Should You Hire a Reading Tutor?
Welcome to another episode of the Phonics for Homeschool MOMS podcast! If you’re new here, my name is Melanie. I’m a full-time K-3 core phonics and reading intervention teacher, turned online phonics curriculum creator, reading tutor and phonics coach for MOMS! I help MOMS confidently teach their kids to read, using simple phonics skills, so they can raise strong, confident readers, without tears, overwhelm or reading battles at home!
Should You Hire a Reading Tutor If…
- Your child is falling behind in reading.
- Your child is showing signs of dyslexia.
- Your child reading out loud at home results in emotional escalation.
One or more of the above scenarios sounds familiar. Your friends give you the nudge by way of a question, “Should you hire a reading tutor?” These clues are your answer — “‘Yes!”
Should you hire a reading tutor if your son or daughter is falling behind in reading?
Children grasp phonics concepts for fluent reading at different ages, but that doesn’t mean we don’t aim for age-appropriate reading milestones. Does your daughter has trouble sounding-out-words in a book you feel is an age-appropriate reading level? You’ve tried everything you know how to do, but it’s not working — you’ve bought new books, sight word cards, subscribed to word work apps online.
Here’s the thing: speaking is natural. Reading is not. Reading is a skill that is taught and practiced. If you, as a MOM, don’t have all the pieces of the phonics puzzle yourself, then you don’t know what you don’t know.
When you feel your child is falling behind in reading, this typically means your child has phonics GAPS. A helpful tutor will start with a simple reading assessment for your child. Then, your tutor should pinpoint the NEXT STEP your child needs to reach the next reading milestone.
When your child has gaps in his/her phonics foundation, it’s like driving down a road with a bridge out sign. You cannot make any progress to the next reading milestone, sitting there STUCK at the ‘bridge out’ sign. Your child needs need that bridge to get to the next reading milestone.
Should you hire a reading tutor if your child shows signs of dyslexia?
Phonics skills you’ve taught your child don’t seem to be sticking. You notice your child sometimes printing letters backwards, or writing an occasional whole word or her name backwards. It can be tempting to immediately start to worry that she has dyslexia.
MYTH: Dyslexia is my child writing letters or words backwards.
TRUTH: Dyslexia is your child having difficulty processing SOUNDS — the brain’s ability to recognize and manipulate the sounds in spoken language.
What signs might be indicators that your child has true dyslexia?
You might notice:
- Slow, laborious (your child is truly working so hard)
- Choppy reading of words and sentences out loud
- Reading and spelling at a much slower pace than peers
- Trouble recalling or re-reading specific words
- Confusing words with similar combinations of letters (doesn’t seem to notice), ‘of’, and ‘for’
- Difficulty organizing thoughts on paper (even to write a simple sentence).
Whether or not your child has a formal dyslexia diagnosis, it’s going to be phonics drills on ‘rinse and repeat’. Should you hire a reading tutor for your child showing signs of dyslexia? YES. A reading tutor trained in phonics-based reading instruction for kids can provide a ‘reading reset’ for both you and your child at home.
Should you hire a reading tutor when your child escalates when asked to read at home?
It may be time for a fresh face to support your child as a reader. The frustration when you ask your child to read, shutting down, being reluctant to read out loud or outright refusal, can lead as a parent to feel worn out and defeated.
Social-emotional struggles at home are usually about confidence and resiliency. Is your child hard on themselves? Does reading at home end in a power-struggle? If so, I encourage you to seek outside help.
Reading at home is about connection and relationship, as well as your child decoding words to read a sentence. It might be time for a new face to come alongside as a support for both you and your child, even if only for a short season.
So, are you’re still wondering, “Should you hire a reading tutor?” I think you already know the answer.
Yours in phonics,
Melanie Jeffrey
