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Amy Maida | Reading Specialist

@readinghelpforparents

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😩Reading + School Struggles?
🎯Get answers here
🎓 25+ yrs | M.Ed.+
📈 Gain 3 levels in months
⬇️ 1-Min Reading Check

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📘 A 62 with unfinished answers needs more than “try harder.”
At the next conference, you need to find out what’s getting in the way—and agree on what happens next- save his confidence, save yourself, sleep, and stress!

That’s why I created the Parent’s Tactical Playbook- take the stress off of preparing!
Ask the right questions, and leave with a clear follow-up plan.

🎯 It’s 50% off through October 30. Comment CONFERENCE and I’ll send you the purchase link.

Don’t go into the meeting hoping you’ll think of the right questions in the moment. by @readinghelpforparents

A 15-minute conference won’t solve years of school struggles.

I created the Parent-Teacher Conference Playbook because I’ve spent years on both sides of that table—as a school administrator and as a mom of five who would lose sleep before our conferences.

Here are five questions from the Playbook to get you started:

1️⃣ What strengths do you see in my son?

2️⃣ What’s the biggest concern affecting his progress?

3️⃣ Has his reading fluency been measured this year? What were the results?

4️⃣ What support have you tried, and what’s helping?

5️⃣ What’s our next step, and when will we check progress?

These five are just a starting point. The Playbook helps you prepare, understand the answers, and leave with a plan for the rest of the year.

If the teacher can’t answer #3, ask how to get a current reading-fluency measure. Don’t let another year pass without knowing where he stands.

Comment PLAYBOOK to get the guide.

📤 Send this to a mom who’s tried everything.

Amy Maida, M.Ed. | Reading & Learning Specialist, 25+ years | Mom of 5 ❤️
Helping parents understand their kids so they read better and you stress less. by @readinghelpforparents

👉 5th grade. Reading at a 2nd grade level. The school’s plan? More “just keep practicing.” More waiting.

Nobody asked WHY. Here’s what they missed 👇

1️⃣ Reading fluency. Not checked since 2nd grade. She couldn’t read fast enough for her brain to hold the meaning. She wasn’t bad at understanding. She was spending all her energy on the words.

2️⃣ Her eyes (this one surprised everyone). A developmental optometrist found her eyes weren’t tracking across the line or working together as a team. Her screening said 20/20. Seeing clearly ≠ reading comfortably.
Watch for: losing their place, skipping lines, using a finger, headaches at homework.

3️⃣ Word parts. Nobody taught her how prefixes and suffixes build big words. Every long word was a wall.

46 days of prefix/suffix work, daily fluency drills, and audiobooks while following the text.

📈 +72 words per minute.

Same kid. Right problem, finally found. It’s never too late.

📲 Know a mom stuck hearing “keep practicing”? Send her this.

Hi, I’m Amy. I’ve spent 25+ years in schools—every grade—and I’ll tell you what most won’t 😬 I know how people learn—and how to help any student improve reading FAST. ❤️ Wife (26 years!) & mom of 5, proven Reading Specialist, former Special Ed. Teacher & Administrator on a mission. I help parents get to the root of learning struggles—even with Learning Disabilities. From Elementary to College.

👇 Stuck with your son or daughter? Drop it in the comments or send a DM—I’ll help.

📌 I post daily strategies, advice, and tools parents can use.

🎁 Free gift before you go… Comment FOCUS for a quick quiz + guide to see if working memory may be slowing your student down.

📊 Or start here: Comment SNAPSHOT for the Reading Snapshot System—a simple 1-minute reading check to see exactly where they stand (use it again and again, instant download, $17). 👍 by @readinghelpforparents

I get asked this a lot: “How can she explain the whole book… but forget one single detail?” 😩

She’s not lazy, and she’s not “not trying.” She’s a big-picture learner. Her brain grabs the main idea and lets the details slide right past. I’m the same way. My husband catches every detail I miss.
‼️ At school, that shows up in reading comprehension, test-taking, and writing. She understands the story but freezes when the test asks for a date, a name, or one vocabulary word. Then she starts believing she’s “bad at school.”
📝 The fix is a sticky note.
Tap the linked reel below 👇 and I’ll show you the small habit that helps big-picture kids catch the details and build their own study guide while they read.
Does your kid do this?

Tell me their grade in the comments.
🔍 I find what teachers miss. — Amy Maida, M.Ed. | Reading & Learning Specialist | 25+ years | Mama of 5 |

Follow for more 👉 @readinghelpforparents by @readinghelpforparents

Winter break is 7 weeks away. Here’s what your 6th grader should be able to do before it gets here. 📚

6th grade is when the reading gets harder and the help gets quieter. Most schools stopped checking reading fluency years ago, so a kid who’s slow or guessing can look “fine” until grades start slipping in every class, not just reading.

✔️ Reads grade-level text without stopping
✔️ Sums up what they read in 15 words or less
✔️ Asks their own who/what/where/when/why/how questions
✔️ Knows the top 10 suffixes and what they do to a word
✔️ Writes a clear paragraph about what they read

If one of these made your stomach drop, don’t panic. It’s information, and there’s still time to practice before semester grades lock in. 💛

Comment “CONFERENCE ” and I’ll send you my Complete conference playbook so you can ask pointed questions and get answers!

Amy Maida, M.Ed. | Reading & Learning Specialist | Mom of 5 ❤️ by @readinghelpforparents

A grade will never tell you the whole story. 💛

School success is measured in confidence. In whether he raises his hand. Whether he tries again tomorrow. Whether there’s still room at the dinner table to just be a family.

