Reading specialist? (Public school)

[akafred]

What is a "reading specialist" in public schools, vs an OG tutor etc? A woman in my 'hood is offering tutoring this summer at. $60/hour which is about half of OG tutoring. I haven't asked her if she uses OG or what method she uses. I know she is the "reading specialist" at the nearby high performing county schools, but normally teaches middle school.

[funchicken]

I live in a high performing district in VA, and the reading specialists at our school take additional coursework beyond a Master's degree to become Reading Specialists. One of my friends just completed a Master's in Special Education and was just accepted into a program to become a Reading Specialist that will take an additional year. Have you checked out her bio on the public school website to see what her credentials are? I'm sure they have different areas of specialization.

[akafred]

Good idea, thanks. All her NextDoor info says is "I received my M. Ed. and reading specialist certification, grades K-12." Also she went to school in VA. So it does sound like she has more than a masters. And she has taught grades 1-7. Does not sound like a specific spec ed teacher... I'll see what the school bio says. ETA not much info except Teacher of the Year last year.

[funchicken]

I think it's worth reaching out to her and getting more information

[auntie]

I live in a top performing district in PA.

Reading specialist is a certification. Admission to most state programs requires a BA/BS and a state teachers certification. There are typically 24 credits taken which might overlap with a Masters in Education/Special education. DS's resource teacher for 4th-6th was a Reading Specialist- she was certified to recognize reading related disabilities and teach literacy skills using a range of strategies.

She was no where near as well trained as DS's Orton trained teachers- great teacher but DS was reading on grade level by the time they met. The woman who he had for 3rd had a Masters Degree in Orton. One of his teachers in 2nd had a degree in phonics; she was about 90.

[auntie]

ETA: Not all Orton is created equal. You want someone who did the full course not a 6 week one.

[akafred]

I'm thinking it might be worthwhile at least having a less formal eval of DD since there has been no consensus on whether she may have dyslexia or not. The one who did a psychoeducational eval in fall 2nd grade said she didn't see signs but it was early, I think there are signs, a neuropsych who never met DD but reviewed the prior eval said he would be concerned with what I told him, DD's teacher who was a SpEd teacher before becoming a Montessori teacher said she was not concerned until recently and now she is saying it's possible. So we're all over the board on that.

[akafred]

Also one of my concerns about OG (or any tutoring) is how well DD will respond, how well she will cooperate. This would help answer that question at least.

[akafred]

Ok I got a little more info, but not much. She would be using a framework called Book Buddies, which was developed at the University of Virginia. Google wasn't helpful because those words Book Buddies are also used by animal shelters around the country for kids to read to shelter cats. But I did find this article: curry.virginia.edu/news/book-buddies-together-tutors-and-students-grow

It talks about using a buddy system with a child tutoring another child. Not sure what that looks like in 1:1 tutoring with a teacher.

So I guess the question is, would this kind of not-OG-or-LMB tutoring at a lower cost be worth pursuing, or should I work with her myself over the summer, in either case pursuing OG in the fall if necessary? I'm thinking B...but not sure.

[funchicken]

Hmm, weird. They do book buddies at our school. Last year when DD1 was in third she had a first grade buddy that she read with every week. Does she tutor multiple kids at a time? I don't see how that works 1:1 with an adult either.

[auntie]

Meh.

Not a fan. Almost all indie schools and many quality public schools offer some variation on this theme. At DS's indie day school, all kindie kids were assigned a 4th grade buddy. Most of these pairs stayed together for 4 years during which they met to do reading and projects together. At the public school, high school kids from FTA came and worked with kids in much the same way. I did this myself during lunch in the olden days.

This sort of program can be useful for young students who don't have an enriched homelife with an adult who reads to them daily or takes them into the community for to explore new things. But that's not any kid here.

My issues with this-

A kid with LD issues needs the most qualified individual in the room working with them. There is no way a kid with 2 hours of training under their belt is an appropriate substitute for a highly qualified educator. The program can be stigmatizing when the student tutor is close in age to the one who needs help.

That's not to say emerging readers w/ and w/o LD can't benefit from practice with a friendly ear, but to be honest some studies show really good outcomes with therapy dogs.

When there's a glitch in reading you need to know exactly what is going sideways, so you can target the intervention toward that deficit precisely using the strengths the student does have.

Sometimes the issue is just immaturity and the student will catch up given time. Other times the issue is a mismatch between curriculum and learning style/strengths and a multisensory approach is needed.

DS has been exposed to a number to programs for dyslexic students- Orton Gillingham was most beneficial for him. His LD school also used some bits from Slingerland and Wilson for spelling. His public elementary used Wilson as well. He did a year of Reading 180, which is computer based, in high school. His reading scores were already slightly above grade level for fiction and college level for non-fiction so he really didn't improve that piece, but it really turned his writing around.

[waverly]

I don't have a lot of experience in this. My nephew I suspect is dyslexic, but never had formal testing. My sister did get him a reading tutor through a tutoring center and took him there weekly or twice a week, for several months and it did not help him at all. I think if he had some other kind of reading issue perhaps it might have, but with his suspected but not confirmed dyslexia- it had no impact on him.

It wasn't super expensive but it was somewhere in the $200-$300 range. I don't think it hurt except the money part, but it didn't improve him at all. I just wonder if more information is needed in his case to see where the actual problem is and then address it more specifically.  I advised her to write the school district, but she never did.  And sometimes I wonder if the school district does a good job with diagnosing this anyway...

[akafred]

I don't know how Book Buddies would even work outside a classroom. Even if she did use other kids she tutors, by definition they would all be struggling readers. I think I would be better off to do some targeted phonemic work with her over the summer and then see if an OG tutor is needed.