• Delayed speech
• Difficulty pronouncing words, i.e. busgetti for spaghetti, mawn lower for lawnmower
• Unable to recall the right word
• Difficulty with rhyming
• Frequent ear infections
• Difficulty mastering tying shoes
• Trouble learning the alphabet, numbers, days of the week, colors, how to spell /write name
• Following multi-step directions or routines
• Late to establish a dominant hand
• Fine motor skills develop slowly
• Difficulty telling or retelling a story in correct sequence
• Difficulty separating sounds in words and blending sounds to make words

• Difficulty decoding single words in isolation
• Terrible speller
• Confuses small words—at-to, said-and, does-goes
• Consistent reading and spelling errors including:
  • Letter reversals-d for b as in dog for bog
  • Word reversals- tip for pit
  • Inversions- m and w, u and n
  • Transpositions- felt and left
  • Substitutions- house and home
• Trouble learning sight words
• Transpose number sequences and confuse arithmetic signs (+ - x /)
• Difficulty memorizing math facts
• May be impulsive and prone to accidents
• Difficulty planning
• Uses an awkward pencil grip
• Difficulty learning to tell time

• Generally reading below grade level
• Reverses letter sequences - left for felt
• Slow to learn prefixes, suffixes, root words and other reading strategies
• Difficulty with spelling
• Avoids reading aloud
• Trouble with word problems in math
• Avoids writing
• Difficulty understanding body language and facial expressions
• Forgetful
• Difficulty with planning and time management

• Reads slowly with many inaccuracies
• Incorrect spelling
• Limited vocabulary
• Procrastinates with reading and writing tasks
• Difficulty summarizing and outlining
• Poor memory skills
• Works slowly
• Poor grasp of abstract concepts
• May misread directions
• Incomplete assignments or completes it but forgets to hand it in.
• Unable to master a foreign language
• Difficulty reading printed music

• Difficulty in processing auditory information
• Losing possessions; poor organizational skills
• Slow reading; poor comprehension
• Difficulty remembering names of people and places
• Poor speller
• Avoids writing
• Difficulty with planning and organization
• Often very competent in oral language
• Relies on memory
• Often has good people skills
• Often is spatially talented; engineers, architects, designers, artists , mathematicians, physicists
• May be good at reading people (intuitive)

• Learning Ally
• International Dyslexia Association
• Yale Center for Dyslexia
• Bright Solutions for Dyslexia
• Dyslexia Screener

• Embracing Dyslexia 20 min interview with Susan Barton
• Dyslexic Advantage
• What’s it like to be Dyslexic
• Famous People with Dyslexia
• What is Dysgraphia
• How do Dyslexics learn?
• Dyslexia and Casting Crowns: Mark Hall

• Overcoming Dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz, MD
• The Dyslexic Advantage: Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain by Brock L. Eide, MD

The following links will lead you to other trained OG tutors from across our country who provide on-line tutoring. They are offered as information only, it is not a referral or endorsement of any particular provider, nor does it make any recommendation or representation about the ability, quality or competence of the resource providers listed here. Use of this website implies consent to this disclaimer.

