Hooked Phonics Math

Tutoring Question???

My 10 year old niece is having a very difficult time in school, every year she is worse and the teacher's seem to be more and more disconnected from the students and everything just keeps snowballing -- I offered my sister and law and my brother to tutor her for them and they are as excited as I am -- the only thing is -- where should I start?
How do I assess her progress -- how do I know if we are making progress?
She has very cryptic handwriting which I look forward to working with her on; she has low self confidence and trouble reading, with math, etc. She is diagnosed with learning disabilities and her mother has been fighting with her school ever since. they make no extra effort - no - they make NO effort to help the child. the pupil. I am going to help her out -- but if there are any teacher's or educator's or parents of home schooled children that know what I am talking about and know what I am setting out to do; I would be grateful for your guidance.
Hooked on Phonics?

The best place to start is to have the child read to you. Start with fairly simple books, or stories. Listen to her fluency and the ease in which she reads. Jot down the type of errors she makes for future reference. Continue with more difficult books until she misses 5 or more words on one page. This would indicate a book that is above her independent level. Next, use the text to check her comprehension and ask questions as she reads. Ask her to predict what might happen next, etc. you could then go into parts of speech, capitalization, punctuation, etc. Surely the school has some test data on her and that could give you a starting point as well.
In math, start with basic computation, -,+, with one, two, and three digit numbers. If these are easy then move into x. Use on line worksheets from sites that offer multitudes of practice papers.
Go to the library and find books for home schooling and perhaps join a support group of other tutors like you. This child needs to be saved and good for you offering to be the one to do it. I have taught for over 29 years and it breaks my heart to think of a child that is "getting left behind". Best of luck and enjoy what you are about to take on!