If that’s the school year you want for your kid, it starts with knowing what’s really getting in the way.
💙Comment “CONFERENCE” and I’ll send you the top 5 Questions you should be asking so you walk into your next meeting with a plan, not just a feeling.

Amy Maida, M.Ed. | Reading & Learning Specialist | Mom of 5 ❤️
On a mission to help parents understand their kids, so they read better and you stress less.

📊 Want to know how many words per minute your kid should be reading? Comment “WPM” for my free chart. by @readinghelpforparents

These are the signs I see over and over in bright kids whose reading is quietly holding everything back.

Missing work, meltdowns, “it’s done” when it isn’t.
It looks like attitude.
It’s usually a skill gap nobody has measured yet.

Here’s the hard part: if you walk into a parent-teacher conference saying “I think something’s off,” you’ll probably hear “he just needs to try harder.”

So go in prepared. Know what to ask, what to bring, and what to push for.

💬 Comment CONFERENCE and I’ll send you The Parent’s Conference Playbook so you walk out of that meeting with a plan, not a pep talk.

— Amy Maida, M.Ed.
Reading & Learning Specialist | 25+ years | Mama of 5

🔍 I find what teachers miss.
Follow for more 👉 @readinghelpforparents

#parentingtips #strugglingreaders by @readinghelpforparents

Is this accurate? or nah? 👀 ( again this was just for fun 🤩)

Drop their sign below and lmk if this sounds like you or them!!. ♈️♉️♊️

Amy Maida, M.Ed. | Reading & Learning Specialist | Mom of 5 ❤️ by @readinghelpforparents

If your “shy” student comes home exhausted after a day of group work… this might explain a LOT. 😮‍💨

Being quiet and being shy are NOT the same thing.

Some students love being around people but need time alone to recharge. Others think best when they can talk things through.

It’s part of how we’re wired. And understanding these personality differences can change how we approach learning!

Think about it. 👇

Your son or daughter spends ALL day listening, talking, working with partners, and participating in groups.

By the time they get home? They’re DONE.

And now we’re asking them to read, study, and tackle homework. 😩

Here’s what parents need to know:

📌 Quiet doesn’t mean disengaged. Some students do their best thinking BEFORE they speak.

📌 Group work isn’t always better. Constant interaction can drain students who need quiet time to recharge.

📌 That after-school attitude? It might be exhaustion, not defiance.

Try this instead:

✅ Give them 15–20 minutes of quiet time after school.

✅ Let them think or write their answers BEFORE discussing them.

✅ Create a quiet homework space where they can work independently.

And please remember: A student who doesn’t raise their hand isn’t necessarily a student who doesn’t know the answer.

I’ve seen how easily “quiet” gets mistaken for “needs to participate more.”

And that misunderstanding can follow a student for years.

📋 Comment PLAYBOOK for my Parent-Teacher Conference Playbook so you can walk into your next meeting knowing what to ask and how to advocate for your student.

👋 Hi, I’m Amy Maida!
❤️ Wife, mom of 5, Reading Specialist & former Special Ed Teacher and Administrator.

🎓 I help parents understand HOW their students learn so they can unlock their potential—from elementary school through college.

📌 Follow @ReadingHelpForParents for practical strategies that make learning easier!

#introverts #parentingtips by @readinghelpforparents

What if I told you your kid isn’t a bad test taker? 🤯

They studied. They knew it the night before. Then they blanked on the test.

That’s not laziness, and it’s not effort. Kids can forget about half of what they learn within a day if they never go back to it.
By test day they’re relearning everything from scratch, and cramming the night before can’t fix that.
A lot of the time it comes down to working memory.
And working memory isn’t a weakness. It’s something to understand, and once you do, everything gets easier.

Comment “FOCUS” and I’ll send you my free working memory quiz + parent guide.

Amy Maida, M.Ed. | Reading & Learning Specialist | Mom of 5 ❤️
On a mission to help parents understand their kids, so they read better and you stress less. by @readinghelpforparents

Her report card says “average.”
#But if your 5th grader reads 70 words per minute, you’re probably wondering:

Is this okay? Is my kid falling behind? Why doesn’t anyone tell me what to do next?

Here’s the thing: in the fall, 5th graders typically read about 120 words correctly per minute.

‼️At 70, reading fluency isn’t “average.” It’s a gap that touches every subject, from science to math word problems.

At your next school meeting, ask:

👉 “What’s making reading hard right now, and what’s the plan to help?”

I know how frustrating and scary it feels to walk out of a meeting with no clear answers. I’ve been the worried mom of 5, and I’ve sat on the other side of the table as a former special education administrator and reading specialist.

That’s why I created The Parent’s Tactical Playbook. It helps you walk in with the right questions, understand the answers, and leave knowing exactly what to do next.

Comment PLAYBOOK and I’ll send you the link. 👍 50%off till October 30th!

Hi, I’m Amy. I’ve spent 25+ years in schools—every grade—and I’ll tell you what most won’t 😬 I know how people learn—and how to help any student improve reading FAST.

❤️ Wife (26 years!) & mom of 5, proven Reading Specialist, former Special Ed. Teacher & Administrator on a mission.
I help parents get to the root of learning struggles—even with Learning Disabilities.
From Elementary to College.
#parentingtips #reader by @readinghelpforparents

they’re not lazy and it’s not your fault. Don’t lose sleep over their struggles.
These are five things I do today if my middle schooler had a conference coming up
Comment conference and I’m gonna send you the link to The Parent’s Conference playbook. 50% off through October 30th! by @readinghelpforparents