Stop! All learning centers are NOT created equal!

Are you thinking of sending your child to a learning center this summer? Perhaps the last report card could have been better, or you want to stop your child having summer brain drain’? In either case suing the services of a learning center might be a good choice.

But which learning center should you choose? Which learning center will help your child learn best? Before you spend money on enrolling your child in a learning center there are some things you should know.

First, while all learning centers have good programs, the question to ask is, “Which one is good for MY child?”

And that all depends on what your child needs.

Does your child need to catch-up in a particular subject such as math or writing skills? Then find a learning center that has programs specifically designed to help children learn these skills. It might be that Kumon or Sylvan will meet your needs (although they have very different ways of helping children learn and you should consider this before deciding which to choose).

Or is the problem more than just catch-up in a specific subject? Does your child struggle to learn in a variety of ways? Then you need the services of a learning center that is geared to helping children learn how to learn.

Such a center is the Symbols Learning Center here in Vancouver. This learning center is based on the Orton-Gillingham approach to helping children learn. In this approach to learning children are exposed to many different multi-sensory learning experiences that allows children to learn in the way they like best. In this way children are practically guaranteed to learn. Then they prepare an individualized program for each child, based on their preferred learning style.

But it does not end there. They understand how important it is to work with the child’s parents and take time to explain what progress the child is making and how parents can help.

As I said, not all learning centers are created equal. Before you spend your hard earned cash work out exactly what help your child needs and then, and only then, decide on which learning center to send him to.