Local tutoring company publishes new early literacy eBook

July 2, 2020 · 0 Comments

Written By PAULA BROWN

Shelburne educator Suzette Daley has published an eBook as part of her tutoring program and company Mini-Intel.

Mini-Intel, short for mini intellects, is a tutoring program created by Daley where she teaches the fundamentals of early literacy, preparing children for grade 1. Her eBook, Guide to Early Literacy, is an online version of the program she’s been building for the last decade.

“My program, which is the eBook that I’m launching, takes the parents from when your child is born and takes them simply from A to Z, letter sounds, three letter word families, from the three letter word families they build bigger word families, and sight words that you can’t sound out that you have to know that build that fluency in reading,” said Daley.

A graduate of Cambrian College, Daley is a teaching assistant and Montessori educator who has been tutoring for the last decade, 7 years of which have been spent in Shelburne. A hairstylist by trade, Daley found her way into the education system after seeing her first daughter struggle with reading.

“I tried a lot of different tutoring companies and they didn’t really have the foundational stuff that I needed to take her back to the very beginning,” said Daley.

It was with her second daughter that Daley says she started picking the brains of different parents whose children, she saw, were excelling with reading and academically overall.

“I asked around and decided I needed to formulate my own program so when my kids grow, I’m able to slowly build from the beginning and carry them through,” said Daley.

Starting Mini-Intel 10 years ago, Daley started with promoting early literacy learning for children, helping to prepare them for grade 1.

“When I speak with parents I really educate them around the importance of having all the fundamentals intact by the time your child gets to grate 1, because that’s when everything becomes more serious.”

Promoting early literacy, she began her one-on-one program with table placemats and has been doing online sessions for the last year. She began developing the outline for the eBook two years ago.

“I moved all the information that were on the placemats onto an eBook format,” said Daley.

Shelburne resident Andrew James’ young daughter, Alexandra, is one of Daley’s tutoring students. James enrolled his daughter in the program after watching her thrive working alongside Daley in junior kindergarten.

“She wasn’t struggling, and she has two older sisters so she’s been pretty articulate,” said James. “But this program helped her to put some foundation to some of the things that she was already learning”

Daley’s eBook Guide to Early Literacy launched June 22 and can be bought at mini-intel.com.