Learn about our online reading tutors for elementary students and why we're so passionate about what we do

In your FREE 20 minute Discovery Call, you will have the opportunity to speak with our Owner and Founder, Alexa Imwalle, to explain exactly what you are noticing regarding your child's literacy struggles at home and school. You will also have the opportunity to explain what type of support you are looking for for your child and what your goals are for your child's academic development. Alexa will then determine, based on the information you provide, if we are the best fit to support your child. If so, she will give you more information about the process that we use, what tutoring with Smart Start looks like, and what the recommended next steps would be to begin to close the gap for your child. If Alexa feels that you would be better supported by another specialist, she will be happy to refer you to one of her colleagues. You will walk away from your complimentary Discovery Call with recommendations for how you can begin to stop the struggle for your child today and peace of mind knowing that you are not alone in the journey.

If we determine that your child would be a good fit for the services that Smart Start Tutors provides then the next step would be to schedule an initial assessment. The initial assessment allows Alexa to deep dive into the five categories of your child's reading skills (phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, reading comprehension and vocabulary) to determine EXACTLY what is causing your child's reading struggles. Since every child is different and has unique strengths and areas of struggle, it is important to determine why your child is struggling with reading and what their unique struggles are so Alexa can design an individualized intervention plan to begin closing the gaps for your child. Your child's initial assessment results are used as the baseline for designing a unique learning plan to target their exact needs and goals so that time is not wasted teaching your child skills they already know, but instead allows us to get to work right away closing your child's gaps from the very first tutoring session. We then use the initial assessment results and compare them to your child's follow up assessment results every three months to gauge how much progress your child has made, if the interventions we are using are helping and if any interventions need to be tweaked. Informal assessments are completed continuously, as well, to ensure progress along the way. The initial assessment session takes between 45 minutes to an hour and is completed online from the comfort of your home. In this way, Alexa is able to meet with your child 1-1 in a setting that is already comfortable for your child using high tech technology allowing your child to see and hear Alexa and all the resources she has to share to complete the assessment.

Following your child's Initial Assessment Session, you will receive a full report with your child's assessment results, specific data collected, additional observations made during the assessment, and the intervention plan Alexa has designed specifically for your child. We will then schedule a 30 minute Parent Consultation where Alexa will explain the assessment results, the intervention plan, answer any questions you may have and make recommendations for the package that she believes best suits your child's needs and goals and will allow them to make the quickest progress with lasting results. Ultimately, you know your child best and therefor we leave the task of choosing the package that you believe is best for your child up to you. Once you select your package, we will determine a schedule that works best for your child from our current availability. We will then get started closing the gap for your child with engaging and fun sessions that are based on your child's unique intervention plan rooted in research based multisensory techniques.