Professional and Experienced Teacher, Dyslexia Interventionist, and Certified Orton-Gillingham Instructor!

Professional, Qualified and Experienced Teacher!

I am Jennifer Yenerich, the founder of Once Upon a Time Reading Tutoring. I have a passion for helping young children learn how to read. I find joy in watching children’s faces light up when something finally clicks and they are able to segment a word into its individual sounds or decode a new word. Here at Once Upon A Time Reading Tutoring, we delight and celebrate those breakthroughs.

My mission is to provide instruction based on the Orton-Gillingham Approach.  This includes direct, explicit, multi-sensory, structured, and sequential lessons based on your child’s needs.

My personal experience as a struggling reader. – The Once Upon a Time Reading Tutoring Story

When I was a young child, I found myself struggling to read. I remember the hours my mom spent working with me and the frustration on her face when I still didn’t “get it”. It wasn’t until a special teacher took time out of her busy schedule to privately teach me the phonemic and phonics skills I had somehow missed, that my reading took off. By third grade, I was reading every Beverly Cleary book I could get my hands on. I have a heart for children like me who need that special teacher (or tutor) to come along their side and give them the explicit and systematic instruction they deserve.

There’s more to the Story…My bachelor’s degree in Child Development, my  master’s degree in Early Childhood Education, and 12 years teaching experience in the classroom taught me many things.  Unfortunately, the one thing it didn’t teach me was how to reach my struggling readers.  I was doing everything I had been “trained” to do and yet they weren’t making progress.  I felt helpless.  It wasn’t until many years later, after staying home to raise my own children, that I began to study the Science of Reading.  I learned that most of my struggling readers were probably dyslexic or had some other type of language based learning disability. It was during this time that I discovered the Orton-Gillingham Approach and I haven’t looked back!  Now I structure my reading tutoring based solely on this research based, direct, explicit, and multisensory approach to teaching anyone, especially those with dyslexia, to read.

 

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Child Development
• Master’s degree in Education with an emphasis in Early Childhood (K-3rd)

Qualifications

• Certified Dyslexia Interventionist (Center for Effective Reading)
• Certified Orton-Gillingham Tutor (Institute of Multisensory Education)
• K-8 Teaching Certificate from AZ Dept. of Education
• Early Childhood Endorsement through AZ Dept. of Education
• Reading Endorsement through AZ Dept. of Education
• Current Fingerprint Clearance Card

• 50 hour Orton-Gillingham Practicum through the Institute for Multi-Sensory Education, accredited by the International Dyslexia Association
• 30 hours Orton-GIllingham training from the Institute for Multi-Sensory Education, accredited by the International Dyslexia Association
• Trained in the research based phonics program, Wilson Fundations (An Orton-Gillingham based program)
• Trained in the research based intervention program, 95% Group
• Certified Spalding Instructor (An Orton-GIllingham based program)
• Trained in 6 Syllable Types

• 16 years teaching K-3 in the public schools
• 4 years as a reading interventionist in the public schools
• 8 years one-on-one tutoring experience

The interventions I use are research based and proven to be successful!

Proven Results

Third grade student, Jake, went from reading well below grade level benchmark in August, to meeting all benchmark requirements by May

First grade student, Aimee, went from not knowing all the letters in the alphabet in September, to reading at a first grade level in March.

**Based on 2 fifty minute sessions per week.