Home Teaching Tips and Strategies Why Does My Child Understand “It” During Intervention but Not in School?

Teaching Tips and Strategies

Why Does My Child Understand “It” During Intervention but Not in School?

  • DAS Educational Therapists

Written by Nur Ashabiena Binte Mohd Ashraff, Lead Educational Therapist and
Adrienne Lim, Educational Therapist

One of the most common questions parents ask Educational Therapists is: “My child seems to understand during intervention, but struggles to do the same thing in school. Why?”

In this context, “it” refers to the specific skill or strategy being taught, such as decoding words, applying a spelling rule, using a comprehension strategy, or solving a particular type of math problem. A child may read a passage accurately during intervention but find it hard to answer comprehension questions in class. They may spell words correctly in structured lessons but make errors in independent writing. Sometimes, they appear to grasp a concept during lesson, yet struggle to apply during a school-based assessment.

These inconsistencies can be confusing and frustrating. Some parents may even begin to question whether the intervention is working. However, this pattern is common among children with dyslexia and other learning differences. Importantly, it does not mean the child has not learned the skill. Rather, it reflects the challenge of transferring learning from a supported setting to a less supported one.

Drawing on research and professional experience with students who have dyslexia, this article explains why children may demonstrate skills during intervention yet struggle to apply them consistently in school. Understanding this process can help parents set realistic expectations and better support their child’s learning journey.

Learning versus Independent Application

Learning a skill is not the same as using it independently.

Think of learning to ride a bicycle. At first, a child may succeed with an adult holding the seat, offering encouragement, and giving reminders. Riding independently, however, requires coordinating balance, steering, and pedaling without help.

A similar process happens in learning. During intervention sessions, children typically receive the following forms of support from their Educational Therapist:

  • Explicit instruction
  • Scaffolded and guided practice
  • Immediate, specific feedback
  • Prompting and scaffolding
  • Opportunities to correct errors in real time

These supports help the child acquire the skill. In contrast, school environments often require students to apply these skills independently while managing multiple demands at once. This transition can be especially challenging for learners with dyslexia.

Classroom Examples:
(1) During intervention, a student may read decodable texts with 95% accuracy using phonics strategies. In a mainstream English lesson, the same student may struggle to read a grade-level storybook independently. The intervention setting offers one-to-one support, controlled vocabulary, and immediate correction. The classroom, however, presents unfamiliar texts, faster pacing, and limited individualised support.

(2) A student may copy notes accurately during a small-group intervention where the teacher speaks slowly and repeats key points. In a regular lesson, the same student may miss information while trying to listen, process, and write at the same time. This is not a lack of understanding, but a difficulty managing multiple tasks simultaneously.

Understanding Transfer of Learning

Educational researchers often call this process “transfer of learning”. Transfer occurs when a learner can apply knowledge or skills learned in one situation to a different situation (Willingham, 2009).

Examples include:

  • Reading a word correctly during intervention and recognizing it in a school textbook
  • Learning a spelling rule and applying it during independent writing
  • Using comprehension strategies independently during examinations
  • Transferring reading strategies taught during intervention across different subject areas

While this may appear straightforward, transfer is actually one of the most difficult aspects of learning (Willingham, 2009).

Children with dyslexia often require more opportunities to practise skills across different settings before they become automatic (Reid, 2016). As a result, it is not unusual for a child to demonstrate a skill during intervention before consistently applying it elsewhere.

Parents sometimes interpret this inconsistency as a sign that their child has not learned the skill. In reality, it may simply mean that the child is still developing the ability to transfer and generalise their learning.

Classroom Examples:
(1) A student may learn the “silent e” rule during intervention and correctly read words like “make” and “hope.” However, during a science lesson, they may misread “tube” as “tub” or “site” as “sit,” because the content-area text is less familiar and the focus is on understanding scientific concepts rather than applying phonics rules.

(2) A student may use a graphic organiser successfully in English to plan a story. In Social Studies, they may forget to use the same strategy when planning an explanatory paragraph, even though the skill is similar. Transfer across subjects often takes additional explicit teaching and practice.

Cognitive Load and Performance

Cognitive Load Theory suggests that individuals have a limited capacity for processing information at any given time (Sweller, 1988). Tasks that seem simple to fluent readers may require substantial mental effort for students with dyslexia.

For instance, a child may devote significant cognitive resources to decoding, leaving fewer resources available for comprehension or written expression. As a result, performance may appear stronger during supported intervention sessions than in independent classroom or examination settings.

Parents sometimes lament: “He knows it during therapy, but everything falls apart during the test.”

In many cases, this is not a reflection of ability. Rather, it reflects the additional cognitive demands placed on the child.

