Online English Language Tutor Dora

I am a skilled lecturer with 12+ years' experience delivering instruction, evaluating students, developing and implementing schemes of work for English and Maths (KS3-KS4 / GCSE and Functional Skills). I also specialise in tutoring 8 + and 11+ (English and Maths), EFL (English as a Foreign Language) and ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages): all levels.

While between 2007 and 2015 I taught at various secondary state schools and further education colleges in Hereford (Herefordshire College of Technology, The Bishop of Hereford's Bluecoat School) and London (e.g. Alperton Community School, Ealing Alternative Provision, South Thames College, etc.), since March 2016 I have been tutoring – mainly in alternative provision - on a full-time basis throughout London.
My extensive experience in the field ranges from delivering English for Academic Purposes (EAP) to an undergraduate US student with a hearing impairment (CAPA, The Global Education Network) to teaching English and Maths to Special Educational Needs (SEN) pupils - including some gifted and talented learners with Asperger's, autistic spectrum, etc. in alternative provision (Fleet Tutors, Axcis, and SENsational Tutors) throughout London.

Lastly, the last 12 years of my professional career I have spent teaching and providing tutorial assistance (including undertaking the necessary preparation, assessment and marking), assisting students during class exercises, developing and implementing schemes of work, participating in the assessment and examination of students (oral and written), monitoring student activity via various systems including Moodle (Uxbridge College) and Individual Learning Plans (SEN pupils; Fleet Tutors), preparing teaching materials (various subjects) and, finally, undertaking administration related to the above.

My specialist skills and experience working with students with autism: I have worked with many students with autism including Asperger's. Whenever I do, I try and fit the learning to the student and understand how they learn and what does or does not motivate them. In my experience a structured environment for students with ASD is vitally important to ensure a familiar routine including consistency. Structure and consistency helps to build trust and this allows students to make more progress. When working with student with autism I am: calm, patient and willing to try different strategies.

My experience of working with pupils displaying challenging behaviour: When working with pupils displaying some challenging behaviour, one needs to define their position right from the start. It is therefore absolutely vital that pupils are made aware of the following: 1. What the rules are; 2. What happens in real life (understanding the consequentiality of actions); 3. What my boundaries are; 4. What the consequences for his/her behaviour will be. It is essential to model for the pupil how to recognise his/her own emotions and find ways to deal with them non–violently. Considering, a power struggle is often a trigger to defiance and/or physical aggression, it is essential to de–escalate the situation before it hits that point. This can be done by means of a controlled and intelligent approach. Appealing to the pupil’s good aspects of character (without being condescending or verbose) usually mitigates difficult situations of this kind. However, since it’s not about winning but teaching skills, sometimes it is best to end the power struggle by walking away from a given situation. The pupil will eventually know the answer, provided that the rules were defined at the very beginning. On a final note, the important thing is how one handles the extremes. When pupils are in a defiant mode, re-engagement can often be attained by switching to the task that best caters for their interest. I truly believe that no one wants to enter adulthood without the essential life skills: at the end of the day, the pupils really need us to teach them those skills they’ll need as they mature into adults.

Experience as life coach and an academic mentor (including additional study skills support): I have recently become a life coach and an academic mentor of a female student (Year 10) who is currently attending Surbiton High School. Our highly interactive sessions feature a great range of topics focusing on the fine tuning of, inter alia, the specificity and clarity of written and oral expression as well as general life skills such as time management, revision techniques, interpersonal communication, to name but a few. In addition, since October 2019 I have been working with another female student (currently in Year 11) attending Sacred Heart School, London. Considering the fact that the student did not read nor write at all between March and October 2019 (stress-related mental breakdown), her parents contacted me in October 2019, desperately seeking my help. Following a series of intensive sessions between October 2019 and July 2019 (3 h per week) that featured all sorts of unconventional tuition techniques ranging from philosophical discussions or Origami to Higher Tier GCSE mathematics, the student was so motivated and determined to get back to school, she was finally allowed to sit her Year 11 (re-entry) exams at the beginning of September 2020, which she passed successfully.

