Meet the Tutoring Team

Please note: We are full. Taking no more new tutoring enquiries in Semester 1, 2024. Thank you!

We Offer a Low-Variance Model of Intervention

The specialist tutors in our expert team at Lifelong Literacy have deep and broad knowledge of literacy and the writing system. We all got into this for one reason alone though:

  • Our commitment to helping students become faster, stronger, better at reading and writing.

 

Our unique training and experience

Lifelong Literacy literacy tutors have at least one qualification in the major evidence-based, up to date, systematic synthetic phonics programs. Once they start working here, they are then trained by Lyn Stone in all of her world-class programs, including Spelling for Life, Language for Life, Reading for Life, Writing for Life, Language Arts and Tutoring for Life.

 

All tutors take and upload session notes every time they work with a student, and those notes are then overseen by senior management, who make suggestions about possible direction and lesson planning.

Ongoing, regular staff training days are part of our approach. This allows us to offer a low-variance model of intervention. Our staff are very carefully trained to take specific steps, using specific methodology. As education professionals, of course, they are also well-placed to respond sensitively to their individual students.

Ongoing progress monitoring and planning is built into our system.

Where to go from here

Should you wish to engage one of our tutors, the first step is for us to provide an initial consultation with a spelling, reading and writing assessment, along with a concise, but very useful summary report. From that, we can place your child with the best tutor possible.

If you would like to book an initial consultation, please email us and we will send you pricing and schedule information. Alternatively, you can call our office manager on 0434 115 548 and we will do our best to help you.

Our Team

We are trained in numerous approaches so that we can accommodate a wide variety of learners.  We have extensive experience with face to face and Zoom-based tutoring. We also have a teacher-training division engaged worldwide to offer high quality coaching and mentoring for schools and school systems wishing to develop teacher capacity in literacy.

Lyn Stone - CEO

I am a linguist, speaker, school coach and author who spends a lot of time thinking about reading and writing. My greatest joy is to work with students who struggle with literacy, because I know that with high quality intervention, they can soar.

I travel the world and deliver teacher training so that schools are increasingly able to meet the needs of all students when it comes to reading and writing.

I am incredibly proud of my tutoring staff. They are dedicated, intelligent and highly skilled and I have no problem placing all my trust in them to get a fantastic job done.

I am independent of any company or education faculty, so I am at liberty to comment, without bias on many of the programs and interventions you may have encountered. I will not use or promote a program or method that isn’t very best practice, according to scientific consensus.

There are many pitfalls for concerned parents, who want the best for their children, but find themselves navigating a maze of programs and practitioners. Part of my job is to apply the science of learning to the evaluation of best-practice, and to communicate frankly to parents and schools so that they make the best possible choices.

Lyn's qualifications

Megan Pearce - Chief Operations Officer

As a principal and teaching professional with a wealth of knowledge and expertise, Megan has a deep understanding of the challenges facing schools, whether urban or remote.

 

Her instructional leadership style has allowed her to support schools to bridge the gap between theory and practice. Megan is well known for her ability to link to classroom practice, and providing practical strategies that are easily transferable to classroom settings.

She has explicit knowledge in the teaching of literacy across K-12 and a broad knowledge of learners including working with gifted and diverse learners, First Nations and ESL students.

Megan’s well-developed coaching skills have supported her to work effectively with teachers to achieve outstanding student results.

Working with one of the most remote schools in Queensland, Australia, has resulted in outstanding and sustained academic growth as evidenced by NAPLAN achievement in every learning area.

Her success, reputation and skills are a demonstration of her ability to draw from her in-depth expertise gained through her incredibly diverse experiences across a broad range of educational settings, as well as her deep understanding and specialised knowledge of literacy.

Driven by her passion to improve literacy outcomes for all students, Megan has been an energetic promoter of scientific, evidence -based literacy instruction for more than 28 years.

Megan's qualifications

  • Spalding
  • Orton Gillingham
  • Hickey Method
  • The Writing Approach to Reading (WRAP)
  • MultiLit Suite
  • The Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing Program (LiPS)
  • LETRS
  • Spelling for Life
  • Reading for Life
  • Writing for Life
  • Language for Life 

With a particular interest in brain studies, Megan is currently studying a Master’s Degree in the Neuroscience of Learning.

