Strategies for Students

Megan Sutton _{on Google}

Aug 18th, 2021

Heather is a miracle worker. My son, grade 1, started the year substantially behind in reading as he has missed half of his kindergarten year due to Covid. I spoke to Heather in August and was very impressed with how clearly she explained her process and identified, based on my explanation of my son's deficits, how she could help. When they first started in September, he HATED to read. He had an absolute meltdown when we attempted to work with him at home and perceived reading as a burdensome chore. Working with Heather changed his entire perspective. Now he loves to read! Throughout this process, I’ve seen how patiently Heather navigates and gently pushes Roderick to stay on task while still giving him the freedom to “be a kid”. They have a magical relationship—a perfect balance of fun and progress. My son is an exceptional reader now due to her efforts. We bought him a kindle and he reads every day (and night) without prompting in order to collect his “kindle awards”. I highly and enthusiastically recommend Heather. It was the best decision we have made!

Kristine Vallila _{on Google}

Jul 25th, 2021

Mrs. Medeiros was invaluable to me, as a mother learning how to help support my son. We suspected that he might have a non-verbal learning disability coming out of Kindergarten and Mrs. Medeiros worked with him to determine his reading level, and then also gave me insights as to what reading/learning behavior was developmental and likely to be just a case of maturity vs. something that might be notable for a particular profile. Over time, as we put together some clues, a profile emerged and we decided to do a formal neuropsychological test and our son was identified as dyslexic. I have been complimented for catching his dyslexia so early, at age seven, as it is generally detected in third grade. The magical element was Mrs. Medeiros who taught my son, coached him in a firm and loving way, and shared all of her insights with me so that I could see the profile emerge. I now had the view of an expert to compliment my mother's instinct. We are continuing on with Mrs. Medeiros because my husband and I value her insights so much. It is wonderful to have someone outside of our own school system explaining to us the learning patterns. Mrs. Medeiros is a wonderful guide for the child but also the parents. As a business person, I know my skills and weaknesses and wanted to get the best support from an expert for my son with reading and writing. Mrs. Medeiros stood heads above other tutors I interviewed because of her experience as a special education teacher for 18 years in a great MA district. She understood the supports that are available to children thanks to her education and applied experience and also that many MA school districts teach far above state standards. In working with Mrs. Medeiros I found exactly what I was looking for: someone who could do a much better job than I could do, who was an expert in her field, and who communicated very clearly to me so that I understood my son's progress and the school benchmarks.