About CLaRI

CLaRI, the Center for Literacy and Reading Instruction, is an established reading center at the University at Buffalo and has been providing reading services to Western New York since 1963 — that is over 50 years! We are a community resource for the assessment of children’s literacy development and individualized reading instruction, as well as literacy research center.

CLaRI has helped thousands of children from 1st through 12th grade with various reading and writing needs by providing diagnostic and instructional services. At CLaRI, we have been able to help children reading on grade level, but demonstrating a weakness in one area of literacy development, to children reading slightly below grade level, to children reading and writing many years below grade level.

At CLaRI, we consider the children, clinicians, and faculty a community of learners. As such, we do not implement a standard curriculum for all children, but rather work together to provide individualized instruction using research-based strategies and activities to tailor reading and writing instruction to meet each child’s literacy and learning needs. During each tutoring session, children read real literature, are engaged in hands-on learning activities, and receive reading, writing, spelling, and vocabulary instruction.

We have found that children attending CLaRI for one 12-week session show significant growth in their reading and writing abilities. Results will vary depending on the child’s literacy and instructional needs.