Amanda Bugiera - Head of Practice

Amanda is Head of Practice at Lifelong Literacy. She is a strong advocate for evidence-based literacy instruction,  and an engaging and knowledgeable presenter. She has vast experience working with students who have dyslexia, dysgraphia, other developmental learning disorders, and with students who have not had access to high quality school teaching. Her role at Lifelong Literacy allows her to support students to achieve success in 1:1 or small group lessons, using the science of learning to inform every move. She also oversees day to day operations of the company and is responsible for hiring and training new staff.

With a background in psychology and sociology, Amanda is very aware of the interaction and impact that anxiety, working memory, processing speed, executive function and social skills have within the school environment for students.

Amanda is fully trained in all of Lyn Stone’s professional educator programs and uses her background knowledge combined with her extensive training to create successful learning for all her students and trainees.

Amanda has a keen interest in the roles and responsibilities of schools and governments. She is also very aware of the interaction and impact that anxiety, working memory, executive functioning and social skills have within the school environment for dyslexic students.

 

Amanda's qualifications

  • Bachelor of Social Science (Psychology/Sociology)
  • Spelling for Life
  • Language for Life
  • Reading for Life
  • Tutoring for Life

 

  • Language Arts with Lyn Stone
  • OG with Ron Yoshimoto
  • OG Maths with Ron Yoshimoto

Amanda’s Blog

Amanda is a talented writer and has blogged about her experience with school advocacy here.

Christianne Schultz - Senior Specialist Practitioner

Christianne’s journey with her precious boy led her to Lifelong Literacy. Aside from her excellent training, her warmth and dedication are the qualities that made us welcome her into the practice. Christianne knows only too well how frustrating and demoralising it is to be a child in the school system who receives very little appropriate literacy support.

In Christianne’s words:

Hi, my name is Christianne and I have a beautiful little boy who has dysgraphia and severe anxiety.

Over the past few years of watching and helping my son through his struggles it has lead me on my own journey of wanting to help other beautiful children who, like him, are struggling. Through research I have found some fabulous courses to help educate myself better so I could help my son improve his literacy goals.

I have completed my MSL training and I am very excited to be helping others as well. I am very passionate and care greatly about helping children achieve their potential as no child deserves to be left behind for any reason, especially when there is help out there.

Jane Reiseger - Literacy practitioner

“Hi, my name is Jane, and I am a parent, tutor and illustrator. I am passionate about helping kids reach their full potential with reading and writing. Since 2017 with my own experience with my son, I came across and have been learning, thinking, watching, teaching (with my son) and researching systematic synthetic phonics and Explicit Direct Instruction and have developed a keen interest in the science of reading. Recently I completed my Multisensory Instruction of Language Arts 1 training with the Spalding Education Foundation, and I am looking forward to putting this into practice. I am thrilled to be working with Lyn and look forward to helping your child with their writing and reading journey.”

Jane’s qualifications and training:

Jane is available for Zoom-based and in person tutoring in Balnarring.

Rachel Massaro - Literacy Teacher

 

“I have almost 25 years teaching experience across Primary, Secondary and Tertiary sectors. While working as a secondary teacher, I became very alarmed at the number of students entering Year 7 with reading and writing difficulties. This precipitated my interest in literacy intervention and evidence-based instruction, and my pursuit of further study to build my expertise in this area.

 

The moment when a child grasps a new concept or learns a new skill is truly magical, and it’s a privilege to be part of this learning journey. It’s made even more rewarding when the child starts to develop confidence in their literacy and learning abilities.”

Rachel's qualifications

– Master of TESOL
– Master of Education (Literacy Specialist)
– Bachelor of Teaching (Primary & Secondary)
– Bachelor of Education
– Spelling for Life
– The 4 Step Process
– Tutoring for Life
– IMSLE Trainee
– Sounds-Write

Rachel is available for Zoom-based tutoring only.

Kim Davis - Literacy Teacher

Kim has over 20 years of teaching experience as a classroom teacher and as a Literacy leader. Kim has also published ‘Life Skills For Kids’ a book in the area of wellbeing and resilience for children and parents.

Kim's qualifications

  • Diploma of Primary Teaching (ACU)
  • Graduate Certificate in Education in Assessment of Student Learning, Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) 
  • Spelling for Life, Lyn Stone
  • The 4-Step Process, Lyn Stone
  • Morphology Masterclass, Lyn Stone
  • Yoshimoto O-G Basic Training. Explicitly based multisensory spelling and reading instruction Dyslexia Orton-Gillingham Institute
  • DIBELS 8th Edition Basic Training SPELD South Australia