Testimonial #1
We searched for years to try and figure out why my daughter could not read. She could read a little bit, but not like her peers. I knew that her intelligence far exceeded her ability to read and I kept looking for the answer. I finally realized that it was dyslexia after reading many research articles and watching the Barton Reading and Spelling videos. Now it was time for action. I found a local tutor at Reading-Remedy in Ocean Springs and we started one-on-one tutoring with the Barton program. We are now into Level 4 and what a marked difference! She is spelling words like “conundrum”, “demographics” and many more. Before, she would have never attempted words like this, knowing she would fail. Now she has the confidence to try any word! The other night when I started reading to her in the chapter book we had been working on, I noticed the bookmark was not in the same place, so I asked her about it. She looked at me and said, “I wanted to find out what would happen in the next chapter, so I read it.” I was overjoyed! She read on her own, with no prompting from me, to find out what happened in the story. This is what I have been waiting for, and it happened because of the tutoring she has received at Reading-Remedy.
Thank you Marcia!
JN
Testimonial #2
Greetings!!
I just wanted to take a moment to tell you about a major "proud moment" in the Vitelli household yesterday. Victoria brought her report card home with her first quarter grades for 4th grade. She got 7 A's and 1 B (in English) and is on the Honor Roll (All A's and B's.) WOW!!
We have been fighting an uphill battle with Victoria's academic struggles for the past three years. Not because she wasn't smart, but because she was visibly struggling with written language. This difficulty affected every area of her academic performance and almost resulted in her having to repeat the 3rd grade. Josh and I spent hours helping her and working with her teachers to get small inches of progress made. She was receiving remediation at school in math for the majority of second grade and then for all of third grade, she had remediation in math and reading five days a week. She was also enrolled in Project Success in February to help boost her MCT2 scores. Fortunately, her 3rd grade teacher strongly opposed holding her back and the Teacher Support Team (for kids in remediation programs) supported Victoria advancing to 4th grade. But for the fact that she is a twin, we would have held her back. We all felt that it would crush her and she would always be reminded that she wasn't 'smart enough' to keep up with her sister as the years progressed. We knew she tried really hard and she understood the concepts, she just couldn't demonstrate it on tests. With all the help she was receiving at school and at home, Victoria barely passed 3rd grade and by the end of the year she was reading at a 2.4 (2nd grade 4th month) level.
In April, I met a couple ladies (THANK YOU Jan and Marcia!!) who gave me the resources to get Victoria the help we all needed - I believe Victoria is dyslexic. I had suspected she might have dyslexia when she was in 1st grade but I didn't really know enough about it other than my dad struggled with it and somehow he made it through. We enrolled her in a private tutoring program specifically designed for children with dyslexia at Reading Remedy. We did nothing else over the summer but the tutoring, where she worked one on one with a tutor twice a week. We started fourth grade and I mentally prepared for another year of battle. The first week of school, they did their routine assessments and her reading report came home, she got a 3.4 (3rd grade, 4th month.) She gained a whole 'year' in reading with 9 weeks of tutoring!! Then the weekly tests started coming home, many 100's and lots of high 80's and 90's. Sure enough, a 70 or a 60 came through and I thought, here we go again!! But then she was back up in the 100's and 90's while doing the real work, 4th grade skills. Still, I had my reservations.
I want to tell you what Victoria has been up to since we started tutoring. She has been relaxing. She has become more confident. She is blossoming and spontaneously reading stuff out loud. This is important because when it first happened, I realized that she hadn't ever been doing that before. Most little kids do this when they begin reading, they point out billboards and signs and all kinds of stuff. Gretchen did and I always figured she just beat her sister to the punch and so I guess I never really noticed that Victoria didn't. Until nine-year-old Victoria started doing it I didn't realize what we had been missing. She began reading 'out loud', another thing Victoria never did unless practically forced. During 1st and 2nd grade, I was the main audience for her 'read alouds' and the experience was akin to nails on a chalkboard for 30-45 minutes. During 3rd grade, she had learned how to memorize the story as it was read to her and then when she 'read' it back, you would hear all the intonations of the person who had read to her. Of course to test this theory, I would always leave out a paragraph here or there and watch her fall into a flat monotone as she struggled to get through it. To hear her read out loud now because she wants to, although not perfect, is quickly becoming music to my ears.
