While Cynthia Shoemaker is a teacher, she does not try to tackle the role of tutoring her son in the summer.
She describes Samuel, her 10-year-old boy, as strong willed. So to sit down with him to do work in the summer can be a challenge.
Shoemaker thought Samuel would be more receptive to having someone else come to the home to help with his literacy skills after school came to a close. The summer tutoring program run by the P.E.I. Council of People with Disabilities (PEICOD) has proven to be the right fit.
Each tutor in the two years Samuel received tutoring through the program demonstrated excellent skills and were both very personable, says Shoemaker. She says the tutors made learning fun for her son through bringing some variety to the lessons and engaging Samuel in the work.
Samantha Harrison has been a tutor in the program the past two years. She incorporates board games and other fun activities to help liven up literacy for her students. The feedback has been strong.
“Everything I’ve heard has been really positive from the parents that I’ve worked for,’’ she said. “It was great. I loved it.’’
Shoemaker says the summer program met her goal to help Samuel maintain the level of literacy he attained during the previous school year.
That, too, is the goal of the long-running program that the Education Coalition started in 1987 and operated for 17 years before the PEICOD took over seven years ago.
PEICOD executive director Marcia Carroll says the program provides qualified one-on-one specialized support for students with disabilities who are otherwise in danger of losing their literacy/school skills over the summer during the long break away from school.
“What we hear over and over again from parents is what the program does is it really allows their kids to be ready for school come September,’’ said Carroll.
Prior to the introduction of the summer tutoring program, she notes, students with disabilities re-entered school after the summer break at a distinct disadvantage. This meant the students with disabilities were perpetually struggling to maintain their skills and frequently not succeeding, says Carroll.
No surprise then that the tutoring program has proven so popular. An average of 140 students are enrolled in the program each summer while another five to 15 remain on a waiting list. But Carroll says more students can only be taken on if there is enough money to hire additional tutors.
To ensure the program is not watered down, though, each tutor is assigned only 10 or 11 students per summer to work with one-on-one.
“I am sure it is very discouraging for the parents who feel their children need the program (but remain on a waiting list),’’ said Carroll. “For us, it is our fundamental principal to deliver quality programming.’’
The program fills a specific need in the school-life of children with disabilities, says Carroll.
The students receive at least two one-hour one-on-one lessons a week at home from trainee instructional assistants studying the relevant fields at UPEI and Holland College.
Parents pay a nominal fee of $85 for eight weeks of tutoring.
A full-time coordinator oversees the delivery of the Island-wide program.
The annual $100,000 budget is covered through funding from the province, the federal government and the P.E.I. Easter Seals campaign. Carroll stresses the program, which has received support through Guardian literacy fundraising initiatives such as Raise-A-Reader Day and book drives, is only limited to the amount of resources available to it. She said additional funding could clear the waiting list and further grow the number of students enrolled each summer.
Donations can be made to the program by calling Judith Bayless at 892-9149, ext. 233. Inquiries about the program can also be made by calling Bayless.
