A Common Struggle

Do you have a child or student who struggles with reading and spelling? Do they have difficulty keeping up with their peers in reading despite extra effort and many varied attempts to help them improve?

Could it be dyslexia? Dyslexia is the most common cause of struggles in reading, yet it is widely misunderstood and effective help can be very difficult to find. When a family from River Oaks went through this struggle, we realized the depth of the need that exists and how little support there is. So we began training tutors to offer help using the same proven system that finally made a difference for that family. We’d love to help make that difference for you.

One of our tutors (Joel) with a student

Learn about Dyslexia

Dyslexia is a difference in how people learn and process information. You cannot change how a dyslexic person processes information to make them fit into the box of traditional education. The solution is to understand what makes it hard for them to learn reading as it is usually taught and start teaching them differently, using a system designed with them specifically in mind.

Those with dyslexia can physically change their brain and improve their reading. With an intensive multisensory intervention that breaks the language down and teaches the reader to decode based on syllable types and spelling rules, the brains of those with dyslexia begin using the left hemisphere more efficiently while reading, and their reading improves. The intervention works because it locates dyslexia appropriately, as a functional variation within the brain.

Kelli Sandman-Hurley

Is it Dyslexia?

  • What are some warning signs of dyslexia? You can find a list of classic warning signs of dyslexia by age at this website, they include things like slow, non-automatic hand-writing that is difficult to read; slow, choppy, inaccurate reading (with guessing based on shape or context of words, skips or misreads prepositions, ignores suffixes, can’t sound out unknown words, etc.); terrible spelling; often can’t remember sight words or homonyms, etc.
  • How can I get my child assessed to see if he/she has dyslexia? To make an official diagnosis of dyslexia takes a team of several highly trained specialists. You can request for your child to be tested if they are in the public school system, but it can often be a struggle. Although we are not equipped to provide an official diagnosis of this kind, one of our team members has been trained to give a comprehensive screening using various assessment tools to determine if students fit the dyslexia profile. After this screening you will know with confidence whether or not dyslexia is the most likely cause of your child’s reading struggles.
  • If I’m not sure my child or student has dyslexia, can they still use this program? Yes! If someone has dyslexia, the system we use is one of the few programs that will actually help them; but those without dyslexia will also find it extremely helpful. In fact, even the tutors often find themselves understanding our language in new and unexpected ways. The only requirements to use the Barton System are:
    • Speak and comprehend spoken English at the second-grade level or better
    • IQ above 70
    • Pass the 10-minute Barton Student Screening, which we can help give them

How our Tutoring Works

Our curriculum

The Barton System, which we use for tutoring, is designed as a one-on-one tutoring curriculum specifically geared to help people with dyslexia improve their reading and spelling. For the system to be as effective as possible, tutoring needs to be at least twice a week for an hour at a time (or three times a week for 40 minutes for children with a shorter attention span). We have classrooms at the church which we use for tutoring and several tutors so that we can accommodate most schedules.

A 1-hour tutoring session costs $50, and a minimum of two sessions per week is necessary for the material to stay fresh from session to session and gain the desired momentum. If a student has trouble focusing for an entire hour (younger children or students with ADHD for example), three 40-minute sessions per week can also work and the cost is reduced to $35 per session.

The fee helps offset the cost of the tutoring materials including the right to use and reproduce those materials, assistive technology including iPads and the Barton Tiles App, the training of our tutors in the Barton System, and to compensate the tutors for their time.

How Do I Get Started?

First, the student needs to take the 10-minute student screening to make sure they are ready for the Barton system. One of our tutors will be happy to help give that to them if you contact our program director, Gwen Camera at opendoordyslexia@gmail.com. You can also give the screening yourself as long as you can pass the 5-minute tutor screening which ensures you have the necessary listening skills to catch a student’s mistakes.

Once you’ve confirmed the student is ready for the Barton system, contact our program director by email at opendoordyslexia@gmail.com. Based on your availability, you will be paired with a tutor whose schedule works with yours, and away you go!