Student Spotlight: Peter's Learning Journey

Here at The Learning Room we believe in celebrating the successes of our students, big and small! Whether a student has achieved a personal or academic goal, student success is at the heart of our work. In our series, Student Spotlight, we highlight what a partnership with a Learning Room academic coach can do for struggling learners.

As a rising 1st grader, Peter struggled extensively in reading and phonics. Peter’s dyslexia and auditory processing disorder made phonics very difficult, making reading time extremely stressful.

Enter The Learning Room

Peter’s learning journey is certainly unique and his success has truly been a team effort. Our staff worked very closely with Peter’s parents to monitor progress, adjust instruction, collect data and provide knowledge and support during Peter’s in school evaluations. The key to Peter’s academic success was not working against his learning differences, but using his strengths to help build strategies to support his learning gaps. Working with Geena for 2 hours per week, Peter has grown to be a grade level reader in 2nd grade! In addition to regular sessions, Peter also works with a speech pathologist, auditory therapist and occupational therapist. Our collaborative approach to learning complements the work of other interventions and therapies, maximizing student success.

So...how did we do it?

Every student that comes through The Learning Room starts with an assessment. During Peter’s initial assessment Geena noticed that while Peter knew his letter sounds, he struggled when blending sounds together to sound out words. 

Even though he had exceptional comprehension skills, Peter’s processing disorders made the act of reading exceedingly difficult. This discovery is precisely why we begin with a comprehensive assessment prior to instruction. Our initial assessments allow our team of academic coaches to uncover the core issue and what is hindering academic progress in our students.

What we did

After Peter’s initial assessment, Geena knew that his success would depend on not only building up his academic skills, but also his confidence as a reader. In all other content areas, Peter was especially bright. Math came very easily to him and his understanding of the world and curiosity made him a natural learner. This made his reading difficulties even more cumbersome. As with many tasks that are difficult, Peter began to dislike and avoid reading. In order to feel like a successful reader, we would have to not only overcome Peter’s academic challenges, but also the negative self-talk he had developed after years of not understanding why reading was so hard for him. 

Over the first year working together, we constantly monitored, re-assessed and re-worked Peter’s routine. At The Learning Room, if something isn’t working, we try a new strategy or teaching method. We continued this cycle of monitoring, assessing and adjusting until we found the best possible combination of interventions to provide. Peter thrived with a strong, consistent and predictable routine of phonics practice, sight word drills and decodable texts to target the areas of reading he struggled with most. After almost two years together, Peter is now reading grade level texts. His favorite series to read during session time is currently Elephant and Piggie books! 

Peter’s success is truly a team effort. Our team along with Peter’s parents worked to find strategies that would work with Peter’s specific needs, not against them. Not only have Peter’s academics grown to grade level but his confidence has soared as well! 

While Peter’s struggles may not be your child's struggles, know that Peter's success at the Learning Room is a reality for many students that receive our services! Our team is dedicated to individualized, consistent and rigorous instruction to help your child reach their learning goals!