The Dyslexic Tutor

My name is Juli Smith, I have dyslexia and I am a passionate educator of dyslexic students. As a result of my personal experience I understand the challenges and mental anguish that accompany dyslexia . Therefore, I have dedicated my career to learning and sharing research-based, multisensory interventions to help dyslexic students overcome their c... hallenges and achieve their dreams. I have worked with hundreds of students with dyslexia over the past ten years. I earned my Masters degree in Special Education from the University of Pittsburgh, which is annually ranked in the top 1% of education programs in the United States. In addition, I am a NILD certified educational therapist and a dual certified special education teacher in Pennsylvania. Most importantly, I am certified for dyslexic tutoring using the two most powerful teaching techniques, Orton-Gillingham and Wilson Reading System®. But I want to start by taking you back to the beginning of my journey as it has ultimately fueled my desire to become a reading tutor. As you know, my name is Juli but my older brother calls me Iluj, which is Juli spelled backwards. I-L-U-J or some other jumble of J-U-L-I is how my name appeared on my papers as late as first grade, I could not spell my own name at six years old. When I was young I struggled tremendously and paled in comparison to my peers. I was embarrassed and would return home from school each day dejected, sad, and demoralized. I would get horrible migraine headaches from the stress my brain was experiencing. THE REASON I AM LUCKY IS BECAUSE OF MY PARENTS. They knew there was a vast difference between my apparent intelligence and my classroom achievement. My expressive language and listening comprehension skills far exceeded my ability to decode and spell words. The question was...WHY? At age 6, my mom took me for a psycho-educational test and I was finally diagnosed as dyslexic. Since there were no schools in our area, public or private, that could provide the educational foundation I needed, my parents ...Read More