Tutor, learning specialist, or school support: who does what

In English Canada three different services get described with the same word, help. They do different jobs, cost different amounts and work on different timelines. Picking the wrong one costs a term.

Three things, one word

Subject tutoring works on this term's content. A learning assessment, usually from a psychologist or a specialist teacher, works on how your child processes information. School-based support, the resource teacher, the IEP, the accommodations already written into your child's file, is the part most families underuse because nobody explained it.

Quebec has a single job title for the middle one, orthopédagogue, and parents there search for it directly. In English Canada there is no equivalent word, which is exactly why the three keep getting confused.

Start with what the school already has

Before paying anyone, ask the school three questions: does my child have an IEP, what accommodations are currently in place, and has a resource teacher seen them this year.

Accommodations that already exist on paper, extra time, a scribe, chunked instructions, are free, immediate, and often not being used because the family never knew to ask.

Three signs it is a learning issue, not a content gap

The gap is old and shows up in more than one subject. A child struggling in both math and English is often struggling with reading, not with two subjects.

Effort does not convert into results. They study and the mark does not move. This is the most reliable signal there is.

The teacher's comments mention attention, speed, or not following instructions. Those words describe process, not content.

Three signs tutoring is the right first move

The gap is recent and sits in one subject. It usually maps to an absence, a change of teacher, or one specific unit.

Your child can tell you where they get stuck. That is a good sign: the problem is nameable, so it is fixable.

Other subjects are steady. The learning process works; a step is missing.

Usually both, rarely at the same time

The order that works: assessment first, then tutoring built on what it found. The reverse wastes money, because you are paying by the hour to work around an obstacle nobody has named.

Assessment waitlists are long. Tutoring one specific subject while you wait is reasonable. Tutoring instead of the assessment is not.

What to ask a tutor about this

Ask whether they have worked with a student on an IEP, and what they changed about how they taught. A tutor who has never adjusted for one has either not met one or did not notice.

Ask what would make them tell you to stop tutoring and get an assessment. The answer tells you whether you are talking to a professional or a seller.

Old and wide: get the assessment, and use the school support you already have. Recent and narrow: start tutoring on one subject. When in doubt, ask the teacher one question. Is this about the material, or about how they learn?