Skip to main content
search

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.

Yelp (also view our 35+ filtered reviews)

WHY WRITING TAKES SO LONG: UNDERSTANDING HIDDEN WRITING DIFFICULTIES IN STUDENTS

WHY WRITING TAKES SO LONG: UNDERSTANDING HIDDEN WRITING DIFFICULTIES IN STUDENTS

Why Writing Takes So Long for Students
As Featured In:

Many parents wonder why writing takes so long for their child.

Homework that should take 20 minutes stretches into two hours. Essays become emotional battles. Writing assignments are avoided whenever possible.

Parents often ask:

  • Why does writing take so long for students?
  • Why does it take so long to write essays?
  • Why does it take so long to write a paper?
  • Why do kids take so long to write?

These concerns are particularly confusing when a child appears bright, articulate, and capable in conversation.

Many students can explain complex ideas verbally yet struggle to get those same thoughts onto paper. At Brooklyn Letters, we frequently support students whose slow writing is not caused by laziness or lack of effort, but by underlying language, cognitive, executive functioning, or learning challenges.

Understanding why writing takes so long can help families identify the real source of a student’s struggles and access appropriate support.

Why Does Writing Take So Long for Students?

Why Writing Takes So Long for Students

Many parents ask, “Why does writing take so long for students?”

The answer is that writing places extraordinary demands on the brain.

Students often experience difficulty because they are trying to manage multiple systems simultaneously:

Language Processing

Students must translate thoughts into language.

Executive Function

Students must plan, organize, and monitor their work.

Working Memory

Students must remember ideas while writing sentences.

Processing Speed

Students must efficiently produce written language.

Motor Skills

Students must physically write or type.

When one or more of these systems is less efficient, writing speed often slows dramatically.

Why Is Writing Harder Than Speaking?

Parents frequently say:

“My child can explain it perfectly out loud.”

This raises an important question:

Why is writing harder than speaking?

Speaking allows students to:

  • Use gestures
  • Correct mistakes instantly
  • Rely on conversational cues
  • Organize ideas naturally

Writing requires students to:

  • Hold ideas in memory
  • Structure information logically
  • Use precise vocabulary
  • Apply grammar rules
  • Maintain organization throughout the task

This explains the common gap between verbal ability and written output.

Many bright students possess excellent ideas but struggle to convert those ideas into written language.

What Makes Writing So Difficult?

Writing is one of the most cognitively demanding academic tasks students perform.

Unlike reading or listening, writing requires students to generate, organize, process, and communicate information simultaneously.

To write even a short paragraph, students must:

  • Generate ideas
  • Organize thoughts logically
  • Retrieve vocabulary
  • Construct sentences
  • Apply grammar rules
  • Use punctuation correctly
  • Remember spelling patterns
  • Maintain attention
  • Monitor errors
  • Continue producing new content

This is why writing difficulty in students is often far more complex than it appears.

For many learners, what looks like a simple writing assignment actually involves dozens of cognitive processes working together at the same time.

Specialized spelling and encoding tutoring can help children build the automaticity they need to maintain their train of thought while writing.

Why Does Writing Take So Long for Students?

Many parents ask, “Why does writing take so long for students?”

The answer is that writing places extraordinary demands on the brain.

Students often experience difficulty because they are trying to manage multiple systems simultaneously:

Language Processing

Students must translate thoughts into language.

Executive Function

Students must plan, organize, and monitor their work.

Working Memory

Students must remember ideas while writing sentences.

Processing Speed

Students must efficiently produce written language.

Motor Skills

Students must physically write or type.

When one or more of these systems is less efficient, writing speed often slows dramatically.

Why Is Writing Harder Than Speaking?

Parents frequently say:

“My child can explain it perfectly out loud.”

This raises an important question:

Why is writing harder than speaking?

