Can remedial classes be done online? How it works

Yes. Remedial classes work fully online when they are one-to-one, structured and multisensory, with the teacher watching and adjusting every activity in real time. Children from about age six learn well this way, and families use it across countries and time zones. What matters is not the screen but the method behind it, plus a quiet 45 minutes and a steady connection.

Does online remedial teaching actually work?

For one-to-one teaching, yes, and I say that from years of delivering remedial intervention entirely online. Everything that makes remedial teaching work survives the screen: explicit instruction, immediate correction of errors, mastery-based pacing, and a teacher whose full attention is on one child. At Flourishing Kids, children in India, the UAE, Oman, Singapore, Australia, the UK and the US learn this way every week.

Where online goes wrong is groups. A struggling child in an online group class can hide, drift and guess unseen, exactly the habits remedial teaching exists to undo. If you are comparing options, the line to hold is one-to-one, not online versus offline.

What does an online session look like?

Much like a session at a table, translated to a shared screen. Letter and pattern cards appear on screen for the sound drills. A shared whiteboard carries the blending and word work, with the child writing, dragging and building words live. For the writing and dictation, the child works on paper and holds it up to the camera, or writes on the shared board directly.

The multisensory part does not disappear; it moves into the child’s own room. She still says every sound aloud as she writes it, still traces a tricky pattern on the tabletop or in a small tray of sand or rice beside her, still uses her hand and voice together. The teacher directs it all in real time, watching her face and her paper, and changes the plan the moment something wobbles.

The screen is not the method. Structured one-to-one teaching is the method; the screen just carries it to your home.

What does your child need at home?

The list is short, and none of it is special equipment.

• A laptop or tablet with a working camera and microphone. A phone screen is too small for the word work.
• A quiet corner for the length of the session, with the same seat at the same time helping younger children settle.
• A notebook, a pencil, and if the teacher suggests it, a small tray of sand, rice or salt for tracing.
• For children of six or seven, a parent within calling distance for the first few sessions, until the routine holds on its own.

What are the advantages of online?

The biggest one is access: your child’s teacher no longer has to live in your city. A family in Muscat or Singapore can work with a specialist in Chennai, and the child in a smaller town gets the same intervention as the child in a metro. There is no commute stacked onto an already tired child; the session slots into the afternoon at home. Consistency improves too. Sessions survive travel, weather and school holidays, and consistency is the quiet engine of any remedial programme, since the skills need frequent, structured practice far more than they need a particular room.

When is online not the right fit?

Honest answer: a few situations call for extra thought. Children below about five or six usually need the physicality of in-person work before screen-based sessions make sense. A child with severe attention difficulties may need shorter sessions and more movement breaks, which online can accommodate, but it takes deliberate planning rather than hope. And where connectivity is genuinely unreliable, the stop-start undermines the structure that makes sessions work. None of these are reasons to dismiss online; they are things a good teacher will ask about before starting, usually as part of an informal assessment.

Frequently asked questions

From what age can a child start online remedial classes?

From about six, with a parent nearby in the early weeks. By seven or eight, most children run their sessions independently and take real pride in doing so.

Do time zones make scheduling impossible?

No. One-to-one scheduling is flexible in a way group classes are not, and sessions are set to suit the family’s time zone. Evening slots in the Gulf, for instance, line up comfortably with India hours.

How do you keep a distractible child engaged through a screen?

The same way as across a table: short activities that change every few minutes, work pitched exactly at the child’s level, and constant back-and-forth. A child who is answering, writing, reading and building words has no idle time in which to drift.

Dr. V.S. Gayathri is a Certified Dyslexia Therapist, an Orton-Gillingham trained literacy specialist, and the founder of Flourishing Kids. She has delivered over 4,000 hours of one-to-one reading and spelling intervention, helping children across multiple countries build stronger literacy skills, all of it online. To see whether online sessions would suit your child, get in touch for a free 15-minute conversation.