What reading tutoring can help with
Reading is several skills working together, and a child can be strong in one and stuck in another. Depending on where your child is, tutoring can focus on:
- Sounding out words (decoding): connecting letters and letter patterns to the sounds they make, so an unfamiliar word can be worked out rather than guessed.
- Sight words: recognizing common words quickly.
- Fluency: reading accurately and smoothly enough that there is energy left for meaning.
- Vocabulary: learning new words and keeping them.
- Comprehension: explaining the main idea, following the order of events and finding evidence in a text.
- Spelling and written answers: spelling patterns and putting ideas about a text into words.
Start by finding where reading gets hard
“Reading is hard” can mean very different things, so we begin by asking what you notice. A recent assignment often tells us more than a grade. Think about:
- What happens when your child meets an unfamiliar word? Do they guess from the first letter or a picture?
- When they read aloud, do frequent stops make it hard to follow the meaning?
- Can they tell you what a passage was about after reading it?
- In schoolwork, is the hard part reading the directions, understanding the passage or writing the answer?
Tell us what your child enjoys, too. Books and topics tied to their interests can make reading practice easier to start and easier to keep going.
How our teachers approach reading and dyslexia
All of our tutors are certified in special education. We don’t put every child through the same curriculum. Instead, the teacher uses the first sessions to find out which skills are secure, where reading breaks down and how your child responds to teaching. That work shapes a written starting plan that we review with you.
Depending on the plan, sessions may include:
- explicit, step-by-step teaching of how letters and sounds connect, building skills in order rather than relying on guessing;
- practice with a pattern until reading it takes less effort, so attention can move to meaning;
- multisensory practice, such as saying sounds aloud while tapping them out or writing them;
- visual aids and short, clear steps that keep a session from becoming overwhelming;
- comprehension work, such as asking questions about what was read and summarizing it in their own words.
Confidence is part of the work. The teacher builds on what your child can already do and notices each step forward, so reading feels more manageable. Our goal is a reader who can use these skills on their own, not just get through tonight’s assignment.
If your child has dyslexia
Dyslexia is a learning difference that makes connecting the sounds in words to written letters effortful. Many people with dyslexia are highly capable learners. Parents often notice slow, effortful reading, inconsistent spelling or difficulty sounding out unfamiliar words, sometimes alongside strong understanding when a text is read aloud.
Tell us what has been tried and what helped. If you want a named method such as Orton-Gillingham, ask in the consultation. Certification in special education and training in a particular reading program are different things. Method training varies by teacher, so we confirm it for the teacher who would work with your child before tutoring starts. Good questions to ask:
- What experience do you have teaching students with dyslexia at my child’s stage of reading?
- How will you find a starting skill and organize teaching from there?
- How will you check that my child can use a practiced skill on new words or new text?
- How will you tell me what is improving and what needs to change?
Georgia’s dyslexia law and reading screening
Georgia’s dyslexia law is the Georgia Early Literacy and Dyslexia Act (O.C.G.A. § 20-2-153.1), from HB 307 (2025); HB 1193 (2026) adopted the International Dyslexia Association’s definition of dyslexia. The Georgia Department of Education’s (GaDOE’s) literacy policy guide (July 2026) says, “Georgia law requires universal reading screening three times each year for all students in kindergarten through third grade.”
A screening or an outside diagnosis is not the same as special education eligibility. GaDOE’s Dyslexia Informational Handbook (July 1, 2026) says an outside diagnosis “does not mean the school district must automatically identify the student as a student with a disability,” and that when special education is needed, “dyslexia is categorized as a Specific Learning Disability (SLD).” Our Georgia IEP help page explains the evaluation timeline and how eligibility is decided.
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 reading goals and the accommodations that helped are useful to share. You can 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 weighing the Georgia Promise Scholarship, the law’s wording matters. 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. For your child’s situation, ask your school district, a Georgia Parent Mentor or Parent to Parent of Georgia.
What we don’t do
We provide academic tutoring only. We don’t diagnose dyslexia or evaluate children, and we don’t provide speech-language therapy or other therapies. If you are looking for an evaluation, Georgia’s Child Find rule requires each school district to identify, locate and evaluate “all suspected children with disabilities,” including children attending private schools and “Children who reside in the LEA and are enrolled in home school/study programs.”
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 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.