Writing, Reading, and Study Skills Tutor for Neurodiverse Students

August A.

I have 5 years of private tutoring experience, and 3 years of college-level peer tutoring experience. Over half of my experience comes from working specifically with neurodiverse students. I have 1 year of full-time, classroom teaching experience, and have a California substitute teaching permit. I also have over 500 hours of volunteer childcare experience with children ages 4-9 through a local charity organization.

I am particularly skilled at helping students outside of the stereotypical "normal" range of academic ability. I have significant experience tutoring neurodiverse students with executive processing difficulties, ADHD, and students on the Autism spectrum with low-medium support needs. I also have experience teaching students, particularly students with ASD, who are bored by their day-to-day classes, and need extra support to be able to grow beyond the classroom.

I believe that writing and reading need to be enjoyable and applicable to be fun, so I focus on the practical application of material and emphasize the opportunities that reading and writing provide. I encourage my older students to write about their own experiences and read about kids like themselves, and I have my younger students practice acting out and creating stories with vocabulary words and draw pictures to develop fine motor skills while learning phonics.

I graduated Summa Cum Laude with a degree in English Literature from Sonoma State University, and was the recipient of the Trustee's Scholar Award at West Valley College for exceptional community service while maintaining a 4.0 GPA.

When I develop my own lesson plans for these students, I teach critical thinking, reading comprehension, and writing skills with contemporary literature and media that allows students to apply vocabulary, grammar, and in-depth analysis to their daily lives.