Multisensory Reading Clinic

 HELP and RESOURCES

for parents who have children with dyslexia

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 "The SUCCESS of your students will depend upon your skills as a teacher," 

                                                                                                              -Gillingham, A., 1956

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How to Choose a Highly Skilled Reading Tutor or Teacher for a Child with Dyslexia Who Struggles to Learn How to Read, Write, Spell, and Comprehend?

 

If your child with dyslexia is struggling significantly with reading or spelling, a specialized tutor is often necessary to teach him how to decode, encode, and comprehend text effectively.

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Instruction must be more than just "extra help." It must be direct, explicit, multisensory, structured, systematic, diagnostic, prescriptive, and cumulative, while remaining flexible enough to meet the child's needs. This approach should be strictly grounded in phonics-based, research-supported methods.

 

Beyond initial instruction, ongoing review and fluency practice are essential for your child to transition from a struggling reader to an independent, fluent one. A highly skilled teacher uses targeted strategies to help students decode both familiar and unfamiliar "nonsense" words (e.g., zim, vat, quab, blandish, splatton). With the right intervention, visible progress should be evident within the first 15 sessions.

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1. The Education of a Reading Teacher

Many parents instinctively seek a "certified teacher." However, it is important to consider:

• a. Your child’s current classroom teacher is likely certified, yet your child is still struggling. Why?

• b. If standard certification were enough, why hasn't your child mastered decoding, spelling, or comprehension?

 

 The reality is that dyslexia and significant learning gaps often exceed the scope of standard teaching credentials—even those held by teachers with master's degrees. Your child requires a specialist trained in literacy intervention and remediation specifically for reading, writing (including penmanship), and spelling. Formal education is a starting point, but specialized clinical training is the essential qualification.

 

2. Assessing the Skills of a Reading Teacher

As Anna Gillingham noted in 1956, "The success of your students will depend upon your skills as a teacher." When interviewing a potential tutor, ask:

• "How exactly do you teach a child to read and spell?" A vague answer about "providing instruction" is a red flag. Most struggling readers fail because they cannot blend sounds. They need specific rules, "tips," and strategies. Ask: "Will you teach sound blending and specific language rules? Can you give me an example of a strategy you use?"

• "How do you begin the process?" The answer must involve a diagnostic assessment to identify specific gaps.

• "What happens after the assessment?" The tutor should explain how they use those results to build a customized path, usually starting with phonemes (the individual sounds). In alphabetic languages like English and French, these sounds are the building blocks. Blending must be introduced almost immediately; otherwise, progress will stall.

 

3. Monitoring Your Child’s Progress

How can you tell if the instruction is working?

• Observation: Can your child decode an unfamiliar, "nonsense" word using a rule they were just taught?

• Student Feedback: Ask your child what they are learning. If they can explain a "rule" to you, the information is sticking.

• Instructional Accuracy: If the tutor is working online, listen to how they produce sounds. English is sound-based. Ensure the tutor isn't adding a "schwa" sound to consonants (e.g., saying "/muh/" for /m/ or "/nuh/" for /n/). Pure consonant sounds have no trailing vowel.

• The 15-Session Rule: While full remediation takes time, you should see the "gears turning" within 15 one-hour, one-on-one sessions. For example, if a child learns the "ag" family (bag, tag), they should be able to immediately decode and spell unseen words like cag, dag, or yag. If they cannot, the tutor may be focusing on memorization rather than true decoding.

 

Note: There is no "quick fix." Typical students require roughly 180 hours of instruction to complete a grade level. For a child with dyslexia, catching up requires intensive, frequent intervention. Success depends on the tutor's expertise, the severity of the challenges, and consistent attendance