Services

Range of Services

You want your family to reach their full potential. KS Learning Strategies can help you get there. Kellie uses her knowledge and experience as a public school special education teacher to deliver high quality interventions. She's also there to help you through the special education process, if needed. Kellie works in person in her home office in North Berkeley. Her clients have come from the Albany/Berkeley/El Cerrito/North Oakland area of California.

3 elementary aged students reading at their desks in a classroom.

(Image from Google Image search 8/2/2022. Public domain. Individuals are not members of KS Learning Strategies.)

Tutoring

Kellie has 15 years experience working with all kinds of K-12 students. "There is a certain kind of thrill when I get to know a young person and can then help them," Kellie says. "I love being a detective -- what is this person's strengths? what might their struggles be? and what is the best way to intervene? "

For some students, intervention is through explicit kinds of instruction like specific phonics or orthographic letter patterns. Math lessons may encompass reviewing and practicing . Games are key to help students practice fluency, and other skills, in math and reading. Other students need support in remembering and understanding what they are reading, generating ideas for writing and/or crafting paragraphs for essays. Kellie believes in tailoring visual, auditory and physical interventions to the needs of the individual sitting in front of her. She is also committed to using a discovery learning process whereby, with guidance and pertinent questions, her clients come to realize a math concept or language expectancy themselves. Kellie is also alert to providing social and emotional strategies that might support student growth.

The process Kellie uses generally follows these stages:

Building a relationship with her students
Assessing informally or formally and then meeting students where they are
Identifying strengths and challenges
Setting Goals
Multi-sensory instruction -- teaching strategies that use different sight, vision, and feeling strategies. This kind of instruction gives students more than one way to learn and make connections.
Building towards independence

Please contact Kellie at 510-488-3883 or Kellie@KSLearning.org to schedule a complimentary 30 minute phone or video conference to discuss your needs and get your questions answered.

Special Education/504 Consultations

Perhaps you are considering having your child evaluated for special education services or a 504 plan. Perhaps, you are already a special education family but have an annual or triennial meeting coming up. You want the best for your child, but have to work through a legalistic, overburdened and bureaucratic system to achieve anything. Kellie can help guide and support you to meet these milestones proactively and with a plan in mind. Kellie thinks of herself as a "coach". Her goals are to work with you to define areas of needs, strategize approach and help set goals. Her years of experience can help de-mystify the SPED/504 process and help develop possible strategies to optimize success. Her mission is to develop the self advocacy skills of parents and families.

You can schedule a complimentary meeting to go over IEP/504 basics and explore if more sessions might be something you might want. Kellie can work with you short term -- analyzing IEPs, assessment reports or 504 plans and making recommendations, for example. Or Kellie could go more in depth with a couple meetings to better outline you and your child's needs and develop strategies for an upcoming meeting. Kellie can also help develop recommendations for classroom accommodations, services or goals. Finally, Kellie could also attend your child's IEP or 504 meeting with you, if necessary. Kellie's focus is building a family's own knowledge and skills so they feel confident in school meetings and work strategically to obtain optimal results.

This picture shows a several hand written paragraphs on a page. One pair of hands holds a pen.

Short Term Tutoring

Educational therapy can be short term. Students and families can try out educational therapy services to see if it works for them. Or interventions may be needed to serve a particular need. For example, Kellie has worked with students to:

keep up with classroom curriculum while going through a period of school avoidance,
review math concepts like long division or linear equations so they are better able to engage productively and confidently at school,
plan and execute successful research projects, like the I-search in 8th grade or the Freshman Forum, a 9th grade rite of passage,
learn note-taking and other study skills,
study and pass their written California drivers test, or
develop, organize and implement their organizational system for the semester/year.

Please reach out if you think Kellie can help with any of your short term needs.

(Image from Google Image search 8/3/2022. Public domain. Individuals are not members of KS Learning Strategies. )

This picture shows an adult woman watching an elementary student work with blocks

Ongoing Tutoring

Sometimes families need ongoing, regular support to help their students get back on track. Kellie is there to support these needs as well. "Students, even young ones, often know what strategies work (or don't work) for themselves," says Kellie. "I endeavor to be a keen observer and avid listener to what my students say and show me."

Kellie uses visual, auditory and physical strategies help students become more successful learners. Here are some specific examples of the breadth of ways Kellie could possibly help your student or family:

provide explicit math instruction in areas like long division or working with variables
bolster their ability to decode and understand grade level words, phrases, and passages
build reading levels, fluency and comprehension
develop and learn personalized strategies to support writing development
support the development of independence related to the organization of time and projects
increase motivation for completing work
aid with homework completion

(Image from Google Image search 8/2/2022. Public domain. Individuals are not members of KS Learning Strategies.)

Specialization in Reading

Reading challenges come in all shapes and sizes and Kellie has probably seen most of them. Kellie has a special knack for working with students who have phonological and orthographic challenges i.e. they have trouble remembering letter sounds or letter patterns. She has extensive experience designing and delivering individualized instruction that addresses the particular reading challenges of her students and supports their successful reading development.

For 9 years, Kellie ran 2-3 reading groups every day utilizing Lindamood Bell and other reading curriculum as a part of Oakland Unified's Reading clinic program (that was disbanded in 2017.) She worked with the most heavily challenged students who had reading difficulties. Since 2022, Kellie has focused her energy and skills working 1:1 in her educational therapy practice. Across settings, her students have increased their comfort and confidence in decoding letter sounds/patterns including words with 2-5 syllables. This, in turn, has positively impacted her students' reading comprehension & brought them up to grade level expectations. Kellie has proven, long term experience, and success, in addressing and advancing students reading skills. She loves watching her students' confidence grow and grow!

(Image from Google Image search 7/11/2023. Public domain. Individuals are not members of KS Learning Strategies.)