Middle School Reading and Writing Help
Hi There,
My 7th grader is behind in reading and writing. He's always been a reluctant reader and has terrible handwriting, but also cannot write proper sentences for his grade level. I am looking for a private tutor, or a good center that could help him, and a good summer program too. I saw some older recommendations, but I am looking for more current recommendations. Thank you!
Apr 15, 2019
Parent Replies
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