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Brooklyn Letters IconBrooklyn Letters

1139 Prospect Avenue, Brooklyn

4.9 56 reviews

  • Avatar Emily Matles ★★★★★ a week ago
    We would highly recommend Ally! Our son always asks about her, so very thankful to Brooklyn Letters for introducing us.
    ~ Emily, mom of Brooklyn 2 year old
  • Avatar T Ainsley ★★★★★ 5 months ago
    I cannot express how grateful and rewarding my experience with Brooklyn Letters has been. Her tutor Ms. Daria is so knowledgeable, amazing, kind and awesome. My daughter has made so much progress in Literacy and Math and it's all … More thanks to Ms. Daria. I know my daughter is sad that she can no longer work with Ms. Daria, as she looked forward to their sessions every week. Thank you again!
  • Avatar Natalie Levon ★★★★★ 4 months ago
    Nicole has been an amazing therapist!! She played a tremendous role in our daughter’s speech progress and overall development. She has come such a long way and we are so happy with the therapy she received!
  • Avatar Colin Peters ★★★★★ 6 months ago
    We could not be happier with the services Valerie provided! She is very thoughtful and knowledgeable and provided significant guidance to support our daughter's speech development outside of our scheduled sessions. She established … More a great working relationship with her, and she will definitely be missed! Your business model is amazing and it was an absolute pleasure working with Valerie. I've referred your organization and Valerie to the Executive Director of our daughter's school and friends/colleagues who are in need of speech therapy services.
  • Avatar Lil Amatore ★★★★★ 7 months ago
    Christina was absolutely wonderful. She went out of her way to win my son over and it worked. He looked forward to her visits and his speech improved so much under her care. She was super flexible and it’s clear she truly cares. We adore … More Christina and we’re going to miss her. Almost sad he improved so much! She’s simply amazing and we can’t say enough how great she is. I would recommend her services to anyone and everyone, without hesitation. Thank you so much for connecting us with her!
  • Avatar Heather Liljengren ★★★★★ a year ago
    We cannot say enough good things about Effie, the ASL teacher, who was so engaged and effective with our 2 year old daughter from the very first session! Effie gladly included our whole family in the sessions! Her expertise and fantastic … More personality gave our daughter a way to communicate that she was so desperately seeking. The coordinators at Brooklyn Letters were so helpful and communicative…I would highly recommend their services!
  • Avatar Brigid Bower ★★★★★ 11 months ago
    Samantha Dalmas was fantastic! We saw her for a feeding therapy evaluation and while she doesn’t think my daughter needs more feeding therapy sessions at this time, but she gave me lots of tips to try. If my daughter's doctors want … More to see more progress at her next appointment, I wouldn’t hesitate to reach out to Samantha again.
  • Avatar Duygu Başaran ★★★★★ 11 months ago
    Brooklyn Letters was recommended to me through a friend's speech therapist friend in NJ. The articulation evaluation for my daughter went well. We were pleased with Kristin's services.
  • Avatar Kelley Peters-Patel ★★★★★ a year ago
    Melissa was wonderful. Our daughter warmed to her immediately and by the time she left, had already started "practicing" some of the techniques Melissa had shown her. I will not hesitate at all to reach out to Melissa again, should … More the need arise.
  • Avatar R Elmore ★★★★★ a year ago
    Aileen was INCREDIBLY helpful to us, both in assessing possible origins of my grandson's food aversions, as well as informing us of various available interventions to consider.
    I can’t thank you and Brooklyn Letters enough for connecting
    … More us with Aileen. In all our feeding therapy journey we have not gotten anything near the kind of benefit that we did from her. Her knowledge, professionalism, and responsiveness have put us on the path of progress with my grandson and has also made us feel genuinely well cared for.
  • Avatar Christine Weiher ★★★★★ 2 years ago
