From Denise, parent of two students with dyslexia:

I first met Peter at an interview for a reading tutor position with my family in March 2016. Over the course of the last five years, my two older children, who both have been diagnosed as dyslexic, have worked with several tutors, including long tenured “reading specialists” at private Chicago K-12 schools. I can honestly say Peter is the top of the pack. My children progressed more in 8 weeks with Peter, than they did with 8 months with other tutors.  Their current teachers are astounded by how much progress they have both made, and how confident they have become as students, readers and learners.

Peter has a wonderful demeanor and is a natural with children. He has always been on time and superbly prepared for the day’s session. Both children have advanced so much in their reading and organizational development using his summer visualization and verbalization programs. My 11-year-old was a reluctant reader before working with Peter and now reads until the wee hours of the night. My son says the best part of reading is visualizing the story - which was missing from his prior approach to reading and comprehension. Peter works at a methodical pace, that is appropriate for each child, after taking the time to learn and understand how the child learns best. He does his child-centered diligence first to determine which tactics might work best, under the circumstances.

I am happy to fully recommend and endorse Peter as a tutor for your school or family. We intend to fully utilize his services again this summer for a period of 8 weeks or longer.

From Julie, parent of a former student:

Our son has struggled with reading since first grade! Despite every intervention and special service, he continued to fall behind and despise reading. This school year we found Peter and decided to homeschool our son.  Peter has completely changed his life! In a 4 month period of time he has improved a grade level and more importantly feels good about himself and likes to read! We are forever grateful.  Peter is talented, committed and exceptionally kind and caring. If your child is struggling with reading, he is the one who can turn your child's learning around!

From Peggy, parent of an adult student with Down syndrome/ADD:

Peter Stafflebach has been working with our daughter Veronica, who is 24 years old, for about the past year. She has Down Syndrome and ADD. She had learned to read in school and could read at about the 3rd grade level, but had very little comprehension of what she was reading. After she read a short passage, she could not answer any of the “W” (who, what, where etc.) questions, or answered them inaccurately. Due to this inability to comprehend, reading had very little meaning to her. Once she was no longer required to read at school of course and after school ended for her she would not read unless necessary. This concerned us of course, but we had no idea how to help her. She also had difficulty communicating, because she did not have the expressive vocabulary to interact in a meaningful way to express her thoughts

We heard about Peter and his work with young people from his aunt who is a close friend of ours. After speaking to him we had our daughter tested at the Lindamood- Bell institute in Oak Park, Il just outside of Chicago. We gave Peter the results of the testing, and he developed a program of letter-word visualization which has led to an amazing increase in her ability to read fluently, even things she has seen for the first time. He also noticed that besides reading she had a language and vocabulary problem not unlike the difficulty ESL learners have with English. He is working with her on that now and on increasing her comprehension. Her expressive vocabulary and her confidence have both grown significantly in the past year though there is still a lot of work to be done.

We have been very pleased with her progress in the areas of reading fluently, understanding and being able to express herself more precisely. In addition, he has been able to keep her engaged for 2 hour sessions with one short break per session. Even though she acknowledges that the work she does with him is difficult, she looks forward to him coming 3 days a week.

Peter would be a great help to any student with reading difficulties. He is able to identify the problem areas quickly, and start correcting them in a way that is positive and fun.