Smart Love Family Services
About
Smart Love Family Services is a nonprofit organization founded in 2002. Our mission is to help children, adolescents, parents, couples and adults achieve greater inner well-being, sustain closer relationships and reach their full potentials in life. Our services are based on the Smart Love principles and include early childhood education, counseling services, parent coaching and education classes. We also provide training and consultation to agencies, schools and organizations, helping their childcare personnel positively influence children’s social and emotional outcomes.
Therapeutic tutoring is a solution for children age 6-18 years who are having difficulty learning and achieving their full potential in school. It’s especially effective for children who:
~ Do not follow through and complete assignments and projects
~ Have difficulty paying attention in some classes
~ Have reduced motivation for school and declining grades
~ Have anxiety and/or depression
~Have emotional and/or social stress that is affecting school performance for voicing stress or low self-esteem when it comes to learning
ABOUT THERAPEUTIC TUTORING
Therapeutic tutoring combines the elements of traditional therapy and academic tutoring to create an effective and comprehensive solution for children who struggle with learning and achieving within the classroom. It combines the goals of educational tutoring—that a student understands and learn academic concepts and ideas—with therapeutic tutoring, which addresses the psychological aspects that hinder a student from demonstrating his full potential within the school environment.
At Smart Love Family Services, your child will be supported by a professional with educational and mental health training to provide high-quality tutoring, while also working to increase your child’s motivation, improve attention and concentration, build organizational and planning skills, decrease school avoidance and anxiety, and access her innate strengths.
SMART LOVE’S THERAPEUTIC SERVICES
Individual Sessions: A therapeutic tutor works with a student on the psychological symptoms that are interfering with him reaching his potential in school, while also providing high-quality tutoring that puts new strategies to use. Therapeutic tutoring services helps:
~ Increase motivation
~ Improve attention and concentration
~ Build organizational and planning skills
~ Decrease avoidance and reduce anxiety
~ Develop blocked capabilities
~ Access strengths
Family Involvement: Parents play a large role in the therapeutic tutoring process. It is important to help parents learn how to use the same principles and processes used in the office when a child is studying and preparing for school at home. We guide parents to:
~ Learn how to help
~ View the progress being made
~ Learn to prevent backslides
~ Share and discuss goals
~ Improve problem-solving
~ Learn how to come up with solutions together
School Connections: It is important to work closely with classroom teachers and specialists to ensure a broad reach of successful interventions. We work with teachers to:
~ Design a coordinated approach
~ Share ideas and solutions
~ Develop collaborative strategies
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Frequently asked questions
What is your typical process for working with a new student?
Students and families who are interested in starting Therapeutic Tutoring at Smart Love Family Services may reach out to Alison Pildner at [email protected]. Once a student has completed the intake process, tutoring sessions can be scheduled.
For more information about Therapeutic Tutoring at Smart Love Family Services, please visit our website. https://www.smartlovefamily.org/smart-love-therapeutic-tutoring
What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
Therapeutic Tutors are trained in the Smart Love approach to child development, which was developed by Martha Heineman Pieper, Ph. D and the late William J. Pieper, M.D. (For more informaiton, please visit https://www.smartlovefamily.org/what-is-smart-love).
Alison Pildner, one of our Therapeutic Tutors, has a Bachelor's degree in Comparative Human Development from the University of Chicago. She has worked with children in a variety of settings including the classroom, hospital, home, and community.
Do you have a standard pricing system for your lessons? If so, please share the details here.
There are three pricing options for Therapeutic Tutoring:
1. Pay per session ($80) - The credit card on file will be charged $80 on the day of each tutoring session. This option includes monthly parent and teacher phone check-ins. Parent feedback meetings, which occur every three months, will be charged separately at the session rate of $80.
2. 12 session package, sessions take place once per week ($860) - The credit card on file will be charged $860 on the day of the first tutoring session. This option includes monthly parent and teacher phone check-ins as well as a parent feedback meeting at the end of the 12 sessions.
3. 12 session package, sessions take place more than once per week ($780) - The credit card on file will be charged $780 on the day of the first tutoring session. This option includes monthly parent and teacher phone check-ins as well as a parent feedback meeting every three months.
**Scholarship funds are available for families in need. Please reach out for more information about if you qualify!**
How did you get started teaching?
Alison Pildner has been teaching for 10 years. Throughout the last decade, in addition to being a Therapeutic Tutor at Smart Love Family Services, she has been a tutor for elementary school students, worked in an Extended School Year program, volunteered in several elementary school classrooms, taught at a therapeutic preschool, helped high school students prepare for college entrance exams, and taught Math, English, and Science at the middle school level.
What types of students have you worked with?
Therapeutic tutoring is a solution for children age 6-14 years who are having difficulty learning and achieving their full potential in school. It’s especially effective for children who:
-
Do not follow through and complete assignments and projects
-
Have difficulty paying attention in some classes
-
Have reduced motivation for school and declining grades
-
Have anxiety and/or depression
-
Have emotional and/or social stress that is affecting school performance for voicing stress or low self-esteem when it comes to learning
However, students of any age can benefit from Therapeutic Tutoring. Please reach out if you believe Therapeutic Tutoring is the right solution for you!
Describe a recent event you are fond of.
With the widespread transition away from the classroom and towards remote learning, students have often felt disconnected from their teachers and classmates. At Smart Love Family Services, we have found that students have become even closer with their Therapeutic Tutor over the past several months. The support that the Therapeutic Tutor is able to provide their student goes beyond academics. Students feel cared about and heard during this time of loss and isolation.
What advice would you give a student looking to hire a teacher in your area of expertise?
It is important for students and their families to consider how their feelings surrounding school may be impacting their learning. At Smart Love Family Services, the whole student is considered and appreciated. When students feel free to express how they are feeling and when they find a place where they can get help processing those feelings, they are more available to learn and grow academically.
What questions should students think through before talking to teachers about their needs?
Students should think about how they feel about different subjects in school and how those feelings may be impacting their success in those areas. Sharing those feelings with a Therapeutic Tutor can help students manage their feelings and help them begin to excel in areas they had previously struggled.