    We were amazed with Allison! She met my son at 2 1/2 years old, not speaking much at all, and over a computer, and she was able to develop a bond and friendship, so much so that he would look forward to his weekly computer time with Allison. … More I was not sure how the speech therapy would go- but we are so happy that we tried it out and continued. It allowed my son to gain confidence in his speech, make a new friend :), and also give him the skills and a bit of understanding of how to shape his mouth or where to place his tongue to make the proper sounds. We were extremely happy with Allison- she was fantastic to work with.
  • Avatar Andrea Saffady ★★★★★ 2 years ago
    My sessions with Karen have been extremely helpful. My speech has improved tremendously. In fact, I just finished 2 hours of conducting interviews with a consulting client via MS Teams and I have an upcoming conference call. Both my … More neurologist and neurosurgeon remarked about how good my speech is. Much of the day it is perfect, although I still have some rough spots when I get tired or speak too quickly. One of my granddaughters is a speech pathology student at Ithaca College. She sat in on 2 sessions while she was home for winter break, and she was very impressed with Karen.
  • Avatar Jacob B ★★★★★ 4 years ago
    We were delighted with Christie. First, and most importantly, our son made great strides under her guidance. So great, that we felt he no longer needed help! She was incredibly patient and kind with him and our son really responded to … More her. Christie was also great with me and my wife. She provided thorough and informative updates on our son's progress and which exercises she was using with him, so we could reinforce what she was teaching him. All in all, we had a fabulous experience with Christie and would highly recommend her.
  • Avatar Jessica C ★★★★★ a year ago
    Theo was wonderful and his work with my son has produced some progress. I am grateful for the services Theo provided.
  • Avatar Melissa Stevens ★★★★★ 2 years ago
    Highly recommend Jill. She is a total pleasure to work with. After a few months working with Jill, my son is reading above grade level and LOVES to read. Mission accomplished!
  • Avatar Demet Evren ★★★★★ 2 years ago
    Paige was great and we had been really happy with her. I would highly recommend her! I recommend Brooklyn Letters to whomever asks for a speech therapist.
  • Avatar Jeizel Rosenthal ★★★★★ 2 years ago
    Isabel was WONDERFUL and our son absolutely adored her, and he is making great progress with his reading and writing.
  • Avatar Lesley Duval ★★★★★ 3 years ago
    Theo was fantastic with our 4yo son. We were very worried that his progress would fall off when we had to switch to remote sessions, but Theo kept our son happy and engaged through the screen. Highly highly recommend!
  • Avatar Samantha Packard ★★★★★ 3 years ago
    We've been working with Theo from Brooklyn Letters for close to 4 months now and the results are apparent; our daughter has vastly improved her speech in a relatively short amount of time. We make "Theo Day" a celebration … More in our house with pancakes for breakfast, and the enthusiasm is matched in the sessions. Theo is fun, patient, professional, and caring, and he gives us the tools to take the lessons beyond the session. Thank you Theo, and Brooklyn Letters, for helping our daughter express herself.
  • Avatar Travis Ricca ★★★★★ 3 years ago
    I worked with Alina to enhance my pronunciation, tone, and pacing while communicating socially and in a work environment. She was great to work with and clear about goals and learning objectives. The improvement from day 1 has been tremendous! … More
  • Avatar Enrico Bermudez ★★★★★ 3 years ago
    Cathy has been excellent with us and our son. We will sorely miss her. He has improved significantly with Cathy’s help. Cathy was a true partner with us, especially as we pursued additional help through our son’s school system.
  • Avatar Kayne Elisabeth Wilk ★★★★★ 4 years ago
    We really loved working with Alina, she is so fantastic. Patient yet firm, and determined the best course of action very clearly and succintly for us. And it all transitioned so well to Zoom as well. I will definitely be back in touch for … More services for our other child after summer break!
  • Avatar Jen S ★★★★★ 4 years ago
    Vera was amazing! My 11 yo daughter made progress so quickly and really looked forward to her sessions. She was kept motivated and engaged.
  • Avatar susie tofte ★★★★★ 3 years ago
