Art Archives

Reading Specialists

Do you have a child who is struggling with reading comprehension, decoding or fluency? Or perhaps your child is ready to accelerate reading or writing instruction? If so, you may be seeking a Reading Specialist, Learning Specialist, or skillful educator.

Remediation or Acceleration: preK-5

At My Learning Springboard, we take a balanced literacy approach to support your child’s reading and writing development. We especially believe that building strong foundational skills in preschool and the primary grades is a strategic investment that bolsters a child’s success as a lifelong learner. Because each student’s needs are different, our reading specialists and learning specialists are well versed in a variety of approaches, interventions, and programs so that we can tailor instruction to each student’s needs using evidence-based practice that maximizes engagement.

Our reading specialists and learning specialists include both elementary and secondary educators, special educators, and dyslexia interventionists with expertise in Orton-Gillingham based programs, including PAF (developed at Windward School), Wilson, and Boost. Other programs we regularly use include Judith Hochman’s Teaching Basic Writing Skills and Sounds in Motion.

Our reading specialists and faculty also provide enrichment teaching and accelerated instruction for students ready to take on more difficult reading and writing tasks.We begin instructional planning by gathering as much information as possible, which often includes conducting individualized assessments in order to determine a student’s developmental spelling stage, independent reading level, instructional reading level, and decoding needs. This benchmarking helps our reading specialists or learning specialists to more effectively customize targeted reading and writing instruction in any or all of the following areas:

In our work to help students become confident readers and writers, our reading specialists, leadership team, and faculty also help parents to support their children’s reading and writing development at home.

Popular Programs and Approaches

A variety of reading and writing programs are used depending on the needs of a particular student. Similarly, students are matched to specific Reading Specialists based on the student’s needs and the Reading Specialist’s professional expertise. Our practices are informed by research, programs, materials and diagnostic tools developed by:

Fountas & Pinnell, Guided Reading and Writing
Lucy Calkins, Teachers College Reading and Writing Project
Dr. Jan Richardson, Guided Reading
Dr. Donald Bear, Literacy Development and Words Their Way
Dr. Judith C. Hochman, Teaching Basic Writing Skills
Frances Santore, Sounds in Motion
Phyllis Bertin and Eileen Perlman, Preventing Academic Failure (PAF)
Patricia Cunningham, Making Words
Stephanie Harvey, Strategies That Work

Writing Instruction Framework

Our writing instruction is also informed by the 6+1 Trait ® Writing Framework developed by Education Northwest.
These writing traits include:

Ideas
Organization
Voice
Word Choice
Sentence Fluency
Conventions
Presentation (+1)

Please contact our office to discuss your family’s specific needs.

Last edited @ 12:11 pm

Special Education

My Learning Springboard is a professional community of experienced educators and learning specialists under the leadership of a multidisciplinary team. From individualizing classroom learning, to navigating bureaucratic red tape, to finding and pursuing a child’s interests, our goal is to make sure that our students and their families receive the resources that they need. Ongoing communication among all stakeholders — students, families, schools, and related service professionals — is crucial for a child’s academic, social and emotional success. Therefore, we provide special education services, consultation, and guidance at every step.

Our faculty and professional network includes Board Certified Educational Planners, special education teachers, educational therapists, reading and math specialists, behavior specialists, family advocates, legal counsel, psychologists, developmental pediatricians, language and speech pathologists, occupational therapists, and holistic health professionals among others.

We offer both short-term special education consultation and ongoing comprehensive support depending on a family’s needs. We help families to navigate, select, develop or pursue appropriate special education services in any of the following areas and beyond:

Early intervention
IEP or 504 processes
Documentation review and strategic planning
Private evaluations and expert witnesses
Autism support
Behavior intervention
Parent coaching
Homeschool programs
Private Special Education Itinerant Teachers (SEITs)
Shadow teachers and paraeducators

Our leadership team manages cases collaboratively benefitting from our complementary expertise. We often include reading and math specialists to assist with comprehensive diagnostic assessments and then work together to define recommendations and ongoing programs. Selected learning specialists or special education teachers from our faculty may become involved in direct instruction or consultation with families. Ongoing assessment and benchmarking is always built into our approach.The needs of every child and every family are different, and our goal at My Learning Springboard is to promote collaboration and facilitate success for every student.

