BLOG

Why We Love Rapping Words

Why We Love Rapping Words: Word Beats as a Reading Strategy

By Rob Wahl / April 19, 2017

When you drop your child off for their lesson at Symbols, and wonder what they may be learning that day, your first thought probably isn’t that they will spend time rapping with their tutor. But this may actually be the case! Using “word beats” can actually be a very helpful reading strategy. This method involves ‘chunking’…

Read More
faq

Commonly Asked Questions at Symbols

By Rob Wahl / April 12, 2017

As a parent trying to keep track of your child’s busy schedule, it can be difficult having questions that you don’t know the answers to. Below is a list of commonly asked questions or concerns that we often receive from parents. Some of these topics have been covered in previous blogs, but still come up…

Read More
tutor at Symbols

Is an Orton-Gillingham tutor at Symbols right for your child?

By Rob Wahl / April 4, 2017

With so many different tutoring options, it can feel overwhelming to decide where to go to get your child help. At Symbols, we use the Orton-Gillingham approach, which we believe is the most effective way to tutor children with – and without – learning differences. What makes Orton-Gillingham effective? Orton-Gillingham is an approach that was initially intended…

Read More
Mathematical Difficulties

Mathematical Difficulties Tutoring Vancouver, Richmond & Coquitlam

By Rob Wahl / March 31, 2017

At Symbols, we are able to tutor students in the areas of language arts and math. If a child is struggling with both areas, language arts is addressed first, because it is imperative that a child can read and write at grade level, but math is also addressed after they are steady in those areas.…

Read More
Teaching Sight Words

Teaching Sight Words in Vancouver, Richmond & Coquitlam

By Rob Wahl / March 27, 2017

The last blog post on our website was on what sight words are, and how important they are. This naturally leads to the next question- how do we actually teach sight words? Exercises We Use To Teach Sight Words Sight words are almost always taught with the aid of a mnemonic. Mnemonics are a memory…

Read More
Sight Words and Dolce Words

Sight Words and Dolce Words

By Rob Wahl / March 22, 2017

At Symbols, we talk a lot about sight words. When you pick your child up from a lesson, you may hear them talking about the “sight word” they learned this lesson. But what are sight words? You may have also heard of dolce words, and be wondering, what’s the difference? Sight Words A sight word…

Read More
Famous People With Dyslexia

Famous People With Dyslexia

By Rob Wahl / March 10, 2017

People with dyslexia are often creative and unconventional, and do not always think in the same way that others do. It is common for people who are dyslexic to succeed in a wide variety of careers where creativity is a necessity. Successful actor Orlando Bloom has stated, “With dyslexia comes a very great gift, which…

Read More
Writing Difficulties Tutoring

Writing Difficulties Tutoring Vancouver, Richmond & Coquitlam

By Rob Wahl / March 7, 2017

Is your child having writing difficulties? If so our writing difficulties tutoring in Vancouver, Richmond or Coquitlam can help. Many parents may have heard of the term dyslexia, used to describe extreme reading difficulties, but less commonly heard or understood is the term dysgraphia. So, what is dysgraphia? Generally speaking, dysgraphia is having trouble with…

Read More
ADHD Tutoring

ADHD Tutoring Vancouver, Richmond & Coquitlam

By Rob Wahl / March 3, 2017

At Symbols, we offer tutoring for students with ADHD at our Vancouver, Richmond and Coquitlam locations. But first, what is ADHD? Elementary-aged children are often full of energy and enthusiasm. However, when a child is energetic or hyper to an extent where they have difficulty focusing or paying attention in class, this can be detrimental…

Read More
Comprehension Difficulties Tutoring

Reading and Comprehension Difficulties Tutoring in Vancouver, Coquitlam and Richmond

By Rob Wahl / January 5, 2017

Many of the inquiries we receive from parents at Symbols are for kids struggling with reading or reading comprehension.  Some of these children are coming to us with a diagnosed learning disability, while others have no learning difference at all, but are simply falling slightly behind their peers and are in need of a boost.  Parents who…

Read More