Your evaluation identifies what a student needs. We make sure those recommendations actually get carried out, and we tell you how it is going.
Therapeutic Tutoring turns the recommendations in your report into a written intervention plan, then delivers academic remediation and support for anxiety, attention and motivation in the same sessions. With family consent, you receive progress updates, so your evaluation keeps working long after the feedback session.
Refer a Student Discuss a Case FirstThe Gap Between a Strong Report and Real Progress
You spend hours on testing, scoring, integration and a careful feedback session. The family leaves with a thorough report and a page of recommendations. Then the hard part begins. Parents have to find providers who can deliver structured literacy, executive function coaching and anxiety support. Those providers rarely read the full report, and they almost never coordinate with each other or with you.
The result is familiar: a tutor who drills content while the student’s anxiety goes unaddressed, a therapist who works on worry without touching the reading skills that trigger it, and recommendations that are only partly implemented. When the student returns for re-evaluation, progress is thinner than it should have been.
Therapeutic Tutoring was built to close that gap. The program is clinically directed by Dr. Alan S. Jacobson, Psy.D., a licensed clinical psychologist with more than 25 years of experience who also conducts psychological evaluations and knows how reports are written and what their recommendations are meant to accomplish.
How We Turn Your Report Into a Plan
Review the report
With a signed release, we read your full evaluation, not just the summary, including cognitive, academic and social-emotional findings.
Translate recommendations
Each relevant recommendation becomes a specific, measurable tutoring goal in a written plan shared with the family.
Deliver integrated sessions
Skill instruction and support for anxiety, attention and motivation happen together, in the same session, coordinated with school and any treating therapist.
Report back
With consent, we send you a brief progress note and stay in touch as often as is useful to you.
What common recommendations look like in our sessions
| Recommendation in your report | How we implement it |
|---|---|
| Explicit, systematic structured literacy instruction | Sequenced work on phonological awareness, decoding, fluency and comprehension, aligned with International Dyslexia Association principles. See dyslexia tutoring. |
| Executive function coaching or organizational support | Concrete systems for planning, task initiation, time management and self-monitoring, practiced on the student’s real assignments. See ADHD tutoring. |
| Written expression or graphomotor support | Strategies for organizing ideas, sentence construction, editing and assistive technology. See dysgraphia tutoring. |
| Math remediation, fact fluency or number sense | Concrete-to-abstract instruction targeting the specific skills your testing identified. See dyscalculia tutoring. |
| Support for test or performance anxiety | Evidence-informed anxiety management built into academic practice, coordinated with any treating clinician. See anxiety tutoring. |
| Instruction that leverages strengths while remediating weaknesses | Challenge in areas of strength alongside targeted skill work for twice-exceptional learners. See 2e tutoring. |
| Practice using accommodations (extended time, breaks, assistive technology) | Rehearsal of how and when to use accommodations so students actually benefit from them, plus coordination with IEP and 504 teams. |
| Processing speed or working memory supports | Compensatory strategies and cognitive educational therapy techniques applied to coursework. |
What You Can Expect From Us
Our commitments to referring professionals
- Fast follow-up: we contact the family within one business day of your referral
- A written plan built from your recommendations, shared with you on request
- A progress note at about 60 days, with family consent, and updates as often as useful after that
- Team coordination: participation in school or clinical team meetings when helpful
- Honest scope: if a student needs more than tutoring can provide, we say so and help the family find it
What we will not do
- Re-test your clients. We work from your evaluation rather than repeating it.
- Second-guess your conclusions with families. Questions about findings come back to you.
- Keep re-evaluation in-house. When a student is due for updated testing, we refer the family back to you.
- Work in a silo. We coordinate with the school, the family and any treating clinician.