Read more about private evaluations and related services or the most common assessments typically selected for educational testing or neuropsychological evaluations.

Please contact our office for more information.

Last edited @ 7:35 pm

Executive Function Coaching

A complex variety of mental skills that we use on a daily basis to achieve our goals, executive function can be considered the “CEO of the brain.” Executive function as a whole allows each of us to set goals; plan how to complete a project; prioritize tasks; organize time, materials and information; shift approaches flexibly; and hold and manipulate information in working memory and control their behaviors for task completion. Therefore, there is a strong correlation between effective executive function and success in school.

Executive function continues to develop in the prefrontal cortex of the brain until at least the age of 25, which is why we often work with college students, too. Executive function issues often go hand-in-hand with ADHD, but many students without ADHD struggle with executive function too.

Executive function may be better understood as a 6-step process:

Analyze a task. Figure out what needs to be done.
Plan how to handle the task.
Get organized. Break down the plan into a series of steps.
Figure out how much time is needed to carry out the plan, and set aside the time.
Make adjustments as needed.
Finish the task in the time allotted.

While all children are developing their executive function, some children have notable and specific weaknesses. Regardless of how bright these students are, they struggle to do schoolwork and successfully manage tasks. That’s where a skilled and master teacher or learning specialist can assist with targeted, explicit instruction, or coaching.

To practice the skills under the umbrella of executive function, we often work with our clients using schoolwork or real-life tasks. These authentic tasks are typically more engaging for students and lead to a deeper understanding of the strategic process. The task itself is just an opportunity to practice the lifelong skills the student is working to master. These include:

Planning
Organizing
Initiating and completing tasks
Managing time and possessions
Prioritizing (and re-prioritizing in real time)
Multi-tasking
Transitioning between tasks and locations
Thinking flexibly to solve real life problems
Controlling impulses and emotions
Engaging in tasks requiring short-term, long-term, and working memory

We often use assistive technologies, visual timers, analog clocks, modified planners, and a variety of organizers, tools, and strategies to help students better manage their work. The abstract concept of time can be a major obstacle for students challenged with time management. Some students only think about time as “counting up [ticking up],” rather than also “counting down [ticking down].” Making this leap is critical to managing tasks within set time parameters. At My Learning Springboard, our practices are shaped by our Leadership Team’s years of teaching and special education experience in fully inclusive classroom settings, as well as by the work of Sarah Ward, the renowned Language and Speech Therapist who specializes in working with children with executive function challenges.

When our educators talk with parents, psychologists, learning specialists, and school faculty, we often discuss the following signs of executive dysfunction as they apply to a specific student. These discussions lead to creative brainstorming in order to customize an approach that will be manageable in each situation. Some hallmarks of executive function challenges that are often seen with our students are:

Organizational issues:

Losing or forgetting important items on a regular basis
Being unable to visualize and maintain a clean room, desk, or locker
Interrupting tasks to gather necessary items

Time management difficulties:

Struggling to be on time due to disorganization or poor planning
Difficulty moving from one task to the next in a timely manner
Finding it difficult to figure out how to get started on and complete a task in an allotted time frame
Struggling to interpret multi-step directions
Focusing on small details or the overall picture, but not on both at the same time
Having trouble figuring out how much time a task realistically requires
Doing things either quickly, messily, and often incorrectly, or slowly and incompletely

Struggling to perform in school:

Difficulty memorizing facts, digesting important information, organizing thoughts in writing, solving multi-step problems, and completing and turning in homework in a timely fashion
Finding it difficult to incorporate feedback into work or an activity
Difficulty transitioning to a new plan, even when it’s clear that the current plan isn’t working
Having trouble paying attention and being easily distracted
Losing a train of thought when interrupted
Needing to be told the directions numerous times
Having trouble making decisions
Lacking the words to explain something in detail
Needing help processing what something feels/sounds/looks like
Having trouble with higher order thinking

If you think that your child or college student is experiencing difficulty with any of the executive function abilities listed above, please do not hesitate to contact our office to discuss your child’s situation and needs in more detail. Difficulty with executive function can hold many students back from the success they could otherwise achieve in school and beyond. No matter at what point the situation is addressed, there are myriad ways in which to help children, or adults for that matter, become more effective at everything they do. Our team of highly skillful teachers is ready to help!

