Learning Skills at Rumsey

The Learning Skills Department offers individualized programs designed to meet the needs of students with moderate learning differences. The customized program is as unique as the student, reflecting their specific needs, strengths, and interests. 

The Learning Skills Program at Rumsey Hall offers one-on-one instruction during the academic day. Students have the opportunity to attend 50-minute sessions during all five days of the school week. Our Learning Skills Program empowers students to become effective learners by teaching study strategies, developing productive habits of mind, and building on content-related skills. Our ultimate goal within the Learning Skills Program is to provide students with the necessary tools they need to achieve academic independence, witness their own progress, and celebrate their own success. 

Our nurturing specialists work with students to identify their needs—all the while affirming them with positive guidance, robust academic assistance, and intuitive skill instruction. Depending on the individual need of the child, instruction may also utilize proven strategies within the Orton-Gillingham Reading Program as well as Wilson-based reading strategies such as decoding, fluency, and comprehension. In addition, Rumsey Learning Skills experts support students in written expression, vocabulary, math, time management, ADD/ADHD coaching, and executive functioning skills by incorporating research-based resources to meet each student's learning needs. As students understand their learning needs, they gain control of their own learning pathways and develop key organization and study skills.

Each specialist regularly collaborates and communicates with the student's teachers and advisor; consequently, the teachers and advisor can come alongside the child in the most helpful way. With these important findings, such as detailed profiles that include modifications and recommendations from educational testing and helpful anecdotal reports, the teacher and advisor can then craft individual methodologies to assist the student in the most impactful way. Specialists also monitor core subject assessments and modify them as needed ensuring that all accommodations are in place.  

Learning Skills instructors are experienced in working with students with ADHD, Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, and executive functioning weaknesses. Each teacher has been trained in the Orton-Gillingham Program, a multisensory phonics technique for remedial reading instruction. We make every effort to match Learning Skills Specialists with students based on the student’s areas of need and the specialist’s area of strength.