Reading Tutors for Middle School & High School
Parent Q&A
Archived Q&A and Reviews
Reading tutor for high school student
May 2014
I am looking for a reading tutor with experience to help my daughter with certain areas of reading where she has weaknesses, including reading comprehension and some decoding and fluency. Most tutors I have spoken with tutor younger children or they are booked for the summer. Also, we are looking for someone preferably in Oakland or Alameda. We would consider someone in Berkeley but I do not want to drive more than 30 minutes since we live in Alameda. Does anyone have a suggestion?
I just posted a review for Heather Sweeney, But I have to say she would be perfect for you. She actually comes to you house, so you don't have to worry about the driving, and I know she has come to Alameda before. It IS hard to find someone appropriate for High Schoolers, and I have great respect for Heather's ability to reach these kids. Good luck!
here is my review: Heather Sweeney has been working with D for two years now, and she is fantastic. I called her when my hardworking daughter with ADHD hit a bump in AP US History in her Junior year of High School. At first she said she had no room, but after hearing our story she showed, not for the last time, her level of compassion by saying,'' I want to help her''. She comes to our house, charges very reasonable rates, and has helped D with study and note taking skills, writing, test prep and much more. She is funny, patient, smart and caring. D sees her as a friend and looks forward to their sessions. Also enjoyable are the ''tribal dinners'' when many of Heather's students have a pot luck together and have a chance to share stories. My daughter made it into her dream college and we owe much of this to Heather. Contact info: hthrsweeney [at] gmail.com Robyn
Our daughter has gotten excellent tutoring in reading and writing from Ivy Sandz (ivy [at] ivysandz.com; 510-528-8773), on the Berkeley-Albany border.
Based on your description, I'm wondering if your son has a learning issue (e.g., dyslexia, dysgraphia). Our daughter has poor handwriting with a lot of variation in letter formation, poor spelling, slow reading, difficulty getting her thoughts on paper despite being very smart and verbally (orally) quite expressive. A neuropsych assessment turned up specific learning disorders in reading and writing.
Hi there,
You may want to investigate learning differences for your child. If your child is in public school, you can request to have your child evaluated for learning challenges. If they are identified, your son would be eligible to receive services through the school district for learning support. As an alternate, you could choose to have an independent neuropsychologist assessment that would thoroughly evaluate learning challenges, but those run around 6K.
If you are interested in having the school district assess for learning challenges, you could contact dredf.org to speak with an advocate for help navigating those requests. DREDF has template forms and can give you the procedural information you'd need if you want to pursue that route.
Good luck! (Mom of two learning challenged kids)
Hi - A reading specialist / educational therapist could be very valuable. You may also want to figure out what's going on, either through a school or private evaluation. Bad handwriting can be a sign of a learning difference. (We have our son type whenever possible. His handwriting is unreadable. And instead of pushing him to get better at something that his brain isn't wired for, we use the keyboard as his tool for written communication instead of handwriting. That really improved his self-esteem around writing. We do need to remind his teachers each year to allow him to keyboard, and they have been supportive.)
Best of luck to you, Laura