Speaking allows students to:

  • Use gestures
  • Correct mistakes instantly
  • Rely on conversational cues
  • Organize ideas naturally

Writing requires students to:

  • Hold ideas in memory
  • Structure information logically
  • Use precise vocabulary
  • Apply grammar rules
  • Maintain organization throughout the task

Because thinking and writing develop differently, many children benefit from writing-speaking therapy to bridge the gap between their sophisticated ideas and the words on the page.

This explains the common gap between verbal ability and written output.

Many bright students possess excellent ideas but struggle to convert those ideas into written language.

Working Memory and Writing Difficulties

Why Writing Takes So Long for Students

Working memory and writing difficulties frequently occur together.

Working memory allows students to temporarily hold and manipulate information while completing a task.

During writing, students must remember:

  • Their main idea
  • Supporting details
  • Sentence structure
  • Grammar rules
  • Assignment requirements

When working memory is overloaded, students may:

  • Forget what they intended to write
  • Lose track of ideas
  • Produce incomplete work
  • Require additional time

This contributes significantly to slow writing.

Language Processing and Writing Speed

Language processing and writing speed are closely related.

Before students can write, they must:

  • Organize language
  • Retrieve vocabulary
  • Formulate sentences
  • Structure ideas

Students with language processing difficulties often experience:

  • Slow written output
  • Word retrieval problems
  • Difficulty organizing thoughts
  • Challenges expressing ideas clearly

Language processing disorder writing issues frequently affect both academic performance and confidence.

Processing Speed and Writing Fluency

Processing speed and writing fluency influence how quickly students can produce written language.

Students with slower processing speed may:

  • Generate ideas more slowly
  • Need additional planning time
  • Take longer to write sentences
  • Complete assignments more slowly

Importantly, slow processing speed does not reflect intelligence.

Many highly capable students simply require more time to process and express information.

ADHD Writing Struggles

Writing difficulties ADHD students experience are often multifaceted.

Students with ADHD may struggle with:

  • Attention regulation
  • Working memory
  • Organization
  • Planning
  • Sustained effort

Common ADHD writing struggles include:

  • Starting assignments
  • Completing essays
  • Maintaining focus
  • Organizing thoughts
  • Editing written work

These challenges often affect both writing quality and writing speed.

Dysgraphia and Slow Writing

Dysgraphia and slow writing frequently occur together. Dysgraphia is a learning difference that affects written expression.

Students with dysgraphia may experience:

  • Slow handwriting
  • Poor handwriting legibility
  • Difficulty organizing written work
  • Physical fatigue while writing

Dysgraphia writing speed challenges can significantly impact academic performance, even when students possess strong intelligence and understanding.

When letter formation becomes more automatic, children can focus on their ideas. Learn more about how our handwriting tutors help reduce the physical burden of writing.

Autism Writing Difficulties

Autism writing difficulties can vary significantly among students.

Some students with autism may struggle with:

  • Organizing ideas
  • Perspective-taking
  • Flexible thinking
  • Written communication
  • Language organization

These challenges can contribute to slower writing and increased frustration during academic tasks.

Parent Reviews

“

Samantha is a true gem!
Samantha was the perfect match for our 9 yr. old son. After evaluation, Samantha prepared a plan with goals and within one month of services, Gregory was already showing improvements in his executive function abilities and writing. Samantha s positive energy and poise make a world of difference. Consequently, Gregory worked on his school assignments with pride and attention. The improvement was visible and we are thrilled with the results.

with much gratitude, Deborah (Greg s mom)
“

I am delighted to report that we were immensely pleased with Alyssa. She was so helpful with Jane and helped what was a very difficult year to make it so much more pleasant. She is very skilled at tutoring and made it a joy for Jane, even at the end of a long day that was part of a long year.” - Laura
“Any child would be fortunate to work with Kristine! It is rare to find a tutor who exhibits the compassion and expertise for her job that Kristine does. She arrives at the front door with a smile on her face, loves her job and her calm and nurturing personality makes it easy for our son to want to work with her. Kristine has been successfully giving our son the tools he needs to find success in his classes. She structures her sessions to cater to his needs and keeps his interest for the full hour and sometimes more. Her post-session updates on his progress are extremely informative and helpful. Any child would be fortunate to work with Kristine!

