About The Reading Center
The Reading Center was founded on a simple conviction: families deserve clear, honest answers about their child's reading — and something they can bring to the people who teach them.
If you've found your way here, you may already know the quiet worry of watching your child struggle to read and not knowing why. A clear, honest answer changes that — and helping families reach it is the whole reason our practice exists.
Who Will Be at Your Table
The same person every time — a Maine-certified educator with a master's in education and more than twenty years in Maine schools, fingerprinted and criminal-background-checked through the Maine Department of Education.
None of that is something you should have to ask about, so we say it up front. You'll be home for all of it. And if you'd rather not host at all, a quiet room at a library or community space works just as well — some families prefer it.
What a Visit Feels Like
The visit runs about three hours with two real breaks. It starts with fifteen minutes of just talking about what your child likes. There's a point partway through where they teach us how to do something. It always ends on something they did well.
Most children settle in within minutes. You're nearby the whole time. Most leave believing they spent an afternoon with an adult who found them interesting, which is exactly the point.
We come to you, and we keep it calm and unhurried. Your child works one-to-one at a table where they're comfortable, usually your own kitchen table, with patient attention and no sense of a test to pass or fail.
Grounded in the Responsive Diamond Model
Our work is grounded in the Responsive Diamond Model, a framework we developed for reaching every reader, including the ones a standard system quietly misses. It's the same thinking that identifies the children who need intensive support.
Across Greater Portland and Central Maine. You'll leave knowing exactly where your child stands, and holding what you need to walk into their school with evidence instead of worry.