"Irene is truly remarkable at teaching children how to read. For some children, learning to read can be harder than it appears to be for their peers. This was the case for my daughter. Irene not only took the anxiety away from the experience of learning to read, but she made it genuinely fun and totally stress free. And the confidence it gave my daughter is something that remains with her six years on! I feel so fortunate that I discovered her for my children." 

-- Kate Winslet, actress and former NYC private school mom

"Eve is flourishing at Stuyvesant and I wanted to take a minute to write you a note to tell you how grateful I am for all that you did for us. I feel that, not only did Eve get into Stuy because of the weekly lessons with you, but I also feel that through the lessons she learned study habits that are contributing to her success now at Stuyvesant.  She is vice president of the freshman caucus, on multiple sports teams and is maintaining a high "A" average in all her classes. Thank you so much for the time and effort you devoted to helping Eve.  Your efforts, guidance and judgement went a long way toward directing Eve's future to a high achieving academic one."

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              -- Jen Wening

"We wanted to let you know how much we appreciate your support and insight into helping our son. He's improved so much because of the exceptionally good job you and your tutor did with him. He's reading an hour or two before bed almost every night now and his teacher says he writes easily and at length without prodding. More importantly, she noted that he made connections that were thoughtful and showed insight and understanding of the subject matter. His vocabulary is through the roof and his reading comprehension is also very strong. This nearly brought me to tears! Such a long way he has come."

                                     --Parent at Hunter Elementary School   

"Stevie got into both of his first-choice high schools! I wanted to thank you for holding our hands and guiding us through this arduous process. All of your tutors were tremendous.  I can't imagine going through this without you and your team.  So glad to know that for our younger son, I will be able to knock on the right door when the time comes for SHSAT prep -- your Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                           -- With love and appreciation, Susi Nichol

"Steps Tutoring has been instrumental in helping my son, S, become a stellar student. S is now in fifth grade at PS 41. He began working with Irene when he was in second grade because he was struggling with sounding out words, reading comprehension, and writing. Thanks in large part to Irene’s work with him, he went on to become a passionate reader and, at the end of second grade, a nonfiction story he wrote in school was chosen as exemplary second grade writing by the Board of Education.  During the first year that the difficult fourth grade Common Core state tests were administered – a year when only 30 percent of students passed -- S got solid 4s in both English and math. Thanks to the years of building a strong academic foundation with Irene, and to the tutoring Irene provided for the ISEE verbal section, he also scored very high on the ISEE. (His stanine score in reading comprehension was 9!)  

            When we first came to Steps Tutoring in second grade, Irene, who has a Ph.D. in developmental psychology, assessed S for his academic strengths and weaknesses and quickly laid out a plan to help S.  Furthermore, Irene spent time with me explaining her philosophy on teaching, her knowledge of the various public and private schools teaching methodologies, ways to reinforce learning for my child at home and even helping me to map out a vision for S’s learning goals for each grade. Irene carefully chose one of her tutors to work with S and always checked his work herself and prepared his lessons herself. Every six months or so, Irene met with S to assess him in both English and math.  Throughout second grade, S’s passion for reading stories exploded and quickly surpassed his reading level by two grades.  He was quickly able to read simple chapter books (which had been our goal when we started with Irene) and he also began to read more complicated books such as Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series. He became, and continues to be, a voracious reader.

           Irene has the gift, and professional training in both psychology and education, to understand children and their constant changes developmentally and academically.  I appreciate her flexibility, insight, and quick evaluation of where S was at particular times to focus on what he needed to work on.  At times, it would be math and, at other times, writing and grammar.  While I believe that PS 41 offers a wonderful education to its students, Irene’s help in strengthening S’s weak spots, and working ahead with S has placed S in a stellar academic stance as well as boosted his confidence and love for learning.

           Both my son and I know that Irene will be in our lives for many years to come as a wonderful guide, teacher, and friend.  I truly feel that Irene has been a gift in our son’s life and hope she will be in yours."

-- Shinhee Han, PhD

"Today is Elliot’s last day of test prep and we need to tell you how incredible you both have been to our son! Elliot’s tutor was a true gift!  She brought out the best in our Elliot through strong academic and emotional support. No matter the test result we are winners already!! Irene, we are so grateful for how your assessments and constant available support has made this a very smooth process.  You even hand held my fears. Thank you for everything!!"

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                -- Karen Sylvester

“It was such a pleasure to meet you last week. My son and I went to Barnes & Noble and bought lots of books and the reading DVDs you recommended. He and his sister watched the DVDs to and from the Hamptons and loved them. We worked on recognizing the early sight words like `the.' Last night, at bedtime, we pulled out one of the little phonics books you recommended and, well, my son was a superstar. He looked at me and said, `Mom! I can read!’ He was so excited and I was so proud. THANK YOU for already making a difference!”

                                   --Upper East Side mom of two children in private school