Help, My Son Still Cannot Read (Part 1/2)

Help, My Son Still Can't Read!
Don't worry, there's a number of reasons and steps to overcome this

By Vanessa von Auer | reprinted with permission from Today's Parents Magazine

FIRST thing’s first – don’t panic! There are a plethora of reasons why your son may not be reading yet. The other tidbit you should know is that your son is not the only one who may not be reading at his age yet.

Being able to calm yourself is essential so that you can be the best “researcher” you can be.

You now need to proactively examine what is delaying your son’s reading development. There are the following possibilities: social/emotional, psychological and developmental.

Social/emotional: If he is not reading because he is having a difficult time at school (i.e. with peers, teachers, separation anxiety, etc.) then this is something that can be easily remedied by involving teachers (integrating him more effectively in the classroom cliques) or his peers (i.e. by inviting them to a sleepover, taking them to an amusement park, etc).

Psychological: Your son maybe averse for some reason to reading. It may not be stimulating or fun enough. Then, when we add the constant reminders that parents often do e.g., “it’s time to do your homework”, or “you can’t go swimming until you finish your reading comprehension”, he may wish for you to believe he can’t read at all to delay the unpleasant consequences of having to read.

Another reason may be related to attentional issues. If he has younger siblings who need more attention, he may temporarily regress to get mommy to sit with him while he reads.

Developmental: Your son may be coping with a learning difficulty. The causes of such difficulties are not well established but it seems to be a real biological/developmental problem. Your son is not being a rebel but he truly has difficulty with stringing sounds together, reading sentences or making sense of the words on his book page.

Click here to read Part 2: Once you identify one or more of the core problems affecting your son you can now be proactive.

Source: Help, My Son Still Cannot Read

Help, My Son Still Cannot Read (Part 2/2)

Help, My Son Still Can't Read!
(Click here to read previous chapter)

Don't worry, there's a number of reasons and steps to overcome this

By Vanessa von Auer | reprinted with permission from Today's Parents Magazine

ONCE you identify one or more of the core problems affecting your son, you can now be proactive:

Social/Emotional: Involve your son’s school, teachers and peers. Provide him with much encouragement to strengthen his confidence and sense of self-worth. Help make going to school enjoyable to him.

Psychological: Motivate your son by making reading enjoyable. Some examples of turning a boring reading exercise into an exciting one would be “flashcards baseball”. Put some words he struggles with on a flashcard. Get him to try and read or sound them out. When he is able to complete this, he is allowed to move to the next base (which could be parts of the home environment i.e. the couch, the chair, etc.).

If he is able to read a complex word or sentence, he gets a homerun. This is just one example of adapting something very mechanical into something stimulating. The extra “mommy time” will also be very much appreciated! Get creative, folks! The more fun your son has the faster he’ll learn.

Developmental: If it does seem that your son is struggling more than usual with his words and has no other emotional or psychological challenges, then it is time to seek a psychoeducational assessment from your friendly neighbourhood clinical or educational psychologist.

This professional will be able to provide you with detailed insight into your son’s developmental difficulties. Identifying his core weaknesses are important so that he can receive appropriate intervention.

It is best to do so at an early age because as your child enters primary school, he will notice at some point that he is not able to keep up with his peers and feel “different”. Without further appropriate intervention, he will grow up thinking that he is not as good as his peers and his self-esteem will plummet.

Vanessa von Auer is a clinical psychologist whose passion consists of working with children and their families to ensure a healthy and happy family environment. She runs the VA Psychology Centre (VAPC), a centre that offers a variety of psycho-socio-emotional services to children, teenagers and adults.

Source: Help, My Son Still Cannot Read

3 Characteristics Of A Good Tutor

How to find a tutor who is a good fit, knowledgeable and passionate?
By P. Sabrina

AS parents, the ultimate goal for your child is to see them improve both their grades as well as self-esteem. However, in today’s society, with the high cost of living, parents are required to go out to society and work. In other words, they are no longer able to put in just as much effort to educate and groom their child to achieve that ultimate goal.

What’s the alternative solution? Get a tutor!

