For a dyslexia tutor, personality is an extremely important part of their profession. A dyslexia tutor’s personality and skills can mean the difference between success in dyslexia tutoring or frustration. Since dyslexia tutoring is typically conducted one on one, a dyslexia tutor’s personality and traits naturally intermingle with the method they use. If you take five dyslexia tutors who are trained in the same method, you may find that while all of them use the same core method, the way that they use it may vary from person to person. This is not to say that one way is necessarily better than the others, but they certainly may have some variation.
A dyslexia tutor’s personality is important because engaging the dyslexic student is so important. Dyslexia tutoring with a good method is very effective; dyslexia tutoring with a student who is engaged in the process is extremely effective. When a student tunes in to their dyslexia tutor, they almost always tune in to their tutoring sessions, and this will maximize the benefit of dyslexia tutoring. Sometimes, even when a dyslexia tutor has a great personality, it may take some time for a student to click with them. There are a variety of reasons for this. One of the most common is the level of frustration felt by the student. When a student begins dyslexia tutoring in a state of frustration (very common for dyslexic children who have not received tutoring), it often takes them longer to buy into dyslexia tutoring; sometimes they need to see some progress before they really commit to the process.
In my own experience as a dyslexia tutor, I have seen this on several occasions. Over the years, a few of of my students were less than enthusiastic about being enrolled in tutoring in the beginning; but when they began to see some progress, the change in their demeanor was remarkable. Suddenly, their self-esteem and confidence improved, and they were committed to working hard and making progress.
Peter
