Let’s talk about affordability and value! 

At Halifax Learning, we understand that our program is an investment however we know that the value of secure and efficient literacy skills is priceless!  Our goal is to ensure reading efficiently, maximizing the imaginative potential of each brain and the economic impact of every individual!

At our centre, we celebrate the importance of “human capital.” The most important resource in our world is people and our children. Literacy and poor literacy levels are at the root of many issues. We know we can help change this however, it’s challenging for many families to access when we consider the cost of raising children in an inflationary environment.

We’ve created this document to help you better understand what the investment in SpellRead looks like short-term and long-term and some other ways to possibly help offset this cost. 

What do our payment plans look like? 

We offer payment plans designed to work within a family's budget.  This could mean paying over an extended period of time if necessary.  Click on the below image to view our payment plan program. 

Most students are with us for 12-15 months of program delivery and an hourly rate between $57 and $63 per hour.  In any circumstance, with 4 weeks' notice, a student can withdraw from the program at any time.

What is the value of this investment? This is a question we are often asked! 

The goal of SpellRead is to ensure that all students’ literacy skills move to a point where they are at or even above grade level, and most importantly, to ensure these skills are sustainable. 

•  Poor literacy skills should never be a barrier to an individual reaching their potential. 
  
  
• Your child will be working in an inclusive environment with other children of a similar age and skill set (based on our in-depth literacy assessment) with a highly qualified SpellRead instructor.  
  
  
• All of our instructors have a post-secondary education and all come to us with excellent coaching, mentoring, and cheerleading skills! We train them in our methodology with continuous internal program support specialists who are supporting our instructors and your children - RESULTS MATTER! 
  
  
• We are also available to meet with your child’s school and explain our program and explore any opportunities to provide more of a wraparound approach and incorporate homework support during their school day. 

Would you like to hear what other parents are saying or review our results? We publish our student results quarterly and welcome all parent and student feedback. Click here to learn more. 

What are our touchpoints as your child journeys through our program? 

• Two-week mark - homework/calendar of events information is sent 
• Two-month mark - you will receive a note from us with more detail on what you should be expecting to see from your child two months in, how time with us is impacting their self-confidence and school work
• Five-month mark - your child will have their interim assessment followed by a meeting time with our support team to review the results and programming in general 
• Eight-month mark - you will receive a note from us with more detail on what you should be expecting to see from your child eight months in, how time with us is impacting their self-confidence and school work
• Completing the program - most students complete the program in about a year.  At this point, you will be contacted about their exit -assessment, a time to review their progress, and a time to go over the maintenance package we will be sending home 

Communication is very important! 

• Parents have direct contact with our support team at any time.  
• Consistent communication with your child's instructor.
• Upon request - we can facilitate a meeting with a child’s school and meet with a school team to discuss our programming and ways to provide some wrap-around instruction.

Is cost a barrier? It can be and we want to be able to help with this! 

After the assessment, we’ll sit down and discuss our payment plan options with you and answer any questions. Our goal is to work with you so that your child can access the value of our program without it becoming a stressful monthly payment. 

~The payment doesn't last forever but the results do! ~

Here are some helpful tips to explore as you consider affordability: 

Extended Health Benefits

Do you have an EAP (employee assistance plan) through health coverage or through an employer? Be sure to ask:

• Is a doctor’s referral needed?
• How much coverage do I have and when is the renewal (most plans are based on a calendar year but this is not always true)?
• Are there any restrictions?

Tax Credits & Benefits

Your child and/or family may be eligible for the Disability Tax Credit and/or Child Disability Benefit. The CRA website or your accountant/financial advisor can help you determine your eligibility.

If you would like to know more about the disability tax credit, you can watch this webinar by Dyslexia Canada.

Another possible option is to claim your SpellRead tuition as a medical expense when you do your taxes. You can learn more here. To claim a medical expense, you will need a doctor’s referral to the program.  

If you would like to discuss our program results or see if SpellRead is a good fit for your child, please reach out today! 