    The work that Allison P. did with our daughter over the years has been invaluable to us. Our daughter had such a good relationship with Allison, and it allowed them to work really well together - even remotely these past 6 months. This … More year, Allison went above and beyond by helping us throughout the neuropsych eval we did, trying to re-open our daughter's IEP at her school, and eventually landing her at our chosen school. She was in contact with our daughter's teachers, with the neuropsychologist, and made herself available as a reference to speak on behalf of our daughter's learning differences.
    Allison stopped by our house last week to give our daughter cupcakes and say goodbye, and I literally cried with appreciation for what an amazing speech therapist she has been. She has been our daughter's biggest champion. The new families that she will work with this year are lucky to have her.
  • Avatar Alicia Perez-Katz ★★★★★ 4 years ago
    Sydney was great! Our son was sad to end his sessions with her, which says a lot. We appreciated her honest assessment of his skill level, and he now has materials to self monitor and practice. Thank you!
  • Avatar Kristin Ames ★★★★★ 4 years ago
    Our experience with Theo was terrific. Theo was great with my son. He developed a positive relationship with him based on sincerity, respect, trust and a deep personal connection. In their lessons, Theo was encouraging, creative and kind. … More He helped our son understand how to differentiate the sounds he made when he spoke, and gave him great exercises to practice every week between lessons. Our son was sorry to have the lessons come to an end, but recognized that Theo had helped him as much as possible and it was time for him to stop. Theo explained to him (and us) how to keep working to get the last 5%, and encouraged him to keep working on the exercises on his own. I have recommended Theo to another parent who noticed my son's improvement and inquired for her own son.
    We are all grateful to have gotten to know Theo, and we greatly appreciate all the work he did to help our son.
  • Avatar Aisha Holder ★★★★★ 4 years ago
    "I have nothing but wonderful things to say about Michelle Macroy-Higgins. We are extremely pleased with her work with our daughter. I was so grateful for my daughter to have a speech therapist who is a researcher (specialty in late … More talkers), graduate professor and practitioner. Her expertise was clearly evident in our conversations and work with our daughter. She was very responsive to my questions and often sent articles and other materials about language development that I found helpful. Thankfully, my daughter's speech improved tremendously. Michelle developed such a warm relationship with my daughter. My daughter was always excited to see Michelle and would greet her at the door with a big hug. Lastly, I would add that Michelle always demonstrated empathy with me as a mother who was initially worried about her daughter's language development. I could go on and on about how pleased we were with Michelle's work."
  • Avatar Andrea Peartree ★★★★★ 4 years ago
    Theo is a wonderful Clinton Hill speech therapist. We were really pleased with him. Our son showed drastic improvement, not only in his speech but in his confidence.
  • Avatar mario costa ★★★★★ 4 years ago
    Alexa has been an enthusiastic, reliable, well prepared and caring teacher for our 6 year old daughter. She has been able to improve and increase our daughter's confidence lesson by lesson with patience and competence; through varied … More and productive didactic practice. Alexa has engaged our daughter in several activities that always kept her motivated and eager to learn literacy. My wife and I, both of us are educators, feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to observe Alexa's pedagogical skills. Alexa has had a big impact on our daughter literacy growth. Thank you Brooklyn Letters!
  • Avatar Lily Alt ★★★★★ 4 years ago
    We were absolutely DELIGHTED with Marsha's services. She was wonderful. We found her to be kind, fun, engaging, very knowledgeable. She provided us with clear instructions and additional written handouts each week. She engaged our … More son with different techniques and toys, and showed us how to use her techniques when we were interacting with him. I actually just texted her on Saturday - Our son finally said "more" - one of the target words we had been working on with her. It was a total joy to hear, and I had to share it with her - she wrote back immediately to congratulate us. I am so appreciative of her expertise, and wish we could have seen her for longer. I recommended her to another family in our neighborhood who is looking for a speech therapist.

