Empowering every learner
Effective Literacy Coaching and
Private Tutoring
LIVE online and IN PERSON in North York
At Great Brain Learning, we specialize in literacy, and we deliver mastery for every learner. Metacognitive awareness is the key to sustained growth, and we use research-supported strategies to pave the way for long-term success in reading, writing, and critical thinking.
OUR METHODOLOGY
Growth Through Metacognition
At Great Brain Learning, Dr. June Starkey teaches metacognition—thinking about thinking—to bridge learning gaps and build self-aware learners.
Every session integrates research-validated phonemic awareness skills and literacy development milestones with metacognitive strategies. Students in French immersion often opt to receive instruction in French to support what they are learning in class. Neurodiverse learners, intellectually gifted students, and learners who experience challenges with learning disabilities master how to learn through inclusive and personalized practice.
Dr. June's experience teaching from Kindergarten to Graduate School has supported 1,000+ families in the last 20 years in Ontario’s first evidence-based bilingual literacy clinic, Great Brain Learning. We hear from parents, educators and students that seeing real growth and confidence in reading, writing, thinking, and speaking is life-changing. We agree that learning is indeed life-changing.
Welcome to the place where learning comes alive. We're so glad you've found us!
Youth Literacy Development
Mastering the Sounds
Your child will gain confidence as they learn to connect sounds and letters. This foundation makes reading feel like unlocking a secret code in the world around them. We play games to reinforce and "overlearn" the sounds that build words.
Literary Passion
Once reading words is in your child's repertoire we move beyond simple decoding into narrative engagement to truly enjoy stories. This opens up a world of imagination and discovery, and curiosity for plot, setting and character development.
Critical Thinking
We empower kids to think about their own learning and notice patterns. When learners make connections between what they do and how their learning changes, they gain the confidence to approach new challenges with an open heart and mind.
Habits for Success
By learning to plan, by trying and consistently using strategies that work, students become experts at focusing. As these habits of mind become 'locked in' and known by heart, learning and schoolwork become more manageable.
Client Stories: The Impact of Coaching
Names and identifying details in these case studies have been changed to protect student and family privacy. The triumphs and challenges described here reflect real results from Dr. June's work with students across Canada. More client stories are coming soon—check back.
David: A brilliant mind behind a literacy wall
In Grade 3 French immersion, David was brilliant. His teachers saw his quick mind at math, science, and problem-solving. But reading and writing felt like an impossible wall. David was listless in class and behind in both English and French literacy skills. Homework was a daily battle—for David, for his parents, for everyone. At the heart of it was weak letter-sound knowledge in both languages. Words on the page felt like a code he couldn't crack. To David, literacy wasn't just hard—it seemed impossible.
That's when David began structured literacy learning with me, paired with metacognitive coaching. This wasn't generic help. It was systematic, explicit, multi-sensory instruction that built David's phonemic awareness, decoding skills, and fluency from the ground up. The metacognitive piece was important. I taught David to notice his own thinking: “What strategy am I using? Is it working? What can I try next?” These tools gave him agency.
For the first time, David could see a path through the wall. To be honest, the progress was remarkable. David didn't just catch up. He excelled beyond grade level in reading and writing. He stayed in French immersion, a program he had nearly been pulled from. He began finishing work more independently. Everyone saw a calmer, more confident child. His parents saw the light return to his eyes. Most importantly, David saw the change in himself, declaring, "I can do this!”
David was invited to join his district's gifted program—an opportunity his early struggles had nearly hidden from view. What began as a child who saw literacy as impossible ended with a young student who saw himself as capable.
Almost 20 years later now, David's trajectory tells its own story. He has earned advanced degrees in Engineering from a top-tier university in Canada and works successfully in his chosen field. He loves reading: for pleasure, for learning, and for growth.
I first met Whitney when she was referred to my private learning clinic for a phonemic assessment. She was bright and kind, and grappling with undiagnosed auditory and visual processing challenges that blocked her path to reading fluency and writing. These challenges didn't just affect her literacy—they limited the quantity and quality of everything she produced. Words felt slippery. Sentences wouldn't cooperate. Despite her intelligence, Whitney was told repeatedly, "Your reading and writing are behind.” Whitney’s parents reported that School Team meetings were challenging. No one seemed to be able to chart a path to academic thriving.
Weekly sessions began with systematic phonemic instruction. We mastered English phonemes together, paired with a full toolkit of learning strategies: multi-sensory decoding, spelling patterns, fluency practice to increase reading comprehension, and writing structures to develop automaticity. Whitney didn't just learn sounds; she gained mastery and confidence. By Grade 8, she read, wrote, and spelled with accuracy. More importantly, she was motivated to refine her work. The girl who had struggled and worked so hard now edited her own drafts, and she became a go-to peer tutor in her friend group whenever anyone needed help with anything academic.
Whitney's literacy gains rippled across her entire academic life. Mathematics became clear. Science reports flowed. Social studies essays earned top marks. She set ambitious goals and crushed them all, one by one, through practice, commitment, and organization. Homework transformed from battleground to showcase—completed with care and detail. Study skills for tests? Mastered.
