Remedial education, also known as Developmental education or Basic Skill Education or 3R’s Education (Reading, writing and Arithmetic) is a basic catch-up education for typical students of a certain age who have fallen below minimum standards in the areas of literacy and numeracy skills.

The primary aim of remedial education is to help students, often children who function at a lower than average level because of a certain learning difficulties or behavioral problems or disorders in regular schools cope with the prescribed school curriculum, to help students develop study skills, to train students in organizational skills, to give one-on-one intensive instruction in language skills and mathematics and to improve their overall academic performance.

Most often than not remedial education is provided to children who have been diagnosed with any bio-neurological, disorder such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia or other non-verbal learning difficulties, ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), Autism Spectrum Disorder, Intellectual difficuty, slow learners, those suffering from cerebral palsy or spasticity. It is also required by those with major psychological or emotional disorders such as depression, anxiety disorders, adjustment issues or conduct disorders. Many a times it is also provided to gifted and talented children who need aided assistance with analytical and logical thinking that is not part of school curriculum.

The remedial educator uses special techniques and strategies depending on the level at which the child is functioning. It may start with core basics of the language including letter recognition, sound identification, syllabification and move on to higher elements such as blends, classification, grammar rules and so on. With children in higher grades, help is provided at the age where the child is stuck taking him up to his age appropriate level. Special audio-visual stimuli are used to facilitate learning such as flashcards, workbooks, pictorial aids, puzzles and so on. A multi-modal approach known as the V-A-K-T (visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, tactile) is used as it is known to have maximum benefit to simulate learning.

There is no fixed duration for remedial education. It depends upon each child’s distinctive needs. Typically, the child is required to be under remedial learning as long as he or she is able to show significant improvement and able to cope with his peers in the class. It only helps and never hurts.