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Best 1:1 Literacy Tutors in Manhattan, NYC

Literacy Services in Manhattan New York

Best 1:1 Manhattan Literacy Tutors

Literacy Services in Manhattan New York
As Featured In:

Our Literacy Tutors Travel To Your Manhattan NYC Home! Best At-Home 1:1 Literacy Services | Free Consultations and Meet & Greets with Our Staff.

Literacy tutoring for elementary students in Manhattan helps children build stronger reading and writing skills through structured, individualized instruction. Many elementary students struggle with phonemic awareness, decoding strategies, reading fluency, and writing skills. Challenges can also include grammar, punctuation, paragraph construction, and sight word recognition. Our tutors use evidence-based literacy intervention programs to target these skill gaps and help students make steady, measurable progress.

At Manhattan Letters, we specialize in personalized literacy tutoring for elementary students. In our work with families, we often see confidence grow as students gain clear strategies for decoding, comprehension, and writing—skills that support learning across every subject.

Check out our full roster of literacy specialists!

Serving Manhattan Neighborhoods

Manhattan Letters proudly serves families across Manhattan, including Battery Park City, Central Midtown, Chelsea, Chinatown, Clinton, East Village, Financial District, Flatiron District, Garment District, Gramercy Park, Greenwich Village, Harlem, Hell’s Kitchen, Hudson Square, Inwood, Kips Bay, Little Italy, Lower East Side, Midtown, Murray Hill, NoMad, SOHO, Stuyvesant Town, Sutton Place, Theatre District, Times Square, TriBeCa, Turtle Bay, Union Square, Upper East Side, Upper West Side, Washington Heights, West Village, Roosevelt Island, and more!

We provide in-home tutoring and remote services to accommodate your family’s needs. Our local Manhattan tutors bring expert instruction to your home, and our remote options make it easy to stay consistent when schedules are busy.

Consistent, individualized literacy support helps many elementary students improve decoding, fluency, and writing skills over time.

Get Started Now

Why Choose Manhattan Letters?

Brooklyn Letters opened in 2010, and to better serve our clients in Manhattan, we created a sister website, Manhattan Letters. We offer in-home and online speech-language pathology, literacy, math tutoring, and SEIT services, highlighting our dedicated Manhattan staff.

Here are six reasons why our literacy tutoring stands out:

  1. Tailored Programs: We create a personalized learning plan based on each child’s needs, using tools such as the Orton-Gillingham approach and the Wilson Reading System. This individualized focus keeps instruction aligned with the skills that matter most.
  2. Engaging Activities: Sessions include activities and games that keep students actively involved. When practice feels interactive, students are often more willing to take risks and build stamina for reading and writing.
  3. Expertise: Our tutors are trained in multisensory literacy instruction, supporting different learning styles and reinforcing skills in multiple ways.
  4. Support for All Learners: We provide services for a wide range of learners, including literacy tutoring for special needs students and Manhattan tutoring for neurodiverse learners, with strategies matched to each student’s profile.
  5. Flexible Scheduling: With online literacy tutoring and in-person services, we adapt to fit your family’s schedule and preferences.
  6. Free Consultation: We offer a free consultation to discuss your child’s goals and challenges, helping you understand next steps before you commit.
Training/Certifications

TESTIMONIALS

It was great working with Manhattan Letters.
We contacted a number of tutors through the service and ultimately found the one who best met the needs of our son. Katie was terrific. We saw significant improvement in our son’s reading skills, and more importantly, saw his confidence blossom under her guidance. Thank you Highly, Katie and Manhattan Letters.

Elizabeth Crowell

We were happy with Michelle’s services.
Alara had a good year overall – her organizational skills improved and she showed nice progress in reading and writing. Michelle and her teachers were a key part in helping to make this happen, so much appreciated.

Michelle worked very well with Alara and we appreciate it!

Mark S.

Kristina is a phenomenal tutor.
My daughter was in the first grade when we started tutoring, she had just been moved into a GT class and is very bright but had no reading or writing instruction in K and also had some difficulties with handwriting. Kristina helped my daughter quickly get up to speed with her classmates and worked on areas that she needed extra support for. Over the summer we had only a couple of sessions with Kristina but she helped keep us on track and not only did my daughter not regress during the “summer slide” she gained a reading level. I can’t speak more highly of Kristina, she is professional, kind, lovely to be around, patient and engaging with kids, and an effective teacher.

Sarah S.

Alyssa was excellent and Dean improved his handwriting significantly, I’ve been told by his teacher that he has some of the best handwriting in his 4th-grade class and she also made the sessions fun and enjoyable for Dean