My skills and experience teaching social skills and friendship skills: There are several social and friendship skills that can easily be taught at any developmental stage. These are as follows

Communication Skills: The Importance of Asking Questions. As asking good questions is often the entry strategy for building friendships, brainstorming with pupils what types of questions they might ask, when an opportunity to make friends comes, is an excellent practice for developing social skills in any social occasion. Examples of practice questions can be as follows ‘What do you like to do after school? What’s your favourite sport? What’s in your lunch? How many brothers and sisters do you have?’

Teaching How to Find Good Friends. One of the secrets behind the ability to discern who might be a good friend is finding others who share some of the same interests. Rather than trying to fit in with any group or forcing oneself into a friendship or a group where one is not wholeheartedly welcome, it is vital that one should realise how important it is to discover one’s own ‘tribe’, which may be just one or two other like-minded individuals / peers. Also, as our nonverbal communications are powerful, teaching children that smiling, standing up straight and/or giving eye contact all contribute to others naturally perceiving them as friendly and approachable.

Taking Action. For a friendship to begin, it is essential that someone should first take action. Taking turns to invite another pupil to do something or joining in with what another pupil or group is/are already doing are some of the useful strategies to initiate friendships. The skill can be taught by explaining this concept and brainstorming simple, low-risk invitations such as ‘Do you want to play basketball or something else? Can I sit next to you? Do you want to join me?, etc.’

The Importance of Sharing. Sharing is an important social skill, because if done well, it can enhance friendships. When lacking or done poorly, it can serve as a hindrance. Some children need assistance learning to take turns and share objects such as toys, books, etc. As they get older, children need to learn to share about themselves in a way that does not sound boastful but helps others get to know them. Therefore, it is vital that the importance of sharing about yourself to help others get to know you should be taught. Asking questions and listening to what others have to say can be a simple and effective strategy to develop social skills and build / enhance friendships. As sharing the spotlight is an important skill, allowing others to be in the limelight sometimes is a useful skill for life.

The Importance of Developing Coping Strategies for Difficult Emotions. It is essential that those who struggle with regulating and acting on their feelings learn to handle difficult emotions in a constructive way: verbalising difficult emotions by talking about their causes and specifying remedial coping strategies is an essential strategy for anyone’s lifelong emotional health. Teaching individuals to seek support, redirect attention, explain their difficult feeling such as anger or sadness and reconcile, or just find a funny side of the problem can be extremely useful for defusing any tension.

The importance of Empathy and Kindness. As self-awareness, self-regulation, and the ability to take another’s perspective are some of the skills children must come to know, reasoning about another person's perspective (e.g. you ‘put yourself in my shoes,’ and ‘try to imagine what I am thinking or feeling’) or wanting to help -feeling sympathy and concern for someone who is vulnerable or distressed are some stepping stones towards effective social interaction and friendship building. Finally, complimenting others is also a great way to show kindness and a good skill to practice.

My skills and experience working with students with FASD: Working in alternative provision (Fleet Tutors) between 2011 and 2019 in London has provided me with significant experience of mentoring and 1-to-1 tuition of pupils diagnosed with FASD. This is what worked: the importance of a consistent routine, structured environment, variety, brief presentations, and repetition. In addition, other effective aspects of working with pupils diagnosed with FASD are creativity, compassion, flexibility, humour and, above all, patience.

Experience of working with pupils diagnosed with ADD and ADHD: Having been working with students diagnosed with ADD and ADHD since 2015 (Fleet Tutors and SENsational Tutors / London), I have drawn the following conclusions: Relating to pupils as individuals rather than as ‘categories’ enhances their confidence; Impulses can be controlled by slowing down reactions and self-examination: "Ask yourself, why am I doing this?"; Enhancing positive inter-personal relations stimulates learning; Using non-confrontational approaches provides effective solutions; Adopting a more ‘therapeutic’ rather than ‘punitive’ approaches provides constructive outcomes; Careful monitoring of individual students and groups optimises individual learning success; Keeping students out of trouble and ‘on track’ allows for longstanding target achievement; Working collaboratively with others – students, families as equal partners – optimises students’ progress; Working collaboratively with other professionals (teaching assistants, speech therapists, educational psychologists) is crucial for any effective student pastoral and educational support; Managing any disruptive behaviour without disrupting the lesson - as far as possible (e.g. eye contact, diffusing situation with humour, and avoid creating confrontations) – eliminates unnecessary time / potential waste and refines learning process.

