In-Home Certified Academic Language Therapist

Thrive Education Partners is building a roster of Certified Academic Language Therapists to work with families in the Nashville area. Placements are in-home, on a consistent weekly schedule, with frequency and length set to support genuine therapeutic progress rather than periodic homework help. We are hiring ahead of demand, so we are interested in speaking with qualified CALTs now and matching them to families as placements open.

Academic language therapy is not tutoring with a phonics component, and the distinction matters in how we fill these roles. The work follows a controlled, cumulative scope and sequence; it moves at the pace the student's mastery allows rather than the pace of a school calendar; and it holds to multisensory practice, discovery teaching, and daily data on what has actually become automatic. A student who has spent years compensating needs an instructor who can tell the difference between a word read and a word decoded, and who is willing to stay on a concept until it is secure even when the student can approximate the right answer without it.

The right candidate holds current CALT certification, has completed a supervised practicum, and brings the patience that a two-year therapy arc requires. Just as importantly, this person can explain the work to a parent in language that builds confidence rather than anxiety, because families living with dyslexia have often been told a great deal that turned out not to be true.

What You'll Do

• Deliver in-home academic language therapy sessions on a consistent weekly schedule.
• Administer or review initial assessment data to establish each student's starting point in the scope and sequence.
• Plan and teach lessons that move through alphabet and reading deck work, new concept discovery, controlled decodable reading, spelling, handwriting, and verbal and written expression.
• Use discovery teaching so the student derives each new pattern from the data rather than receiving it as a rule to memorize.
• Track mastery daily and adjust pacing based on accuracy and automaticity, not on lessons completed.
• Build fluency and comprehension work into the sequence as decoding becomes reliable.
• Explicitly teach syllable division, morphology, and orthographic patterns as the sequence introduces them.
• Support transfer to school work, including reading assignments and written output, without letting homework displace the therapy sequence.
• Maintain lesson records and progress data that document growth over time.
• Communicate regularly with families about progress, next steps, and what to reinforce at home.
• Coordinate with school staff, evaluators, or outside providers when a family requests it.
• Partner with Thrive's Educational Management team on progress monitoring and any adjustments to the plan.

Our Approach

At Thrive, effective literacy intervention means more than repeated exposure to phonics or extra reading practice. A student who has struggled to read has usually built an elaborate set of workarounds — context guessing, memorized shapes, careful avoidance — and those workarounds hold up until the text gets hard enough. Real progress comes from replacing them, which requires structured, sequential, cumulative instruction delivered with enough consistency that the new skill becomes the automatic one.

That means we hire therapists rather than tutors for this work. We expect the person in this role to own the scope and sequence, to make instructional decisions from their own data, and to hold the line on pacing when a family or a school would rather see faster movement. In return, we handle the family relationship, the scheduling, and the administrative weight, so the session time stays instructional.

Is this the right fit?

This role is a poor use of your time if your background is general reading tutoring, classroom literacy instruction, or an introductory Orton-Gillingham awareness course without a supervised practicum. Those are valuable qualifications, and we place people who hold them in other roles, but these placements call for someone who has completed the full therapy training and has run the sequence with real students under supervision. If you are mid-practicum and pursuing certification, we would still like to hear from you — say where you are in the process when you apply.

Preferred Qualifications

• Licensed Dyslexia Therapist credential in addition to CALT.
• Master's degree in education, special education, speech-language pathology, or a related field.
• Experience administering and interpreting diagnostic reading assessments.
• Experience supporting students with co-occurring dysgraphia, ADHD, or language processing differences.
• Familiarity with Tennessee's dyslexia screening requirements and school-based support processes.
• Experience working with families privately or in a home setting.
• Experience collaborating with schools, evaluators, or IEP and 504 teams.
• Comfort supporting written expression and study skills as decoding becomes automatic.

Professional Standards

• Current background check required; Thrive facilitates this process
• Verifiable references from prior teaching, tutoring, or academic roles
• Strong professionalism, reliability, discretion, and communication
• Commitment to providing consistent, high-quality support throughout the school year

• $70–$95/hour, commensurate with experience, credentials, and subject-matter expertise
• Competitive compensation, with opportunities for rate increases based on experience, performance, and continued work with Thrive
• Consistent recurring weekly schedule once matched
• Opportunities for additional placements with Thrive based on availability and fit

Logistics

• Location: Nashville, TN and surrounding communities — in the family's home
• Schedule: Typically three to four sessions per week, 60 minutes each, weekday afternoons, set with each family around your availability
• Commitment: Through the school year, with the expectation that therapy continues into a second year
• Start Date: Rolling — we review applications as they come in and introduce therapists to families as placements open
• Caseload: You choose how many students you take on based on your availability

Session frequency is set deliberately. Academic language therapy loses much of its effect below three sessions a week, because the interval between lessons becomes long enough that the previous concept decays before the next one builds on it.

Support

• Personalized matching—Thrive vets families thoroughly before introductions, so your time is spent with qualified, serious clients
• Dedicated placement coordinator throughout the hiring process
• Ongoing collaboration with Thrive's Educational Management team around progress monitoring and educational strategy
• Professional development and instructional support
• Access to Thrive's educator network and resources
• Ongoing placement opportunities with Thrive Education Partners

Why This Role

Most CALTs work inside a school or clinic where caseload size, scheduling, and administrative demands compete directly with the therapy itself. Working through Thrive removes that competition. You set your own caseload, you own the sequence, and the hour belongs to the lesson.

You will also be working with families who came to us asking for a certified therapist specifically, which means you start with a client who understands why the sequence matters and is not looking for a faster route. For a therapist who wants to run the full arc with a student and see it through to automatic, independent reading, that is a rare set of conditions.

About Thrive

Thrive Education Partners connects exceptional educators with families seeking highly personalized, values-driven education.

Our placements go beyond traditional tutoring and classroom teaching. We thoughtfully match educators and families to create individualized learning experiences built on strong relationships and instruction that responds to how each student learns. Students strengthen academic skills, build confidence, and make meaningful progress toward their goals.

Thrive Education Partners is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and make hiring decisions based on experience, skills, and business needs, without regard to any status protected by applicable law.

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