Deborah Crim

Educational Therapist

When I was twelve years old, I met a woman who told me that if she found a student who could not read, she got busy and taught them. Right then, I determined that was a skill I needed to have.

After completing a degree in English Literature at George Washington University, I moved to New York City to study Special Education at Bank Street College. I began my career teaching special education in local public preschools, work I found deeply fulfilling. When my husband and I later moved to the Bay Area, I continued my teaching career in private therapeutic schools, including Language Associates and Children’s Health Council’s Esther B. Clark School. There, I founded the Reading Lab and supervised teaching assistants who worked in the classrooms. I worked with students with language-based learning disabilities and also taught remedial courses at Mid-Peninsula High School to help students meet graduation requirements. I have also taught graduate courses in educational therapy at the University of California, Santa Cruz Extension and Notre Dame de Namur University, helping train future specialists in structured literacy and learning disabilities.

Beyond the classroom, I have worked with multidisciplinary pediatric teams to diagnose developmental disabilities at Valley Medical Center. We were often the first formal diagnostic agency to work with families. Our team included developmental pediatricians, psychologists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, and me!

I have taught reading to students from early childhood through adulthood, tailoring lessons to each individual’s skills and interests. Teaching is my passion. Each student is a puzzle to unlock: What animals do they love? What games do they play? What do they want to read? The answers provide the clues that guide where tutoring instruction should begin.