Academic Tutoring with an Orton-Gillingham Approach

Welcome to Literacy Illuminated, where we are dedicated to providing high-impact tutoring services, tailored to the individual needs of Elementary, Middle, and High-School students. We are deeply committed to delivering filling in any areas of weakness, using current, evidence-based instruction. Our methods are grounded in decades of brain research, and the Science of Reading. A gradual release model is used— our students strengthen their abilities with practice, and over time. Our goal is for each student to internalize and apply the skills and strategies taught.

Evaluation:

At Literacy Illuminated, we believe in the power of understanding each student's unique interests, personality, strengths, and needs. That's why we start with relationship-building and assessment. We are continually progress-monitoring our students, as they develop.

Our literacy assessments encompass a range of crucial prereading and reading skills. We delve into phonological* and phonemic awareness, alphabet recognition and fluency, knowledge of letter sounds, sound groupings, spelling of phonetic and nonphonetic words, reading comprehension, and all aspects of writing. We serve as a guide on the side— guiding students through each step of the cyclical writing process.

We work to provide frequent feedback to our students and their parents; we value your input as well. We recognize that parents know their child(ren) better than anyone else. Initially, families participate in an individual intake interview to provide essential insights about the child(ren) and their goals. Utilizing parent input, alongside the data gathered from our own assessments, progress reports, Individualized Education Plan (IEP) documents, and information shared by the child’s school/teacher, our expert team crafts suggested instructional learning goals in our work with each student. We design learning goals with the outcome(s) that we seek at the forefront of our work. Our team remains flexible, updating objectives and strategies, to ensure continued growth and success.

Academic Advocacy and Coaching:

We are dedicated to ensuring that every student receives the support(s) needed in order to thrive. We offer comprehensive assistance in drafting school-based Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). This process can also include reviewing and offering suggestions to existing IEP and 504 plans, using the child’s neuropsychological report, our assessments, and teacher and parent input. As educators ourselves, we offer doable, easy-to-implement suggestions to parents, teacher, counselors, schools, and in cooperation with other providers. We provide recommendations for less formal supports, if it would benefit the student.

Parents may choose to schedule individual parent education sessions with Jen. During education sessions, parents learn more about Orton-Gillingham methodology, Phonics First and Structures. It provides a separate time for questions and conversation.

We are committed to using our voice to advocate for the students we serve (who may not be able to advocate for themselves), teaching the student how to self-advocate once supports are in place, and ensuring that they receive the appropriate scaffolds and services for growth and success. “A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader; a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves.” -Eleanor Roosevelt

Community:

Our team of educators and specialists recognize that navigating the journey of raising a neurodivergent child might feel isolating. Despite dyslexia impacting 1 in 5 learners, the experience can present unique challenges for families. We understand how widespread neurodiversity is; we value neurodiversity and celebrate it. Just as each of our bodies is different, we all think differently.

That's why we're dedicated to more than just academic support—we're committed to fostering a sense of community and connection. If interested, we can connect you with valuable educational resources, parent groups, and like-minded community members. Our aim is to provide a supportive network able to embrace, elevate, and celebrate each individual’s academic journey.

Our team takes great pride in witnessing students not only develop new capabilities, but also experience a profound increase in self-confidence. One child at a time, we aim to provide explicit literacy instruction for students. Our Northern Virginia office will be open for service on Tuesday, April 23rd.

*Phonological Awareness is the awareness that spoken language can be broken into smaller units. It includes the ability to identify and manipulate various units of sound in speech, including syllables, onsets, and rimes. Phonemic awareness is a subset of phonological awareness. Phonemic awareness refers to the ability to hear, identify, locate and manipulate individual sounds in words.