Parent-teacher conferences are put in place for communication, accountability, to celebrate success, and to overcome challenges. They are an opportunity for teachers to relay insight about a child's interactions with their peers, their approach and attitude towards challenging material, and their reactions to new emotions and ideas.  Everyone should take advantage of this time, albeit limited, to increase opportunities for the success of the student. 

Halifax Learning has educators with years of experience as public school teachers and also clinicians working as reading specialists. The tips below are a collection of experiences we’ve found most useful when communicating with parents. At Halifax Learning we have the privilege of frequent parent-teacher consultations.  We also have a systematized assessment procedure that also ensures a discussion at the mid point of a SpellRead student's programming and upon completion of the program. 

Here are 5 ways to maximize your parent-teacher conference.

1. Don't Wait!

Don't wait for Parent-Teacher Conferences to open lines of communication. Remember, you are a team and communication is critical. We all know our public school teachers are overwhelmed with demands, but offering support, relevant information and ensuring you're supporting your child's needs at home will only reduce the demands on our classroom teachers.

You can help support your child's classroom teacher by asking for advice on ways you can support your child at home. Ask for recommendations for:

• an online course, reading material or an upcoming conference that puts a spotlight on your child's learning challenges. 
• an incentive program that can be carried out both at home and in the classroom. 
• additional practice, activities and/or apps.
• professional services and support in your community. 

2. Ask for Honesty

Give your child's teacher permission to be honest. Let them know you are prepared for the good, the bad and the ugly in order to move forward. In order for your child to thrive, the adults overseeing their education need to work together, even if it hurts. 

Teachers want to tell all parents that their child is exceeding expectations and your child's teacher is likely agonizing over focusing on the positive. As hard as it is to receive difficult news, it's also hard to share it, but when we sugar coat reality, we are providing a disservice to our students.  At Halifax Learning, ss providers of a structured literacy program, too often we are asked why no one spoke up sooner. When parents ask for honesty and open communication, parents and teachers can more quickly develop solutions for the child's learning needs.

3. Share Information

The golden rule for teaching success is "get to know your students" and no one knows your child better than you do. Relationships are paramount and parents can help fast track this process by sharing as much information as possible. Share with your child's teacher:

• the challenges and successes that have defined your child.
• what motivates your child.
• what causes your child anxiety.
• what programs and services they have received up to this point.
• the strengths and challenges you face as a parent in reinforcing the goals set out by your child's teacher.

4. Include the Student

Your child is the subject of your meeting and one of your best sources of information.  Students should have an opportunity to assess and provide feedback about their teacher, classmates, and learning environment. Yes, a child's perspective can be skewed, but regardless, what they perceive to be true impacts their learning outcomes.

How they feel matters and can help inform their educational journey. Have multiple, meaningful and intentional conversations with your child about their experiences at school and record their comments in a journal at a later time. Ask your child specific questions and allow them to express their feelings completely. After several conversations about school, reflect on your notes and look for patterns that resulted in success or presented barriers for your child's learning. Take this information to your child's teacher with the intention of finding a resolution, not to point fingers. 

5. Advocate, Advocate, Advocate

Advocating for your child doesn't mean being a bully and making unreasonable demands. Asking informed questions with the expectation of an informed response is well within your rights. When it comes to your child's reading, you should ask: 

• When were you last able to read with my child one on one? 
• What are they reading in comparison to their peers? 
• What do you notice about my child's reading? Are they using compensatory strategies such as memorization, context or pictures to guess or are they using the sound-letter relationship of the alphabet code to attack unknown words?
• Are you teaching the five core components of essential reading skills? How? 

… 

If your child is struggling to read, remember:

✓ Reading skills do not develop in a short time.

✓ 95% of the developing readers benefit from explicit, systematic instruction to decipher the alphabetic code.

✓ Developing readers need multiple, repetitive opportunities to master skills.

✓ Reading programs must incorporate all five of the core components to ensure skilled, confident, reading.

✓ Halifax Learning uses evidence-based programming that offers effective, sustainable results, delivered by exceptional, experienced, experts. 