So that brings me to yesterday. Victoria was looking through her Tuesday Folder and found her report card. She sat there staring at it and I remembered it was report card day. I found the copy and then I stared at it. I'm used to these kinds of grades with Gretchen, I thought maybe she had the wrong folder. Nope, name: VITELLI, VICTORIA GRACE and at the bottom of the page, the words HONOR ROLL.
Victoria had come home grumbling about going to tutoring. She likes her tutor, but every once in a while she balks at going. I was warned of this when we started and have made her 'toe the line' regardless. So when she griped about getting ready for tutoring, I pointed to the bottom of the report card and simply told her that not going to tutoring was NOT an option. I have told her she may always have to work a little harder than other people but with hard work, the results are so much sweeter. She earned it and she will have to keep earning it. She thought for a moment and then looked up and said for her next report card, she wants to get on the Principle's List (All A's) and went upstairs to get ready for tutoring. I stood in the kitchen, still holding her report card and thought "YOU GO GIRL!!"
We still have work ahead of us but I really feel we are on the right track. I know she is supported and loved at school and feel that she has been blessed with fabulous teachers. We will continue with the private tutoring until she completes the program (2 to 3 years.) I am extremely thankful for everyone who has been on this journey with us!!
Just thought I would share our happy news with you. Thank you for letting me take up your time and I hope you have a blessed and wonderful day!!
If you would like more information about Reading Remedy, you can check out their webpage at http://www.reading-remedy.com.
One Proud Momma Bear
We searched for years to try and figure out why my daughter could not read. She could read a little bit, but not like her peers. I knew that her intelligence far exceeded her ability to read and I kept looking for the answer. I finally realized that it was dyslexia after reading many research articles and watching the Barton Reading and Spelling videos. Now it was time for action. I found a local tutor at Reading-Remedy in Ocean Springs and we started one-on-one tutoring with the Barton program. We are now into Level 4 and what a marked difference! She is spelling words like “conundrum”, “demographics” and many more. Before, she would have never attempted words like this, knowing she would fail. Now she has the confidence to try any word! The other night when I started reading to her in the chapter book we had been working on, I noticed the bookmark was not in the same place, so I asked her about it. She looked at me and said, “I wanted to find out what would happen in the next chapter, so I read it.” I was overjoyed! She read on her own, with no prompting from me, to find out what happened in the story. This is what I have been waiting for, and it happened because of the tutoring she has received at Reading-Remedy.
Thank you Marcia!
JN
Testimonial #2
Greetings!!
I just wanted to take a moment to tell you about a major "proud moment" in the Vitelli household yesterday. Victoria brought her report card home with her first quarter grades for 4th grade. She got 7 A's and 1 B (in English) and is on the Honor Roll (All A's and B's.) WOW!!
We have been fighting an uphill battle with Victoria's academic struggles for the past three years. Not because she wasn't smart, but because she was visibly struggling with written language. This difficulty affected every area of her academic performance and almost resulted in her having to repeat the 3rd grade. Josh and I spent hours helping her and working with her teachers to get small inches of progress made. She was receiving remediation at school in math for the majority of second grade and then for all of third grade, she had remediation in math and reading five days a week. She was also enrolled in Project Success in February to help boost her MCT2 scores. Fortunately, her 3rd grade teacher strongly opposed holding her back and the Teacher Support Team (for kids in remediation programs) supported Victoria advancing to 4th grade. But for the fact that she is a twin, we would have held her back. We all felt that it would crush her and she would always be reminded that she wasn't 'smart enough' to keep up with her sister as the years progressed. We knew she tried really hard and she understood the concepts, she just couldn't demonstrate it on tests. With all the help she was receiving at school and at home, Victoria barely passed 3rd grade and by the end of the year she was reading at a 2.4 (2nd grade 4th month) level.
