As a private tuition agency with a number of specialist tutors, WISE Tutors is able to supply high quality private tuition to families that require expert private tuition for children with special education needs (SEN).
A large number of our private tutors are specialists with students that have mild or severe learning difficulties. These private tutors with WISE tutors have supported pupils with a wide range of special education needs.
Our private tutors that specialise in supporting children with special educational needs, are able to work alongside parents, mainstream or specialist school teachers, educational psychologists, school counsellors and other educational support staff to assist the child with meeting realistic educational expectations. Once registered with WISE tutors, your private tutor will need to discuss your child’s Individual Educational Plan (IEP) and use this to monitor progress and set weekly or termly tuition goals.
Our specialist private tutors that are trained and qualified with SEN (Special Educational Needs) may be able to provided private tuition to children with special needs including but not limited to the special needs described below.
- Dyslexia: Dyslexia is a developmental reading disorder that is characterised by difficulty with learning to read and with differing comprehension of language despite normal or above-average intelligence. This may include difficulty with phonological awareness, phonological decoding, processing speed, orthographic coding, auditory short-term memory, language skills and verbal comprehension, or rapid naming. Dyslexia is the most common of all learning difficulties Internationally, dyslexia is designated as a cognitive disorder related to reading and speech and it could be described as the difficulty with spelling, phonological processing (the manipulation of sounds), or rapid visual-verbal responding. Students with dyslexia often find that spelling and reading difficulties subsequently impact on their self-confidence and ability to progress in other subjects. Our expert private tutors are not qualified to diagnose special needs conditions as this must always be done by a professional educational psychologist in conjunction with your child’s mainstream or specialist school. However, specialist SEN tutors with WISE tutors are able to liaise with educational specialists within schools and provide private tuition to students with dyslexia. Our specialist private tutors work directly with the students, studying any underlying barriers to learning and helping them overcome these barriers.
- Developmental Dyscalculia (DD): Dyscalculia is a specific learning disorder that is characterised by impairments in learning basic arithmetic facts, processing numerical magnitude and performing accurate and fluent calculations. Dyscalculia often occurs in association with other learning difficulties such as dyslexia or ADHD/ADD. In order for an educational psychologist to diagnose a student with dyscalculia, these difficulties in mathematical ability must be quantifiably below what is expected for an individual’s chronological age, and must not be caused by poor educational or daily activities or by any other intellectual impairments. Students with dyscalculia can sometimes have difficulty when counting backwards, they may generally have a poor sense of number and estimation and have no sense of whether any answers that are obtained are right or nearly right. Often dyscalculia can go unrecognised for many years and students attend a regular mainstream or specialist school without the strategies in place that are required for their particular learning difficulty. This can cause students to lose confidence and find school unenjoyable, often leading to behavioural and emotional difficulties. For students with dyscalculia, private tuition may focus on building the pupils confidence with numbers and the private tutor may work in conjunction with the school and other educational support staff to ensure that the student is working on similar topics at home and in school. Private tutors working with students with SEN are also keen to monitor the academic progress and increases in confidence experienced in school and at home.
- Dyspraxia, Dysgraphia and other DCDs: Dyspraxia is a form of developmental coordination disorder (DCD). It is common disorder affecting fine and/or gross motor coordination and balance in children and adults. It may also affect speech. Dysgraphia usually refers to disorders affecting fine motor skills such as those skills required for writing. Students with DCD may present with difficulties with self-care, writing, typing, riding a bike and play as well as other educational and recreational activities.There may be a range of co-occurring difficulties which can also have serious negative impacts on daily life. These include social and emotional difficulties as well as problems with time management, planning and personal organisation. Dyspraxia can also affect articulation, memory, speech, perception and thought. For this reason, specialist private tutors with WISE tutors must initially assess each student with DCD to gain a better understanding of what the tuition goals and needs are for the student. As DCD occurs across the range of intellectual abilities, private tutors often find that their tutoring method is no different from teaching a student without DCD. However, in most cases our specialist private tutors will need to employ a range of strategies to manage any issues associated with DCD.
- ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder): is a group of behavioural symptoms that include inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsiveness. The most common symptoms are lack of attention, the propensity to be easily distracted, agitation, overactivity and being impulsive. ADHD can occur in people of any intellectual ability. Most cases of ADHD are diagnosed between the age of 6 and 12 years old. It is often common for students that are diagnosed with ADHD to struggle within the mainstream school setting, to feel restless in the classroom setting and possibly even feel misunderstood. This can often be viewed as having behavioural difficulties and subsequently this can have an effect on the student’s self-esteem. Our private tutors take a holistic view when tutoring students with ADHD. They understand that students with ADHD will need to be tutored in a way that is suited to their learning style. Often the issue of self-confidence will need to be tackled as early as possible in order to ensure that the student is getting the most out of the private tuition sessions.
- Autism: Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by delays in cognitive development and language, impaired social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication, and restricted and repetitive behavior. Parents usually notice signs in the first two years of their child’s life. The signs typically develop gradually, but some children with autism will reach their developmental milestones at a normal pace and then regress. Early behavioral, cognitive, or speech interventions can help children with autism gain self-care and develop social and communication skills. Not many children with autism are able to live independently after reaching adulthood, though some become successful. For this reason, education specialists and expert private tutors with WISE tutors focus on helping students develop basic numeracy and literacy skills and a general understanding of the world.
- Aspergers syndrome: is an autism spectrum disorder that is characterised by significant difficulties in social interaction and non-verbal communication, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. It differs from other autism spectrum disorders by its relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive development. The exact cause of Asperger’s is unknown. Most children improve as they mature to adulthood, but social and communication difficulties may persist. For students that attend mainstream or specialist schools, they may struggle to interact with people and find it difficult to . Students with Asperger’s syndrome can often be talented and enjoy challenges requiring greater intellectual stimulation or prefer to spend a longer period of time focusing on an area of strength. Our specialist SEN private tutors, when offering tuition to students with Asperger’s syndrome, will often ask questions about what the student enjoys. As the private tutor begins to fully understand the student’s strengths and interests, the tutor leverage on the student’s interests as this will often make the private tuition sessions more effective and more enjoyable for the student.
- Physical, hearing, speech, language and visual impairments: Pupils that are born with or have developed physical disabilities, hearing, speech and language impairments or visual impairments, will often already attend a specialist school where there is special support and provisions in place to help with the educational and physical welfare. In many cases, the physical, hearing or visual impairment has had no impact on the child’s cognitive development. However, parents may still wish to have a private tutor to help further develop their academic skills and knowledge. In cases like this, a specialist private tutor may be required, particularly if the tutor requires access to specialist resources. At WISE tutors, we are able to provide professional private tutors that are experienced in working with children with physical disabilities, hearing, speech and language impairments or visual impairments.
- Emotional and behavioural difficulties: Many students are removed from mainstream school or attend specialist schools or pupil referral units (PRUs) for students with emotional and behavioural difficulties. The emotional and behavioural difficulties could be caused by emotional trauma, depression, low self esteem, childhood abuse or bullying. For this reason, most students with emotional and behavioural difficulties require additional support in the classroom setting. Some of the private tutors with WISE Tutors are experienced in this area, through the course of their career, they have been trained and developed strategies for supporting students with emotional or behavioural difficulties and they understand that students with emotional or behavioural difficulties will usually require a combined programme of academic and pastoral support in order to secure their academic progress.
As mentioned above, private tutors with WISE tutors are able to offer specialist private tuition to students with dyslexia, private tuition for students with dyspraxia, private tuition for students with DCD, private tuition for students with dysgraphia, private tuition for students with dyscalculia, private tuition for students with ADHD, private tuition for students with Autism, private tuition for students with Aspergers syndrome, private tuition for students with physical disabilities, private tuition for students with speech impediments, private tuition for students with hearing impairments, private tuition for students with visual impairments, private tuition for students with emotional difficulties, private tuition for students with speech difficulties, private tuition for students with language difficulties and private tuition for students with behavioural difficulties.
Prior to starting private tuition with WISE tutors. the private tutor will usually require details of the special needs as this will help the private tutor prepare for the assessment session. For students in state schools, the student may have a statement of special needs and may already have an IEP (individual educational plan) in place which can assist the private tutor decide on tuition goals and needs.
In some cases, once the private tutor has had a chance to meet the student, the private tutor may find that private tuition will not necessarily make a difference in the student’s learning and the specialist private tutor will inform the parent or carer if he or she does not recommend private tuition.
If you would like to discuss your private tuition needs for a child with special educational needs, please contact us and one of our members will be happy to help.