Jonathan & Candice
“

Clint has been a good fit for our son!
He’s made a lot of thoughtful suggestions that have helped him improve, such as having him do short free writing sessions each day to increase his stamina for writing.

Out of the blue yesterday he told us that he likes school! So that’s a marked change from where we were at in the fall!

- Roger
“

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.
“

She’s absolutely wonderful and we are grateful to have found her!
Miss. Shelley has changed our son’s life in a way we never thought possible. She is patient and kind, but most of all, effective. Our seven-year-old has been working with Miss. Shelley for almost a year. During that time, our son has gone from below average to exceeding expectations. He’s more confident and fluid in his reading and writing and continues to make excellent progress.

Most importantly, Miss. Shelley deals extremely well with our son’s periodic lack of focus. She manages to bring him “back” to the table with her techniques and patience. I would urge any parent whose child struggles with reading to jump on the opportunity to work with her.
Miss. Shelley appears to use just the right mix of tools in her lessons. Repeating the basics, introducing new concepts, some games to keep things interesting, and finally, some reading and writing.

We are truly grateful for Miss. Shelley and continue to look forward to working with her in the future.

- Vassiliki
Check out other testimonials

Conditions Commonly Linked to Slow Writing

Why Writing Takes So Long for Students

Slow writing may occur alongside:

Every student’s profile is unique, which is why individualized assessment and intervention are so important.

The Emotional Impact of Writing Difficulties

Writing struggles often affect much more than academics.

Students may experience:

  • Anxiety
  • Perfectionism
  • School avoidance
  • Emotional shutdown
  • Frustration
  • Low confidence
  • Academic burnout

Many bright students become painfully aware that writing feels more difficult for them than for their peers.

Without support, these experiences can gradually undermine self-esteem and motivation.

How Brooklyn Letters Supports Students with Writing Difficulties

Why Writing Takes So Long for Students

At Brooklyn Letters, we understand that writing difficulties rarely exist in isolation.

Effective support addresses the underlying causes of writing challenges, including language processing, executive functioning, working memory, literacy skills, and emotional wellbeing.

Our individualized approach may include:

  • Writing intervention
  • Executive functioning support
  • Language processing strategies
  • Literacy intervention
  • Academic organization
  • Confidence building
  • Emotional regulation support
  • Strength-based learning approaches

Our goal is to help students write more efficiently while reducing overwhelm, frustration, and academic stress.

As a specialized NYC reading and writing tutor service, we work to understand how a child learns to write by considering the many underlying skills that support successful communication.

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. Why does writing take so long for students?

Writing requires many cognitive systems to work simultaneously, including language processing, executive function, working memory, attention, and organization.

  1. Why is writing harder than speaking?

Writing demands greater organization, memory, language formulation, and self-monitoring than speaking.

  1. Why does writing feel overwhelming?

Writing places a heavy cognitive load on students and can overwhelm attention, memory, language, and executive functioning systems.

  1. Can intelligent students struggle with writing?

Yes. Many highly intelligent students experience writing difficulties despite strong verbal reasoning and academic potential.

  1. Is slow writing always dysgraphia?

No. Slow writing may be related to dysgraphia, ADHD, executive functioning challenges, language processing difficulties, processing speed deficits, or other learning differences.

  1. Can writing fluency improve?

Yes. With targeted intervention and appropriate strategies, students can improve writing speed, organization, confidence, and overall academic performance.

Speak With Brooklyn Letters

If your child takes hours to complete writing assignments, struggles to organize ideas on paper, or becomes overwhelmed by essays and written tasks, Brooklyn Letters can help.

We provide compassionate, individualized support for students with complex learning profiles, helping them strengthen writing skills, improve academic performance, and build lasting confidence while protecting emotional wellbeing.

If your child’s writing assignments regularly end in frustration, explore our Writing Tutoring services to help them communicate their ideas with greater independence.

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

Email: info@brooklynletters.com
(we respond to email right away!) 

Close Menu