In April, I met a couple ladies (THANK YOU Jan and Marcia!!) who gave me the resources to get Victoria the help we all needed - I believe Victoria is dyslexic. I had suspected she might have dyslexia when she was in 1st grade but I didn't really know enough about it other than my dad struggled with it and somehow he made it through. We enrolled her in a private tutoring program specifically designed for children with dyslexia at Reading Remedy. We did nothing else over the summer but the tutoring, where she worked one on one with a tutor twice a week. We started fourth grade and I mentally prepared for another year of battle. The first week of school, they did their routine assessments and her reading report came home, she got a 3.4 (3rd grade, 4th month.) She gained a whole 'year' in reading with 9 weeks of tutoring!! Then the weekly tests started coming home, many 100's and lots of high 80's and 90's. Sure enough, a 70 or a 60 came through and I thought, here we go again!! But then she was back up in the 100's and 90's while doing the real work, 4th grade skills. Still, I had my reservations.
I want to tell you what Victoria has been up to since we started tutoring. She has been relaxing. She has become more confident. She is blossoming and spontaneously reading stuff out loud. This is important because when it first happened, I realized that she hadn't ever been doing that before. Most little kids do this when they begin reading, they point out billboards and signs and all kinds of stuff. Gretchen did and I always figured she just beat her sister to the punch and so I guess I never really noticed that Victoria didn't. Until nine-year-old Victoria started doing it I didn't realize what we had been missing. She began reading 'out loud', another thing Victoria never did unless practically forced. During 1st and 2nd grade, I was the main audience for her 'read alouds' and the experience was akin to nails on a chalkboard for 30-45 minutes. During 3rd grade, she had learned how to memorize the story as it was read to her and then when she 'read' it back, you would hear all the intonations of the person who had read to her. Of course to test this theory, I would always leave out a paragraph here or there and watch her fall into a flat monotone as she struggled to get through it. To hear her read out loud now because she wants to, although not perfect, is quickly becoming music to my ears.
So that brings me to yesterday. Victoria was looking through her Tuesday Folder and found her report card. She sat there staring at it and I remembered it was report card day. I found the copy and then I stared at it. I'm used to these kinds of grades with Gretchen, I thought maybe she had the wrong folder. Nope, name: VITELLI, VICTORIA GRACE and at the bottom of the page, the words HONOR ROLL.
Victoria had come home grumbling about going to tutoring. She likes her tutor, but every once in a while she balks at going. I was warned of this when we started and have made her 'toe the line' regardless. So when she griped about getting ready for tutoring, I pointed to the bottom of the report card and simply told her that not going to tutoring was NOT an option. I have told her she may always have to work a little harder than other people but with hard work, the results are so much sweeter. She earned it and she will have to keep earning it. She thought for a moment and then looked up and said for her next report card, she wants to get on the Principle's List (All A's) and went upstairs to get ready for tutoring. I stood in the kitchen, still holding her report card and thought "YOU GO GIRL!!"
We still have work ahead of us but I really feel we are on the right track. I know she is supported and loved at school and feel that she has been blessed with fabulous teachers. We will continue with the private tutoring until she completes the program (2 to 3 years.) I am extremely thankful for everyone who has been on this journey with us!!
Just thought I would share our happy news with you. Thank you for letting me take up your time and I hope you have a blessed and wonderful day!!
If you would like more information about Reading Remedy, you can check out their webpage at http://www.reading-remedy.com.
One Proud Momma Bear
READING REMEDY , LLC
803 HOLCOMB BOULVEVARD, OCEAN SPRINGS, MS 39564
228-324-5767 WWW.READING-REMEDY.COM
803 HOLCOMB BOULVEVARD, OCEAN SPRINGS, MS 39564
228-324-5767 WWW.READING-REMEDY.COM
