I have used the Porter Process with many parents and everyone has been delighted with the results.
But some parents are unsure about using the process. They have two main concerns. I’d like to address these so that you don’t miss out on the opportunity to use this process.
A few parents either think the process is too new, maybe even revolutionary, and that it might counteract what schools are doing. They are unsure about the validity of the process.
Then there are parents who are concerned about the cost.
I understand both concerns and would like to address them.
- Validity of the process.
Let me tell you about Susan and her father.
Susan’s father, let us call him John, called me one January to ask about the Porter Process. He described his daughters learning issues and I knew he had genuine concerns and that this young girl was quickly losing her self-confidence as a learner. John wanted an assessment of her abilities and advice about how to help her. He was unsure about what The Porter Process could offer and wanted to know more.
I told him about the process and what results he could expect and that I would be happy to work with him and his daughter.
I heard nothing from him for several weeks. I sent him a message asking if he wanted to go ahead with the process or not.
He replied that he was thinking about it.
I reminded him that his daughter’s issues would only get worse and that he really should act soon if he wanted to get her the help she needed. I was really concerned about Susan who was obviously very bright but who had been placed in a remedial group because she could not keep up in class. I wanted her to get help, any help at all, and I wanted to help John understand the urgency of the situation.
John got back to me and we set up a time to chat.
Now John wanted a full personal assessment of his daughter’s abilities. He wanted to go beyond the on-line version of the process and to have me conduct the assessment with his child one-to-one. This was possible because he lived nearby.
The cost of this personal process is $2500. He told me that he thought it was very expensive and wanted to know why it cost so much. I told him that he would be getting the Rolls Royce of assessments and advice and that if he was not happy with the process I would return his money.
That was the last I heard from him for several more weeks.
Stick with me here – this story holds an important truth about the process.
It was mid-summer before John agreed to participate in the process. I worked with Susan and was able to prove how bright she was – (the parents thought she was bright but the school had put her in a remedial group so they thought that they might be wrong) – and to pinpoint her learning issues.
John was very happy with the results and I got paid.
But John was not sure that the information and advice I had given him was valid.
In September John called me to say that he had been to both an Ed. Psych. and an experienced teacher of children with special needs to double check on my results. That was fine by me. He was pleased to tell me that their assessment of Susan’s skills and learning issues matched mine exactly!
He had needed the assurance of others before he would fully accept my results.
Poor Susan had been through so many assessments and John had spent so much money just to come to the same conclusions.
Now John wasn’t the typical skeptical parent. He had the ability to double, even triple, check what I had told him.
I can understand parents being skeptical about this Process. After all it is new, it is unusual, it is easy, it is practical, it is not obscured by ‘eduspeak’, it is readily accessible and it does not give kids labels.
But John proved that it worked as well as any other system and gave him practical advice he could use immediately.
Bye the way. John took my advice and last I heard Susan is doing great.
What can I say? The Porter Process is as valid as any other learning assessment process even though it costs less (see below), uses simple language and provides proven practical solutions to learning issues.
- Concerns about cost
John questioned the cost of the one-to-one process. Other parents question the cost of the on-line process.
As they should.
I can compare the cost of my program to other ways to get information about your child’s learning issues.
You can get in-line for an in-school assessment. These are free but it can take up to three years to get to the front of the line. By that time, it may be too late for your child. What was a simple learning difficulty might have become a serious problem and your child will have missed three years of support.
You can pay for a professional assessment from a registered Educational Psychologist. The school should be able to give you contact information. They usually charge about $3,000 for an assessment and a report. You may be lucky and get a report that you can use, one that you can share with your child’s teacher so that you can ask for extra help in school.
In my experience these reports are difficult to understand and rarely lead to practical advice parents can use. They tend to add stress rather than take it away.
Or you can do nothing, pay nothing, continue struggling to help with homework, coping with stress and uncertainty and hope that things will turn out alright in the end.
In my experience parents, who are concerned about their child’s education, spend vast amounts of money on tutoring programs, individual tutors and educational resources they think they will help their child succeed in school.
They don’t KNOW they will help, they only THINK they will make a difference.
Most of the time this money is wasted because the support they are offering is not the support their child needs.
Using the Porter Process can save you the money you are already spending by suggesting strategies that work and may cost nothing to implement!
My mantra is ‘Stop guessing, start discovering’ what your child needs. Then you don’t waste money on the wrong type of support. More importantly your child gets the support that helps him or her reach their learning potential.
Remember the stats. Students who graduate earn, over their lifetime, more than $1million more than those who don’t!
Spend $1500 so your child can make $1million?
Your choice.
I have done my best to make this process as accessible as possible to any parent who genuinely wants to help their child succeed in school and have the life of their choice.
I hope I have convinced you of the validity of the process and of its value.
Like John, you have the opportunity of a full refund if you try the process and don’t think it works for you.
By the way, John was so pleased with the process that wanted his two older children to try it. Wonders never cease!