About

Located in Columbia, CT, Leaps in Learning provides reading and writing tutoring services to students located throughout eastern and central Connecticut.  Lois Wendus, founder of Leaps in Learning, is a certified teacher with over thirty years of experience teaching students to read.  She specializes in K-12 reading and writing instruction, and has experience working with a wide-range of skill-levels, including:  non-readers of any age, Pre-K – High School reading/writing levels, learning disabilities, Special Education, and dyslexia.  Lois has had consistent success teaching non-readers to become fluent readers with quick results, and practices differentiated, individualized instruction to accommodate her students’ needs. Lois is the author of Oli Kids Co.’s A Good Start Reading, a beginning reading program designed for children just learning to read. 

I offer private home tutoring for students in grades K-12, in a quiet, nurturing setting to help your child succeed in school, as well as assistance with homeschooling. I’ve had experience in all grade levels and in all areas of both the regular and special education curriculum including The Common Core. Through this vast experience, I am able to offer interventions that yield quick improvements in each student’s confidence and progress. My expertise is in the area of reading, teaching both decoding and comprehension, the developmental process, and the strategies needed to become a strong, confident reader. Writing instruction also needs to be explicitly taught across the genres. With this in mind, I teach students how to write for a variety of purposes. If you need a reading solution, help with homeschooling, or just want to enhance and strengthen your child’s skills through tutoring, please text, email  or give me a call for a free consultation.

Lois Wendus, Founder

Lois has over thirty years of experience in education as a Special Education teacher, reading teacher, and Literacy Coach.   She holds a Master of Science in Special Education/Administration, with a Sixth Year in reading.  In her role as Literacy Coach, Lois managed school-wide data-management, assessment, and curriculum initiatives, while also teaching literacy skills to students in one-on-one and group settings.

Additionally, Lois has many years of experience teaching self-contained Special Education classes on the elementary, middle, and high-school levels. She also taught a Special Education class on the preschool level in summer school for many years.  Lois was Teacher of the Year for Woodland School in East Hartford, CT in 2006.

Remediating students’ reading and learning needs has always been a passion for Lois.  She found her calling for becoming a teacher when volunteering with a special needs summer camp while she was still in high school, and has enjoyed every opportunity to make a difference in a student’s life since. Lois has become known for her exceptional ability to bring students back to grade level in reading and writing.

In addition to teaching reading and literacy skills privately through her tutoring business, Lois has also served as a literacy instructor for a local Adult Education program as well as a reading interventionist for a local high school.

Lois is also the illustrator and co-founder of  Oli Kids Co., which she runs with her daughter, Lauryn Alyssa Wendus. The company has a published children’s book series, including a beginning reading program designed for children just learning to read, as well as additional activities and character-inspired accessories.