Topic:Management of Remedial Reading Program

Objective:
- Understand the basic concept regarding Management of Remedial Reading Program

What is Management of Remedial Reading Program?

Management of remedial reading program is directed by a highly trained remedial instructor and has
gained the cooperation and support of teachers, administrators, and parents.
A remedial reading program is developed when a need for it exists, just like when teachers meet with
failure in instructing certain students by conventional methods.
Encountering the demands of a technological age, the public may express a desire for such a program.

Initial Planning of the Program

Planning may begin by securing a reading teacher who is well equipped in three areas of the remedial
program. That is:

•and one who is qualified and experienced in teaching poor readers so that she can do this work or
show others how to do it.
•a teacher who knows how reading can best be taught to all children with provision for the slow
progress cases
•one who is trained in clinical work to the point where she can study with success all but the most
extreme cases of reading difficulty;

Because of the specialized training and experience of the reading teacher, she is often asked to organize
the entire remedial reading program, or at least most of it. While accepting the responsibility, she
nonetheless consults the administrator in her planning.

The Development of the Program

The actual organization of the remedial reading program involves the consideration of many factors. The
remedial teacher must determine the goals of the program, the criteria for selecting students, the
methods and materials she will use, the method she will employ in introducing the program to the
faculty, and the manner in which she will assign the students to the program.

The Criteria for Selecting Students

The first thing the remedial reading teacher does is to establish the criteria for selecting the students for
the program. In her mind arise three types of students that might qualify for instruction.

The Criteria for Selecting Students

•The first type is a student whose reading achievement is below his grade placement and below his
chronological age, but at his mental age.
•The second type is a student whose reading achievement is below his reading potential but at grade
level.
•The third type is a student whose reading achievement is below his grade placement, his chronological
age, and his mental age.

Which type of student would benefit most from remedial instruction?

• The first type of student, although not achieving up to grade level or chronological age, is already
working up to his capacity.
•The second type of student, although not working up to his potential, is working at grade level.
•The third type of student is reading below his grade placement, his chronological age, and his mental
age.

Methods and Materials

Obviously, the methodology the remedial reading teacher uses will be essentially different from that
of other reading instruction. A remedial reader is a retarded reader, and he must learn skills faster than
he would in a regular classroom. If he is to learn faster, the teacher must be completely familiar with
successive stages of reading skill, in contrast to many classroom teachers who concentrate instruction
more narrowly, even with heterogeneous groups.
Methods and Materials

The materials she will utilize in instruction will also be of a different nature than those utilized in the
comprehensive classroom. Books must be available which are low in reading difficulty and more
advanced in interest appeal.
Methods and Materials
Desiring to stimulate curiosity and to create success, the remedial teacher will select a wealth of
materials on a variety of ability levels and interesting topics.

The Creation of a Desirable Climate

The remedial teacher is concerned with creating a desirable climate in which the program can begin.
The remedial teacher might strive to accomplish this through a meeting, designed to introduce the
program to the faculty. At the meeting, the remedial teacher herself, or perhaps a visiting consultant in
reading, would acquaint the faculty with the goals of a remedial program, the criteria by which students
are selected, the methods and materials utilized in the program.

The Creation of a Desirable Climate

Teachers would also be familiarized with their duties with respect to the program. Following this, a
get-acquainted period, of perhaps a week or two would begin. She would strive to be truly sympathetic
with the difficulties that teachers experience. If she made suggestions, she would be certain they were
highly practical and welcomed by those to whom given.
The Creation of a Desirable Climate

The Assignment of Students to the Program

The assignment of students to remedial instruction is the remedial teacher's next concern. After
receiving a recommended list ofstudents from the classroom teachers, the remedial teacher will begin
interviewing, testing, and compiling data to help her determine who would benefit most by remedial
instruction. Many factors will be considered.
The Assignment of Students to the Program
Scheduling the students will involve trying to assign them to times which will not cause them to miss
too much basic instruction in the homeroom.
The Inception of the Program

Diagnosis of the Students

 After the inception of the program, the remedial teacher makes a more detailed diagnosis of the
pupil's reading disabilities and a much more elaborate inquiry into possible causative factors.
Diagnosis of the Students
The complexity of the diagnostic procedure she uses will, of course, depend upon the facilities that are
available to her. To help herself become better acquainted with the student, she might use an interest
inventory. She would obtain a knowledge of the student's reading ability through an informal reading
inventory and by reading achievement test scores.

The teacher supplements these findings by obtaining information from the classroom teacher and
from the parents. All of this information she then records and keeps for eachstudent in an ordinary file
folder. As time goes on, she adds to this file a record of all progress that is made during the instructional
period and comments about the student's mental, physical and emotional growth. In this way, the
remedial teacher is provided with a valuable guide for remedial teaching.
Diagnosis of the Students

Instruction of the Students

Certainly the remedial teacher's time must not be "spread thin" if results are to be clearly
perceptible. In the beginning she may desire to work in the most serious spots, selecting students who
exhibit the greatest need for instruction. By meeting these students every day, she will be able to arouse
enthusiasm and to observe the progress made.
Instruction of the Students

Consultation with Teachers, Parents, and Administrators

In addition to the time the remedial teacher spends instructing students, time must be available for
consultation with teachers, parents, and administrators. Certainly if a program is to relate realistically
and logically to classroom instruction, consultation with teachers is a necessity. Endeavoring to develop
this important relationship, the remedial teacher conducts small group meetings in which she makes
suggestions of methods and materials for helping and preventing reading difficulties too numerous for
the program to handle.
Consultation with Teachers, Parents, and Administrators

Preparation of Materials

The remedial teacher has part of her time unscheduled for the discovery and preparation of
materials both for herself and for other teachers. She considers this a major facet of the remedial
program. Responsibilities of Teachers, Parents, Administrators The remedial teacher is the most
important part of the remedial program. The success of the program rests a great deal upon her ability
to keep communication channels open and to engender enthusiasm for the program.
Preparation of Materials

However, teachers, parents, and administrators can also affect the success of the program. The
classroom teacher largely determines the student's initial attitude toward the program. Finally, she can
express appreciation for any progress made, realizing that what seems a little improvement for some
children represents a real victory.
Parents, by understanding that the cost of such a program is more than paid for by a decrease of
retardation in the school system, can lend their encouragement and support.
Preparation of Materials