Students Who Are a Strong Fit
Therapeutic tutoring is most valuable when academic and emotional factors are tangled together. Consider a referral for students who:
- Have a specific learning disability in reading, writing or math, especially with anxiety, low academic self-esteem or avoidance
- Have ADHD with significant executive functioning weaknesses affecting work completion
- Show a twice-exceptional profile, with high ability alongside a learning or attention challenge
- Have test or performance anxiety that suppresses scores below demonstrated ability
- Have already tried traditional tutoring without lasting change
- Are transitioning to college or graduate and professional programs and need to build independent learning systems
We serve students from elementary school through adulthood, in person in the greater Boston and San Diego areas and online nationwide.
How to Make a Referral
1. Give the family our information
Families can book a free consultation directly. Ask them to mention your name so we can follow up with you.
2. Or contact us yourself
If you would like to talk through a student before referring, send us a message or call (617) 680-5488 and mention that you are a referring professional.
3. Share the report, with consent
Once the family signs a release of information, send the full evaluation. We do not require a report to begin, but it makes the plan far more precise.
Helping families plan for cost: sessions run 30 to 90 minutes, Flexible Spending Account funds can be used, and a limited number of Foundation-supported seats reduce costs by 25%. Full details are on our fees and payment page, which you are welcome to share with families. For more on referrals from schools, therapists and other professionals, see our referral page and other referral partners.
Questions From Evaluators
What is therapeutic tutoring, and how is it different from regular tutoring?
Therapeutic tutoring combines structured academic intervention with psychological strategies for anxiety, attention and motivation in the same session. Traditional tutoring usually focuses on completing assignments or reviewing content. Therapeutic tutoring targets the underlying skill deficits your evaluation identified and the emotional and executive barriers that keep a student from using those skills. The program is clinically directed by a licensed psychologist, coordinates with schools and treating clinicians, and works from your report so instruction matches the student’s actual cognitive and academic profile. Learn more about the research behind the approach.
How do you use my evaluation report?
With a signed release from the family, we review your full report, including cognitive, academic and social-emotional findings. We translate each relevant recommendation into a specific, measurable goal in a written tutoring plan, such as structured literacy for decoding weaknesses or executive function coaching for work-completion problems. The plan guides every session. We do not repeat your testing or reinterpret your conclusions. If questions about the findings come up, we refer the family back to you, and when re-evaluation is due, we send the student back to you as well.
Will I hear about the student’s progress after I refer?
Yes, with the family’s written consent. We send a brief progress note at about 60 days describing goals, what we are working on and early results, and we can stay in touch after that as often as is useful to you. We are also glad to participate in IEP, 504 or clinical team meetings. Many evaluators find these updates helpful when preparing for re-evaluation, because they show which recommendations were implemented and how the student responded. If you prefer minimal contact, we will follow your lead.
Will you refer my clients to a different evaluator?
No. When you refer a student, you remain their evaluator. We work from your report rather than retesting, and when a student is due for an updated evaluation or a question arises about their diagnosis, we refer the family back to you. Our goal is to be the reliable implementation partner that makes your recommendations work, not to compete with your practice. If a family comes to us without any evaluation and needs one, we discuss options with them openly, and we are happy to include you on our list of trusted evaluators.
What ages and locations do you serve?
We work with students from elementary school through college, graduate and professional programs, and with adult learners returning to school. Services are available in person in the greater Boston area and San Diego, and online nationwide, so families do not need to live near our offices. Virtual sessions are structured and interactive, using shared screens and the student’s real schoolwork, which also makes it easy to coordinate with schools in other districts or states. See our online therapeutic tutoring page for details.
How much does therapeutic tutoring cost for the families I refer?
Therapeutic tutoring costs $110 to $125 per 30 minutes, with sessions from 30 to 90 minutes depending on the student’s age and needs. It is not billable to health insurance, but Flexible Spending Account funds can be used, and a limited number of Foundation-supported seats reduce costs by 25% for families with financial need. Every family starts with a free consultation, and package options are discussed only after the first session. You can share our fees page with families during your feedback session.
Make Your Recommendations Count
Refer a student, or call us to talk through a case before you do. We will contact the family within one business day.
Refer a Student Contact Us
