How to find an Orton Gillingham tutor: what I learned as a parent of a dyslexic child
I was sitting in the Trader Joe’s parking lot, crumbs of a half-eaten pumpkin sugar cookie stuck to my jeans, scrolling through Google after my 8-year-old son Milo’s IEP meeting. The team had just told me his school-provided dyslexia-focused reading support wouldn’t be enough to help him close the gap with his classmates, and I needed to find an Orton Gillingham tutor to add to his weekly routine. I’d heard the name Orton Gillingham tossed around in parent Facebook groups for months, but I had no clue how to find one that was actually qualified, affordable, and a good fit for my wiggly, book-hating kid.
My first Google search pulled up dozens of results, all advertising OG-based tutoring, with prices ranging from $50 to $150 an hour. The first tutor I emailed said she was certified after completing a three-hour online workshop for general education teachers. She had great reviews from other parents, and her price fit my initial budget, but something felt off. I reached out to Milo’s dyslexia coordinator at school to ask what I should be looking for, and she cleared it up right away: a lot of educators learn basic OG strategies in short workshops, but full training to work one-on-one with dyslexic students requires far more. That’s when I learned my first concrete question to ask any potential tutor: How many hours of Orton Gillingham-specific coursework have you completed, and did you do a supervised practicum working with students with dyslexia? Legitimate training requires at least 60 hours of structured coursework plus hands-on supervised practice, and full certification through groups like the Academy of Orton Gillingham Practitioners and Educators requires even more. That three-hour workshop wasn’t enough.
She also pointed me to the free, searchable tutor directory on the International Dyslexia Association website, which filters for trained OG providers in your area. That’s where I found Linda, a retired first grade teacher who’d been doing OG tutoring for 12 years, with full AOGPE certification. She had one opening left: 4pm on Wednesdays, which worked perfectly with our soccer and piano schedule. Her rate was $95 an hour, which was steeper than the first tutor I’d talked to, but still $25 less an hour than every other fully certified tutor I’d contacted.
We went to our first session, and I waited in the car flipping through a magazine, steeling myself for the usual post-tutor grumpiness Milo brings home from any extra school work. Instead, he came bouncing out to the car, chattering about the sound card game they’d played. He told me Linda let him stand up the whole time because he’d said he was too wiggly to sit in a chair. That’s when I learned my second lesson: certification isn’t everything. You need a tutor who can adjust to your kid. If I’d hired that first tutor just because she was cheaper, I doubt she would have thought to let Milo stand and move while he worked, or kept the session engaging instead of forcing him to sit still through 60 minutes of drill. When you interview tutors, ask what a typical session looks like, and how they handle kids who get frustrated or wiggly. Also ask what kind of at-home practice they expect. One tutor I talked to before Linda said she required 20 minutes of homework every night, and I knew that wouldn’t work for us. Our afternoons are already packed with dinner, chores, and regular school homework, and forcing 20 extra minutes would have turned into a daily fight. Linda only asks for 5 minutes of simple practice a day, usually sorting sound cards or reviewing a few new words, which we can squeeze in while we wait for dinner or during the drive to soccer practice. It’s low effort, low stress, and it actually gets done.
Cost was the biggest stress for me, though. $95 a week adds up to almost $400 a month, which is a big chunk of our monthly budget. A friend with an older son with dyslexia told me something I had no idea about: if your child has an IEP, you can ask the school district to cover the cost of outside tutoring if the school can’t provide the level of support your kid needs. I thought this was only an option for severe cases, but I brought it up at our next IEP check-in, and the district agreed to cover half of Linda’s fee. If you can’t swing even a reduced rate, check with local colleges that have special education programs. Many of their graduate students who are working toward their OG certification will do sessions for half price, under the supervision of a fully certified instructor. It’s a great option for families on a budget, and the students are often really motivated to build their experience.
I also learned to spot red flags early. Any tutor that says they can fix dyslexia in six months is not telling the truth. Any tutor that refuses to communicate with your child’s classroom teacher to align their work with what’s being taught in school isn’t a good fit. Linda emails Milo’s reading teacher once a month to check in on what sounds and skills they’re working on in class, so they’re working together instead of at cross purposes. It makes a huge difference.
Three months in, things aren’t perfect. Milo still mixes up b and d sometimes, he still grumbles about reading out loud, and we skip our 5 minute practice at least once a week when we’re running late or we’re just too tired. Last week, though, he read the entire front of his favorite cereal box out loud to me, no mistakes, no prompting, and looked up grinning like he’d just climbed a mountain. I still worry about third grade, about when the reading gets harder, about whether this will be enough. But that day in the Trader Joe’s parking lot, I was overwhelmed and convinced I’d never find someone that worked for us. Now, we have a routine that fits, and a tutor who gets Milo.
Last night, we did our sound sort at the kitchen counter while I stirred spaghetti. Milo got three out of four right, then crumpled his card up and threw it at the dog. I didn’t fight him. We’ll try again tomorrow. It’s still a work in progress, but that’s enough for right now.
Please indicate: Thinking In Educating » How to find an Orton Gillingham tutor: what I learned as a parent of a dyslexic child