Reading Tutoring

Excellence in Academics Tutoring knows that reading tutoring is worth its weight in gold; reading is a learned skill, as there is no part of the brain specifically wired for it, unlike the brain’s two areas specifically programmed for speaking. Reading tutoring at Excellence in Academics Tutoring is based on three major components of instruction; a brief description of each follows. Melissa M. Loukas holds a reading endorsement and is trained or currently training in all of the researched and proven methodologies of reading and reading tutoring.

1. Susan Barton’s Reading and Spelling System: Susan Barton’s Reading and Spelling System is a multi-sensory approach to learning the skills of reading and works wonderfully for students that struggle with Dyslexia.
   
   However, because its components include:

• a strong base in phonemic awareness
• the skills of decoding
• reading for fluency
• spelling
• the rules of spelling
  
  the reading tutoring done with the Susan Barton Reading and Spelling System can help any child struggling with the skills of reading. Please visit: www.bartonreading.com and www.brightsolutions.us to learn about this effective reading tutoring program. Excellence in Academics Tutoring has been using the Barton system nearly a year, and Melissa M. Loukas is currently working on becoming a certified Barton tutor.

2. The Spalding Method: This integrative Language Arts approach to learning how to read is nothing short of amazing, as its results are amazing.
   
   Children are taught and tutored in reading by integrating the following methods:

• having absolute mastery in learning the sounds and the rules of the 70 phonograms of the English language
• writing – both in manuscript and cursive
  
• vocabulary instruction
  
• practice in reading and spelling instruction
  
• practice in reading comprehension
  
• practice in identifying text structures
  
• practice in identifying the mental actions that are connected to reading instruction
  
• grammar instruction
  
• writing instruction
  
  Please visit www.spalding.org to learn more about the Spalding method. Melissa M. Loukas holds a Spalding certificate, and she is working on becoming a certified Spalding tutor.
  

3. The Excellence in Academics Tutoring Reading Method: Melissa M. Loukas combines the approaches she learns and uses and combines them with her skills as an English and reading teacher. Excellence in Academics Tutoring’s strengths lie in concretely teaching students how to break down text by using strategies to learn unfamiliar vocabulary and by using techniques that break down what the text is really saying. It is a “translation” of sorts done by the students who then practice the techniques so often that it becomes a part of their academic repertoire. The most successful thing about EAT’s approach is that it can be used for any type of reading. Please visit www.readingtutorblog.blogspot.com to read more on reading tips.