What is a remedial class? Why do some kids need it?

Summary

Dr. Gayatri, an educational therapist and founder of Flourishing Kids Chennai, explains the purpose of remedial education classes for children with learning challenges. Unlike regular tuitions, these classes focus on foundational skills and systematic, structured learning to address difficulties in reading and decoding words, leading to frustration. They employ multi-sensory instruction involving visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and oral motor components, starting from phonological awareness to phonics, vocabulary, syntax, and comprehension. The duration of remedial classes varies, averaging two years of daily 45-minute sessions, but ultimately depends on the child's progress and needs.

Takeaways

• 📚 Dr. Gayatri is an educational therapist and the founder of Flourishing Kids Chennai, focusing on children with learning challenges.
• 🔍 Remedial education is distinct from regular tuitions, focusing on foundational skills rather than school curriculum repetition.
• 👦 For children with learning difficulties, reading words takes longer, leading to frustration and academic challenges.
• 🏫 Remedial classes are systematic and highly structured, with explicit instructions that are not dependent on the student's grade level.
• 📈 These classes start with basic skills and build up to complex subjects in a step-by-step manner, ensuring mastery.
• 👀 Multi-sensory instruction is a key component of remedial education, involving visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and oral motor senses.
• 👂 Phonological awareness is the starting point, where children learn to recognize and understand sounds before moving on to phonics.
• 🔠 Phonics involves associating sounds with symbols, teaching children the connection between letters and their corresponding sounds.
• 📚 Vocabulary expansion and syntax are also included in remedial education to enhance language comprehension and sentence formation.
• 🧠 Comprehension is a critical part of the process, ensuring that children not only read but also understand what they are reading.
• ⏱ The duration of remedial education can vary, with an average of two years for daily 45-minute sessions, but it ultimately depends on the individual child's needs and progress.

Q & A

What is the difference between remedial education classes and regular tuitions according to Dr. Gayatri?

Regular tuitions are for the same academics students are learning in school, essentially re-teaching the curriculum at home. Remedial education classes, on the other hand, focus on foundational skills and are not directly related to the school curriculum. These classes are especially designed for kids with learning challenges or difficulties.

Why do some kids need remedial education classes?

Some kids need remedial education classes because they have learning difficulties that cause them to process information more slowly, leading to frustration. These classes help them build foundational skills to improve their academic performance.

How does the processing time for reading words differ for kids with learning difficulties?

For kids with learning difficulties, the processing time to read a word is longer compared to good readers. This slower pace can lead to frustration and academic challenges.

What is the structure of remedial education classes as described by Dr. Gayatri?

Remedial education classes are systematic, highly structured, and provide direct instructions. They start with basic skills and gradually move to more complex subjects, ensuring clear and explicit teaching.

Can you explain the concept of multi-sensory instruction in remedial education classes?

Multi-sensory instruction in remedial education classes involves engaging all senses—visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and oral motor—to enhance learning and understanding for students with learning difficulties.

What is the starting point of instruction in remedial education classes?

The instruction in remedial education classes begins with phonological awareness, which is the ability to hear and manipulate sounds in words, before moving on to phonics and other components.

What is phonological awareness and why is it important in remedial education?

Phonological awareness is the ability to recognize and manipulate the sounds in spoken words. It is important in remedial education because it forms the foundation for reading and is introduced before phonics.

What role does vocabulary play in remedial education classes?

Vocabulary plays a crucial role in remedial education classes as it helps expand the students' knowledge of words, which is essential for effective reading and understanding.

How does the instruction of syntax fit into the remedial education curriculum?

Syntax is included in the remedial education curriculum to teach students the grammatical structures of language, including how to form sentences correctly.

What is the significance of comprehension in remedial education classes?

Comprehension is vital in remedial education classes because it ensures that students not only read words but also understand the meaning and context of what they are reading.

How long does it typically take for a student to benefit from remedial education classes?

While it can vary depending on the child and their learning difficulties, it is suggested that it usually takes about two years of daily 45-minute classes to see significant improvement.