Some of the tips and teaching that I use to assist students with ADD and ADHD are as follows: (1) Considering the fact that students with ADD or ADHD may not remember lengthy oral directions, it is advisable that written directions that allow students to refer back to them when needed should be provided. As students can check off or mark the paper directions when they complete a step in the task, having them accessible while completing an assignment ensures students stay on track. (2)Giving one piece of directions at a time is helpful for pupils with ADD and ADHD. This helps them stay focused on one task at a time as well as helps maintain focus through the class period. By breaking down directions, students are able more likely to successfully complete tasks and answer directions when devoting complete focus to one thing at a time. (3) Students with ADHD may need to be redirected, since they may not have listened to directions carefully. Checking classwork and homework a few minutes after beginning a task provides the opportunity to redirect efforts. (4) Learning patterns in math makes it easier to understand and remember concepts. Memory devices such as mnemonics - e.g. “don’t miss Susie’s boat” to remember how to do long division (divide, multiply, subtract, bring down) - may make a significant difference. (5) Charts and graphs are a great way to assist pupils with ADD and ADHD to remember the steps needed for complex calculations. Computers and smartboards also help students interact with the material in different ways. This can affect transfer from short-term to long-term memory.

How I can help a student if they have short-term working memory: I use the following techniques: Acronyms (words that are formed by using the first letters of information to be remembered). e.g. NBA (National Basketball Associations), SCUBA (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus). A common acronym for remembering the five Great Lakes—Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Eerie, and Superior—is HOME. Abbreviations (formed by using the first letters of each word of the information to be remembered). e.g. mic (microphone), ASAP (as soon as possible), approx. (approximately). Acronymic sentences (sentences that are formed from words that begin with the first letter of each word of the information to be remembered). e.g. My Dear Aunt Sally (mathematical order of operations: Multiply and Divide before you Add and Subtract). Pegwords (words that rhyme with numbers and are used to build associations with information to be remembered). e.g. The number one could be associated with a bun, two with a shoe, three with a tree, four with a door, five with a hive, six with sticks, and seven with heaven. Keywords (familiar words that sound like words to be learned; keywords can be used to create mental images that you can use to remember new words and their definitions). e.g. Why I Love My Dog. Adopting her/ Personality/ Kind (example)/ Sense of humour (example)/ How she assists us. Rhymes (poems or verses used to remember information) and songs. e.g. “Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November …” “i before e, except after c” or “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” Chunking (grouping individual pieces of information in a manner that makes them easier to remember i.e., relation, hierarchical importance, function, etc. e.g. The individual digits 1, 9, 6, and 1 may be easier to remember as the year 1961; the digits 6, 2, 5, 4, 3, 9, and 1 might be more readily recalled as the telephone number 625-4391; and a grocery list might be more easily remembered by food category (i.e., fruits, vegetables, and so on). Graphic organizers (visual representations that show how the information is organized). e.g. diagrams, spider diagrams, tables, graphs, flow charts, images / icons, etc. Spider diagrams (to group the ideas according to their importance; to classify the related ideas). Diagrams for remembering the structure / components of a given object / entity such as flowcharts

My specialist Maths teaching strategies: First and foremost, one must consider a specific tutee’s learning style (e.g. visual, auditory or kinaesthetic) before an individual learning plan / strategy is established. Considering the fact that some of my students may occasionally find it challenging to solve word problems, I find it essential to boost their confidence by familiarising them with some of the available inference strategies such as the SOS (Simplify, Organise and Solve) technique, for instance. Optimising students’ focus and engagement, the method enables them to successfully break down the oftentimes verbose word problems into smaller - ‘more palatable’- components. In essence, the strategy involves boxing (B), underlining (U) and circling (C) of crucial information and discarding (K for 'Knock') what is unnecessary (the so-called BUCK technique). Suffice it to say, it is vital that my students should acquire some indispensable information-discriminatory skills that would allow them to extract some crucial information and discard the surplus. Keeping in mind that concentration may vary among the individuals, it might be essential that tasks must be diversified and their length varied.

