Flora H

How I teach students with Specific Learning Difficulties

My tutoring sessions begin with an in-depth assessment your child’s area of difficulty to ensure I meet them where they are at academically and emotionally and not where they ‘should be’. If your child has an Educational Psychologist or Specialist Teacher report, I am able to unpick and action the strategies and teaching methods from these documents. A parent questionnaire is provided in order to inform me of any family history of specific learning difficulties or medical history which may impact my planning. From this information, I create SMART targets (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant) which help me track your child’s progress. 

After getting to know your child and their likes and dislikes, I plan the lessons, where possible, around their interests. My lessons are fast paced to maintain motivation and engagement. I highly value the importance of movement to bring fun to the lesson, remove anxiety and relieve cognitive overload. Metacognition (awareness and understanding of one’s own thought processes) activities are included throughout my lessons so your child can begin to have an awareness of the unique ways in which they learn. Material from previous lessons is reviewed each week to ensure their learning is embedded into their long term memory. 

How I teach children with Dyslexia, Dysgraphia or difficulties with Literacy

I have over a decade of experience teaching early reading and writing skills and have a thorough understanding of phonics, spelling patterns and syllabification. My lessons are centred around multi sensory techniques; using all of the senses to learn a particular phoneme or spelling pattern helps students to retain the new information. 

Many students with Dyslexia struggle with Phonological Processing which is a key foundation to reading and writing. I have a thorough understanding of teaching this skill, aurally, through games and exercises. 

The foundation of good handwriting is strong fine motor skills. Children who demonstrate weak fine motor skills invariably struggle with letter formation. To develop this area of weakness, I use a variety of different hand strengthening exercises in my lessons, including therapy putty, threading and cutting. Letter formation is then taught systematically using specific instructions. 

How I teach children with Dyscalculia, Maths Anxiety or difficulties with Numeracy

Maths is a hierarchal subject and learning needs to be reviewed ‘little and often’ to help build a solid foundation of understanding. ‘Over-learning’ is included in each lesson to help your child retain new knowledge and transfer it to their long-term memory. Each lesson will derive from a set of targets, created from a maths assessment, to help fill the gaps of missing concepts. I use a variety of engaging concrete materials including Numicon, Cuisenaire rods, dice, dominoes and magnetic fractions to ensure understanding of the concepts being taught. Once the foundations are secure we will move on to the pictorial representation of the problem and finally the abstract. 

Maths Anxiety is common among children – both with and without maths difficulties. Anxiety can have a detrimental effect on the working memory and feelings of stress can reduce speed and accuracy. I am a compassionate teacher and through lessons which are playful, low stress and produce success, Maths Anxiety can be greatly reduced.

How I help children engage with learning

I am passionate about promoting ‘growth mindset’ in my students; praising their efforts and strategies rather than a correct answer. I foster a safe learning environment where it is alright to make mistakes, learn through trial and error and explore. My lessons are playful, low stress and most importantly produce success!

How I teach students with Specific Learning Difficulties

My tutoring sessions begin with an in-depth assessment your child’s area of difficulty to ensure I meet them where they are at academically and emotionally and not where they ‘should be’. If your child has an Educational Psychologist or Specialist Teacher report, I am able to unpick and action the strategies and teaching methods from these documents. A parent questionnaire is provided in order to inform me of any family history of specific learning difficulties or medical history which may impact my planning. From this information, I create SMART targets (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant) which help me track your child’s progress. 

After getting to know your child and their likes and dislikes, I plan the lessons, where possible, around their interests. My lessons are fast paced to maintain motivation and engagement. I highly value the importance of movement to bring fun to the lesson, remove anxiety and relieve cognitive overload. Metacognition (awareness and understanding of one’s own thought processes) activities are included throughout my lessons so your child can begin to have an awareness of the unique ways in which they learn. Material from previous lessons is reviewed each week to ensure their learning is embedded into their long term memory. 

How I teach children with Dyslexia, Dysgraphia or difficulties with Literacy

I have over a decade of experience teaching early reading and writing skills and have a thorough understanding of phonics, spelling patterns and syllabification. My lessons are centred around multi sensory techniques; using all of the senses to learn a particular phoneme or spelling pattern helps students to retain the new information. 

Many students with Dyslexia struggle with Phonological Processing which is a key foundation to reading and writing. I have a thorough understanding of teaching this skill, aurally, through games and exercises. 

The foundation of good handwriting is strong fine motor skills. Children who demonstrate weak fine motor skills invariably struggle with letter formation. To develop this area of weakness, I use a variety of different hand strengthening exercises in my lessons, including therapy putty, threading and cutting. Letter formation is then taught systematically using specific instructions. 

How I teach children with Dyscalculia, Maths Anxiety or difficulties with Numeracy

Maths is a hierarchal subject and learning needs to be reviewed ‘little and often’ to help build a solid foundation of understanding. ‘Over-learning’ is included in each lesson to help your child retain new knowledge and transfer it to their long-term memory. Each lesson will derive from a set of targets, created from a maths assessment, to help fill the gaps of missing concepts. I use a variety of engaging concrete materials including Numicon, Cuisenaire rods, dice, dominoes and magnetic fractions to ensure understanding of the concepts being taught. Once the foundations are secure we will move on to the pictorial representation of the problem and finally the abstract. 

Maths Anxiety is common among children – both with and without maths difficulties. Anxiety can have a detrimental effect on the working memory and feelings of stress can reduce speed and accuracy. I am a compassionate teacher and through lessons which are playful, low stress and produce success, Maths Anxiety can be greatly reduced.

How I help children engage with learning

I am passionate about promoting ‘growth mindset’ in my students; praising their efforts and strategies rather than a correct answer. I foster a safe learning environment where it is alright to make mistakes, learn through trial and error and explore. My lessons are playful, low stress and most importantly produce success!