David J

We are very lucky. our son, Logan, has been working with Cathy for just over a year now.
Logan’s twin sister, Audrey, has had the pleasure of Cathy’s care for a slightly shorter time than that. Through the last year, we have noticed a definite improvement in all areas of the twin’s communication skills including verbal comprehensibility, aural comprehension, and overall learning skills including reading. Some of this can be marked back to inherent developmental growth and change in schools, but a large part we believe to be due to Cathy’s good work. The twins worked with another SLP for years and, although a wonderful person and therapist in her own right, her play-based approach often made improvement in the kids hard to gauge. Cathy's approach is much more traditionally pedagogic and started with her conducting many diagnostic tests to get a clearer baseline to read/picture of the kid's abilities and issues. From there, she developed a very well-reasoned course of therapy for both Audrey and Logan and they continue to benefit from Cathy’s skills and experience. Beyond her obvious professional expertise, Cathy has proven to be a kind and caring therapist and has extended herself when asked to participate in team meetings with our son's school. Cathy has also referred us most recently to an OT that we are beyond happy with, further proving her commitment to the overall well-being of her students. In summary, we consider ourselves very lucky to be working with an SLP of Cathy’s professional expertise and personal quality.

Toni & Tim
Check out other testimonials

Where Do We Begin: At-Home and Remote Assessments

To begin with Manhattan Letters, we offer comprehensive at-home and remote assessments to understand your child’s current skills and identify where support will be most helpful. In-home assessments provide a comfortable environment for observation, while remote assessments use engaging tools for a smooth experience. These evaluations clarify strengths and needs so we can build a tailored learning plan and target instruction efficiently.

Importance of Early Literacy Development

Early literacy development supports long-term academic success because reading and writing skills are used in every subject area. Educational research emphasizes that strong early foundations in phonemic awareness, decoding, and language skills make later learning more efficient.

Building early literacy skills also supports communication and critical thinking. When children strengthen phonemic awareness, sight word recognition, and vocabulary development, they are better prepared to engage with more complex texts and writing expectations as they progress through school.

Early literacy development builds the decoding and language foundation students need for stronger comprehension and writing in later grades.

Understanding Literacy Levels

Literacy Services in Manhattan New York

Understanding literacy levels helps identify where a child is in their reading and writing development and what type of support will be most effective.

  1. Pre-Literacy Skills:
    • Foundation skills before formal reading and writing instruction.
    • Key skills: Alphabet recognition, phonemic awareness, and interest in books.
  2. Early Literacy:
    • Connecting letters to sounds and decoding simple words.
    • Key skills: Basic decoding, sight word recognition, and simple sentence construction.
  3. Emerging Literacy:
    • Reading simple texts and beginning to demonstrate comprehension.
    • Key skills: Reading short texts, summarizing stories, and writing complete sentences.
  4. Developing Literacy:
    • Reading and writing more complex texts with growing comprehension.
    • Key skills: Fluent reading, using context clues, and writing structured paragraphs.
  5. Fluent Literacy:
    • Reading a variety of texts fluently and beginning to analyze them.
    • Key skills: Engaging with different genres, writing multi-paragraph essays, and applying advanced grammar.
  6. Advanced Literacy:
    • Readiness for high school and college-level demands.
    • Key skills: Analyzing complex texts, persuasive writing, and conducting research.

Understanding these levels helps identify a child’s current stage and supports tailored instruction that targets the next skill steps.


With over 20 years of experience in New York City, Craig Selinger is a New York State licensed speech-language therapist and educational specialist who serves as the CEO of Brooklyn Letters. His expertise is grounded in academic training in Communicative Disorders, with a specialization in childhood development and language-based learning issues.

Craig’s professional journey includes extensive work in both school and home settings. He is known for building long-term relationships with clients across ages and developmental profiles, and for an approach that is flexible, practical, and responsive to each learner’s needs.

Under Craig’s leadership, Brooklyn Letters has become a respected provider of speech-language therapy, multisensory literacy, and math practices in the NYC metro area. Craig’s expertise is widely recognized, leading him to speak at institutions including the Everyone Reading Conference, Mount Sinai Health System, NYU Langone Health, and Bard High School Early College Queens. His work is also associated with organizations such as the YMCA of Greater New York and the Educational Alliance, reflecting strong ties to leading educational and community institutions.

Craig has been interviewed by NBC News, The Atlantic, New York Magazine, and PIX 11 News. Brooklyn Letters has been mentioned by the New York Times and Yahoo.com, further strengthening his reputation in speech-language therapy and learning services. His research has been published in the Journal of Brain Research, and his insights have been featured in outlets including Healthline, NYMetro Parents, Momtastic, Psych Central, and About.com.

