Remediation vs. Compensatory

The writing process is a very complex and intricate task, as you will have noted in our introduction and from viewing the "Writing Task Analysis" by professor Barb Welsford. The longer and more complex the process leads to a greater potential a student may have difficulty with any given area in the process. Some of the many difficulties students can experience are:- executive functioning difficulties at the beginning and when attempting to sustain attend to task
- hypotonia (low muscle tone and strength)
- apraxia (impairment in the ability to execute skilled movements despite having the physical ability and the desire to do so)
- dysgraphia (inability to form letters correctly and quickly)
- various motor impairments / dysfunctions
"Teachers should not assume that an individual with efficient fine motor skills for other kinds of activities should be able to develop and refine handwriting skills. Different neural pathways are involved that do not include the movements, positions, and processes involved in manipulating a writing instrument." (Broun, 2009)

 When we see a student struggling to complete/be successful at a task like writing, the next step is to figure out where in the process the difficulty begins and implement remediation techniques to assist them. In all of our classrooms there are at the very least a handful of students that benefit from the implementation of remediation techniques. Dave Edyburn comments on the frequency at which teachers do this on a daily basis.
     "Teachers are extremely comfortable with the options associated with remediation: reteach the  
     information, use alternative instructional strategies, breaking tasks into smaller parts to analyse
     what the child knows and what components are problematic, reduce the number of items that must
     be  completed, provide additional instructional practise, engage in one-on-one tutoring, etc.
     However, if this approach always worked, we would never see high school students that couldn't
     read independently beyond the second grade level or students who failed to master the basic math
     facts." (Edyburn, 2002.)
This being said, if these techniques and tactics are not helping the student experience success, then more needs to be done. "Sometimes with extra practise, their skills improve. But there is a group of students who do not progress, no matter what intervention is tried." (Broun, 2009). There are also students where, because of their disability, remediation tactics are not beneficial. Carly Fleischmann and Ms.Baggs are two motivating examples of this.

The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) guides us to allow the use of materials and strategies that promote learning for students of all ability profiles (CEC, 2005). So this answers the question, At what point do we start implementing compensatory measures? - when remediation strategies are not producing successful results. Realising that "fair is not giving everyone the same thing, fair is giving people what they need",  (Baurn 2009). The next post highlights some of the plethora of useful stratigies, tools, software and apps that can be used to enable students to succeed, work and communicate independently.

References

Broun, Leslie. (2009). Take the Pencil out of the Process. Teaching Exceptional Children.
    Sept./Oct. 2009.

Council for Exceptional Children and Merrill Education. (2005). Universal design for learning: A guide for teachers and education professionals. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Pearson, Merill, Prentice Hall.


Edyburn, Dave (2002). Remediation vs. compensation: A critical decision point in assistive  
     technology consideration. http://www.connsensebulletin.com/edyburnv4n3.html.