Why My Reading Therapy Program Works When Tutoring and Curriculums Haven’t

Many of the children who come to me are not getting help for the first time. They have already tried school interventions, changed reading curricula, or worked with a reading tutor—sometimes all three. Parents are exhausted and quietly wondering, “If my child has already had phonics, sight words, and OG‑style lessons…why are we still here?”​

The honest answer is this: it’s not that your child hasn’t had enough help. It’s that they haven’t had the right kind of help for the way their brain learns—especially if they have dyslexia or another learning difference. When a child has already had months or years of “more of the same,” another round of the same methods—just with a different teacher or prettier curriculum—rarely changes the story.​

Why “more of the same” doesn’t work

Today’s reading tutors and reading curricula often include:

• Phonics rules

• Sight word lists

• Mastery checks that say a child is “90–100%” on a skill

On paper, it sounds solid. But if your child can “pass” the lessons and still struggles to actually read, something important is missing. For many kids with dyslexia or other learning disabilities, simply adding more rules, more lists, and more tests does not change how their brain processes print.​

Most general reading tutoring is designed to support what’s already happening in school or in a homeschool program. The tutor often follows the same scope and sequence, the same kind of lessons, and the same expectations your child has already seen. That means your child is often getting more practice with the same approach that hasn’t worked.​

This is not how children’s (and dyslexic) brains learn to read

If your child has already “learned the rules,” memorized the sight words, and passed the mastery checks but still can’t read easily, the issue is not effort or intelligence. The deeper problem is that this is not how a child’s brain naturally learns language and reading—especially for children with dyslexia or other learning disabilities, whose brains process sounds and print differently and have to work much harder to do the same task.​

Many popular curriculums and methods are organized in ways that make perfect sense to an adult brain: charts, rules, lists, and boxes to check. But they do not match how a developing, neurodivergent brain needs information to be presented, practiced, and connected for it to become automatic. My reading therapy is built to work with the way children’s and dyslexic brains actually learn, not against it.​

Regular tutoring vs. reading therapy

Regular tutoring vs. my reading therapy

Main focus

• Regular reading tutoring: Help with current lessons, homework, and phonics rules your child is already being taught.

• My reading therapy program: Rebuild the underlying reading system so your child can decode, read, and spell more automatically.​

Approach

• Regular reading tutoring: Follows the school or curriculum sequence; often repeats the same type of practice.

• My reading therapy program: Diagnostic and individualized; the plan changes based on your child’s specific error patterns and progress.​

Methods

• Regular reading tutoring: Mix of phonics rules, sight word lists, worksheets, leveled texts, and sometimes “OG‑inspired” or OG‑branded curriculums used in the same way as school instruction (more of the same ingredients).​

• My reading therapy program: Full structured‑literacy/OG‑based intervention delivered as therapy: explicit, systematic, cumulative lessons that tightly connect sounds, letters, spelling, and reading, with high‑repetition practice for dyslexic and other neurodivergent learners.​

Intensity

• Regular reading tutoring: 1–2 hours a week focused on assignments or units.

• My reading therapy program: Therapy‑level, high‑repetition practice designed to build true automaticity, not just one‑time accuracy.​

Goal

• Regular reading tutoring: Do better on current work and pass the next test.

• My reading therapy program: Change how the brain handles print so reading becomes easier in every subject for the long term.
  
  

What my reading therapy actually does

In my reading therapy program, your child gets support that is specifically designed for struggling readers, dyslexic learners, and kids with other learning differences. That includes:

• A clear starting point
  A careful look at phonemic awareness, decoding, spelling, fluency, and comprehension so we know exactly where reading is breaking down.​

• Structured literacy, step by step
  Skills are taught explicitly in a logical, cumulative order: sounds, patterns, and rules are introduced slowly, practiced deeply, and constantly reviewed. Your child is never asked to read words that don’t match what has been taught.​

• Therapy‑level practice for the dyslexic brain
  Lessons use multisensory techniques (seeing, saying, hearing, writing) and lots of guided repetition to help the brain build more efficient reading pathways, which research shows is critical for students with dyslexia.​

• Real‑life generalization
  We don’t stop when a skill is “90% on a page.” We keep going until it shows up naturally in real reading and writing—stories, schoolwork, and everyday life.​

How this helps your child

Here’s what this can mean for your family:

• Less guessing and frustration: your child learns how to attack words using sounds and patterns, instead of staring and hoping the word comes.​

• More confidence: as reading becomes more automatic, your child starts to see themselves as smart and capable, not “behind” or “bad at reading.”​

• Long‑term change: because we work with how the brain actually learns, the gains don’t just fade when the workbook is finished—they continue to support your child year after year.​

When it’s time to move from tutoring to therapy

You may be ready for reading therapy instead of more tutoring if:

• Your child has had help before (school interventions, tutoring, new curriculums) but still avoids reading or tires quickly.

• They can “pass” phonics tests and sight word lists, but can’t get those skills to show up in real books.

• Dyslexia, ADHD, or another learning difference has been mentioned—or your gut tells you something deeper is going on.​

If this sounds like your child, they probably do not need “more of the same.” They need a different kind of help—one that respects how their brain actually learns. That is exactly what my reading therapy program is designed to provide.​

Ready to find out what your child really needs next?

• Click here to schedule a free consultation. In this call, we will talk about your child’s history with tutoring and reading curriculums, and you will leave with a clear next step—whether that is my program or another resource that fits your child’s needs. ​https://calendar.app.google/iLytCnswjxua3Ew5A