Remedial Reading Strategies and Techniques

Helping Remedial Students Read

Defining Remedial Reading

Remedial reading lessons are often used as a way to help struggling students bring their reading skills up to grade level. At school, students who are behind may be pulled from class for specialized instruction. Remedial reading lessons are typically necessary for children with a learning disability, such as dyslexia. Identify why your child is struggling before deciding on the best way to provide instruction.

Working on Comprehension

Reading comprehension is the ability to analyze and understand books and other texts. To help your child work on this skill, do comprehension exercises before, during and after reading.

Before reading a text with pictures, take your child on a 'picture walk'. Encourage him to notice details in the pictures and make predictions about the story.

While reading the story, encourage your child to use the pictures when answering comprehension questions you ask. Ask questions about the actions of the characters and the tone of the narrative. In order for this technique to work, make sure you choose books with pictures that closely match the text.

After reading, discuss your child's thoughts about the ending. How did it make your child feel? Relating your child's personal feelings and memories to a text can help her better understand elements such as plot and character motivation.

Reading Fluency

Sight words are words that are instantly recognizable. Memorizing these words may increase your child's reading fluency because it decreases the number of words that are unfamiliar to him. Write words like 'the' and 'is' on flash cards and go over them with your child every evening.

If you notice that your child is struggling with specific types of words, give her a lesson on the specific vowel and consonant combinations that are consistently challenging. For example, if your child can't distinguish between hard and soft consonants, write a number of words like 'kick', 'cod', 'knee' and 'cheese' on flashcards and review their sounds.

Addressing Reading Disabilities

If your child is dyslexic, or suffers from any other disability, consider contacting a child psychologist or reading expert to get a detailed report on what needs to be done to help your child. Dyslexia creates confusion for readers. If your child is dyslexic, it's possible that letters and words appear to be out of order. Lines of text can be distracting from other lines of text. By using a piece of paper to block out other lines of text, your child may be able to focus on one line at a time.