Ms. Joy holds a Massachusetts Teacher License for grades K-6 and is a certified Structured Literacy Dyslexia Specialist with credentials from the International Dyslexia Association (IDA) and the Center for Effective Reading Instruction (CERI). She completed her IMSLEC-accredited Language Training program for Specific Reading Disabilities at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Language Disorders Unit, affiliated with Harvard Medical School.
With over 20 years of international teaching experience in Venezuela, England, Singapore, and Mexico, Ms. Joy offers a rich, global perspective to her work. Grounded in Orton-Gillingham principles and the science of reading, her instructional approach emphasizes explicit phonics instruction and diagnostic methods tailored to meet the unique needs of students with reading disabilities, including dyslexia. Dedicated to fostering analytical thinking and building confidence, Ms. Joy creates engaging and effective learning experiences for her students. Throughout her diverse career, she has positively impacted students across the globe, recognizing that every student is unique and driving her tailored approaches to address their evolving learning needs.
For clear and consistent support, I provide live tutoring with personalized attention. Please review the FAQ, tutoring schedule, and guidelines below to ensure optimal assistance and efficient scheduling, while accommodating families in various time zones.
Thank you!
Confirm fall registration by June 14th annually to secure your spot for the upcoming school year.
Parents can support their child's literacy development by completing the practice games provided between sessions and engaging with any shared resources or activities offered. Discover more ways to support your child at home by visiting our Resource Page.
Our live sessions occur weekly or biweekly for 30-40 minutes. Between sessions, students receive customized weekly practice (in game format) to complete independently or with parental guidance. Occasionally, I may request videos of home practice to monitor progress and ensure skill development.
Our online Structured Literacy tutoring stands out! After expert instruction, Ms. Joy tailors weekly practice to your child's needs, using engaging, interactive activities to reinforce their progress and help them master essential reading skills.
Our core reading programs, Blast Off to Reading and I Can Fly, are Orton-Gillingham (OG) based, offering a proven, structured approach to phonics and literacy development. These programs are designed to provide a comprehensive, step-by-step learning experience, with over 50 core lessons to ensure thorough skill mastery.
By working with a structured literacy specialist, your child receives individualized attention and a customized learning path that aligns with their unique strengths and challenges, ensuring consistent progress and building a solid foundation for reading and spelling success.
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Ms. Joy's approach is diagnostic and personalized, addressing each student’s unique needs. Unlike traditional methods, which rely on summative assessments and a one-size-fits-all approach, her method tailors instruction to struggling readers, particularly those with dyslexia and related challenges. Her approach also emphasizes early literacy and English language development, supporting both native English speakers and bilingual Spanish-speaking learners, while providing emotional support.
These strategies include fostering a supportive environment, offering choice, using real-life connections, technology, and SEL. Engaging students at the word level—through multisensory activities, storytelling, and decoding practice—makes reading more interactive, fun, and meaningful.
Reading with Ms. Joy takes place over Zoom, where students can actively participate by controlling the screen—moving the cursor, highlighting text, and interacting with the lesson in real time. Her technology toolbox includes, but is not limited to, Pioneer Valley Books Digital Readers, Word Wall, Online TLC Studio, and InferCabulary for vocabulary development. The document camera is also used when needed to share materials in real-time, helping students follow along and engage.
Registration for new students seeking tutoring for the upcoming school year typically closes on June 30th to guarantee a spot. After June 30th, enrollment will be subject to availability for the school year.
Summer Tutoring Enrollment opens May 1st each year! Be sure to reserve your spot for July sessions by the end of May, just before Memorial Day weekend kicks off the summer.
Please ensure you give one month's notice before your Reading Support Commitment Plan( RSCP) expiration, which usually occurs at the end of June. This will help facilitate a smooth transition. If you wish to extend your RSCP (for example, if you are on a six-month agreement), please notify Ms. Joy one month prior to expiration. Depending on when you enroll, the extension may or may not include summer sessions.
Share your reading success stories through testimonials to demonstrate the personalized approach of Reading with Ms. Joy. Your feedback helps new families align their needs with my services and build trust.
What to Expect:
Sessions focus on effective, engaging methods to improve reading skills and build confidence.
I focus on building self-esteem and boosting confidence by working at each child’s pace, ensuring they experience a sense of achievement and progress along the way.
English has 26 letters: 21 consonants and 5/6 vowels (Y can sometimes act as a vowel).
There are 44 distinct sounds represented by the 26 letters of the alphabet.
English uses 6 common syllable patterns for arranging vowels and consonants in words.
My priority is understanding each student’s unique learning style, pace, and reading behavior. I focus on mastery and accuracy to help students achieve reading fluency. During our live sessions, I continuously assess students’ comprehension and provide personalized feedback to meet their individual needs.
I use auditory, kinesthetic, and visual activities, along with mnemonic aids, to strengthen phonics and decoding skills. My teaching strategies are tailored to guide students through a systematic progression from basic to advanced reading skills, ensuring a solid foundation for reading comprehension and application.
Sight Words: Common words that are recognized by sight rather than phonetic decoding.
(-ch/tch, ck/k, -dge/ge): Rules for spelling common sound patterns in English.
The R 'controls' how the vowel sounds. Instead of the vowel being long or short, it takes on a unique sound because of the R. For example, the sound of /r/ can also be represented as “er, ir, ur.”
Breaking Words into Syllables: Dividing words into manageable parts to aid in pronunciation and reading.
Complex Words: Understanding and decoding words with multiple syllables.
Common/Frequent Prefixes and Suffixes: Identifying and using prefixes and suffixes to alter the meaning of base words.
(-ing, -s/es, -ed, -est/er): Inflectional endings are suffixes added to words to indicate changes in tense, number, or degree.
Non-Phonetic Words: Recognizing words that do not follow standard spelling rules.
I am writing this letter regarding our experience with our son’s reading tutor, Ms. Joy. Ms. Joy helped our son with reading strategies, fluency, comprehension, and accuracy. The growth we’ve seen in our son has exceeded our expectations, to put it mildly. At the beginning of this process, our son really struggled while reading and would quickly become frustrated and discouraged to the point of tears at times. Now he has a bookshelf full of chapter books that he reads by choice and is developing preferences as to the types of stories he enjoys. Thank you for your hard work with my son. You help set him on an entirely different path.
- Shane
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Professional Affiliations and Accreditations
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