Parent-teacher conferences are put in place for communication, accountability, to celebrate success, and to overcome challenges. They are an opportunity for teachers to relay insight about a child's interactions with their peers, their approach and attitude towards challenging material, and their reactions to new emotions and ideas.  Everyone should take advantage of this time, albeit limited, to increase opportunities for the success of the student. 

Speaking as an educator with 12 years of experience as a reading specialist, the tips below are a collection of my experiences that I have found most useful when communicating with parents. At Halifax Learning I have the privilege of frequent parent-teaching consultations. We also have a systematized assessment procedure that also ensures a discussion at the mid point of a SpellRead student's programing and upon completion of the program. 

… 

Here are 5 ways to maximize your parent-teacher conference.

1. Don't Wait!

Don't wait for Parent-Teacher Conferences to open lines of communication. Remember, you are a team and communication is critical. We all know our public school teacher's are overwhelmed with demands, but offering support, relevant information and ensuring you're supporting your child's needs at home will only reduce the demands on our classroom teachers.

You can help support your child's classroom teacher by asking for advice on ways you can support your child at home. Ask for recommendations for:

• an online course, reading material or an upcoming conference that puts a spotlight on your child's learning challenges. 
• an incentive program that can be carried out both at home an in the classroom. 
• additional practice, activities and/or apps.
• professional services and support in your community. 

2. Ask for Honesty

Give your child's teacher permission to be honest. Let them know you are prepared for the good, the bad and the ugly in order to move forward. In order for your child to thrive, the adults overseeing their education need to work together, even if it hurts. 

Teacher's want to tell all parents that their child is exceeding expectations and your child's teacher is likely agonizing over focusing on the positive. As hard as it is to receive difficult news, it's also hard to share it, but when we sugar coat reality, we are providing a disservice to our students.  As SpellRead providers, too often we are asked why no one spoke up sooner. When parents ask for honesty and open communication, parents and teachers can more quickly develop solutions for the child's learning needs.

3. Share Information

The golden rule for teaching success is "get to know your students" and no one knows your child better than you do. Relationships are paramount and parents can help fast track this process by sharing as much information as possible. Share with your child's teacher:

• the challenges and successes that have defined your child.
• what motivates your child.
• what causes your child anxiety.
• what programs and services they have received up to this point.
• the strengths and challenges you face as a parent in reinforcing the goals set out by your child's teacher.

4. Include the Student

Your child is the subject of your meeting and one of your best sources of information.  Students should have an opportunity to assess and provide feedback about their teacher, classmates, and learning environment. Yes, a child's perspective can be skewed, but regardless, what they perceive to be true impacts their learning outcomes.

How they feel matters and can help inform their educational journey. Have multiple, meaningful and intentional conversations with your child about their experiences at school and record their comments in a journal at a later time. Ask your child specific questions and allow them to express their feelings completely. After several conversations about school, reflect on your notes and look for patterns that resulted in success or presented barriers for your child's learning. Take this information to your child's teacher with the intention of finding a resolution, not to point fingers. 

5. Advocate, Advocate, Advocate

Advocating for your child doesn't mean being a bully and making unreasonable demands. Asking informed questions with the expectation of an informed response is well within your rights. When it comes to your child's reading, you should ask: 

• When were you last able to read with my child one on one? 
• What are they reading in comparison to their peers? 
• What do you notice about my child's reading? Are they using compensatory strategies such as memorization, context or pictures to guess or are they using the sound-letter relationship of the alphabet code to attack unknown words?
• Are you teaching the five core components of essential reading skills? How? 

… 

If your child is struggling to read, remember:

✓ Reading skills do not develop in a short time.

✓ 95% of the developing readers benefit from explicit, systematic instruction to decipher the alphabetic code.

✓ Developing readers need multiple, repetitive opportunities to master skills.

✓ Reading programs must incorporate all five of the core components to ensure skilled, confident, reading.

✓ SpellRead is an evidence-based program that offers effective, sustainable results and delivered by exceptional, experienced, experts at Halifax Learning.