About Me
Special Educator and Tutor
Welcome to Tutoring with Patty Gullick. I am a Special Educator and a mom to three children. My oldest is 22. At the age of 6, he was diagnosed with dyslexia, dysgraphia, and ADHD. My youngest is 16 and also has dyslexia. My middle daughter is on the spectrum. Needless to say, after teaching for 20+ years and parenting three children with very different needs, I have learned a bit along the way. As I watched 2 of my three children struggle to learn to read, I felt helpless despite my years of experience teaching children. Why weren't my children learning to read? It didn't make sense! I wanted to scream when teachers told me that my child "just needed to try harder." I knew my children spent hours on homework. I knew that I had read to my children hours upon hours, and still they could not read. I had done the "teacher things" that help children learn to read. I also knew that both children were intelligent and grasped concepts outside of decoding, with ease. I began attending conferences. Eventually, I learned and trained in Orton Gillingham, a multi-sensory and systematic approach to teaching reading which is proven effective for students with dyslexia. And, here I am now! I own my own tutoring business. I work with many different students who are struggling to learn to read and write. Many are dyslexic, but others have other learning issues. I still love the classroom, so I also teach a reading/writing elective at a small, private school called The Campus in Peachtree City. Now I have the flexibility to grow as a person and pursue a variety of passions including working as President for Southside Support for Special Needs and starting a support group for parents who children who have dyslexia and other learning disabilities.
Welcome to Tutoring with Patty Gullick
Experience and Specialties
Promising Personalized Guidance Every Step of the Way
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BS in Special Education
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Orton Gillingham trained
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RAV-O
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Lindamood Bell
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Strategic Learning Coach through Dr. Lynda Boucugani-Whitehead
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Handwriting without tears
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25+ years of teaching/tutoring
One-on-One Lessons
One on one lessons are individualized to the student's needs, however, the one thing all lessons involve is making the concept multisensory. Students learn best when they have actively engaged in a relaxed atmosphere. Therefore movement, games, and drama are typically a significant part of the lesson whether it be a decoding lesson, comprehension lesson, or writing lesson. I use games such as Twister or hopscotch to practice rules and skills.
When I get a phone call from a parent, the first step is to assess his or her child's needs. I ask parents to send any testing that has been completed, and I do an individual assessment to see exactly what this child knows and where more support is needed. After this, I review this information with the parent(s), and together we decide how to best support the child. Typically, this means 1:1 support between two and four days a week. Lessons are approximately 45 minutes.
Group Lessons
When it works for parents and children, I am open to group lessons. Late readers often come to me to work on vocabulary to improve SAT/ACT scores. Group lessons are most useful for vocabulary development. Games played with peers allow for competition and more engagement in the needed skills.
Patty is dedicated to helping children with reading challenges. She makes learning fun and finds a way to reach each child she works with using a variety of evidence based strategies and individualizing her approach to meet the needs of her blossoming readers.
-Chrissy Marrero
Patty is dedicated to bettering the daily lives of families dealing with dyslexia and other special needs both professionally and personally through her tutoring and volunteer efforts. I highly recommend Patty as both a professional and a friend.
-Jennifer State
Patty helped me so much to pinpoint my child’s reading issues. She also gave me some creative tips to work with my smaller one who was struggling with handwriting. She has a special niche for coming up with creative solutions and making problems seem less stressful!
-Jessica Palazzolo
After my son was diagnosed with dyslexia, we went to Patty for tutoring. She was great! She is very knowledgeable and encouraging. My son worked harder and longer for her than he did with me alone because she had different activities to keep him engaged. He now reads at grade level and loves to read.
-Lisa McCranie Hammock
I’ve known Patty for several years through several sources. As owner of Club Z Tutoring we frequently sent students who needed Orton Gillingham to Patty, and the respected neuropsychologist I worked for referred to her as well. I highly recommend Patty for your student, especially for help with dyslexia!
- Peggy Odum Thomas
Working with Patty has literally been life changing for our 3rd grader. I am not using that term lightly; he went from struggling and lack of confidence to succeeding and full of confidence. He used to hate reading (it was high drama) to loving to read. Her methods work and are fun. By the time we see her in the afternoon his adhd meds have worn off but since she’s playing games, etc he actively engages. We started with Patty in first grade and now in 3rd grade he is at level with his class, in fact if it wasn’t for the paperwork his teacher told me she would never even guess that he was dyslexic. I highly recommend Patty!
-Dana Baggett