesn’t fall further behind.

Consider this when your child is struggling in specific skill areas (such as math or reading), but works at grade level in other areas.

How Can I Find a Tutor?

First figure out the area in which your child needs extra help. Then you can:

• Refer to Central California Parent’s Tutoring Directory in the November issue.

• Ask you child’s school for recommendations.

• Call local children’s hospitals and colleges to see if they have a list of providers.

• Contact the Association of educational therapists or the National Institute for Learning Development. Both organizations keep lists of certified educational therapists.

When Your Child Needs A Tutor

When Your Child Needs A Tutor

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