The Tutoring Book - California State University, Sacramento

thinking about it and without realizing that their paper has something written that is completely different
than what they think it says.
Every tutee is different and with each one I have to change my expectations as to what a
successful session will look like. Lisa really needed to find the skills to be able to do most of the writing
process by herself without any help and she was much happier as we went through her paper and I gave
her many ideas as to how she could edit and revise and work on her organization. I really felt like a
success and that I had made a difference that day when she turned and said to me, “I really want to thank
you for working with me and not talking down to me at all. Usually when I tell people I have a disability
they talk to me as if I’m an idiot or like I don’t understand English, so I really just wanted to thank you
for helping me.” I was shocked that people treat people with disabilities that way, but I was so ecstatic at
the same time for making a difference in her life. She always randomly talks to me about how she feels
like a failure and that things are too difficult for her sometimes after all the chemotherapy. I really am
empathetic to how she’s feeling and I am just so glad that she now has better tools to help her with her
writing process.
Student 3:
Another experience I had with a tutee that has dyslexia is with a girl named Shannon. Like the
other students described above, Shannon chose to tell me about her disability at the beginning of the
session. She is incredibly determined and an amazing writer; however, her disability hinders her ability to
organize her paper and understand exactly what certain teachers are asking of her when she reads the
prompt. The best way to handle a situation like this, from my experience, is to slowly reread the prompt
multiple times. The first time I read it and then I have her read it back to me and then we both take notes
as to what we think the prompt is asking. After doing this, we compare what we wrote and break down
the prompt so that I can make sure she completely understands the purpose for the essay and how to
develop a thesis for it.
Ideally, student writers will share any specific disabilities that hinder their reading and writing
skills. Some students, however, may not offer this information as readily as Brittany, Lisa and Shannon
did. When working with any student, it is important to take note of recurring errors in his or her writing.
In so doing, you may notice that some of the difficulties that your student is having could be related to
dyslexia. It is best not to jump to any conclusions and ask the student immediately. We advise giving the
student some time to get comfortable with you as his or her tutor. Once the student is comfortable, he or
she may naturally open up and tell you about his or her disability. In the meantime, while you wait to see
if the student is going to share this personal information, adjust your tutoring style as if you already know
this student is dyslexic. The label is not important; helping the student succeed is what matters more than
the label.
The key to working with anyone who has a disability is to be patient. This is a lot to ask for some
people because not all of us are capable of being as patient as we would like to be after half an hour of
trying to explain to someone what a prompt is attempting to get you to write about, but what helps me is
to take a deep breath and continue to try different approaches to explaining what the professor wants. As
tutors we cannot be expected to make miracles happen and due to this you cannot expect to achieve great
amounts of progress during every session. So if the only thing you are able to accomplish in a session
with a dyslexic tutee is to explain what they need to write about, you need to realize that it is a great
accomplishment because you have just done them the biggest favor they could ask for. So I am asking
you to show some patience with your tutees whether they have a disability or not.
**All names have been changed to protect the privacy of the student writers.**
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