Tutorials
Because our students struggle with aspects of language, the Tutorial forms the core of our academic program and is an essential element that sets TSS apart from other schools that teach students with dyslexia, executive function disabilities, and other language-based learning differences. Students in our Lower School have back-to-back tutorials each day, for a total of 150 minutes of intense, systematic, and diagnostic-prescriptive instruction. Upper School students receive one or two periods of tutorial each day, depending on their specific learning needs.
Each day, every student spends time in a tutorial, a group of two to five students with similar learning needs and objectives. In the tutorial, teachers focus on:
- Orton-Gillingham approach for reading instruction.
- The Southport School's Orton-Gillingham Instructional and Training Programs is accredited by the Orton-Gillingham Academy which all teachers are professionally trained and certified.
- Vocabulary and comprehension skills at the word, sentence, and passage level, using Lindamood-Bell’s Visualizing and Verbalizing Method®
- Direct instruction and practice in executive function skills and strategies, which helps students to become independent learners
- Significantly increasing students’ language arts performance level so they can transition to grade-appropriate situations with little or no support services