Today we’d like to introduce you to Amy Neiman.
Hi Amy, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
RISE Literacy grew directly out of what we were seeing every day in the classroom. Lauren and I met while working together as reading intervention teachers at a local school, and we immediately connected over our shared passion for helping struggling readers. Together, we bring more than 45 years of classroom experience. I hold three teaching credentials, and Lauren has spent her career working in special education and intervention.
As intervention teachers, we saw firsthand how many children were struggling to read without receiving the explicit, systematic phonics instruction they needed. We also saw students with signs of dyslexia going unrecognized for far too long. Again and again, we met bright, capable children who were frustrated and losing confidence—and parents who knew their child needed help but didn’t know where to turn.
We knew there was a tremendous need in our community for accessible, highly individualized instruction grounded in Structured Literacy and the Science of Reading. The few alternatives available to families were often extremely expensive, had limited availability, or both. We kept thinking, *There has to be another option.*
Eventually, we decided to create it ourselves. We left our school positions and opened RISE Literacy in Monterey, with the goal of giving children the explicit, evidence-based reading instruction they deserve while also giving families a place where they feel supported and understood.
We are now beginning our second year, and RISE is fully booked. We are incredibly grateful for how quickly our community has embraced us and, even more importantly, for the trust families place in us every day. Watching students become stronger, more confident readers has only reinforced why we took the leap in the first place. We are so excited to see where RISE goes from here.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
That’s a tough question! I think there’s an important difference between *smooth* and *easy*. In many ways, the road has been remarkably smooth. RISE has grown consistently since we opened, and we continue to hear from new families looking for support. We are incredibly grateful for that.
But it definitely has not been easy! It is just the two of us, and the hours have been long. We are teachers, business owners, schedulers, bookkeepers, curriculum planners—and everything else that comes with running a small business.
Financially, there have been challenges as well. One of our biggest commitments from the beginning has been to make high-quality, evidence-based reading intervention accessible to as many families as possible. We work hard to keep our rates reasonable, even as the costs of running a business continue to rise.
So, smooth? In many ways, yes. Easy? Absolutely not. But seeing RISE grow and watching our students make progress has made the hard work incredibly worthwhile.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about RISE Literacy?
RISE Literacy is a Structured Literacy clinic in downtown Monterey specializing in highly individualized reading intervention for students who learn differently, particularly students with dyslexia and other reading challenges.
What sets RISE apart is the depth of experience behind our instruction. We are credentialed Education Specialists with more than 40 years of combined experience across general education classrooms, mild to moderate special education, and reading intervention. We are also continuing our advanced training in the Orton-Gillingham approach, a highly structured, explicit, and systematic methodology commonly used to support students with dyslexia.
We offer one-on-one instruction, very small groups of just two to three students, and daytime support for homeschool families. Because our groups are intentionally small, we are able to meet students where they are and adjust instruction based on their individual strengths and needs. We aren’t simply helping students finish homework or get through this week’s spelling list—we are identifying gaps in foundational literacy skills and explicitly teaching the skills students need to become stronger, more independent readers and writers.
Accessibility is also a huge part of our mission. For many families, specialized private schools or intensive dyslexia programs simply aren’t financially realistic or may have very limited availability. We want RISE to provide another option. We have worked hard to keep our rates comparable to some of the more affordable tutoring services in our area while providing specialized instruction from highly experienced, credentialed educators. We are particularly committed to finding ways to serve families who might otherwise be unable to access this type of intervention.
What we are most proud of is how much RISE has grown in just one year. We currently have a waiting list, which is both incredibly exciting and something we take very seriously. Our focus now is figuring out how to thoughtfully expand so we can serve more children without ever compromising the quality, individualization, or integrity of our instruction.
Ultimately, we want families to know that struggling to read doesn’t mean a child isn’t capable. Many of the students who come through our doors are incredibly bright kids who simply need to be taught in a way that works for them. Helping those students discover that they *can* become successful readers is at the heart of everything we do.
What are your plans for the future?
We are definitely looking to expand! The demand for our services has grown much faster than we anticipated, and with a full schedule and a waiting list, we know there is a real need for more of what RISE provides.
Right now, we are thoughtfully working through what growth should look like. We want to create a model that makes sense financially and works within the realities of our time and physical space, while never compromising the quality of our instruction. Because our services are so individualized, we don’t want growth to simply mean adding more students. It needs to mean finding the right educators, providing the right training, and maintaining the small-group and individualized approach that families have come to expect from RISE.
Our goal is to grow in a way that is sustainable, allows us to reach more children and families in our community, and still feels very much like RISE.
Pricing:
- 1:1 Sessions $85.00/50 minute Sessions
- Small Group $ 50.00/50 minute session
- Homeschool $70.00/60 minutes during school day hours
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.riselit.com
