What are remedial classes and why do some kids need them?

Remedial classes bridge the gap between what a child currently knows and what they are expected to know at their age. Unlike tuition, they do not re-teach the school curriculum; they rebuild foundational skills, especially in reading and maths, through systematic, structured, individualised instruction. Most programmes run around two years of short, frequent sessions.

The educator Robert John Meehan liked to remind teachers that every child has a different learning style and pace, and that each child is unique: capable of learning, and capable of succeeding. As parents and teachers we need to respect that uniqueness. Every child learns at a different pace, and there is nothing wrong with that. But when a gap opens between what school expects at their age and their actual level of understanding, the child needs help to bridge it. That is exactly what remedial classes are for.

The effects reach beyond marks. One study found that remedial courses had academic, social, psychological, economic and career-development impacts: as school success improved, students used their free time better, became more social, gained self-confidence, and started to realise their potential.

How are remedial classes different from special education and tuition?

Remedial classes vs special education. Special education programmes deal with a disability. Remedial classes simply close the gap between what a child knows and what their age expects. (The full comparison deserves its own article; I have written one on the difference between special education and remedial education.)

Remedial classes vs tuition. In tuition, a child goes through the same school curriculum again, hoping to understand it better. Remedial classes have nothing to do with the school curriculum. They help a child with a learning delay rebuild the foundational skills underneath the curriculum, the ones the classroom assumed were already in place.

Tuition repeats the syllabus. Remedial teaching goes underneath it and repairs the foundations.

One practical note: if a child makes no progress even in a good remedial programme, that itself is diagnostic. It can be a sign of a learning disability, and such children may need more specialised instruction through special education.

Why do some kids need remedial classes?

Because of processing time, more than anything. Some children decode a word almost instantly; others need much longer to work out the same word, and every sentence costs them more effort. That gap breeds frustration and then a chain of academic struggles, even though both children sit in the same classroom with the same syllabus. If you are noticing your child reading far less, or far more slowly, than others their age, a learning difficulty is worth investigating; the early indicators are a good starting point.

What makes a good remedial programme?

• Systematic. Learning proceeds gradually from the most basic skill to the most complex, regardless of the child’s grade. For words: first the sound, then recognising the word, finally the spelling.
• Highly structured. The structure is built around the child’s specific needs, so the improvement is visible.
• Direct instruction. Everything is explicit; nothing is taken for granted. Each step is planned to make understanding easier.
• Complete retraining and mastery. After the gap is identified, the child is retaught all the basic concepts underneath it, to mastery, not to “covered”.
• Automaticity and fluency. The goal is for skills to become automatic, so the child reads and works as fluently as their peers.
• Multisensory. Struggling learners do best when all the brain’s learning pathways work together: visual input when they see, auditory when they hear, kinesthetic and oral-motor when they write and speak. I have written more about why multisensory teaching works.

What do remedial classes actually teach?

Most programmes target weaknesses in reading and maths, and research confirms participating learners improve in English and maths.

For reading, the sequence starts with phonological awareness, one step before phonics: the child learns to notice and identify the sounds around them. Next comes phonemic awareness, the sounds of individual letters within words. Then phonics: connecting each sound to its written symbol. From there the work grows into vocabulary, syntax, comprehension and fluency.

Remedial instruction is mostly individualised, not full-class. The teacher should have specialised training, and the child’s programme should be research-based and built around their needs.

How long do remedial classes take?

Typically around two years, at roughly 45 minutes a day, five days a week, though it depends entirely on the child and the depth of the difficulty. That sounds long, but it is rebuilding several years of foundations properly, and alongside the academics it rebuilds something just as important: the child’s confidence.

Frequently asked questions

My child already has tuition. Do they still need remedial classes?

If the problem is understanding this year’s syllabus, tuition helps. If the problem is that reading or number work itself is hard, tuition will keep re-teaching content the child cannot access. That is when remedial teaching, aimed at the foundations, is the right tool.

Who should run a remedial programme?

Someone specifically trained in remedial or structured-literacy instruction, not a general subject tutor. Ask about their training, their method, and how they will assess and track your child’s gaps.

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. To find out whether remedial support is what your child needs, get in touch for a free 15-minute conversation.