Deborah Holcombe

Private Tutor in Darien, Connecticut

Rate: $75/hour Available For: Private Tutoring

Darien, Connecticut

Over the past few years, I have found myself teaching struggling young readers, a job I deeply enjoy and believe is vitally important. Like many parents, I taught reading to my own daughter who was in her early education years when she began battling a reading disorder, an audio-processing disorder, and working memory deficits. This battle not only negatively affected her education, it negatively affected her emotional health. And, while I have a master’s degree in education, a bachelor’s degree in speech communication, and a bachelor’s degree in secondary English education, I wasn’t equipped to help her in the way she needed. The school she was attending was excellent for our other three children, but my daughter needed an intervention - an intervention that began a partnership between an Orton-Gillingham reading specialist and me. I began studying the reading brain and ways to help my daughter at home, and this eventually led to me acquiring knowledge and certifications that I would ultimately use to help others like my daughter.
Before I had children, I spent a few years teaching high school English in a rural county in Georgia, as well as teaching adults to read in another rural county in that state. But, a move out of state and a house full of children, placed me in a stay-at-home role (and a brief homeschool mom role) that taught me more than most any formal education. Eventually, a move out of the country led me to teach reading to children of asylum seekers in Hong Kong. I was using a fraction of my education degrees to help these children; I was mostly using the knowledge I learned from my time with the Orton-Gillingham tutor who was teaching my daughter. I quickly realized I needed more training. With the pandemic and the temporary closing of our center in Hong Kong, I was then asked to help other children with their online and home learning. Then, we moved again.
With our move back to the US in 2021, I took all of my experiences and began working with a tutoring group. In this group, I worked with a few students who needed a full English curriculum for their homeschool year. I also worked with students who needed help with their college application essays, as well as students who needed months of preparation before taking the ACT, SAT, or SSAT. I also had students who just needed after-school help with their English homework.
At this tutoring agency, I was not working with the struggling readers, the very students I felt most drawn to helping. I continued to work with the students in the agency, but I also decided to pursue the Orton-Gillingham certification (CALP). I have recently completed this training and am working with students.
I have had the opportunity to work with a wide range of students in a wide variety of environments. These experiences have taught me the importance of personalizing my teaching, which is why I enjoy and value one-to-one tutoring. I am able to regularly assess the progress of each student, construct a scope and sequence that is personalized to each student, adapt my teaching methods accordingly to ensure each student’s learning style is honored, and I am able to be the encouragement and the best teacher each student needs to ensure continuous improvement.

Experience :

• 2022-present
• Private reading, grammar, writing, and Orton-Gillingham structured literacy tutor
• Darien, CT
• 2021-2023
• ACT/SAT/SSAT
• Convenient Tutor, Asheville, NC/ Darien, CT
• 2021-2022
• Reading support tutor
• Christine Avery Center, Asheville, NC
• 2020-2021
• Tutor Trainer, Reading tutor
• Branches of Hope, WanChai, Hong Kong
• 2017-2018
• Trauma Educator Intern
• Dr. Erica Wollin, Hong Kong
• 2010-2011
• High School Writing Teacher
• Caldwell Academy, Greensboro, NC
• 1994-1997
• High School English Teacher
• Murray County High School, Chatsworth, GA

Education :

• Master of Education, English Education
• University of North Georgia
• Bachelor of Science in Education, Secondary School English
• The University of Tennessee, Chattanooga
• Bachelor of Arts, Speech Communications
• The University of Georgia

Orton-Gillingham Training Information :

• SPECIALIZED CERTIFICATION
• Certified Academic Language Practitioner (CALP)
• Self-Reg Foundations Certified
• TESOL Certified
• SPECIALIZED TRAINING
• 2022 Associate Level Orton-Gillingham Training
• Key Learning Center Asheville, NC
• 70 hours of training at the Associate Level, with a 100-hour practicum following coursework. Orton-Gillingham is a comprehensive multisensory language instruction approach.
• 2021 Wilson Reading
• Literacy Together Asheville, NC
• 15 hours of training at the basic level with Literacy Together. Wilson Reading training is Orton-Gillingham-based, emphasizing direct instruction, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, spelling, and written expression.
• 2020 TESOL Diploma Program
• Uni-Prep Institute
• 250 hours of training to teach English to speakers of other languages - young learners, older learners, and business professionals. The training emphasizes grammar, reading, listening,