What Are Remediation Activities?

When students struggle with academic concepts, schools try a variety of intervention tactics. Remediation strategies are one type of intervention. Effective remediation involves assessing the student’s needs, providing intervention and evaluating student outcomes. Successful remediation programs adjust the instruction based on the student's response to the intervention.

In remediation, teachers try to correct a deficit rather than teach students to cope with the deficit. Through remediation activities or lessons, teachers help a student improve his skills through direct instruction. Remedial instruction is focused on the specific concepts with which the student struggles. Remediation strategies include reteaching, using alternative instructional strategies, task analysis, additional practice and one-on-one tutoring.

Reteaching is one method of remediation. Teachers present the information to the student again. If a student struggles with solving a math equation, for example, the teacher simply shows him the method again. Reteaching is used when a student simply needs more exposure to the subject before he is able to internalize it.

Some students may require alternative teaching strategies for remediation. These strategies are often based on students’ individual learning styles. For example, if the student does not comprehend material from a lecture on the parts of speech, the teacher might have her work with a partner to make a poster on parts of speech using pictures cut from a magazine. If a student is a kinesthetic learner, she will learn concepts better with hands-on activities. Remediation often includes multiple teaching styles to reach students with various learning styles.

Task analysis is the process of breaking a skill into smaller components. Teachers can remediate the skill by teaching these components in sequence. Task analysis helps the teacher to see what part of the process is causing difficulty for the student. When teaching a child to write his name, the teacher may break the task into smaller parts and determine he has a poor pencil grasp. The student can be instructed on the correct way to hold a pencil, thus improving the entire skill.

Students may require additional practice to master skills. This is another form of remediation. Computer skills practice programs and skill practice games are effective ways to provide additional practice for struggling students.

Tutoring is another popular remediation method for struggling students. Tutoring is typically one child with one teacher. Tutoring involves direct instruction focused on a student’s deficit areas. Tutoring is extremely effective for remediation, but it is also expensive and time-consuming.