Maths teaching experience and skills: 2013 – 2014: Maths GCSE Enhancement Programme, National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics, Uxbridge College, Middlesex/ 2012 – 2015: Functional Skills Maths Coordinator; Uxbridge College, Middlesex/ 2012 – 2015: Functional Skills and GCSE Maths Teacher; Uxbridge College, Middlesex/ 2015 – Present: Maths Tutor (11 +; KS2 – GCSE/KS4); Fleet Tutors / SENsational Tutors, London/ 1-to-1 tuition. I have a specialist qualification to teach mathematics (up to GCSE level incl. Higher Tier)

My clients include various individuals attending various London (mainly independent sector) schools such as Kew Home School, Kensington Park School, Riverston School, Southbank International School and Sacred Heart School. I provide (foundation and higher tier) mathematics tuition for the following exam boards: Edexcel, AQA and IGCSE; also, I have considerable experience of ISEB tests preparation using, inter alia, Atom Learning.

Boosting independence and self-evaluation: Involving students in the process of teaching and optimising their learning can be attained by means of methodical self-assessment. Helping students understand their own learning by means of (short and long term) target setting and review, and develop appropriate strategies for “learning to learn” (can a pupil explain in his own words what he / she has just learnt?) allows them to self-evaluate and actively (consciously) experience their educational attainment.

Experience of working with students diagnosed with dyspraxia and/or dysgraphia: Considering dyspraxia and/or dysgraphia often impacts on writing, reading and spelling abilities, a pupil with dyspraxia may require more time to process new tasks. The importance of helping students with organization and planning by giving structured instructions with clear directions and remembering to provide plenty of feedback and praise when due, to keep motivation high, are some of the most crucial lessons I have learned in my long teaching career. Additionally, as pupils with dyspraxia might also experience more success when they over-learn material through repetition and a graded step-by-step approach, they should be given clear step-by-step instructions as to how to approach their homework, whatever the subject. Some of the useful tips for students with dyspraxia are:

Students with dyspraxia may find it easier to write using wide-stemmed pencils and pens, or by applying rubber grips to their writing utensils. Be aware that ballpoint pens can sometimes release an excess amount of ink depending on how they are manipulated, so stick with felt-tip pens and keep plenty of erasers handy. One can also help pupils with dyspraxia with writing by providing graph paper to guide them in letter placement and spacing. Colourful, lined paper for students who tend to write using larger letters can also be helpful.

Going over task directions and requirements several times is crucial. Therefore, writing task instructions in short sentences and using checklists for assignments with multiple parts works miracles. Demonstrating a task and reading directions out loud, in addition to providing a printed version, provides additional support as it clarifies the task and ensures everyone is on the same page.

Since writing things out by hand can be very frustrating for the dyspraxic pupil and can cause them to struggle to keep up and follow your lesson, allowing them to use computers or provide electronic copies of material in advance to reduce note-taking strain may make a significant difference. Fill in the blank or matching exercises (that test comprehension without requiring lengthy written responses) are also very helpful.

It can make a huge difference in concentration abilities if a child with dyspraxia is given an opportunity to pause, get up from their desk, stretch and move around before continuing on with a lesson.

Processing time is not the same for every student and dyspraxic children can greatly benefit from having more time to understand task requirements and complete assigned work. Time in lessons is key but so is giving extended and flexible deadlines for homework and even providing high school level students with extra time to travel from class to class.

Providing written, visual and recorded support HELPS. For instance, while bullet points and other formatting call attention to important aspects of an assignment that may otherwise go unnoticed. It is also beneficial to use images and break long chunks of text up, when reading is a challenge, it can be helpful for a child with dyspraxia to have recorded materials to listen to. This reduces the amount of written text required for processing and can save mental resources for responding and reacting to source material instead.

