Start with the child you know
You may be looking for help with reading or math, a way to build on progress your child has already made, or support that makes schoolwork easier to approach. We begin by listening to what you see: what your child enjoys, what they can do on their own and where they need help.
A diagnosis alone doesn’t tell us which skill to teach first or how to introduce it. Your child might understand a topic but find the directions hard, or read words accurately while needing support with meaning. Those are different starting points, and the plan should reflect the one that fits your child.
What academic tutoring can help with
- Reading: from sounding out words to understanding a passage, including directions or questions whose meaning is implied rather than stated. See reading tutoring.
- Writing: breaking a writing task into clear, repeatable steps so it is less overwhelming.
- Math: making abstract ideas concrete and keeping track of the steps in a problem. See math tutoring.
- Taking part in learning tasks: starting a task, following directions and showing what they know, including the prompts that help today. See executive function tutoring.
How our teachers approach autism tutoring
All of our tutors are certified in special education. The teacher uses the first sessions to get to know your child: how they communicate, what they enjoy, how they respond to a challenge and which skills are secure. That work shapes a written starting plan that we review with you. Depending on the plan, the teacher may:
- build on interests: using a topic your child loves as the way into reading, writing or math;
- make the abstract concrete: using visual supports and turning a vague instruction into clear, ordered steps;
- break tasks into small, sequential steps: working through a skill one part at a time;
- keep a predictable rhythm: so your child knows what is coming in each session;
- leave room to self-regulate: standing, fidgeting, looking away or taking a short break is treated as a need, not something to correct;
- work with how your child communicates: spoken answers, pointing, writing, visual supports or an AAC device (a communication device or app).
Example (for illustration): a child who loves trains might practice fractions with a train timetable or write a short piece about a favorite route. The interest is the doorway; the academic skill is the goal.
While every plan is individual, a session often has a familiar shape: a predictable start with a quick preview of what is coming, a warm-up on something your child enjoys, focused work on the target skill in short, clear steps, breaks as needed, and a close that recaps what your child accomplished.
Make the online-fit conversation specific
Sessions are live, one-to-one and online, so your child works from a familiar place at home. Online tutoring doesn’t suit every child, and we won’t assume it suits yours. In the consultation, tell us about your child’s experience with screens and conversation, how they show they need a pause, and anything that makes moving between tasks hard. We’ll also talk about any adult help your child may need to get started; your teacher will help you get set up on Zoom during your first session.
Using your child’s IEP or 504 goals
If your child has an IEP (individualized education program) or a 504 plan, now or from a previous school, its academic goals and the supports that helped, such as visual schedules or extra processing time, are useful to share. Describe them in your own words; you don’t need to send records to book a consultation. The teacher uses that information, along with your observations and the first sessions, to shape academic goals for tutoring. A tutoring plan is not an IEP, and it doesn’t replace school services.
If you are considering the Georgia Promise Scholarship, read how the law describes the effect on special education services. Promise students cannot be enrolled in a public school, even part-time, except in an approved college and career academy, and Georgia law (O.C.G.A. § 20-2B-22(e)) says a participating student’s “resident school system shall not be obligated to provide services to such student that would be required if such student were enrolled in such school system unless the student reenrolls in the resident school system.” Our guide to Georgia Promise and your child’s IEP explains more, and your school district, a Georgia Parent Mentor or Parent to Parent of Georgia can answer questions about your child.
Tutoring is not ABA, speech or occupational therapy
Our service is academic tutoring. We don’t provide ABA (applied behavior analysis), speech-language therapy, occupational therapy or other therapies, and we don’t diagnose or evaluate children. Those are clinical services from licensed or certified providers. Tutoring and therapy serve different purposes, and some families use both.
The Georgia Promise Scholarship draws the same line. The program regulations list tutoring by “an educator certified by the Georgia Professional Standards Commission” separately from “Services from a physician or therapist licensed pursuant to Chapter 10A, 28, 33, 34, or 44 of Title 43 of the Official Code of Georgia, including, but not limited to, for occupational, behavioral, physical, or speech-language therapies.” The Odyssey Marketplace likewise lists therapy categories (“Occupational Therapy,” “Behavioral Therapy,” “Physical Therapy” and “Speech Therapy”) separately from subject tutoring categories. Our service is tutoring.
Paying with the Georgia Promise Scholarship
Special Ed Resource is an approved provider in the Georgia Promise Scholarship Odyssey Marketplace, with approved tutoring offerings there. We are not the Georgia Education Savings Authority, Odyssey or the State of Georgia. Promise pays for tutoring by subject, so Promise-paid sessions are bought as one of our approved subject-tutoring offerings in the Marketplace and shaped around how your child learns. We’ll tell you in the consultation whether our current offerings fit your child.
Promise pays only for tutoring provided by an educator certified by the Georgia Professional Standards Commission, and each Marketplace offering names its tutor, so if you plan to pay with Promise, we’ll tell you in the consultation which teacher would work with your child. Families pay through the Marketplace; Promise does not reimburse families for tutoring they paid for themselves. Families can also pay privately. Our guide to paying for tutoring with Georgia Promise explains the Marketplace, and our tutoring overview covers the other subjects we teach.
Program status: In August 2026, families filed a lawsuit in DeKalb County Superior Court (Sands v. Green) challenging the rule that students must first attend public school, according to the families’ lawyers and news reports. As of October 2, 2026, we have found no report of a ruling, and the program is operating for the 2026-27 school year. Read about the court case.