Hello
And Welcome! I am so happy you are here. I am Ashley, the owner of Ruter's Tutors LLC. I wanted to create a page to tell you more about myself, my educational philosophies, and how Ruter's Tutors LLC came to be. Here is a bit more information about me as well as information on our practice and how the process works.
My Story
I will start with a bit about my educational background: In 2012 I achieved my Bachelor's degree in Special Education at Northern Illinois University. I completed my Master's degree at Grand Canyon University, in reading education with an emphasis in elementary education in 2020. I am a certified reading specialist and special education teacher. I posses over 10 years of teaching experience in the public education setting, empowering struggling learners, with a variety of unique diagnoses.
I took a step away from the classroom when I had my daughters. I still felt the need to continue pursing my passion of working with students and families to teach students one of the most difficult tasks- how to read and write. The idea of starting my own practice focused on reading came alive.
I began Ruter's Tutors while living in NC. Right away, the need for reading intervention in the area became apparent. I also saw the need to help and empower parents navigate and decode the educational system so that they may advocate for their child. The positive outcomes and feedback drove me to want to expand and our tiny business quickly took off. As a military family, we relocated to Idaho. We set up shop almost immediately and have been serving students and families in Mountain Home since 2022. The practice continues to keep growing, and we continue learning. We are passionate about helping students and families achieve their educational goals.
When it comes to my philosophies on learning, I do not believe in a one size fits all approach to education. All of my years in the classroom (and as a mother) have taught me that each child learns in a unique and individualized way. We believe it is crucial to meet students at their individual levels and cater to their unique personalities and learning styles. When we do this we see tremendous and rapid growth- not only their literacy skills but in their confidence, overall attitude, and independence. We celebrate every time we get positive feedback from parents, students, and teachers! Some of my favorite success stories come from families whose students start with us and mention that their child "hates" school. After a few weeks start to make comments about their child being excited to go to school, volunteering in class, helping others, or being excited to read together at home.
Our goal is to celebrate your child's success and help them to become more confident in themselves and their educational performance. We would be thrilled to work with your child and your family! I truly believe that it takes a village when it comes to teaching and supporting our children. We hope you let us be a part of your village and journey!
About the Process
We are located in a home-based office in the town of Mountain Home, Idaho. Our reading therapy/tutoring sessions are 45 minutes long and 1:1 direct instruction. We use research based curriculums created specifically for intervention that address all areas of literacy: phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, reading fluency, reading comprehension, and writing. We believe in meeting students at their individual level.
We supplement our lessons with research based strategies, activities, and games tailored to our students individual needs and interests. Our students typically get excited about reading and look forward to coming back to their weekly sessions, and our parents are pleased with the changes and progress they see at home and in school.
Our practice is all about building students' confidence in their reading and themselves, which accelerates progress. We build positive relationships with our students, so that they have another person in their corner to encourage them! The first session is mostly assessment and helps us to get an accurate idea of where a student is at, their strengths, areas that need additional support, interests. This helps us to accurately place them within our curriculum. Following the first session, we schedule a phone conference with parents to discuss our findings and go over our plan. This ensures that parents are on board and comfortable moving forward. We send home a weekly books or an activity to add into your routine. This allows students to continue practice reading throughout the week. We are also always here to discuss strategies at any time to help support families.
We hope this information has proved helpful and hope to hear from you!