It is helpful to formulate a list of class rules and have all of your students contribute to it. Using role-play to act out situations that encourage the social skills a student needs to be part of the classroom community is especially useful. Lastly, if a lesson includes using scissors, folding paper, or any other task that might cause a dyspraxic child to struggle, it is crucial to provide plenty of assistance and try to introduce the student to the activity beforehand, so he or she has a chance to practice and get familiar with the physical manipulations required.


Experience of working with students diagnosed with dyslexia: First, many years of working in an alternative provision sector taught me that pupils with dyslexia often need a boost to their self-confidence before they can learn to overcome their difficulties. It is therefore essential to give praise for small achievements. Second, preparing printout of homework and sticking them in pupils’ books as well as providing numbered steps, e.g. 1. Do this. 2. Do that, etc. saves anxiety, aids confidence, and gets things done. Third, as pupils with dyslexia may be verbally bright but struggle to put ideas into writing, it is frequently essential to allow them more time for reading, listening and understanding. Forth, as words are likely to be misread or skipped, causing embarrassment, it is not a good idea to ask a person with dyslexia to read aloud. Fifth, it is really helpful to discuss an activity to make sure it is understood: visualising the activity or linking it to a funny action may help pupils with dyslexia remember. Finally, as it is essential to make written material dyslexia friendly, bullet points may be more useful than blocks of text. Also, since dyslexic students may have particular difficulty with print that is black on white, if possible, using a pastel shade for hand-outs may make a considerable difference. Choosing a clear font (e.g. Arial and a font size of at least 12 point) that makes reading easier for dyslexic pupils.

Experience working with students with dyscalculia: Working with pupils with dyscalculia requires considerable patience and empathy as they usually suffer from high levels of mathematics anxiety stemming from their pronounced difficulties in remembering basic mathematical facts. Considering the fact that some pupils may be slow to perform calculations, showing patterns to them and performing frequent recaps / revisions are therefore important remedial strategies to combat dyscalculia related problems. Additionally, it is crucial that some maths strategies, such as specifying place value or mental arithmetic that pupils with dyscalculia usually struggle with, should be carefully explained and shown why (rather than told to be done in one way and not the other). Furthermore, as far as ‘failure management’ is concerned, it is crucial that errors should be first identified and then interpreted, rather than deemed as ‘wrong’ and/or hurriedly explained.

Experience working with non-verbal students: My time at Highshore School (2018-2019), a complex mixed needs special secondary (age range 11 – 19) school situated in Camberwell, in the London Borough of Southwark with 147 pupils - every pupil has a statement of Special Educational Needs (including cerebral palsy) - on roll and Fleet Tutors (2011 - 2019), alternative provision provided me with an invaluable experience of working with non-verbal and had severe learning difficulties such as marked cognitive and development delay, visual and hearing impairment. Considering non-verbal communication is a bridge to language development, So, it’s important to encourage their development as a precursor to speech, it is essential that teachers should model non-verbal communications, like hand gestures and eye contact, by exaggerating their own hand gestures and making it easy for pupils to copy them. When one wants a pupil to do something, it should be communicated by demonstrating it and nodding “yes” when they do it. There are many types of assistive devices available that are designed to help pupils to communicate, both those who are capable of talking and those that are completely non-verbal. It’s important to understand that these devices are not just meant to take the place of speech; they are designed to be a foundation for communication as well. Visual supports also help pupils to make requests and share thoughts by touching pictures that then produce words. There are many devices available, as well as apps that can be downloaded directly to your phone or tablet. Some of the pupils (Highshore School) with developmental disabilities, who I worked with who rely on pre-linguistic behaviour (e.g., reaching, leading) to communicate, use responding with an alternative form of communication to repair the breakdown by using a voice-output communication aid (VOCA). This effective system alleviates communication barriers, ascertaining their full inclusion.

My skills and experience developing study skills: For a number of years now I have been helping a number of GCSE high school as well as university undergraduate students (e.g. University of Westminster or University of Derby) with various tasks encompassing essay composition and essay-related time management. Having obtained MA in Law from Birbeck, University of London in 2018, I have recently commenced another MA in Education program at UCL: composing lengthy, analytical essays (be it English literature, engineering or law related) and managing short or long essay projects (1,000 - 15,000 words) is my daily bread.

