Testimonials
We have worked with children and their families in the field of education for over 20 years in the greater Phoenix area: Glendale, Peoria, Anthem, Paradise Valley, and Scottsdale.
Call today to schedule your consultation: 623-670-0926
The team at the Van Roekel Learning Center are true experts in their field.
They take an individual approach with their clients while utilizing brain-based programs designed to target and remediate specific learning issues. The Van Roekel Learning Center has had a measurable impact on the self-esteem and academic aptitude of many of my clients. If you or your child is struggling with reading, writing or math issues, this is a good place for support.
Van Roekel Learning Center provides exceptional instruction and learning opportunities to both children and adults
I’ve had the privilege of working with them for the past 8 years. As a clinical therapist I often need to refer families to Van Roekel Learning Center for reading evaluations. The Van Roekel Learning Center team goes above and beyond to advocate for the needs and services of their clients by attending Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and 504 Plan meetings. I have seen tremendous growth in my clients’ reading abilities and confidence being in the classroom as a result of their hard work and commitment.
We have been with Elizabeth for five years now...
...and I am grateful every day for her and the amazing reading and homeschool program we have with Van Roekel Learning Center! Elizabeth not only works with my dyslexic son, but she also helps me with my youngest son to make sure he is where he needs to be academically. The whole program and everyone involved has been wonderful! I would give them my highest recommendation possible!
We LOVED our experience at Van Roekel Learning Center
Our instructor was BRILLIANT with our 10 year old daughter! Under her tutoring, our daughter advanced several years in reading in just 1 year! The instructor not only cared for her education but for her heart. Whatever our daughter accomplishes in life, she will look back on her instructor as being the one who changed her life! We just cannot express the impact the Van Roekel Learning Center has had on our family, they are a God send!
Sometimes you are meant to find certain people...
...and we truly believe that we were meant to meet Kimberly Van Roekel. Kimberly has been a part of our family since 2017. We do consider her family because of all the care and support she has shown us from calling on the weekend just to check in with us, returning panicked calls just to lend a kind ear, or locating resources and services for our family. I could go on and on about how special Kimberly is and the many ways she has strengthened our family.
I will never forget meeting Kimberly for the first time in November 2017. She completing a series of reading evaluations with our older son, who was 16 at the time. Kimberly shared the results that he was reading around the 4th-5th grade level. While this wasn’t a complete shock as we knew that he was severely Dyslexic, it was still jarring to see the results. Not only did Kimberly take over two hours to talk through the results and our son’s challenges but she also talked about his many strengths and gifts. What I will never forget is that she said, “Deirdre, we got this…he is going to do amazing things.” Kimberly gave us such support and hope in that moment. She was right…our son has gone on to do amazing things over these last two years and is now reading at grade level!
In 2018, Kimberly also began working with our 14 year old son. She started with the same evaluations and identified some gaps in his learning and challenges that we needed to work on…but, our son isn’t an easy case to solve. Kimberly couldn’t put her finger on it but she felt that there were some other underlying issues. Through her assistance, referrals and advocacy we pushed for an Independent Educational Evaluation. While it took a lot of time and persistence it was all worth it. We finally had an answer to all those missing puzzle pieces. Kimberly helped us through identifying which resources would work best to support our son, reached out with referrals and checked in on us throughout these last several months.
Kimberly goes above and beyond to truly be of service to the families that she works with through her kindness, supportive ear and genuine heart. She will be invited to be with our family as our sons graduate high schools…and college. I can’t wait to thank her and tell her “We got this!…Look at them, going off to do amazing things!”
After exhausting all school-based resources and holding out little hope for my son’s future...
...my family and my son were blessed to be introduced to Ms. Kim in late 2014. With only five sight words in his tool box, reading at a pre-k level in fifth grade, and with a severely deflated sense of his abilities, my son began a one-on-one, multi-sensory reading program with Ms. Kim meeting with her five times a week within his regular school day.
Almost immediately, we noticed a positive change in Gavin. He was more interested in going to school and his confidence was coming back. Ms. Kim was and still is a godsend, for without her, I am uncertain where my son would be today.
