Why Accommodations Aren’t Enough: The Case for Actually Fixing the Problem

May 7, 2022

If you’ve sat through a school meeting about your child, you’ve probably heard the list: extra time, a note taker, speech-to-text, tests read aloud. These are accommodations, and they’re offered with the best of intentions. But there’s a question worth asking before you accept them as the whole plan: is anyone actually fixing the problem?

Remediation vs. Accommodation: What’s the Difference?

The two words sound interchangeable. They’re not. One builds the skill your child is missing; the other works around it. Knowing the difference — and when each belongs in your child’s plan — may be the most important thing a parent of a struggling learner can understand.

Remediation: Building the Missing Skill

Remediation: the development of skills in order to access the innate ability within the students we work with.

The students that we work with at Novaread arrive with the natural ability to interact with the expectations of their current grade. That natural ability has yet to be developed so they are struggling. We access that ability through explicit instruction that develops the skill or skills they are lacking on arrival.

Most of the children we see are struggling because of language-based learning difficulties — gaps in the core skills underneath reading, spelling, and math. Finding the precise gap is the first step, which is why every program begins with a comprehensive educational assessment.

When we say that we ‘Unlock Learning Potential’, this is what we mean. Our students arrive bright and capable. We walk with them through the steps of their program and when we discharge them they are able to independently succeed in school.

Accommodation: Working Around the Skill

Accommodation: the process of adapting or adjusting to someone or something.

There are many examples of accommodations in learning environments. Note takers, speech to text, computer assisted reading are just a few. There are times when it may not be possible to build the ability so you need to adjust the way the student is interacting with the expectations of their classwork. If we were discussing physical disabilities rather than learning, a ramp to assist a student in a wheelchair would be an obvious accommodation. Sometimes you need ramps for the mind as well.

When Accommodations Make Sense

Accommodations have a real place. When a skill genuinely can’t be built, adjusting how a child meets classroom expectations is the right and fair thing to do. They also buy time: while a child is rebuilding skills, supports like extra time or assisted reading can keep them connected to the curriculum instead of drowning in it. Used this way, accommodation and remediation work together.

The Catch: An Accommodation Doesn’t Close the Gap

Here’s what parents are rarely told: an accommodation used alone leaves the gap exactly where it was. The child who is read to in Grade 4 is still a struggling reader in Grade 9 — only now the material is harder and the stakes are higher. And children notice. They know what the supports are for, and over the years that quietly shapes how smart they believe they are. When the underlying skill can be built, working around it instead is a decision — usually an unspoken one — to leave it unbuilt.

Which Does Your Child Need?

Start with the question that often goes unasked: why is this skill missing? A proper assessment tells you whether the gap can be remediated — and far more often than not, it can. If you’d like help answering that question for your own child, visit our Contact Page, call +1 (902) 425-7323, or email info@novaread.com to book an intake consultation at our Halifax or Bedford clinic.

Sources: theopendoor.ca · ldonline.org