My skills and experience preparing students for their GCSEs: I have been assisting a number of students with their GCSE English Literature and English Language and GCSE Maths (AQA, IGCSE and Excel) preparation for over five years. Some of my past and present tutees include students at the following institutions:

Sacred Heart High School (a Catholic secondary school and sixth form with academy status for girls, Hammersmith)

Surbiton High School (a private independent school in Surbiton in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames)

Kew House School (an independent co-educational secondary school for pupils aged 11 to 18 years, Brentford) for the high school purposes, some of the essay composition methods I teach are as follows

PEEL (Point Evidence Explanation Link)

PEACE (Point Evidence Analysis Context Evaluation)

PQA (Point Quote Analysis)

On a final note, I possess a number of references written by my tutees' parents expressing their gratitude for my effective cooperation with and the support of their children in their GCSE English exam challenges.

Experience with pupils diagnosed with cerebral palsy: Several pupils I worked with (either classroom based or 1-to-1) in Highshore School and Fleet Tutors (alternative provision) were diagnosed with cerebral palsy and had severe learning difficulties. The most severe case, M (male pupil), was diagnosed with a wide range of conditions, namely:

Cerebral Palsy (CP)

Right frontocentral cortical dysplasia

Severe learning difficulties (marked cognitive and development delay, visual and hearing impairment)

Intractable epilepsy

Some of Highshore School students diagnosed with CP had learning disabilities, visual impairments, hearing problems, speech problems, drooling issues, and behaviour problems. Some of them used braces, crutches, or a wheelchair to get around and needed help moving around in class or reaching things. They frequently used assistive devices for writing and, in most severe cases, worked with TA on a 1-to-1 basis. One must be patient and compassionate with pupils diagnosed with CP as they frequently have seizures and difficulty sitting still and often have uncontrolled movements. Additionally, as they might have difficulty with bladder and bowel control, they may need to use a bathroom frequently. In my experience, Highshore School pupils diagnosed with CP had regular sessions with occupational therapy (OT), physical therapy (PT), and speech therapy during the school day.

Considering the aforementioned, pupils with CP may need a little more time to complete activities and tasks. Patience and compassion are crucial. Also, special consideration needs to be given regarding missed instructions, etc. In some cases, arranging for verbal responses in assignments and testing can be a good way to measure learning. Considering the complexity of their needs, it is indispensable that teachers, parents, doctors, therapists, and the students with CP should all work together to develop and maintain the best treatment and education plans.

Experience working with non-verbal children: My time at Highshore School (2018-2019), a complex mixed needs special secondary (age range 11 – 19) school situated in Camberwell, in the London Borough of Southwark with 147 pupils - every pupil has a statement of Special Educational Needs (including cerebral palsy) - on roll and Fleet Tutors (2011 - 2019), alternative provision provided me with an invaluable experience of working with non-verbal and had severe learning difficulties such as marked cognitive and development delay, visual and hearing impairment. Considering non-verbal communication is a bridge to language development, So, it’s important to encourage their development as a precursor to speech, it is essential that teachers should model non-verbal communications, like hand gestures and eye contact, by exaggerating their own hand gestures and making it easy for pupils to copy them. When one wants a pupil to do something, it should be communicated by demonstrating it and nodding “yes” when they do it. There are many types of assistive devices available that are designed to help pupils to communicate, both those who are capable of talking and those that are completely non-verbal. It’s important to understand that these devices are not just meant to take the place of speech; they are designed to be a foundation for communication as well. Visual supports also help pupils to make requests and share thoughts by touching pictures that then produce words. There are many devices available, as well as apps that can be downloaded directly to your phone or tablet. Some of the pupils (Highshore School) with developmental disabilities, who I worked with who rely on pre-linguistic behaviour (e.g., reaching, leading) to communicate, use responding with an alternative form of communication to repair the breakdown by using a voice-output communication aid (VOCA). This effective system alleviates communication barriers, ascertaining their full inclusion.