• Alabama: Auburn – Cora Connelly, M.Ed., A/OGA, Master’s Level Barton
• Alberta, Canada: Edmonton – Diana Sabados Online Barton tutor with teaching background and mother of two dyslexic children
• Arizona
  • Cave Creek/Phoenix/Scottsdale – Jane Gramenz MA Teaching, BA Psychology, Licensed Teacher, Certified Masters Barton Tutor, Advocate, Consultant. In person & on-line services available.
  • Maricopa – Sherry Wootan, Advanced Certified Barton
• California
  • Rancho Cucamonga – Michele Fairchild Advanced Certified Barton tutor and Equipping Minds Tutor. Online remote tutoring.
  • San Clemente – Kelly Christian – Reading and Spelling Tutor. Vantage Point Tutoring – Equipping Dyslexic Learners for a Bright Future.
• Colorado
  • Boulder – Deborah Kratovil, Owner
  • Castle Rock – Ann Mitchell MAED, Certified Orton-Gillingham Methodology Online
  • Centennial – Melissa Bailey Reading Interventionist, Certified Teacher Grades K-6. Over 25 years of experience teaching reading and language arts. Trained OG and Barton Reading & Spelling Program. Remote over Zoom.
  • Greeley – Sue BridgmanFounder/Executive Director of Bridging the Gaps Dyslexia Center, a nonprofit (501c3) organization.
  • Highlands Ranch – Donna Duffy, M.Ed, retired teacher with over 25 years of teaching experience. Reading With Success, LLC.
  • Virtual Only – Breeanna Murphy, M.Ed. Literacy, LETRS certified, dyslexia advocate, IMSE trained comprehensive & morphology, Orton-Gillingham tutor. Virtual Tutoring.
• Florida
  • Land O’ Lakes – Jen Opitz Owner/ Reading Specialist/OG Tutor
  • Tampa – Helena Svanstrom – Master Level Certification in Barton Reading and Spelling System – 8 years of experience
• Georgia
  • Atlanta
    • Ladder Learning Services, Online Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, and Dyscalculia tutoring services
    • Holly Justice, OG Certified, SWI, Advocacy, Barton
    • Lauren Hammond, M.Ed., Special Education Consultant, Barton Tutor, Multisensory Math Tutor
  • Dublin – Brianna Preston, Eureka Reading Services, Certified Dyslexia Specialist. One-on-one dyslexia therapy and reading intervention.
• Hawai’i: Kailua – Emily Laidlaw, Providing help to parents and educators.
• Iowa: Williamsburg – Mindy VanZuiden certified Dyslexia Specialist providing Barton, Foundation in Sounds, IEW, HWT, and LIPS
• Massachusetts: Holland (virtual only) – Mary C. Scannell M.Ed., Barton Tutor, Reading Specialist/Diagnostician & English Teacher. Virtual Educational Assessments, Reading Interventions & Advanced Writing Instruction
• Michigan
  • Linden – Lisa Barnett, BA Special Education, SWI Tutor and Coach
  • Midland – Leane Priest, Transformation Reading, Barton Spelling and Reading, Dyslexia
• Minnesota
  • Duluth – Deb Dwyer, OG-CTT, ICALP, CDP. Online tutoring option.
  • White Bear Township – Evelyn Haselmann, Barton Trainer, Tutor, Consultant, The 20% Club.
• Missouri: St. Louis
  • Jillian Miesen, reading specialist
  • Robin Boda, Executive Director / Dyslexia Consultant. Helping students who struggle in the typical classroom make sense of learning.
• New Jersey: Cream Ridge – Mrs. Jeffries CALT in training
• North Carolina: Wilmington – April Coggins Dyslexia Specialist. Nationwide Reading Dyslexia Tutor.
• Ohio: Cincinnati – Andrea Trapp, Ph.D.
• Saskatchewan, Canada: Regina – Ellen MacPherson – Reading and Spelling Tutor. Online and in person instruction available. Programming available: Barton Reading and Spelling System, LiPS, SPIRE, Equipped for Reading Success.
• South Carolina: Mount Pleasant – Charlene Morgan A/AOGPE, MAT Ed., Orton-Gillingham reading and writing academic therapy along with Multisensory math tutoring.
• Virginia: Loudon County – Kelly Rogan, M.Ed- Literacy Specialist / OG & Barton trained. We specialize in supporting students with Dyslexia, ADHD, & Executive Functioning.
• Washington: Seattle (virtual only) – Erin Daniels, Orton Gillingham and Multisensory Math tutor. Erin tutors virtually, working with students across the US and beyond.
• Wisconsin
  • Milwaukee – Paula Stone, CALP
  • Wausau – Dana Glaser, Speech-Language Pathologist and Orton-Gillingham tutor

Our child grew tremendously working with Lisa. Our child completed the Barton program and gained confidence and accuracy in reading and spelling. Lisa is kind, patient and knowledgeable when working with students with dyslexia. We are incredibly thankful that she was our child’s tutor.

Art & Aimee

I wanted to let you know that Conner graduated high school last week with over a 4.0 GPA from Wake Christian Academy and was accepted to both Virginia Tech and NCSU in their School of Engineering and has accepted a place in the Honors Program at NCSU where he plans to study Mechanical Engineering this fall.

He would have never accomplished this without your faithful service and help to our family. I just wanted to reach out and give you a BIG THANK YOU! What you do matters, and it changes lives and we are so blessed by God that He brought you to us when He did.

I watched Conner go from a struggling frustrated student who often lashed out in anger because of his dyslexia. Your teaching techniques and positive influence made a world of difference. Now Conner is a well-adjusted, well behaved and confident student with good marks in all subjects.

Blessings to you and many thanks again!

Stephanie

During a time when I was at a loss for how to help my son, Lisa Durham was a beacon of hope! From the first day of tutoring, she took the time to learn about my son, his personality, and his learning differences. She met him where he was at, and helped re-build his confidence.

With the Barton Method, she gave him solid tools that he could understand and build on. And, when he needed encouragement, she kept him engaged with many different activities.

