From School Refusal to Academic Success Story with Commonwealth Learning Center

Jane*, a 4^th grade student with dyslexia in Needham, MA, had been struggling to read at grade level for two years. She did not possess any word attack strategies to assist in reading unfamiliar words. Her school performance was negatively impacted, as she could not keep pace with the curriculum, and her grades were adversely affected. As a result, Jane was experiencing refusal to attend school. Jane’s parents confided in a friend that they were grappling with how to help her, and unhappy with the progress she was making with in-school services. They feared the gap in her skills would widen. The friend recommended they reach out to Commonwealth Learning Center. Jane’s parents scheduled a free consultation and, shortly thereafter, enrolled her for services.

Personalized Dyslexia Intervention with Orton-Gillingham Tutoring

After reviewing Jane’s school records, testing, and IEP, Director Beth Dinelli, M.Ed. determined that an appropriate starting point to remediate her literacy challenges would be two sessions of 1-to-1 tutoring per week using the Orton-Gillingham approach. Beth matched Jane with an experienced and certified tutor suited to her needs. During her first session, Jane’s tutor administered an informal phonics screener to determine the gaps in her knowledge. The teacher then created an individualized scope and sequence of instruction to target Jane’s areas of need and implemented a diagnostic and prescriptive approach to her lesson planning to achieve optimal progress. Jane saw the same teacher each time she attended tutoring, giving them the opportunity to develop a rapport and for her tutor to gain a deep understanding of Jane’s performance and pinpoint areas that needed continual review.

Building Reading Skills and Confidence Through Structured Literacy

Jane responded well to the Orton-Gillingham approach and ultimately internalized concepts to the point of automaticity. When she began receiving tutoring, 4^th grader Jane was reading at a second-grade level. After a year and a half of individualized 1-to-1 instruction at Commonwealth Learning Center she was reading on grade level. With this amount of progress, Jane was now more confident in her reading skills, wanted to attend school, and was eager to read aloud in class.

Parent Testimonial: Life-Changing Results from Dyslexia Tutoring

The family was thrilled that the center was able to achieve these results for their child and shared:

“Can’t recommend this place highly enough. My daughter was struggling to read even the most basic words. I found Commonwealth Learning Center, and I’m not exaggerating when I say they have changed my daughter’s life. Her tutor is an amazingly wonderful woman who, by using the Orton Gillingham method, has taught my daughter to read fluently! I can’t even begin to describe the difference. My daughter’s classroom teacher has told me that she went from not participating at all during reading (because basically she couldn’t read) to volunteering to read sentences out loud to the class. It brings tears to my eyes to even think about it. Her confidence at school has soared! I cannot thank her wonderful tutor and all the staff at the Commonwealth Learning Center enough for what they do. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!”

About Commonwealth Learning Center: Dyslexia Support and Academic Success

Commonwealth Learning Center is an independent nonprofit organization which specializes in supporting individuals with language-based learning differences. We have been providing in-person academic support to families in Massachusetts for nearly forty years, and now serve virtually nationwide. Learning differently, thinking differently, succeeding.

*An alias has been used for privacy protection.