Mike Hastings is a volunteer tutor. He spends his time with a struggling second-grader named DaShaun. DaShaun is great at math but not reading. Mike searched for ways to help DaShaun learn to enjoy reading and become a stronger reader, but none of the ‘quick fixes’ seemed to work. Then Mike found the All Kinds of Minds’ website.

He used the resources and information on the website to understand more about how students learn, including the neurodevelopment barriers facing struggling young readers. He put his new knowledge to work helping DaShaun write words he was learning in order to reinforce the sound-syllable correspondences, as well as helping him focus his attention on committing roots and suffixes to memory. These new tools and accommodations immediately helped DaShaun become a more effective reader, and as a result, DaShaun began to enjoy reading – almost as much as math!

With further exploration, Mike found out that 14 teachers at DaShaun’s school had been through All Kinds of Minds’ Schools Attuned professional development program. The program increased the value each of these teachers brought to their classrooms, by providing them with additional skills and resources to ensure all of their students were successful learners. However, DaShaun’s teacher had not been through the program due to budget and time constraints. She was interested in learning more though.

Mike then decided to invest in All Kinds of Minds to enable them to reach more teachers and ultimately more students with the breakthrough training Schools Attuned provides. He wrote a check for $1,000 and included the following note:

“Please accept this check as an investment to help your organization (All Kinds of Minds) continue to help teachers learn more about learning so they can better help all of their students to enjoy school and be successful. I also hope you all can begin working with more volunteers, like me, that help struggling students. Keep up your outstanding work.”