Choosing a Tutor for Your Child - Page 2

Begin with the School

If your child attends a Title I school that has failed to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for a third year, he or she may be eligible for free tutoring according to the provisions of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. Ask school or district administrators if this provision applies to your child. Even if your school isn’t required to provide extra help, if your child has performed poorly on your state’s required reading or math tests, ask about free or low-cost tutoring. Parent involvement is central to NCLB, so feel free to check this out!

Find out how your child’s school handles requests for tutors. Some schools and districts have lists of tutors, including areas of specialization, background, and so forth. However, be sure to inquire about whether the tutors on the list have been interviewed or screened. Some schools and districts compile lists based solely on a tutor’s application. You will want references and personal contact before you hire any potential tutor, but particularly with someone who hasn’t previously been screened. Your school may also recommend a particular tutoring agency. Many schools also offer after-school homework help from teachers and aides.

Some schools — particularly private schools and schools focused on educating children with LD — have their own tutoring program. Such schools, at a teacher’s request, may suggest that your child be tutored. After your consent, they will place your child with the tutor best qualified to help. Schools with their own programs usually provide tutoring during a child’s free periods or before or after school. They often have in place a required or suggested communication path between tutor and teacher and between tutor and parent.

You may feel you need more regular communication with your child’s tutor than the school provides. You may also want to meet your child’s tutor and perhaps observe a session. These are legitimate requests. Discuss them with relevant staff members: the coordinator of tutoring, your child’s teacher, perhaps the principal or other administrator. Schools with their own tutoring programs usually can accommodate special requests from parents.

Choosing a Tutor Yourself

The best way to find a good tutor yourself is to get recommendations from other parents. Ask them how they found the tutor, how well the tutor interacted with their child, how successful the tutor was in helping the child, and so forth. It’s also good to seek referrals from teachers and other school professionals who know your child.
Check around your area for libraries and community centers that offer tutoring. Use the Internet to find private tutoring agencies near you. Look for websites that offer tutor directories.
Finding a tutor for your child with learning disabilities may require some effort. Talk with a potential tutor about your child’s learning challenges. Offer your own observations about how your child learns best. See if the tutor has worked with children with similar challenges. Ask the tutor about his or her approaches when beginning to work with a child. How does the tutor get to know the child? How does the tutor get familiar with a child’s particular issues? What kind of contact does the tutor generally have with a child’s teachers? How does the tutor encourage children and help them feel good about themselves and their work? Does the tutor seem to have a sense of humor?
After you’ve found a promising tutor, you may find it useful to share all or part of your child’s psychoeducational test results. If your child hasn’t been tested, or if you’re uncomfortable sharing test results, you can still talk with the tutor about your child’s learning issues. As a parent, your knowledge of your child is deeper than anyone else’s. Make sure the tutor knows what’s important.

Include Your Child’s Teacher

Even if the idea to seek out tutoring support is yours, be sure to talk with the teacher about your child’s needs. Discuss the assignments and skills that should have priority during the sessions. Ask the teacher to collaborate with the tutor and to communicate regularly with you. See if there are any books or materials that the teacher can give you for the tutor to use.

Feel free to ask the teacher to supply the tutor with examples of your child’s work or tests. This is an excellent way for the tutor to get a handle on your child’s difficulties. It’s also extremely helpful for the tutor and teacher to communicate about your child’s strengths and weaknesses. The tutor needs to understand the teacher’s expectations — as do you and your child. Keep the tutor posted on any feedback you get from teachers about your child’s work.

It’s extremely helpful if your child and the tutor, in conversations with you and your child’s teacher, set several achievable, short-term goals. For example: keeping a planner up to date, setting and meeting interim goals for a bigger project, annotating or taking notes about a book, or proofreading a paper before it is handed in.

Include Your Child

As with any other change you want to make in your child’s life, getting his or her buy-in is crucial. Your child may not be thrilled by the idea of working with a tutor, but the process will be much easier if you discuss it in advance. Explain your reasons (and a teacher’s reasons) for thinking your child would benefit from tutoring. Discuss the purpose of tutoring and the ways you would expect a tutor to help your child.
If you are hiring a tutor yourself, be sure to allow your child and the prospective tutor to meet and talk together during the interview. Involve your child in the selection process. See how your child and the tutor interact when they first meet. Does this seem like a person who will work well with your child?

It’s crucial for your child and the tutor to develop a productive, mutually respectful relationship. Such a relationship takes time, but the essential chemistry between child and tutor needs to be right.