In high school, Whitney brought academic confidence and a genuine love of learning to every subject and extracurricular opportunity. Whitney's true distinction wasn't just in academics and in grades, though. She won awards for outstanding citizenship and community dedication, qualities that set her apart and won admiration from peers and teachers alike.
One of the brightest, kindest students I've known, Whitney had always found joy in the arts. Those creative outlets continued to fuel her resilience and enjoyment of life. Now in her second year at a prestigious U.S. school, Whitney brings her full skillset to academics and leadership.
A kindred spirit facing hidden barriers: Whitney's journey to academic excellence
When Praise Feels Big: What Gabriel Taught Us About Growth
I first met Gabriel as he was finishing Grade 1. At the time, reading and writing in French felt very hard for him. His mother recently told him she had noticed something wonderful: he could now sound out words on his own, without help, and she was proud of him. Gabriel reacted immediately. He looked scared and angry, pulled up his hood, tucked his face down, and said loudly, “MOM! I don’t DO emotion!”
At first glance, it may have looked like he was rejecting the praise. He wasn’t. Being seen can feel big! Sometimes, when children hide in moments like this, they are not turning away. They are trying to take in something that feels unexpectedly big. Gabriel was being seen in a part of himself that had once felt uncertain. For a long time, reading had been tied to an old story: “I’m not a reader. I’ll never get this.” That story no longer fit.
Gabriel’s skills were changing, but his feelings had not fully caught up yet. So when his mother said, “I’m proud of you,” her words landed in a place that was still tender. That is why the hood mattered. It was not defiance. It was protection — a way to manage the size of the moment. His mother was not just noticing progress. She was naming a transformation: You’re becoming someone who can do this.
Moments like this can reshape a child’s identity as a learner, but those shifts take time. Confidence often needs quiet before it can settle in. This was more than a reading milestone. It was a moment when Gabriel’s belief began to catch up to his ability.
The lesson continued that day. Gabriel sounded out more words than he ever had before in a single 60-minute session. As Dr. June says: Right on track. Sometimes the biggest learning moments are also the most emotionally complex.
Kaitlin: From academic probation to Dean's List
A second-year undergraduate student in a prestigious post-secondary science program, Kaitlin faced academic probation in her program with a 1.0 GPA. Unfortunately, undiagnosed visual and auditory processing challenges combined with pandemic-disrupted high school learning left her behind, scrambling for answers and support.
Kaitlin completed high school entirely online during COVID. No live teachers. No real feedback. A Grade 9 Individualized Education Plan (IEP) gave her extra time for writing exams, but no one taught her how to use her skills and the extra time effectively. She wasn't sure how to structure her study time, advocate for herself, or know what learning strategies and accommodations would be helpful. Most critically, she read at a Grade 5 level, slowly and inaccurately. Every assignment left her exhausted.
Kaitlin approached Dr. June for assistance, and we launched a targeted, skills-based literacy intervention. Daily reading fluency practice, comprehension strategies, and metacognitive skill building became the foundation for her learning and growth. Her parents supported her journey in incredible ways, making sure she had what she needed to do the work. Dr. June taught Kaitlin how to:
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Understand her psychological assessment to secure proper accommodations
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Structure her study time across multiple science courses
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Advocate clearly with professors and disability services
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Read and understand university-level texts efficiently
Once Kaitlin understood that she could learn the knowledge she needed to do the work, everything became possible. She was excited about seeing the changes in her results and her confidence, and she reflected openly that she felt "alive" about learning in a way that had always eluded her. This 'Boot Camp' of sorts required a couple of months of intensive work to transform Kaitlin's learning trajectory. In that time, she improved her reading accuracy by 40%, and her reading speed doubled. This meant that her reading comprehension was off-the-charts great. Kaitlin's grades jumped 28%, and she completed the term with a high B+ average. The following term, Kaitlin made the Dean's List at her university with a 3.8 GPA (84%). Her place in that renowned science program was now secure, and her confidence was restored.
Kaitlin's turnaround reveals that pandemic gaps are real and deep. Online learning had hidden Kaitlin's auditory and visual processing challenges, and those gaps became academic cliffs at university. Learning accommodations on an IEP are wasted without learning strategies, because extra time means nothing if a student can't read the exam or the assignment efficiently. A Grade 5 reading level plus her STEM courses equalled exhaustion and failure. University-level reading fluency meant the Dean's List was within reach.
The message here is that literacy learning truly is the post-secondary gatekeeper, and it's NEVER too late to master learning. Undergraduates can and do transform their academic growth with targeted skill work and personalized support from an experienced guide who knows the path. Dr. June values a focus on skills first, and accommodations second. Kaitlin's story shows why time extensions are not enough to move the needle on growth. Only fluent reading, study systems, and self-advocacy create real independence for learners. At Great Brain Learning, we bridge pandemic gaps with intensive literacy protocols and descriptive feedback that deliver measurable results promptly. Going from academic probation to the Dean's List in one term isn't luck. It's systematic skill-building for students who deserve to thrive.