About Reading Tricks
Equipping the people who refuse to give up on a reader.
Reading Tricks is a family-run literacy practice teaching the Orton-Gillingham multi-sensory approach to parents, tutors, and teachers working with neurodivergent learners.
Our passion
Every learner can read. Some just need a different path to get there. We refuse to give up on the readers other programs have written off.
Our method
Orton-Gillingham is the gold standard for teaching reading to learners who struggle with traditional phonics. Multi-sensory, sequential, and diagnostic.
Our work
Online training and curriculum for parents and teachers. One-on-one tutoring for learners. A scholarship fund for families who need it.
Founder's passion
Why we started this
You don’t have to look far to find people who struggle with learning to read—usually about one out of five people. I have experienced this in my own family for three generations. My passion is to train a new generation of teachers, parents or caregivers to equip these struggling readers with the tools they need to be successful—yes, even in reading.
What we are discovering more and more is that these often misunderstood students are NOT dumb, slow, or disabled; quite the contrary, they are usually highly intelligent and creative individuals. Unfortunately, it is our current system of education that is failing to teach them the way their brains learn. If these students can manage to hold on to their self-esteem in the midst of repeated failure, and until help arrives, they usually excel far beyond anyone’s wildest dreams.
I have been teaching as a tutor and home school mom for thirty years. I know what these kids are capable of, and it is my passion to keep them from “falling through the cracks” of our current educational system, and ending up with low self-esteem and behavior issues, simply because they did not receive instruction in a way that they could learn.
I have been teaching these students personally for a number of years, but my dream is to send this information far beyond the four walls of my small classroom. I want to teach others how to do this globally. Our vision at Reading Tricks is to teach reading skills and to reproduce teachers and trainers.
We provide online video with step-by-step training that you can use on DAY ONE. Then, on day two, you watch that video, etc. Our vision is to equip you to teach reading and writing successfully one step at a time. We walk this journey with you.
—Kathy Sieg
Our staff
The people you'll be learning from.
Kathy Sieg
Founder & Owner
Kathy Sieg, owner of Reading Tricks LLC, is not your typical educator. She educated four of her own children—some of them were struggling readers with dyslexia, dysgraphia, ADD and speech issues. These children have become successful adults with strong self-esteem, excellent social and business skills, and academic degrees.
Kathy, a seasoned Orton-Gillingham tutor/coach, helps children, teens, and adults improve their reading, writing, and language skills. More importantly, her students (and their families) grow in confidence and significance, leaving behind the fears and stress of failing and not being able to read fluently.
B.A. in Psychology, University of Mary Washington. Orton-Gillingham training from Fran Bowman, an Orton-Gillingham Fellow.
Kat Nida
Teacher
Kat Nida, one of our teachers at ReadingTricks.com, is the quirky, crazy member of our team. Kat has worked with children, teens, and adults since 2011—in America, China, and Ireland. Kat has a huge heart for families facing learning struggles, having seen firsthand the fears and challenges these families can encounter.
Her heart is to help kids find the confidence to recognize their unique gifts and personalities. She does this by offering them the tools and skills they need to see that they can overcome their challenges… all the while being goofy, playing games, using accents, and building relationships along the way. Kat is excited to be a part of this team and to help parents feel equipped to lead their kids on a journey to success.
B.S. in Psychology and M.A. in Human Services with a specialization in Marriage and Family Counseling. Orton-Gillingham training from Fran Bowman, an Orton-Gillingham Fellow.
Amy Mastroianni
Teacher
Amy has a teacher’s heart and has been mentoring kids one-on-one since 2007. She enjoys spending time pouring into students and watching them grow. In 2011, Amy attended Orton-Gillingham training; she applied that training as a college student tutoring several students.
In 2016-2017, she completed a year of teaching in a small private school where she was able to use the Orton-Gillingham approach with her students. Because of her impact on one of her student’s reading success, that student continued O-G training with Amy even after Amy changed jobs. Amy is excited to be a part of the Reading Tricks team; she looks forward to influencing the growing number of students who want to read but struggle with reading.
B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies with an emphasis in Special Education.
Our method
Multi-sensory, structured, sequential, cumulative, diagnostic.
Every lesson engages multiple senses — visual, auditory, kinesthetic. Each step builds on the last. We assess where the learner actually is, not where the curriculum says they should be. And we adjust the plan to fit the learner, not the other way around.