How can Smarties Private Tutoring help my child with English?
Smarties Private Tutoring provides support for students finding challenges with all aspects of English using the Orton-Gillingham multisensory methods, originally designed for students with dyslexia. Learning activities using these methods are commonly known as the VAKT methods: visual, auditory, kinesthetic and tactile. Smarties Private Tutoring uses these methods to teach early reading skills, reading accuracy and fluency, vocabulary knowledge, comprehension, spelling and grammar skills, and everyday applications, written narrative and persuasive text features, and handwriting skills.
All instruction includes decodable texts. Students sequentially move from simple spelling patterns, including orthographic mapping, to more complex language concepts and morphology, reviewing previously learnt information at the beginning of each new session. As language skills are mastered, new skills are introduced.
Learn
Phonemic awareness is the ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds in spoken words. This skill is taught as part of the progression of reading (decoding) and spelling (encoding). Students work through a sequence of phonemes, spelling patterns, phonetically irregular words and syllabication knowledge.
Grow
Informal assessments take place during sessions and progress is monitored allowing targeted programs to be adjusted depending on the learning growth of individuals.
Thrive
Decodable texts, which contain a small amount of phonetically irregular words, increase in complexity as the student learns more about the phonetic code. Reading these texts improves reading accuracy and fluency, and boosts confidence with reading skills.