Read Me Home Consultation
Supporting the parent as the child’s first and best teacher of literacy (reading, writing and understanding)
So you’re teaching your child(ren) at home. Good for you! Research has told us for a long time now that parents are their child’s first and best teacher. That is due in part to the trusting relationship you and your child have as well as the fact that no teacher can know your child and his/her preferences as well as you, his/her parent.
Communication is an integral part of life. If you can envision Communication as a wheel, reading is one of the spokes of that wheel. Illiterate persons miss that whole component of communication. They also positively do not have the quality of life that literate persons have available to them. In an educational environment, children who are not proficient readers will not excel in any subject; band, physical education and art even require reading to fully experience these disciplines.
Reading instruction is best completed within a program of literacy instruction which includes being immersed in opportunities to read, write, be read to, play with language, receive direct instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics instruction, and participate in genuine conversations about what has been read, heard, or written. When done in this type of plan, literacy instruction is such fun for the student and teacher, in this case, the child and parent!
How do you begin? Which books should you use? What pieces should be direct instruction and which pieces should be more experimental or experiential? Those are not such easy answers and if you don’t have the instructional targets for your child, you risk wasting much of yours and their time and effort. That’s where I can help.
As a teacher of elementary-university masters level students, a reading specialist, a school principal and a mother of children who experienced varied experiences with literacy acquisition, I am able to perform some assessments on your child and present to you a report not only on where they are now in their literacy development, but also am able to give you detailed directions on what you need to provide for them for literacy acceleration in layman’s terms. I am also available following the initial evaluation, report and directions for phone, skype, or other electronic communication conferences.
The initial evaluation can be done in one sitting of approximately 2 hours, or can be split into several sessions. I use a variety of research-based evaluations that are non-threatening for a student and of which most students report are “kind of fun.” While it is always nice if I can personally meet with the student, it is not required. Again, electronic communication or even the telephone can be used. In cases where I am not able to be with the child physically, I would send a small packet to your home that your child would use while we worked together. If I feel that I am not able to gather all information electronically, there are times, when I ask you to mail me or e-mail me your child’s response.
Read Me Home Evaluation includes:
Evaluation Materials
Evaluation Time
Assessment Report
Directions for Child’s Literacy Acceleration
One Hour Follow up with Parent via phone, e-mail, skype
Price: $139.00 20% discount for each additional child
Read Me Home Consultant: Dr. Deborah Nuzzi
Phone (269) 535-7163
Fax (269) 649-1738