Tutors are those who teach a specific educational subject or skill to an individual or small group of students. Such attention allows the tutor to improve knowledge or skills far more rapidly than in a classroom setting.

However, you can’t just get any tutor, you need the “right tutor”. But the question, really is how to pick the right tutor for your child?

Parents usually have a couple places they can turn to. They either ask a neighbor who might then refer them to someone down the street they heard was a teacher, or they will ask the guidance office at the school that will give them a list of twenty tutors or tutoring services.

They might even ask the teacher as well, but most schools will not allow teachers to tutor students from the same school for compensation and the time the teacher gives after or before school just isn't enough.

Alternatively, in the age of the internet, parents can also plough through the list of Classifieds websites such as 88DB.com, which has its own Tuition category.

So exactly what should you look for in a tutor? Read more for some tips on finding a good tutor.

8 Ways To Advance Your Career

You must stand out from the crowd — be memorable, impressive, credible, trusted and liked
By John Mussi

TO SURVIVE and thrive in today's competitive environment, it is not just what you know. You also need to be competent.

Read more on the 8 Ways To Advance Your Career.

Easy cash through tuitioning

By Mavis Ang


LET’S do some mathematics: If a student tuitions for two hours, twice a week, charging $20 per hour, how much would he make? It would be $320 every month. Compared to other $6 per hour F&B jobs, tuitioning brings in much more cash than that.

Here’s how to go about it all.
Nur Farahanah, 23, is a part-time tutor who teaches English, Mathematics, Science, and Malay for all primary school levels. She charges from $12 to $20 per hour, depending on the number of subjects and the home tuition location.

“I started tuitioning two years back, when my niece needed help with her studies. I found it pretty enjoyable, so I decided to get a little more serious in tuitioning because I realised it could actually give me a steady flow of income,” Farahanah said.
She’s currently handling four other students, and enjoys the extra bucks earned aside from her other part-time job as a camp instructor.

There are many tuition agencies available online, and are often painless to register with. If you’re currently a university student, try Campus Tutors. Besides a free registration with them, they have fixed subject syllabuses for you to follow, so you don’t have to crack your brains to come up with a study plan for your tuition kid.

Charges are also negotiable between the parents and the tuition teacher, but parents are advised to stick to the chart below, as tutors might only impart half of their knowledge on to your child if you underpay them.

Kindergarten Level
Undergards/Graduates - $10-15
NIE trained teachers - $10-22
Full Time - $15-27

Lower Primay Level
Undergards/Graduates - $12-20
NIE trained teachers - $12-30
Full Time - $17-35

Upper Primary Level
Undergards/Graduates - $17-25
NIE trained teachers - $17-40
Full Time - $22-45

Lower Secondary Level
Undergards/Graduates - $17-30
NIE trained teachers - $17-45

Upper Secondary Level
Undergards/Graduates - $20-35
NIE trained teachers - $20-50
Full Time - $25-55

A Level
Undergards/Graduates - $25-40
NIE trained teachers - $25-60
Full Time - $30-65

Keith Ng, Marketing Officer, from Campus Tutors advises, “The most important qualities to possess as a tuition teacher is a high level of patience with the kids, as well as first-rate skills in your specialised subject.”

However, you don’t have to aspire to be a kindergarten teacher to be a tutor.

Chee Wei Yan, 20, has been tutoring since her Junior College days, but rarely now that she has to concentrate on her University studies. She has encountered kids who fall asleep blatantly during tuition sessions, spoilt kids who are rude and bicker with her, as well as kids who are absolute angels.

“Tuitioning is good easy money. Just as long as you understand the needs of your tuition student and structure your lessons to cater to his or her needs, it should be rather standard after a few sessions,” he muses. “Personally, I usually teach maths. So during lessons the student will just show me her homework questions and I guide her along. For English lessons however, I would think need to think of interesting methods to help her with her weaker areas.”

It can be a rewarding experience for those with a passion for working with the younger crowd, but it all boils down to the money doesn’t it? So why not give tuitioning a go if are sick being broke at the end of the month, just before you start bugging your parents for additional pocket money.