At Boston Children’s, we provide tutoring to patients through LearnWell.
LearnWell was founded in 1995 and first partnered with Boston Children’s in 2001. LearnWell teachers tutor in all four core content areas and have a passion for working in the hospital environment.
All students are seen in accordance with their home state's regulations for home and hospital instruction. Massachusetts students are eligible for home and hospital instruction services if they expect to be absent from school for 14 consecutive or non-consecutive school days.
If a student attends a parochial or private school, LearnWell may have to wait for an approval to provide instructional services. In this case, the child life specialist will be kept up to date on the progress of the referral and relay this to the family. In some cases, tutoring may be denied as parochial and private schools are not required by law to provide services. In this instance guardians may seek out-of-pocket payments for sessions.
If a parent or guardian wants tutoring services for their child only when they get home, the family can simply reach out to their child’s home district to request homebound instruction services (the director of Special Education or Student Services at a school is usually accountable for these services).
How it works
If your child is currently in the hospital, contact the child life specialist on that unit.
- The child life specialist will get your consent to contact your child’s home school district and verify with the doctor that your child is medically well enough to participate in tutoring.
- LearnWell hospital tutors will contact the child's school to obtain a curriculum and develop an individual plan for your child.
- Each student working with LearnWell receives attendance credit and is kept up to date with their classroom curriculum.
If you would like more information about LearnWell, call Child Life Services at 617-355-6551.