Looking for educational options to give your learner a boost can be confusing. There are so many new options to help our learners get on track or get ahead. Having options to choose from is a great problem to have but, do you know exactly what your learner needs? Are you in search of tutoring, high-dosage tutoring or education therapy? The answer to this question will be easier if you can answer the following questions about your learner:
- Do they need extra help in one subject?
- Are they experiencing difficulties across several subjects?
- Are their challenges due to over-arching issues like poor time management or lack of organization?
The following are explanations of each form of educational support:
Tutoring
Academic support provided by a peer, educator or other individual, offered in addition to the general educational support of a classroom.
High Dosage Tutoring
High dosage tutoring is for learners who need to catch up on academics in a short period of time. In this program learners are provided with targeted instruction several hours per week for a set amount of time. Instruction methods often consist of a lot of repetition and drilling of specific academic skills or concepts. This method became popular after COVID affected in person learning.
Education Therapy
Educational therapy focuses on identifying and addressing underlying causes of a learner’s challenges. An education specialist then helps them gain skill through strategies and techniques embedded with executive functioning to increase academic success. This is a popular method for kids diagnosed with learning differences.
Similarities and differences
| Education Therapy | High Dosage Tutoring | Tutoring | |
| Provides academic support | Y | Y | Y |
| Academic goal-based program | Y | Y | N |
| High quality educators who are trained in education and child development | Y | N | N |
| Program based on learner’s profile strengths and challenges | Y | N | N |
| Multisensory and evidence based programs | Y | N | N |
| Embedded executive functioning | Y | N | N |
| Long term skill retention | Y | N | N |
| Help learners gain skills such as planning, organizing, time management. etc. | Y | N | N |
| Improve underlying cognitive processes | Y | N | N |
| Easily accessible ($) | N | N | Y |
Often parents assume tutoring platforms and high dosage tutoring options are sufficient for providing supplemental assistance for learners. According to Learnfully’s recent survey of parents and educators:
- 44% of teachers said students who used these platforms were not engaged in the platform
- 62% of teachers said students were unable to retain learnings from these platforms and apply them to future concepts
Educational therapy is the only form of instruction that takes a holistic approach. This helps a learner get ahead by addressing the root cause of learning difficulties such as attention deficits, working memory deficits, processing speed issues and language-based learning disabilities.
Learnfully is an ESA provider in multiple states, call or email us to find out if we are approved in your state.