Now, my son is in 8th grade and reading without difficulty. It took time and effort, but the payoff was so worth it. I am thankful every day for Lisa’s expertise, patience, and encouragement. She is a wonderful teacher, a great partner to parents, and a true advocate for her students.

Marisa R.

When we brought our son to Lisa several years ago, we were at our wits end as to how to help him overcome his reading difficulties. His dyslexia was affecting everything in his life, especially his desire to learn and work on his education. He was struggling and his test scores put him several grades behind in almost every subject.

Over the 3 years that Lisa worked with our son, his test scores improved dramatically and his ability to read, write and communicate jumped up significantly. At the end of last year, our son was at or exceeding his grade level in verbal, reading and writing categories, but more importantly - he was confident in his ability to learn.

His writing teacher commented on how our son has become one of the best writers in her class, and has leaped past other students who formerly wrote circles around him.

Lisa is patient, wise and relational. Our son really enjoyed going to her peaceful house each week and working with her. Tutoring with Lisa has been the single best educational investment we have made with our dyslexic son to bring him to a place of achievement and confidence with reading, writing and communicating.

Thanks!
Russ

After having great difficulty throughout kindergarten with phonics, reading and writing, our daughter, Jennifer was diagnosed with dyslexia the first month of first grade, September, 2010. It was recommended that she immediately start tutoring with a specialist. Jennifer attends a private school that does not offer the staff qualified to help her like public school systems do. School administrators suggested that Jennifer may not be able to stay in the school, because they could not help with her learning disability. Lisa Durham’s name was recommended to us as a possible candidate to assist Jennifer with her learning disabilities. We were and continue to be so grateful to find Lisa due to our lack of knowledge to appropriately assist our child to excel in school.

Jennifer began tutoring sessions with Lisa in October, 2010 and by the end of first grade, she had completely surpassed all of our and her teacher’s expectations. Jennifer has continued with Lisa through second grade and is now testing on a fourth grade reading level, been taken out of the slow reading classes at school, and is a solid A / B student. Lisa has given Jennifer the skills she needs to learn in her own way and the self-confidence she needs to succeed in her academic career and she has helped us to better understand dyslexia and be able to work with her at home. Jennifer will continue to have her tutoring sessions with Lisa and is now starting third grade at the same private school in which she began and loves.

I highly recommend any parent that has a child with dyslexia to take them to Lisa for tutoring. Lisa Durham is a true blessing to our family and we are eternally grateful for all she has done to help Jennifer succeed.

Jeff and Leslie H.

We found out about Lisa though a Yahoo group. Prior to that, our son struggled for several years as we spent money and time on programs and methods that didn’t help him overcome his severe dyslexia. I wanted so badly to see him enjoy reading but more than that, I wanted to see him gain confidence when it came to school assignments. When we met Lisa, I immediately felt a sense of relief. It was evident to me that she was very knowledgeable and experienced in her work with struggling readers.

It only only took a few months of tutoring with Lisa and the Barton Reading & Spelling System, for my husband and I to see the progress and growing confidence in our son. She has helped him overcome so much; not only is he a good reader now, he actually enjoys it and often reads to his little brother, something I had always hoped to see. We are forever grateful for Lisa and her work that helped get our son where he is today.

Anna W.

My son struggled with reading all through elementary school. He was consistently 2-3 years behind his peers. We tried so many tutors over the course of 4 or 5 years without really seeing any progress. When it came time for Middle School, we realized there was no way he'd be able to keep up with the curriculum and he just seemed to get more and more stressed out over school. We made the decision to try home schooling and had him educationally tested, which confirmed our assumptions that he was dyslexic. Realizing that he needed specialized tutoring not available in the school system, we sought out help from someone familiar with dyslexia and the Orton Gillingham approach.

Lisa was recommended to us by some friends who also have a dyslexic son. We met with Lisa and instantly knew she was the one to help him! After three years with Lisa, and completing 9 levels with the Barton Reading and Spelling program, I'm happy to say my son is heading off to high school with way more confidence that I ever could have imagined! Lisa was truly a God send and we are so very grateful we found her!

Brenda

We have been working with Lisa Durham for several years, and my children have progressed beautifully under her experienced tutoring. She has taken my daughter all of the way through the Barton program, and now my daughter is excelling in reading and writing as she enters 8th grade. My son has made steady progress with her as well.

Lisa is always pleasant with the kids and builds a caring relationship with them as they work through Barton materials. Lisa incorporates many games, methods, and approaches that are unique to each learner and their learning style. She supports and encourages me as a parent in the challenges of parenting and teaching kids with learning differences. Her years of experience tutoring numerous children with challenges gives her a perspective that is invaluable. For tutoring children with learning differences, I recommend Lisa wholeheartedly!

Tamara