Tips For Parents | Tips For The Learner | Information About ADD   Here are some indicators that may suggest your child could benefit from a tutor:   ·             Does your child have continuing trouble with a specific subject? ·             Does your child frequently ask for help with homework because he or she did not                seem to really understand the teacher’s presentation of the assignments ·             Did your child end the last school year with a very low grade in one or more subjects?        ·             Does your child seem overly anxious about school work---or even going to school? ·             Did your child score markedly lower in one subject area compared with others               on a standardized achievement test? Dear Fellow Parent, Few of life's experiences are more challenging than parenting.  It can be especially frustrating when our children are not doing well in school. If you are like me, when your children are not doing well, you will want to know why.  I can help you and your children to answer this question and to improve their academic performance.  Your child's continued progress in school is very important.  Sometimes in the educational process, a student finds it difficult to understand certain concepts or skills.  This hampers his or her ability to progress to higher levels in the subject material.  Academic Tutoring Services is committed to working individually with students in specific areas of need in a one-to-one tutorial setting.  Collaboration with teachers and parents contribute to a greater understanding of the student's need.  This, in turn, leads to more effective instruction.  Identifying a student's strengths and weaknesses, individualizing instruction with practical application, and providing appropriate feedback to guide the learner in acquiring new information, concepts, or skills is very important.  Progress reports will be provided monthly. This is really a quest to discover you or your student’s ‘pathways to understanding.’  Sight and sound are the two primary modes of learning since humans have developed an intricate system of symbols comprising a written and oral language.  Even math is a language of symbols.  Most people have one dominant mode through which the world is perceived and interpreted: 1.     Visual learners process incoming information primarily through the visual system of written language, graphics, images, etc. ; and,  2.     Auditory learners process incoming information primarily through the auditory system of oral language, inflections, sounds, etc. The tactile system usually serves as a secondary system available to enhance one of the above learning modes in most educational settings. What happens if there is a glitch in the primary mode of perception and processing?  That typically means that the learner will have some learning problems unless strategies are developed to compensate for that deficit.  The easiest way to compensate is by tapping into another  functioning mode.  For example, a poor visual short-term memory may be bolstered by using the auditory short-term memory to process incoming information with mental self-talk or recitation aloud. A preferred mode of learning may not be the actual primary mode.  Some learners may have physical impairments (visual or auditory deficits) that push them into using their inferior system.  These hindrances need to be appropriately addressed with glasses, vision therapy, hearing aids, microphones, etc.  It may be of value to specifically identify the individual’s primary mode with tests such as the Test for Perceptual Visual Skills (TVPS) or the Test for Perceptual Auditory Skills (TAPS) and note any glitches in the primary as well as the ancillary mode.  With this information along with tutoring to practice positive strategies, the student will become more aware of his or her own pathways to understanding and become empowered to then work independently and as a fully-contributing member of a class. ATS tutors are looking forward to working with you and your child.                            Sincerely,                                                     Shirley A.R. Johnson, Ph.D.

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