Lindamood-Bell

My son attended both the Lindamood-​Bell center in San Luis Obispo, as well as the temporary summer learning center in Paso. It was a great experience! He was able to read books, but was just not enjoying them the way we thought he should be given how much he liked to learn. He needed help to be able to read easier, so he could actually enjoy what he was reading.
The tutors who worked with him were so wonderful – they had high energy and kept him motivated to attend even in the summer. He was always bringing home some prize he had earned and was so proud of his accomplishments. During his instruction, he was reading a book, Double Fudge, and the staff even threw him a fudge party and invited all of his family to attend – complete with little pieces of fudge and lots of balloons. This was typical of the staff at the center, they were just amazing. They all seemed to genuinely care about his progress.
Now that he has finished Lindamood-​Bell and is in third grade, we really see the benefit. He went from asking us how long he «had to read» to us telling him to stop reading to go to bed, or brush his teeth, etc. He has read the first 3 Harry Potter Books and did so in about a month. Now he is on to the Percy Jackson series and isn’t slowing down. He is even at the top of his class! We are very pleased with the gains he has made and would recommend Lindamood-​Bell.

Five stars for the actual tutors who worked with my child. Each was friendly and sincere. They smiled and seemed to enjoy their job. I got the feeling they really CARED about my child’s progress.
Unfortunately, the pushy sales pitch drove us away and we would not recommend the Lindamood-​Bell program to others because of how we were treated.
After a few months and THOUSANDS of dollars, the sales manager or supervisor or whatever she’s called got us in a room with a long table, opened up the binders and proceeded to lecture us for 15 minutes about how if we stopped now, our child would fall behind… if we didn’t continue w/​the program, we’d regret it…
Talk about a guilt trip! Keep in mind, this lady had NEVER spent tutoring time w/​our child. The tutor herself just sat there smiling, quiet… as if she wasn’t allowed to talk or something. Very odd. Very forced. Very intimidating.
Again, the tutors themselves were kind, professional and my child really liked them but their bosses seemed more interested in generating $$$ than truly helping my child’s academic progress. I wouldn’t be surprised if the «higher-​ups» are getting bonuses or commissions, hence the obnoxious sales pitches.
Lindamood-​Bell SLO was too expensive, too pushy, and too much like sitting through a high-​pressure timeshare condo presentation or getting thrown around by a desperate used car salesman. Disappointing and not worth the hype.

This program is very helpful, and at the same time it is also pricey. As with anything in life, you only get out of it what you put in to it. They have different clinicians that I worked with when I went here, I was a regular at Lindamood-​Bell in between my college years at APU. They have a program known as VV, which is visualizing and verbalizing. before I went to Lindamood-​Bell, and afterwards, I hadn’t been diagnosed with Asperger’s yet, which is what I have.
In the beginning I was slow with the whole concept, but I can tell after I continued to apply myself that I found this program to be very helpful.