In response to the educational challenges posed by the pandemic, Craig hosted the Craig Selinger Podcast, interviewing professionals in education, therapy, and medicine, further establishing his role as a thought leader.

Check out our rates here!

FREE INTAKE PROCESS

A clear intake process helps families understand next steps and reduces uncertainty when support is needed.

  • Initial Contact and Consultation: Contact us via email, text, or phone, and we will respond promptly, seven days a week. We will schedule a phone call with you within one business day to learn about your child and discuss goals.
  • Review: We examine previous reports, evaluations, and report cards to understand the client’s background and the family’s needs comprehensively.
  • Initial and Customized Assessments: Clients may opt for comprehensive at-home and remote literacy and math assessments to identify strengths and areas for improvement. Our speech-language pathologists also offer comprehensive evaluations for all ages.
  • Choosing the Right Fit: We work closely with clients to understand needs and identify the best match from our selective network. We provide detailed profiles so families can make an informed choice. All of our team members offer free remote meet-and-greets.
  • Expert Team: 100% of our staff are dedicated educators specializing in literacy tutoring, with extensive experience supporting readers who struggle and neurodivergent learners. Tutors build skills in phonemic awareness, decoding strategies, and reading fluency using targeted, student-centered instruction. Families widely recommend our local team for its trusted, community-centered approach to literacy education.

HIPAA Encryption and Confidentiality: All reports and communications are stored in a HIPAA-encrypted email system, ensuring confidentiality. We do not release any confidential information without your written consent, helping protect your family’s privacy.

Signs Your Child Needs Literacy Tutoring

Identifying when a child may benefit from literacy tutoring can make it easier to get the right support at the right time.

Here are a few signs families often notice:

  • Difficulty with Reading: If your child struggles to read aloud fluently or often makes errors while reading, it may indicate a need for targeted instruction.
  • Challenges with Writing: Trouble forming sentences, organizing ideas, or using grammar and punctuation may signal that writing support would help.
  • Frustration with Homework: Frequent anxiety, avoidance, or frustration during homework can be a sign that literacy demands feel overwhelming.
  • Limited Vocabulary: If your child struggles to understand new words or express ideas clearly, focused vocabulary development may be beneficial.
  • Avoidance of Reading Activities: Reluctance to read can signal low confidence, skill gaps, or repeated negative experiences with literacy tasks.

Early intervention supports stronger skill-building and can reduce stress around reading and writing.

Effective Literacy Tutoring Techniques We Use

Manhattan Literacy Services

At Manhattan Letters, we use evidence-informed methods selected to match each student’s profile and goals.

Structured literacy emphasizes explicit, systematic instruction in sound-letter patterns and language rules.

  1. Phonics Instruction: We provide systematic phonics instruction to strengthen decoding strategies and foundational reading skills by teaching the relationship between letters and sounds.
  2. Structured Literacy: Our approach is grounded in structured literacy, with explicit teaching of language concepts. This method is especially helpful for students with dyslexia and other learning differences.
  3. Balanced Literacy: We incorporate balanced literacy elements when appropriate, giving students access to multiple ways to practice reading and writing while keeping instruction aligned to skill needs.
  4. Multisensory Instruction: Tutors use multisensory literacy instruction to reinforce learning through sight, sound, and touch, which can improve retention and engagement.
  5. Reading Comprehension Strategies: We teach strategies such as summarizing, questioning, and predicting to help students engage more deeply and understand what they read.
  6. Writing Skills Development: We support handwriting mechanics, paragraph construction, grammar, and organization—helping students communicate ideas with clarity and structure.

Getting Started with Manhattan Letters

To get started, we invite you to schedule a free consultation. During this initial meeting, we’ll discuss your child’s literacy goals and the type of support that would be most helpful. You can also take advantage of remote meet-and-greets, which let you connect with our tutors from the comfort of your home.

Manhattan Letters provides customized literacy services in Manhattan that support a wide range of learners, including students with dyslexia and other learning differences. Our one-on-one support creates a nurturing, structured environment where students can build skills steadily. Contact us today to learn more about our Manhattan educational support and begin your child’s path to literacy success.

Call: (347) 394-3485,
Text: (917) 426-8880

Email: [email protected]
(we respond to email right away!) 

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