Tutoring can be very beneficial if your child fell behind due to illness, frequent moves, or family problems like divorce. A tutor can be very helpful for catching up missed lessons. But tutoring should not be a forever requirement! If there is no end in sight, traditional academic tutoring is not the solution.

Children with learning challenges are usually lacking critical underlying abilities and require more than what tutoring provides. We specialize in helping those kids who need that extra help to get on the right track for school and learning success.

If your child fits in to the following list, our cognitive tutoring programs will get far better results than academic tutoring.

• Your child struggles in school and may be a behaviour problem in the classroom.
• The teacher has suggested medication or ADHD.
• You’ve been told that your child is a visual or kinesthetic learner. (School success requires auditory/listening abilities!)
• You and the teacher are completely dumbfounded as to why your bright child struggles with what seems like fairly simple tasks i.e. adding single digit numbers, retaining previously memorized spelling words or math facts, reading, printing or handwriting neatly, paying attention, remembering two or three simple instructions, staying on task, understanding what’s been said, etc.
• Most nights involve a battle over homework, there is an excessive amount of homework, or you do your child’s homework in order to avoid conflict with the teacher.
• Your child hates school and most mornings involve a battle to get going.
• Your child’s learning problems are having an impact on your family i.e. you or your spouse frequently fight about the child’s schoolwork or behaviour, your other children feel short-changed for attention, the grandparents feel you either aren’t doing enough or you’re too hard on the child, etc.

By clicking on the links that most apply to your child’s areas of difficulty, you will learn why the problems exist and what can be done about it.

Reading – Difficulty learning to read; poor reading comprehension, fluency, sounding out.
Writing – Can’t put thoughts on paper.
Spelling – After much studying, passes the spelling test but misspells words minutes or days later.
Speech – Examples: says “free” for “three;” /r/ sounds like /l/ or /w/; /s/ sounds like /z/ or /th/, etc.
Comprehension – Doesn’t understand what’s said or read.
Attention, concentration – Can’t focus on a task, easily distracted.
Attention, listening – Doesn’t pay attention to speaker, forgets or can’t follow instructions, easily distracted by sounds.
Overly active – Squirms, tips chair, frequently gets up to sharpen pencil or use bathroom, can be very annoying to other students, teachers, or family members.
Math – Can’t remember math facts, doesn’t understand word problems, lacks concept understanding.
Handwriting, printing – Sloppy, off the lines, doesn’t seem to care how it looks.
Poor memory – Forgets homework at school, doesn’t remember what to do, can’t memorize lists or facts.
Easily frustrated – Gets angry, gives up, cries, shouts, throws tantrums, or withdraws.
Unmotivated or lazy – Doesn’t seem to care to even try anymore.

Assessment and Parent Consultation

First you need to book an assessment in order to find out what’s really going on. Then you will have a follow-up appointment, a Parent Consultation, to go over the results. Together they only cost $189 and you will get a very good idea of how and why your child is struggling and what can be done about it.

At the Parent Consultation it will also be determined which program or programs would be most suitable to your child’s needs, your goals for your child, and your budget. Grants are available if you can’t afford the programs. All programs are eligible for Autism funding in BC.

Programs

Click on the links below to learn more about these programs.

Scientific Learning’s Fast ForWord and Reading Assistant: Fast ForWord computer programs develop Learning MAPS: Memory, Attention, Processing, Sequencing. They were developed by neuro-scientists following decades of researching children with learning issues. These programs also develop phonological processing, auditory processing, reading, spelling, and other cognitive skills. Reading Assistant is speech recognition software that enables the child to practice by reading to the computer.

Interactive Metronome: IM trains auditory processing and attention, rhythm, and timing. Vijay Singh used it and then won the Masters. It is used by the Miami Dolphins and other athletes. It can done in our office or at home.

Advanced Brain Technologies’ The Listening Program: Music based auditory stimulation to improve auditory processing, listening, learning, and communication.

Learning Rx’s PACE (Processing And Cognitive Enhancement): PACE develops a broad range of cognitive and processing abilities through one-on-one, face-to-face game-like activities with a trainer. Three to five times per week for 12 weeks.

Master the Code: Partners with PACE to develop reading mastery. It is one-on-one, three times per week for 12 weeks.

Samonas Auditory Intervention: Samonas trains the auditory system with specially recorded and engineered CDs. Even though it is easy to do–you just listen to beautiful music–it can produce amazing results. We offer it in a 10 day intensive.