Please contact our office for more information.

Last edited @ 4:25 pm

Test Preparation

My Learning Springboard’s leadership team and specialists help students of all ages with standardized test preparation using our curriculum, curated materials, and instructional expertise. Our primary goal is to help students become critical thinkers with a repertoire of strategies.

We tailor our instruction and test preparation work to meet the needs of individual students and provide structured practice with a particular test so that students become familiar with the test format, question types, and timing. We ensure success by combining subject-matter expertise, successful test-taking strategies, structured practice, timely feedback, close monitoring, and goal-setting support.

Ideally, we work with students over a longer period of time so that test preparation does not feel like cramming. We find that extended periods of time for preparation help students to significantly reduce test anxiety, master content, and internalize strategies. As a general process, students begin by taking a practice test that serves as a benchmark. Based on this performance, we recommend a plan to maximize preparation time. We often have two tutors working with a student as the math and reading sections require specialized expertise.

We offer test preparation and coaching for all of the following assessments:

SAT, ACT, and AP Exams
SHSAT (New York City)
ISEE (Primary, Lower, Middle, and Upper Levels)
SSAT (Elementary, Middle, and Upper Levels)
CTP (ERB’s grade level achievement tests)
SCAT
NY State Testing Program and Regents Exams
GMAT and GRE

Under the leadership of Brad Hoffman and Faya Hoffman, both Board Certified Educational Planners and a husband-and-wife team, My Learning Springboard also offers admissions consulting and school transition support at every level from nursery through college, including specialized school placements for students with learning disabilities and therapeutic school settings.

Please contact our office to further discuss your needs.

Last edited @ 9:03 pm

Private Tutoring

Private tutoring helps each student meet their unique needs and realize their individual goals. Whether the need is academic support, enrichment, test preparation, or building increased motivation and self-confidence, our educators create a personalized approach to support each student.

We also find that many families need support managing the overwhelming demands of day-to-day school life and developing systems for organization, time management, and study skills. Through private tutoring both in person and online, our educators and executive function coaches provide this support.

Regardless of the need or subject matter, we individualize the entire process to highlight a student’s strengths, design an appropriate course of action, and improve academic performance. The intensity, flexibility, and customization of private tutoring provides students with a competitive advantage in bolstering their success.

Under the leadership of Board Certified Educational Planners Brad Hoffman and Faya Hoffman, a husband-and-wife team, My Learning Springboard works with learners of all ages who have diverse learning goals.

Our mission is to help each student reach their full potential by becoming a confident, successful, and lifelong learner. We involve students and parents in the decision making process from the start, together selecting the best tutor or team for each family’s needs. Each family works closely with our leadership team throughout their time with My Learning Springboard to customize their experience, facilitate strategic planning, and ensure success.

Academic Coaching and Private Tutoring

Kindergarten Readiness
Reading and Literacy Specialists – including grammar and handwriting
Math Specialists
Science and History Specialists
Foreign Languages and English Language Learners (ESL or ELL)
Executive Functioning: Study Skills, Organizational Skills and Life Coaching

Private Tutoring For Admissions

Beyond Traditional Academic Tutoring

Enrichment Teaching and Independent Study (any subject area)
Technology and Digital Coaching
Art, Music, and Museum Education
Business, Finance, and Entrepreneurship
Judaic Studies
Religious School Supplementation (any faith)

Reading Specialists

Remediation or Acceleration: preK-5

Popular Programs and Approaches

Writing Instruction Framework

Special Education

Executive Function Coaching

Organizational issues:

Time management difficulties:

Struggling to perform in school:

Test Preparation

Private Tutoring

Academic Coaching and Private Tutoring

Private Tutoring For Admissions

Beyond Traditional Academic Tutoring

Other Private Tutoring Services

Company Overview

School Planning

Private Tutoring

Test Preparation