What is LD?

LD is the acronym for Learning Disability. The most common LDs are reading disability (dyslexia) and arithmetic disability (dyscalculia). Reading problems often co-exist with writing problems. Poor written communication skills can be an obstacle for students. One of my specialties is helping 1st year university students with reading/writing disability to pass their required English composition course.

Is Dr. Tang a School Psychologist or a Clinical Psychologist?

Dr. Winnifred Tang holds a Ph.D. in Special Education from the University of British Columbia. She specialized in the diagnosis and intervention of learning disabilities such as dyslexia and dyscalculia in her doctoral work.

One does not have to be an educational psychologist in order to diagnose learning disabilities although the schools only recognize a diagnosis from a registered psychologist. Generally, the psychologists make diagnoses whereas special education professionals such as Dr. Tang deal with the intervention design and intervention delivery.

What are some of Dr. Tang’s special areas of expertise?

Dr. Tang focused on teaching academic reading and writing for ESL/EFL college students in her Master of Education degree; as such, she has an in-depth understanding on how non-native English speakers learn to read and write in English. This has helped her tremendously in her present work where she has to diagnose Learning Disabled ESL students who are dyslexic and not able to benefit from regular ESL instruction in school.

How do you approach LD intervention?

The intervention process can be conceptualized as four stages. What we do in these “stages” is recursive; we will periodically review over all progress, adjust intervention design and intervention.

Stage One: Diagnosis

To reduce the waiting period for a diagnosis, Dr. Tang can screen the children for LD and move to the other stages without having to wait for a psycho-educational assessment. Some parents are not interested in receiving help from the school or having to go through an IEP process. They simply want to begin intervention based on the learner’s profile gathered by special education experts such Dr. Tang.

Psycho-Educational Report can be scheduled if necessary. Some parents want to have their child officially diagnosed as having LD so they can receive certain services from the school. Currently, the schools require a registered psychologist’s assessment. While Dr. Tang is not a school psychologists or a registered clinical psychologist, she provides consulting service for the client to advise them regarding which psychologists serve their interest best. As well, Dr. Tang’s office will help clients arrange for assessments and to follow up with other post assessment services. These services are particularly helpful to clients not familiar with how the schools deal with LD cases. Parents who do not speak English also find this service extremely useful because we help them select the most suitable psychologist for their situation.

Stage Two: Design Intervention

We design our intervention to suit the child. We emphasize that we do not sell packaged learning programs. The intervention designed by Dr. Winnifred Tang & Associates Learning Management Inc. is directed at the specific learning problems observed in the learner.

Stage Three: Delivery of Intervention

We are very flexible and creative in our intervention delivery. Everything we do is very intentional and directed to producing results. Many people want to know the secret of our success in managing difficult cases involving LD and ESL children. The answer is: we attract quality individuals to work for us. Yes, we do pay our tutors extremely well, but we do not hire “lovers of money”—our tutors are all especially recruited for each “assignment” and they take on the tutoring assignments out of a love to help others with their knowledge and gifts.

Stage Four: Monitor Intervention

Our management system and support system makes it such that tutors receive excellent feedback and support on a daily basis. We do not give too much information here, but those parents who become our clients will be privy to how we “manage” learning for their child.