Special Needs Students Have Special Needs
For many children, learning to read, write, and comprehend stories is a natural progression. But for children with autism, ADHD, dyslexia, anxiety, and other conditions, these milestones can feel like mountains. Sounding out words doesn’t always lead to understanding them. Reading comprehension becomes a frustrating puzzle, not a joy. And while peers move forward, these children often get left behind.
Ability isn’t the issue — many neurodivergent children are bright, curious, and creative. The problem lies in fit. Traditional classrooms are rarely designed to meet their unique learning styles. A one-size-fits-all curriculum, paired with overcrowded classrooms and stretched teachers, leaves special needs students struggling to keep pace.
Opportunities are missed not because neurodivergent children are unable to learn, but because standard curricula are insufficient to meet their special needs.
When special needs children don’t get the right support, the consequences ripple outward. Children begin to associate learning with failure and frustration instead of discovery and growth. Struggles with reading comprehension affect every subject — math word problems, history texts, even science instructions. Self-esteem plummets. Anxiety rises. Children who should be building confidence begin to withdraw instead.
Parents of Special Needs Kids Have Unique Struggles
If you’re the parent of a child with learning challenges, you already know: parenting feels like a second full-time job. You’re managing IEPs, emailing teachers, sitting in waiting rooms for therapies, and still lying awake at night wondering if your child will be left behind, the fear that your child’s potential will remain locked away unless someone finds the key.
Yet that key isn’t more worksheets, or more pressure, or more of the same. Instead, specialized, individualized instruction from someone who truly understands how special needs children learn can make all the difference in the world. Traditional schools try, but too often they can’t give your child the one-on-one support they truly need. That leaves parents drained, frustrated, and desperate for solutions outside the classroom.
What you really need is simple: a trusted, reliable, empathetic tutor who specializes in special needs education — someone who doesn’t just “help with homework” but actually unlocks progress and builds confidence. Most importantly, someone with the special skills and experience necessary to dive deeper into the meaning of the work to better educate your special needs child.
The Solution: Specialized Tutoring
Many concerned parents turn to alternative sources, but are often lost at sea. Let’s navigate the rocky shore. This is where the right tutor can make all the difference. Not just any tutor — a special needs reading tutor who combines deep educational expertise with empathy and patience.
Specialized tutoring gives children what the classroom often cannot:
- One-on-one attention tailored to their learning style
- Flexible methods that adapt to autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and anxiety.
- Step-by-step support that turns frustration into small, steady wins.
- Confidence-building strategies that restore joy in learning.
With the right tutor, reading goes from struggle to success, and comprehension shifts from confusion to clarity. And with that shift, everything changes — grades, confidence, even how a child sees themselves.

Michelle Waugh
Michelle isn’t a side-hustle tutor or a college student making extra money. She’s the exact opposite: a doctorate-level educator and California-certified teacher with over 20 years of hands-on experience in classrooms and one-on-one instruction, Michelle has worked across preschool, elementary, high school, and college.
She works with kids on the autism spectrum, children with ADHD and dyslexia, and those struggling with anxiety or learning delays. She is available for in-person tutoring near Mission Viejo, CA — or online anywhere via Zoom.