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Prevent The Summer Slide
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The Summer Slide refers to the learning loss students experience during the summer break. To prevent the Summer Slide in reading skills, continue Barton tutoring, or tutoring with any good Orton-Gillingham-based program, during the summer months.
Tutoring over the summer is important to a child’s success, especially if they are in the early levels of the Barton Reading & Spelling System (Levels 1, 2, 3, or 4). Students in these levels are still developing the foundational skills needed for reading fluency and comprehension. Without constant reinforcement, they will forget key concepts, making it difficult to pick up where they left off when school resumes.
Taking a three-month break from tutoring will significantly undermine a child’s progress and require them to spend many months re-learning Barton lessons. This will slow reading progress and lead to frustration.
Instead, increase the frequency of tutoring sessions to every day – at the child’s best time of the day. Summer provides a unique opportunity to make greater strides in reading because students are not overwhelmed with schoolwork and extracurricular demands.
In this 7-minute video, Susan Barton explains why tutoring over the summer is so critical for a child’s success.
Cumulative Impact:
- Summer slide is cumulative, meaning that the learning losses add up over time.
- Research indicates that over a single summer, students typically lose about 2 months of reading skills.
- By the time a student reaches middle school, the cumulative effect of summer slide can result in the equivalent of 2 years of lost learning.
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Believe In Yourself
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Dr. Lewis Mattin is a Senior Lecturer in Human Physiology at the University of Westminster. He often says he was luckier than many students with dyslexia, having been diagnosed at just five years old — an age when many others still go undiagnosed. But despite the early diagnosis, his journey through education was far from easy.
Most of his teachers didn’t understand dyslexia or how to adapt their teaching styles to meet his learning needs. As a result, Lewis was frequently labeled “lazy” or “disruptive” — harmful misconceptions that many dyslexic students know all too well. One teacher even told him, “You will never make anything of yourself. You can’t even spell your own name.”
Yet despite those early setbacks and a lack of belief from his educators, Lewis never gave up on himself. He had a dream: to become an Olympic 10K open water swimmer. That ambition instilled in him a remarkable level of dedication, resilience, and drive — qualities that would go on to serve him well beyond the pool.
When Lewis applied to Nottingham Trent University and was accepted into the BSc program in Exercise, Nutrition, and Health, it was one of his proudest moments. For him, the decision didn’t hinge on academic rankings or prestige. All he wanted to know was, “Do you have a swimming pool?” — because he was still chasing his Olympic dream.
Although that dream didn’t come to fruition, it opened the door to something even more meaningful. His academic journey gained momentum, and eventually, Lewis set his sights on earning a PhD. The path wasn’t straightforward — it took seven interviews (and seven years) before he finally found the right supervisor. That mentor not only recognized Lewis’s potential but also gave him the space and support to grow into his strengths.
With this foundation, Lewis launched a fulfilling career in academia as a lecturer, grounded in experience, empathy, and perseverance.
Looking back, Lewis is grateful that he didn’t let others define his worth. If he had listened to the doubters, he wouldn’t be where he is today. His message to others is simple but powerful: “Remember to look back at what you have achieved, before being over-critical about where you’re going. And most importantly — believe in yourself. It goes a long way.”
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College Bound
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College Bound
By Susan Barton
Susan Barton loves hearing about college-bound Barton students – like this one.
Dear Susan,
I love your newsletters! My 17-year-old daughter, Alyssa, is currently in Level 8 of the Barton Reading & Spelling System, and it has made such a difference in her life. Before starting Barton, she went through the Wilson program at a private school she attended from 1st to 6th grade. The Barton System has been a powerful resource for our daughter—not just in improving her reading, writing, and spelling, but also in helping with her anxiety and self-esteem.
Alyssa really struggled in elementary school. In kindergarten and first grade, we would spend one to two hours each night on homework that would take a typical child ten minutes to complete. Reading and spelling were extremely difficult for her, but she was always so determined to finish her assignments.struggle to do homework independently.
One day, I came across an Instagram post by someone I did not know personally. She shared that she was receiving dyslexia tutoring as an adult and mentioned that her father, a successful CEO, had also discovered his dyslexia later in life. She spoke about how transformative tutoring had been for both of them—not just academically, but emotionally.
That post led me to reach out to her and, eventually, to her mother, who is a Barton tutor. The rest is history! Alyssa’s tutor has helped her make tremendous progress with reading, writing, and spelling, and has also become a mentor and dear friend. Alyssa says the Barton System has boosted her confidence, helped her discover the joy of reading, improved her communications skills, and made completing schoolwork much easier.
Alyssa will head off to college this June, confident, happy, and beautiful. We are incredibly proud of how far she has come and can’t wait to see what her future holds.
Thank you so much!
Stephanie Eastman, Parent
Mesa, AZ
To listen to this, or to share it, click here.
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