RightMinds Tutoring

New research from the University at Buffalo found that AI-powered handwriting analysis can detect early signs of dyslexia and dysgraphia in young children.

The researcher's goal is to make screening faster, more affordable, and more accessible - especially in underserved communities where specialists are in short supply.

The sooner a child gets the right support, the more of their school journey they experience with confidence rather than frustration.

Read the full story: buffalo.edu/news/releases/2025/05/detect-dyslexia-with-AI-powered-handwriting-analysis.html

What do you think about using technology to identify learning differences earlier?

Scratch pattern rockets and spaceships.

Thank You for all of your support.

What You Won’t Find at Our Tutoring Centers

❌ Children spending hours parked in front of Chromebooks or iPads

❌ Endless clicking, guessing, and pecking away at screens

❌ One-size-fits-all computer programs such as i-Ready, Read 180, System 44, Lexia, or ALEKS

❌ Learning that prioritizes data collection over meaningful instruction

❌ Passive learning experiences where children are expected to sit still for long periods of time

❌ Drill-and-kill activities that fail to address the root causes of reading and learning difficulties

❌ Rigid environments where children are expected to ignore their physical and emotional needs

❌ Teaching that skips foundational skills and jumps straight to abstract concepts before children are ready

What You Will Find at Our Tutoring Centers

✅ Explicit, systematic, evidence-based instruction grounded in the Science of Reading and Structured Literacy

✅ Direct teaching of:

* Phonological awareness
* Phonics
* Orthographic mapping
* Morphology
* Etymology
* Vocabulary
* Reading fluency
* Reading comprehension
* Written expression

✅ Highly trained tutors who have completed 40–70+ hours of Orton-Gillingham and/or Structured Literacy training

✅ Developmentally appropriate learning experiences that meet children where they are and build skills step-by-step

✅ Multisensory instruction that engages visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile pathways to strengthen learning and memory

✅ Sensory-rich learning opportunities that help children stay regulated, focused, and engaged

✅ Hands-on activities that make learning meaningful and memorable

✅ Learning through movement, exploration, discovery, and interaction

✅ Concrete learning experiences before abstract expectations

We believe children learn best when they can touch it, move it, build it, manipulate it, discuss it, and experience it. Before asking a child to understand a concept on paper, we provide opportunities to interact with it in meaningful ways.

✅ Manipulatives, games, puzzles, and hands-on materials that bring concepts to life

✅ Opportunities for creativity, curiosity, and independent thinking

✅ Problem-solving activities that develop executive functioning and critical-thinking skills

✅ Play-based learning experiences that foster engagement, confidence, and deeper understanding

Because Learning Is More Than Academics

✅ Relationship-based teaching that recognizes trust and connection as essential ingredients for learning

✅ Tutors who truly know their students—their strengths, interests, challenges, and goals

✅ Encouragement, support, and genuine human interaction

✅ A welcoming environment where children feel safe, seen, and valued

✅ Opportunities to build confidence, resilience, perseverance, and self-advocacy skills

Because Children Are Human Beings, Not Machines

✅ Freedom to move when their bodies need movement

✅ Movement breaks that support attention, regulation, and learning

✅ Sensory breaks when needed

✅ Bathroom access without unnecessary restrictions

✅ Snack breaks when children are hungry

✅ Flexible seating and learning spaces designed to support engagement and comfort

We understand that children learn best when their physical, emotional, sensory, and cognitive needs are respected.

Our Philosophy

We believe children deserve more than screens, worksheets, and standardized programs.

They deserve skilled teachers, meaningful relationships, engaging experiences, hands-on learning, and instruction tailored to how the brain actually learns.

At our centers, children are not passive recipients of information. They are active participants in their learning journey—moving, exploring, questioning, creating, problem-solving, and developing the skills they need to become confident, capable, lifelong learners.

Because the best learning happens through human connection, purposeful instruction, meaningful experiences, and the freedom to be a child. ❤️📚🌊

Our paper maché Sun catchers are out of this world

According to the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), only about 31% of U.S. fourth graders are proficient in reading.

That means roughly 14 out of every 20 children are not reading at a proficient level.

We often discuss literacy rates as percentages, charts, and statistics.

But those numbers represent real children.

Children who entered school excited to learn.

Children with dreams, talents, and potential.

Children whose futures will be shaped in part by whether they learn to read.

An uncomfortable question remains:

Are we comfortable knowing that our systems, policies, instructional practices, and curriculum decisions produce these outcomes year after year?

Because when the results are predictable and persist decade after decade, they are no longer accidents.

They are choices.

And right now, those choices are leaving 14 out of 20 children behind.

There is so much learning happening in this one activity!

Our students’ M.I.N.D. strengths shine here—they are natural pattern seekers who excel in visual-spatial thinking, innovation, and dynamic reasoning. These strengths often lead them to success as engineers, architects, artists, and entrepreneurs. Their ability to recognize patterns and solve complex problems is remarkable.

Using an Orton-Gillingham approach, we are explicitly teaching vowel teams through hands-on, multisensory practice. In this lesson, students sort and read words containing vowel teams such as ai, ay, ee, ea, oa, ow, ou, oi and oy. By reading, comparing, and categorizing words, students strengthen their pattern-recognition skills while learning that multiple graphemes can represent vowel sounds.

In this photo, the student is actively engaged in sorting dozens of vowel team words into their correct categories. This type of word sorting encourages students to analyze patterns, make connections, and uncover the structure of language. Rather than memorizing words, they are learning the “why” behind spelling.

This activity incorporates the multisensory components that are central to Orton-Gillingham instruction. Students see the vowel teams, say the sounds aloud, read the words, and physically manipulate the cards as they sort them. Engaging visual, auditory, and kinesthetic pathways simultaneously strengthens memory and supports long-term retention.

As students work through the word cards, they develop phonemic awareness, decoding skills, spelling accuracy, and pattern recognition—all essential building blocks for skilled reading.

One of the most rewarding moments is watching students realize that English spelling is not random or irregular— it is actually very logical. As they discover patterns and make connections, confidence grows and reading becomes less overwhelming.

Structured, systematic, multisensory instruction helps students leverage their strengths and become successful readers—one vowel team at a time.