In the summer of 2015 we were awarded an empowerment scholarship and pulled him from public school. With Ms. Kim’s individualized approach to tackling my son’s complex special learning needs, we have never looked back. Together we developed an individualized educational plan to meet all his academic needs and I say, with tears in my eyes, Gavin is thriving today! I am filled with gratitude for Ms. Kim! She has done more for Gavin in two and a half years than the school system did in five years.
I simply cannot say enough about Ms. Kim, she’s so much more than a service provider, she’s part of our family. She brings not only a deep understanding of special learning needs, she has an unwavering commitment to the children and families she supports. She brings a flexible and collaborative approach to her work, but most importantly to note is her loving and supportive engagement style…she simply is irreplaceable.
There are few moments in my adult life where I have crossed paths with someone who changed my world.
We all have special memories and great moments that we will never forget but some decisions are life altering decisions that will impact our lives forever. That moment for me was when I decided to take my academically struggling daughter to a tutor at the Van Roekel Learning Center for the first time. When we met our tutor, I was immediately impressed with her warmness and compassion for both my daughter and I. We entered the program with so much frustration and very little hope but through our tutor’s persistence, I now have a child who is confident, able to read, has embraced her learning challenges and has goals of attending college.
My daughter is very shy, but our tutor was able to draw out the best in her, and more than that, she also taught me how to instruct her and understand her thinking process. I always believed I was my child’s biggest advocate but when the instructors at the Van Roekel Learning Center came into our lives, I felt I had a team who literally saved our family. I will be forever grateful for the passion and honesty of the instructors at the Van Roekel Learning Center. Although we still have many years of school to go, my daughter is so much happier and I know that with the guidance of our tutor, we can do this!
Mrs. Kim taught me how to read, write, and spell. She helped me feel better about myself.
Elizabeth, our reading interventionist, began working with our older son three days a week in January 2018.
He was 16 at the time and is Dyslexic. After working through various reading intervention programs, implementing the Van Roekel Learning Center strategies and with the amazing support of Elizabeth and the Van Roekel Learning team, our son has shown tremendous gains in his reading. In just the first five months he went from testing at the 4-5th grade level and is now testing at college level in many reading areas. Our no longer struggles for hours trying to read complete his school work. He can read his calculus and physics text books and quickly understand what he is reading without re-reading it over and over. Now, you will find our son reading books just for the fun of it! He still has some areas that he is working on with Elizabeth but overall it has been such an amazing transformation.
Elizabeth also worked with our younger son when we began to see him struggling with his reading and comprehension in 7th grade. He has ADHD and a few other challenges and he always keeps you on your toes. Elizabeth is so incredibly patient and kind with him. She finds ways to motivate him and keeps encouraging him every day. While he still has some work to do, I have no doubt that he will overcome these challenges with the help of Elizabeth and Van Roekel Learning.
Saying your child has a learning disability is hard.
I used to say, "you learn differently," which is also true, but for school purposes on IEP’s and 504’s it has to be labeled as a "disability." This label creates a stigma for the child in addition to trying to fit in with their peers. Van Roekel Learning Center creates a learning atmosphere that embraces the differences of learning and they educate with the proper techniques to fill in the holes that the children were missing.
As a parent of children with learning disabilities, being welcomed and shown the proper tools on how to approach their learning styles was INSTRUMENTAL! The value in what the Van Roekel Learning Center team offers, specifically, our instructor Christie, is irreplaceable and worth every penny spent. The world is hard enough; to empower my children with the proper training that they will need in elementary school, college, and beyond is PRICELESS!
In December 2018, our daughter was struck on her head by a steel beam.
Never did we imagine the roadblocks ahead of her. We were extremely fortunate that Van Roekel Learning Center was a resource for us.
Christie Parker is our daughter’s teacher. We can not say enough of her, we truly believe she is our angel!! We needed a teacher that would be relatable to our daughter and understand her daily struggles. Christie understood her struggle and spoke words of encouragement to her. In a matter of months, we have seen her progress with confidence. Our daughter truly enjoys working with Christie, and it shows with her results. Christie has come along side our daughter and has helped her grow academically. Words truly can’t express what she has done for our daughter; she has exceeded all our expectations!!!