14 Jul Finding The Best Tutor/Learning Specialist For A Student With A Learning Difference
Finding Tutors for Children with Learning Differences
Finding the appropriate tutor with the proper academic training, professional experience, and the ability to guide and nurture their student can be a challenge, particularly for a child with a learning difference, such as dyslexia, ADHD, autism spectrum, language processing difficulties, or other issues.
Anyone can tutor; it is an unregulated field. Finding the best learning support for your child when he or she is demonstrating learning issues is crucial. The proper professional can make a significant difference in your child’s life. If your child is demonstrating learning difficulties, parents should request an evaluation by a state-licensed professional such as a psychologist, neuropsychologist, speech-language pathologist, occupational therapist, etc. Effective tutoring is guided by thorough evaluation, particularly a multidisciplinary one by licensed professionals.
When working with students, particularly those who struggle with learning, it is necessary to explicitly teach them skills to facilitate their learning, encouraging them to become more efficient lifelong learners. Often, these students don t know how to plan, organize, brainstorm, extract meaningful information, read effectively and efficiently, write fluently, or structure essays. Learning is frustrating, hard, and draining.
Questions To Asked When Finding Tutors for Children with Learning Differences
Many tutors have advanced degrees in content such as history, but they do not have the necessary and thorough training in assessing and teaching students with learning differences.
- Has the tutor earned at least a master’s degree? In which area of specialization Does your tutor have state or national licensure?
- What is your tutor s professional teaching experience?
- Does your tutor work with other professionals?
- Does the tutor know when to refer/consult with other professionals & does he or she communicate with the school if the parent desires that he or she do so
- How up-to-date is the center or tutor with techniques and strategies to help your child with learning differences? Is their instructional approach based on academic research in the peer-reviewed literature?
- Does the tutor provide individualized differentiated instruction instead of just one type of instruction? A one-size-fits-all approach is typically not effective. Children with learning differences benefit most from tailored approaches that fit their individual needs based on how their child learns.
- Small businesses or individual professional tutors may offer a more personalized tutoring experience for your child and family compared to a large tutoring company, where tutors’ qualifications are not transparent.
- If requested and appropriate does the tutor offer or provide technology to supplement the tutoring? How important is this supplementation for your child’s learning needs
Secured a Professional Tutor
Once you find the right professional, you must ask yourself if your son or daughter has a strong rapport with that person. Students should feel comfortable asking questions, contemplating and digging further into the material and learning techniques, and be motivated and feel good about learning.
It is also important to ascertain whether your child seems to be learning well with the professional. An effective tutor translates and dissects the material that overwhelms your child and offers more efficient ways to process and retain the information. Finally, how well will your tutor grow with your son or daughter s emerging/changing needs while remaining true to his or her training?
Importance of Teamwork
You want a tutor who not only works with your child but with you- the parent, the school, and someone who can offer strategies and helpful tactics for when you are at home with your child. Also, you must hire a tutor who is experienced with your son or daughter s curriculum and school’s culture.
My Training as a Licensed Therapist and Learning Specialist
When I was an undergraduate, having minimal knowledge of speech therapy aside from lisps and stuttering, the field of speech-language pathology fell into my lap, piquing a particular interest in language development and language learning disabilities, e.g. students with speaking, listening, reading, and/or writing difficulties. I love teaching children; previously worked as a camp counselor, tutor, respite care worker for children with disabilities, and volunteer at an inpatient pediatric psychiatric facility. Connecting science with how we learn speech and language, understanding how atypical speech and language development can negatively impact learning, and combining this knowledge with my passion for helping children, my career was born and I found my calling.
Now I am a New York licensed speech-language therapist, with over sixteen years of experience, specializing in teaching children with language-based learning issues, including reading, writing, speaking, and/or listening. I completed all NY State educational and national requirements. After completing a bachelor s degree in speech-language therapy, I earned a master s degree in speech-language pathology (including two full years of graduate school, including specific course work, including assessing and treating students with language-based learning issues and a variety of supervised clinical practicums), passed a national examination, and completing a full-time nine-month clinical fellowship post master s, I became licensed in NY State to work as a speech-language therapist, also known as a speech-language pathologist. In addition, I have complied with the Continuing Education Units (CEU)- licensed speech-language therapists need thirty hours of approved CEUs during a three-year interval. My training and work experiences allowed me to provide not only speech-language therapy but also professional remediation and tutoring support to those with language-based learning issues. The best part of my job is watching my students succeed.
–Craig Selinger M.S CCC-SLP
Craig Selinger
Licensed Language Therapist and Learning Specialist
Craig Selinger, M.S., CCC-SLP, is a New York State licensed language therapist with over sixteen years of experience working professionally in New York City and has worked with children for almost twenty years! He holds his Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCCs) from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). Craig is also Orton-Gillingham trained. Craig was published in the journal Brain Research, appeared live on WPIX 11, and was featured in About.com. In addition, he enjoys lecturing to professionals and parents locally and internationally, including at a school in New Delhi, India.
Craig has experience working with almost all ages and with individuals with expressive, receptive (listening), reading, writing, language processing, attentional and executive functioning delays and learning difficulties/disabilities. His professional experiences include working at an interdisciplinary therapeutic nursery at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, treating young children diagnosed on the autism spectrum at a school in Queens, offering professional services, as a learning specialist, at a Manhattan Montessori preschool & elementary school, working as an independent contractor with the Board of Education (preschoolers and school-aged students) as a speech-language therapist, and, currently, providing Brooklyn home-based private practice speech, language, and learning support for students of varying ages and learning styles.
Craig establishes a connection with the families he works with and helps them achieve short- and long-term learning/speech/language goals. Craig is an expert in childhood development and language-based learning issues. Some of his clients have established a long term working relationship with Craig, because he adapts his teaching style as the child grows and changes: it s a dynamic process. Craig strongly believes children and their parents need to acquire tools, for learning and use them appropriately in a natural, nurturing environment.
Craig received an undergraduate degree and a master s in Communicative Disorders from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (according to U.S. News & World Report, University of Wisconsin-Madison is consistently ranked as one of the top speech-language pathology programs in the nation). His training consisted of interdisciplinary work, including working in a psychology lab performing neuropsychological research. After graduating with his masters, he completed his clinical fellowship year in New York City, and now resides in Brooklyn with his wife and two children.
He can be reached at [email protected]
Helpful Links:
Chat with Themba Tutors Today!
Our tutors and learning specialists travel to your home.
We travel to the following locations: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Bronx, Long Island (Nassau & Suffolk Counties), Westchester County, Connecticut (CT), and New Jersey (NJ).
Have a free consultation today.
Call: (917) 382-8641, Text: (833) 565-2370
Email: [email protected]
(We respond to email right away!)
Craig Selinger
Latest posts by Craig Selinger (see all)
- Finding The Best Tutor/Learning Specialist For A Student With A Learning Difference - July 14, 2022
- 👉 What to Look for in Your Child’s ADHD Coach 👈 - June 11, 2022
- 👍 8 Effective Ways to Practice Positive Parenting for Teens 👍 - June 9, 2022
No Comments