Finding a Tutor for Your Child

Related: Education, School, More TagsChildren with Learning Disabilities, Parents, Management, Fewer Tags

by Eileen Bailey
Tuesday, August 31, 2010

A tutor is someone who offers one-on-one teaching to a student looking to expand their knowledge or become better in a specific subject. Tutors are as different as students are. There are some tutors who are wonderful with young children, some who relate well to teens. Tutors often have a specialty subject, one they have expertise in. Finding the right tutor for your child depends largely on your child's individual needs.

Types of Tutors

Many public and private schools provide tutoring centers. The advantage to using this type of tutoring is that it generally goes right along with the classroom curriculum and uses the same books. If your child is having problems in a specific class, check into whether your school has an after-school tutoring center. This might be a good place to start.

Private tutors offer one-on-one education and give your child the opportunity to spend time on specific concepts he or she does not understand. Private tutors may offer lessons in their own home or may come to your home. Private tutors usually use your child's books and try to follow along at the same speed as your child's class.

Learning centers usually offer both one-on-one tutoring as well as group tutoring sessions. The concepts in the group setting will be more generally, such as reinforcing concepts of a subject. Learning centers also have classes to help high school students study for SATs. Many provide testing to find out exactly where your student's strengths and weaknesses are and base tutoring sessions on building from your child's present level.

Questions to Ask

How do you know if a tutor is right for your child? You may want to ask some of the following questions to find out a little more about the tutor or the learning center:

• Is tutoring completed by a certified teacher?
• What are the teacher's credentials?
• Does the teacher have any additional experience or certifications that might benefit your child?
• Is the tutor familiar with teaching children with learning disabilities?
• Does the tutor specialize in teaching children of a certain age group?
• Will testing be completed in the beginning to find out your child's current level or abilities?
• Will goals be set in the beginning and measured throughout the tutoring sessions?
• Does the tutor set an individual plan for each child?
• How long should you expect your child to need tutoring?
• Can the tutor provide recommendations of previous students?

Choosing a Tutor

When deciding on a tutor, you should take the time to interview a few tutors and have your child meet each person. It is important to get a tutor your child feels comfortable with. You don't want your child to dread going to the tutor or feel intimidated. Tutors should make your child feel more confident in their abilities. A tutor should be focused, positive, energetic and attentive to your child's needs.

Remember, a tutoring relationship doesn't need to be forever, if you find the sessions are not working, if your child is not developing new skills or confidence or seems uncomfortable going to the tutor, talk to both your child and the tutor to find out what is going on. It could be a simple problem that an open discussion will end or it may not be a good match. Start looking again until you find the tutor that can help your child succeed.