Reading ASSIST Institute - Unlocking the written word... one sound at a time

In 1979, motivated by her 12-year old son’s inability to read, Reading ASSIST^® Institute Founder Virginia Biasotto developed a multi-sensory, phonics-based, systematic, supplemental reading curriculum from her studies of the Orton-Gillingham methods. Determined that other children would not suffer as her son had, Ginger taught the method to friends and neighbors who offered themselves to local schools as volunteer tutors. This “kitchen table” group went out into Wilmington, Delaware area schools and volunteered to teach other children for free. Their students began to be successful in school and Ginger began training more reading tutors to voluntarily work with children who had failed to learn to read with conventional classroom approaches.

 

In 1989, Reading ASSIST^® Institute was incorporated into a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, and over the years RAI has successfully improved the literacy skills of thousands of children throughout the region.

 

Today we accomplish our mission, in part, by extensively training volunteer tutors, parents and educators to use our research-validated, multisensory, phonics based, explicit tutoring curriculum, which is based upon the findings of the National Reading Panel, as well as other well-known and respected researchers in the field of literacy. 

 

Through our Volunteer Tutor Program, volunteers are placed in schools to work with children, individually, or in small groups (2-3 students), who have been identified by their schools as at risk for reading failure, at no cost to schools or families. 

 

We recognize the importance of cooperation amongst RAI, parents, and educators to ensure the best possible outcome for struggling readers. With that collaboration in mind, we have developed a Professional Development Program, which provides workshops and courses to area educators. 

 

Additionally, RAI offers a K-6 parent outreach program, Parent ASSIST, which is designed to provide resources and classes for parents aimed at helping them develop their child’s literacy skills at home. RAI has reached hundreds of parents throughout the state with this lively, hands-on program. 

 

Moreover, the scope of RAI’s services has gradually expanded over the years to include the Tutor Service Program, a fee-for-service tutoring option, which allows parents to acquire private tutoring for children, and a School Tutor Service Program, for school administrators who choose the option of private, fee-based tutoring in order to meet specialized instruction requirements at a school site.

 

In 2008, RAI expanded its physical presence to its office and training/tutoring center in Milford, Delaware.  From this vantage, RAI has begun to provide the services of all of its programs to struggling readers, their parents and teachers in Kent and Sussex Counties.