Looking for monthly or yearly reading class subscription

Question

Looking for monthly or yearly reading class subscription for a 5th grade student. I cannot go per class pay schedule. What options I have?

Answer 1

It's not clear what you mean by a subscription. I think you mean that you are willing to pay a monthly fee, so that your fifth grade student can have access to reading instruction when needed. This is understandable for someone on with a limited budget. You will note that there are educational services that provide this type of payment, but the fees are often very high. Do you want in person tutoring or online tutoring. Many services will provide either. However, the first thing you should do is to have the fifth grader assessed in terms of his/her current reading skills. That would give a tutor a better idea of how much time is needed to help. You should also have a specific amount in mind per month in regards to how much you are willing to spend. Rates vary from $15 to $200 an hour. Finally, does the student need intensive work that requires a lot of time? If so, reading remediation may require someone with a good knowledge of teaching strategies, including those for special needs students.

Answer 2

Hi Srihari, I'd like to suggest a one-year subscription to "Reading Assistant Plus" from Scientific Learning.

Here is the link, so just check it out.

https://www.scilearn.com/reading-assistant-plus/

So as you can see, it does a lot of what a teacher does-- gives an intro to the story, pre-teaches the vocabulary, provides a model reading, listens and records as the child reads aloud, give corrections, asks some questions, and says Hooray! when he's done. So this is the closest thing to a reading class that I know of-- and without an in-person teacher.

This is proprietary software, so a licensed provider such as myself makes the purchase on your behalf, for $175 plus tax for a year's license, which comes to $15 a month. Believe me, outside of one-on-one tutoring--which I normally provide --there is nothing else this good.

If the link above doesn't work, you can search on Scientific Learning", go to Products, and find Reading Assistant Plus to get the demo.

One thing: I will need to create a custom library for your child on the teacher's site, beginning with his current reading level, so I will charge two hours for that service. It will involve talking with you about the story choices and whether you want him to move through an assigned sequence or, instead, to choose his next selections on his own from a list, etc.

Also, you'll want to build in some accountability for him/her, and some serious cheer-leading. Some of the fifth graders I'm working with need to be dragged, others just need a little nudge to start reading. But most kids can't just be put in front of the computer and told to read the story! They need a regular time each day and clear expectations and goals. Goals could simply be in the amount of time they spent, or finishing one short chapter book a week. I'm thinking of a story in Reading Assistant called "The Snow Walker"-- it's about right for one week. Good story about a brave kid in a blizzard.

RA students also benefit from mom/dad sitting with them once a week. For a fifth-grader I suggest session of 40-50 minutes five times a week. I'm guessing that he /she needs more reading experience to build vocabulary and comprehension --is that right? :)

Optional, for a charge: I can send you weekly reports on how many minutes your child spent, his fluency rate, and his quiz scores, and consult with you once a week. However, if you are listening to him read from another room or sitting beside him from time to time, you can tell how he's doing so you won't really need data and consultations with me. You and your child can be pretty independent on it.

If this seems to be the right thing to you, just let me know. I can make a purchase tonight (July 4) or tomorrow on your behalf. Your license should be activated on Tuesday. You'll need headphones with microphone. If you don't have any right now, good headphones for Reading Assistant can be purchased from Andrea Electronics. Tell them you are purchasing to use with Reading Assistant, as they have worked closely with Scientific Learning over the years and know how to guide you to the right headset. Should be under $30. Tel: [phone]

You can reply by sending me a message here on Wyzant or just email me at [email protected] or text me at the number below for a faster response.

Very best wishes,

Karen Kennedy

Reading Remediation Professional

Tucson AZ

520-465-8163