Why Some Students Never Catch-up

When a child continues to fall behind in areas like reading or math, catching up can be difficult. In fact, there are studies that show that if a child is not at grade level in reading by the end of the 3rd grade, only 25% ever catch-up.

The most common reason is that most school interventions and tutoring strategies continue to address the symptoms vs. determine and address the root cause.

For example, when a child struggles with reading, usually keys cognitive skills like memory and auditory processing are low. Memory is critical as it enables strong word recognition and the ability to retain all the odd exceptions in our language. Auditory processing is the ability to discriminate sounds and decode. Simply doing more reading does not address these weaknesses and students usually fall further behind as expectations increase.

The root cause of math struggles can vary, but is often related to low working memory or logic & reasoning. These skills enable students to grasp the concepts and perform multi-step functions, which are critical math skills.

If your child is behind in reading or math, the first step is to contact the Savage/Prior Lake LearningRx to schedule an initial assessment. The assessment will help identify why your child is struggling, and more importantly, help determine a course of action to address the root cause and get them on a path toward greater success.