Other specific Special Educational Needs (SEN) teaching experience:

May 2019 – Present (1-to-1/online). Male pupil (19 years old). Complex health and disability needs (including global developmental delay) Subjects taught: English and Maths (KS2 – KS3); Following Riverston School Maths and English individual learning plan specification available on Maths Workout and Seneca Learning online platforms

March – July 2020 (online). Male pupil (17 years old). 3 h per week (1.5 h English / 1.5 h Maths). S had complex health and disability needs, which impact on his ability to attend to learning in a meaningful way. Condition: ADHD, Autism, Anxiety Disorder, Reactive Attachment Disorder and Oppositional Defiant Disorder. Sebastian also has a medical condition, Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, chromosome 15q25.2 duplication and emerging bipolar mood disorder. Subjects taught: Functional Skills English and Maths (Entry 3 – Level 1) / GCSE English preparation

January – March 2020. Female pupil (Year 6). 1.5h per week (45 English / 45 min Maths). Condition: auditory processing disorder. Challenges: Visio-spatial reasoning; non-verbal reasoning; reading comprehension; working memory. Subjects taught: 11+ Prep (English / Maths)

January – April 2020. Male pupil (Year 8). Condition: autism, dyslexia and dyspraxia and maybe additionally, defiance disorder, processing issues, attachment disorder. Subjects taught: Maths (KS2 – KS3)

May 2019 – July 2020. Age/year: girl in year 7 (then 8) and boy in year 10 (then 11). Challenges (girl): Both English and Maths; working memory, processing speed, multi-step directions, dyslexia-type challenges, comprehension. Subjects taught: Year 7 and 8 English and Maths. Challenges (boy): Both English and Maths; very short-term memory, writing and maths, confidence, organisational skills. Subjects taught: GCSE Maths and English preparation

October 2019 – March 2020. Male pupil (Year 7). 1.5 h per week. Condition: sensory or auditory processing disorder. Subjects taught: Year 7 English and Maths; homework help

January – March 2020. Male pupil (Year 7/8). Subjects taught: Maths; organisational skills

February – July 2019. 1.5 h per week; 1-to-1 tuition. Female pupil (Year 6). Diagnosis ADD and mild dyslexia / dyscalculia. Subjects/ skills taught: Maths, conceptual awareness, problem solving skills, organisational skills, ways to approach a problem

September 2018 – April 2019. 15 h per week; 1-to-1 tuition. Female pupil (10 years old). Diagnosis; Smith – Magenis syndrome, ADHD, Microcephaly, Intellectual / learning disability, Significant speech and language delay or speech difficulties, Behavioural difficulties (including self-injurious behaviour and aggression towards others)

February – July 2018. 5 h per week; 1-to-1 tuition. Male pupil (14 years old). Diagnosis: ADHD, difficulties regulating his sensory system, requiring a need to touch and fiddle with objects, difficulties with fine motor skills which impacted on his handwriting, hypersensitivity to noises, affecting his ability to concentrate (considerable attention deficit)

February 2018. Female pupil (8 years old), 5 h per week: 1-to-1 tuition. Diagnosis: Autistic Spectrum Disorder, significant language delay and a pattern of behaviours, special educational needs in the following areas: Language and Communication, cognition and learning, Social, emotional and behavioural development, physical and sensory

October 2017 – March 2018. Male pupil (7 years old). 20 h per week: 1-to-1 tuition. Diagnosis: Right frontocentral cortical dysplasia, functional disconnection with interior part of the corpus callosum, disconnection of right hemisphere in May 2010 with resection of anterior part of corpus callosum and disconnection of frontal polar and orbital regions of frontal lobe in November 2011, left sided hemiparesis, severe learning difficulties (marked cognitive and development delay, visual and hearing impairment), intractable epilepsy

September 2016 – July 2017. Male pupil (12 years old). 2 h per week: 1-to-1 tuition. Diagnosis: Global Development Delay

September 2012 - August 2015 (Uxbridge College). Working with visually impaired and partially mute students included in mainstream.