Award-Winning Tutors in Tampa, FL for Students with Reading Intervention

Varsity Tutors understands that watching your student struggle with reading and writing can take an emotional toll, and we'd be glad to have the chance to set you up with a Tampa reading intervention tutor. Reading is crucial to just about every subject in school, from completing social studies homework to solving word problems in math class, so it's best that your child becomes a capable reader early on. No matter where your student is in their academic journey, a reading intervention tutor can help them catch up to their peers and improve their skills in school.

What skills can a Tampa reading intervention tutor near me help my student develop?

Reading consists of six fundamental skills: phoneme awareness, phonics, fluency, spelling, vocabulary, and comprehension. Although these abilities are distinct, they are interwoven, so a deficiency in one of these basic skills can undermine your student's attempts to learn more advanced reading concepts.

Phoneme awareness describes an understanding of how speech can be broken up into individual sounds, and how these sounds can be shifted and rearranged to alter the meanings of words or form new words. Phonics applies this idea to written language. When children "sound out" a word that they haven't seen before, they're using phonics. These skills are crucial to literacy, and while they may seem easy to adults who are competent readers, phonics can be tough to learn for the first time, especially for children who have difficulty with auditory learning. Tampa reading intervention tutors can employ a variety of methods to make these concepts more accessible to your child, like pictorial word games and illustrated flashcards that can appeal to visual learners.

Fluency is the ability to read a passage as smoothly and naturally as if it were spoken language. Students who have begun to become fluent readers can understand passages and sentences as whole articles of thought, rather than having to decode each word in those texts one at a time. A Tampa reading intervention tutor can help your student build their fluency by using passages about topics that they're interested in, so they can form a connection with reading.

Spelling and vocabulary are somewhat similar, in that they both should be taught through a mix of direct and indirect instruction. Direct instruction is the kind of formal education delivered by teachers and tutors, where the meanings of words and how they are spelled are communicated to students overtly. Indirect instruction occurs all the time - whenever a child sees a new word in a storybook or on a storefront and recalls another time they saw the same word elsewhere, they are engaging with indirect instruction.

Comprehension requires all of these elements to come together. When a student can read a text fluently, understand all the words, and come to a complete, complex understanding of the subject of the passage, they have reached comprehension. When students are older, this begins to expand beyond just understanding and includes the ability to identify central arguments, take note of the voice and tone of the author, and so on.

What are the advantages of Tampa reading intervention tutoring?

One-on-one instruction allows tutors to place your student's needs at the center of their lesson plan. Classroom instruction necessitates certain compromises: teachers have to stick to a strict classroom schedule and must use a generalized teaching method that doesn't always meet the needs of every individual student. Tampa reading intervention tutors don't have this limitation. Your child can study at a pace that works for them, continuing to work on each reading concept that they're struggling with until they've fully grasped the material, rather than being forced to move on before they're ready to.

Working closely with an empathetic professional who understands their struggles can help your student open up about their difficulties with reading and become more capable of addressing them. When students are reading below grade level, they're often well-aware that they lag behind their peers. This can become a source of anxiety, frustration, and shame that can cause them to develop negative attitudes about school and avoid reading entirely. Tutors can create a space where your student feels comfortable addressing their fears and can take the kinds of risks and make the kinds of mistakes that are required when learning a new skill.

How can I get connected with a Tampa reading intervention tutor near me?

Tampa reading intervention tutoring is available both online and in person. Online instruction is facilitated by our Live Learning Platform, which includes video chat software that allows your child to meet with their instructor face-to-face. As long as they have a computer or mobile device, they can study wherever they have access to the internet, whether that's a favorite cafe, a library like the Jimmie B. Keel Regional Library, or your own home.

The Live Learning Platform includes a variety of built-in learning tools, too. Students can take advantage of automatically recorded lessons that allow them to return to previous topics if they're having trouble absorbing a concept and need to review their tutor's instructions.There's also a virtual whiteboard, a shared document editor, and practice problems.

Call Varsity Tutors and we'll be happy to give you more information about Tampa reading intervention tutoring so you can make an informed decision about your child's education. We can discuss your scheduling needs and put you in touch with a highly-qualified tutor who's available at a time that works for you. An aptitude for the written word can positively impact your student's life for many years to come, so make an investment in their future today.