Unexpected Challenges in Tutoring
Having been a writing consultant for two years now, I thought I had done just about every type of consultation: the ESL student, the introductory English course freshman, the reluctant visitor and the know-it-all. I was understandably caught off-guard, then, when my client struggled to tell me that she was severely hearing impaired. Unfortunately, I felt unprepared and untrained to carry out such an unusual session. Usually, we ask clients to read their writing aloud so that they may catch some of their own mistakes, but, obviously, I couldn’t ask her to read her paper aloud. Right away, I was forced to adapt to the situation and “think on my feet.” I read her paper aloud and stopped whenever I had suggestions or concerns about her writing. She suggested I type out my comments for her to see. Since it was a face-to-face consultation, even though I was writing my comments to her, I had to think of a concise and clearly worded written explanation of the issue extremely quickly. I could