Why Online Tutoring Might Be the Number One Choice for Your Child
“Online learning didn’t work for my kid. How can Face-to-Face or Screen-to-Screen be equally effective?”
Many parents may know they would prefer the convenience of online tutoring, but having had online experiences in the past that didn’t work well for their child, reasonably so… they have reservations! Many parents recall online learning “couldn’t hold their child’s attention,” “wasn’t interactive for them” and therefore, was ineffective. Their child was simply one who wouldn’t or couldn’t do well, online. What if the issue was the delivery style or the program format itself – not the child?
Here are a few things that make Symbols Multisensory Learning Centers’ online format very different from other online learning experiences your child may have had:
- Teaching is live
- Lessons are pre-prepped, specifically for your child and what they need
- Lessons are experienced like a conversation (stimulus and response)
- They are always one-to-one
- Interactive & Immediately Responsive
- Tailored and Individualized
- Designed to support multi-modal learning with the use of the Symbols Multisensory
- Home Kit – delivered to you for free upon registration
If your child struggled with online learning in the past, likely, they experienced this during the pandemic when their learning was pushed online and was delivered in a group format. Symbols Multisensory Learning Center’s online lessons are very different and so is the experience.
In-person students sit directly in front of (or across) from their tutor. They face each other while they work together – it’s a constant exchange. This seating set-up is intentional and helps us to have the best and most accurate ability to see what they are doing at all times. It aids in our ability to monitor, encourage, prompt, or adjust for optimal focus and engagement on multisensory tasks. Online learning is no different. The only real difference between in-person and online sessions, is quite literally, the screen!
Our interaction style and format online is the same as it is in-person. Tutors are highly reactive to the student’s responses and engagement level, and work to optimize learning opportunities throughout their session time together. Listening in, it sounds like an active conversation. Many skeptical parents are pleasantly surprised by how well their child does in their Symbols one-to-one sessions online and how quickly this translates into real progress in areas like English writing, reading, spelling or Math skill development.
Benefits of Online tutoring
We know you’re busy and your time is valuable. Avoid traffic there-and-back, parking, unexpected costs (grabbing a coffee while you wait), etc. We think your child’s time is valuable too. During the school day, most of our students are working much harder than average to try and keep up with their peers and the pace of the classroom cirriculum. Reducing the time they spend driving and getting to and from lessons is time they also get back. They can spend it on hobbies, playing, relaxing, or spending time with family or friends.
With online lessons, it has never been easier to have immediate access to what happens in a session, in real time with your child. Listen in anytime to understand how the time is spent and see how your child experiences their learning. Watch strategies your child is using to encourage and reinforce later. See and hear how they are guided and supported to correct errors, implement taught strategies, or expand their current knowledge base to include a new, more advanced understandings.
Stay home. Stay safe! Online lessons are a great permanent choice, but can be used on an ‘as is needed basis’. If you’re not feeling well or your child is not well enough to be in the center, but is well enough to have a session, shift it online that day if you prefer. This shift maintains lesson frequency in the online format (when it suits you) to navigate unexpected circumstances. We can all do our part to keep everyone safe and Symbols Multisensory Learning Centers can easily help accommodate these shifts with little notice.
Unexpected Benefits of Online Tutoring
Many students who shifted their tutoring online experienced a reduction in anxiety. There was no stress to get to the session and having it take place in their home, often near a trusted guardian, they started sessions more relaxed and ready to learn. More progress was observed as a result.
Tutors observed an increase in risk-taking with some students online compared to in-person, which positively impacted their overall progress. Our older students felt a new sense of comfort without other, often much younger, students near to potentially overhear their struggles or content areas being worked on.
At Symbols Multisensory Learning Centers, our in-person lessons are always one-to-one and take place in separate rooms or tutoring spaces with visual dividers from other students and tutors. This said, there is some general transfer of noise throughout. Some students saw an improvement in their ability to focus with a shift online to a quieter environment at home. Parents had the added benefit of being 100% in control of the opportunity to create an optimal learning environment at home, online, for their child.
Offering online lessons has enabled Symbols Multisensory Learning Centers to reach students in need of specialized English reading, writing, spelling or math support from literally any location on the globe from the safety of their own home. Regardless of where you live, and how far you may be from a physical Symbols location, access to the supports your child needs to be successful in school is just a click away!
More likely than not, online lessons would be a great fit for your child’s learning needs… and you too! Click here to connect and inquire about building your child’s online schedule to get their support started.
“In-Person Tutoring Has to be Better!”
How could online tutoring be interactive or multisensory?
At each of the Symbols Multisensory Learning Center locations, students have access to a variety of different learning stations, tactiles and multisensory aids to encourage a multi-modal learning experiece. To accommodate multisensory English spelling, reading or writing or math skill development online, we mail a free Symbols Multisensory Home Kit to our online students upon registration in one of our programs.
These kits include:
- mini-tracing tray,
- Playdoh,
- dice,
- dry erase marker & eraser,
- dry erase sheets for repeated writing or math practice,
- plain paper & lined paper,
- sharpened pencil,
- cue cards,
- guide sheet for parents with recommended strategies to best support their child online, and
- a double-sided folder to keep things organized.
Under the guidance of their tutor, our online students experience learning similarly to those registered in the in-person format, but from the comfort of their own home. With the guidance of their tutor, students use and interact with the components of their free Symbols Multisensory Home Kit to ensure their sessions are just as multisensory and engaging as they would be in the center.
