Stories about Learning | Great Brain Learning
When learning feels difficult, it can be hard to see a way forward. These stories offer a closer look at how personalized literacy teaching and academic coaching can help learners build skills, recognize their strengths, and develop greater confidence and independence. From early reading challenges to the demands of university, each story reflects a different starting point and a path shaped around the individual.
Names and identifying details have been changed to protect privacy; the experiences and progress described are real, and individual outcomes vary.
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 via private tutoring LIVE in the GTA, 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.
A kindred spirit facing hidden barriers:
Whitney's journey to academic excellence
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 a marathon and battleground to a showcase of talent and skill. Whitney completed tasks, assignments, and projects 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. Her 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.
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
I first met Kaitlin when she was a second-year undergraduate student in a prestigious post-secondary science program, facing academic probation with a 1.0 GPA. Undiagnosed visual and auditory processing challenges, combined with pandemic-disrupted high school learning, had 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.
When Kaitlin approached me for assistance, 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.
Together, we worked on:
• Understanding her psychological assessment to secure proper accommodations
• Structuring her study time across multiple science courses
• Advocating clearly with professors and disability services
• Reading and understanding 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 her 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.
Questions & Answers
From a Great Brain Learning family
"Dr. June, I would not be the young man I am today without the work I've done with you, and I wanted to thank you. Now when I get a project or essay assigned, I know what to do and I don't put it off because I'm afraid I'll fail. I have the confidence to start and the confidence to try. I didn't learn that at school, I learned that from working with you. I know what strategies to use to start and keep going, one step at a time. I'm able to work hard, knowing that I'm on the right track. Thanks, Dr. June. I never thought that would happen, that I'm actually looking forward to graduating from high school and going to college."
— Theo*
Grade 12, Richmond Hill
Theo* began working with Dr. June in middle school as a reluctant student. Six years later, he headed to college after graduating from high school with a 90% average, with the tools and confidence to keep going.
*Name changed to protect student privacy.
Meet Dr. June Starkey
Dr. June Starkey OCT, PhD, is the founder of Great Brain Learning. She holds a doctorate from OISE at the University of Toronto with research grounded in language teaching and learning science, and has taught and coached students across Canada for the last two decades. She has experience teaching in the IB (MYP) program in Ontario, has taught in the Master of Teaching (MT) program at OISE, and has worked with more than 1,000 families across Canada. Her in-person work is located in the Greater Toronto Area in Ontario.