Classroom Examples:
(1) During a spelling test, a student may spell words correctly when practicing with an Educational Therapist using multisensory techniques. Under timed test conditions in class, the same student may make errors. The cognitive load increases due to time pressure, background noise, and the need to recall spelling patterns without support. 

(2) A busy classroom with multiple conversations, chairs scraping, and announcements over the PA system can increase cognitive load. A student who concentrates well in a quiet intervention room may find it harder to filter out distractions in a mainstream class, affecting their ability to focus on the task.

Multiple Skill Demands in School Tasks

School tasks rarely involve just one skill. For example, a reading comprehension task may require a student to:

  • Decode unfamiliar words
  • Read with sufficient fluency
  • Understand vocabulary in context
  • Retain information in working memory
  • Identify key details
  • Make inferences
  • Interpret questions accurately
  • Organize their thoughts
  • Write coherent, correctly spelled responses

A child may make progress in one area while still facing challenges in others. For instance, improved decoding may not immediately lead to stronger comprehension if most of the child’s mental effort is still devoted to reading the words.

From a parent’s perspective, progress may appear limited. In reality, development may be occurring gradually across different skill domains.

Classroom Examples:
(1) In a Social Studies lesson, students read a passage about early settlements and answer inferential questions. A learner with dyslexia may decode the text accurately but struggle to answer questions requiring inference because their working memory is overloaded by the effort of reading. The same student may perform better during intervention, where decoding support is provided and cognitive load is reduced.

(2) During an untimed intervention activity, a student may carefully check their work and correct small errors. In a timed class quiz, the same student may rush, skip steps, or make careless mistakes, not because they do not know the content, but because time pressure increases.

The Role of Working Memory

Working memory, the ability to hold and manipulate information during a task, plays a critical role in learning (Gathercole & Alloway, 2008).

For example, when reading a passage, a child must remember what they have already read while processing new sentences. Many learners with dyslexia experience working memory difficulties, which can affect their ability to demonstrate understanding independently.

Consider a task that requires a child to:

  1. Read a passage
  2. Retain key information
  3. Process unfamiliar vocabulary
  4. Answer inferential questions
  5. Produce written responses with accurate spelling and punctuation

Even when the child understands the material, working memory limitations can hinder performance. This often explains why a child may respond accurately during discussion but struggle with independent written tasks.

Classroom Examples:
(1) During a Mathematics word-problem lesson, a student may understand multiplication when it is explained visually. However, when presented with a multi-step word problem, they may lose track of the steps or forget key numbers while reading. This is not due to a lack of mathematical understanding, but rather the result of working memory overload.

(2) A teacher may give a three-part instruction: “Take out your book, turn to page 32, and complete questions 1 to 5.” A student with weak working memory may remember the first part but forget the rest by the time they open their bag. In intervention, instructions are often broken into smaller steps and repeated, reducing this load.

The Development of Automaticity

Another key factor is automaticity. Skills such as reading and spelling require repeated practice before they become automatic.

Parents often notice that their child can perform a skill during intervention but still requires reminders. This is because the skill has not yet become automatic.

In the early stages, tasks demand conscious effort similar to learning to drive, where each action requires deliberate attention and conscious effort:

  • Checking mirrors.
  • Monitoring speed.
  • Steering.
  • Watching traffic.

However, with practice, these actions become automatic.

Reading and spelling develop in much the same way. Over time, with sufficient practice, these processes become more efficient and less cognitively demanding.

Learners with dyslexia often require more repetition to achieve automaticity (Snowling & Hulme, 2012). Until then, they may rely on prompts and structured support. This is a normal part of the learning process and does not indicate ineffective intervention.

Classroom Examples:
(1) A student may read a practiced passage fluently during intervention but struggle with a new passage in class. This is because the skills have not yet become automatic. With repeated exposure and practice across different texts, fluency will gradually improve.

 (2) A child may correctly spell high-frequency words like “because” and “they” during structured practice. In free writing, however, they may still misspell these words because automatic retrieval has not yet developed. Continued, varied practice helps move these skills from “known” to “automatic.”

The Impact of Anxiety

Emotional factors, particularly anxiety, can also significantly affect a child’s academic performance. Unlike the often high-pressure atmosphere of a mainstream classroom, intervention settings are intentionally structured to provide a supportive, low-pressure environment characterised by individualized instruction. Within this dedicated space, children are given the opportunity to make mistakes safely while receiving the immediate, constructive feedback they need to build confidence and skills without the fear of failure.

In contrast, school assessments may involve time constraints, performance expectations, reduced support, and the fear of making mistakes or failing in front of peers. Research indicates that anxiety can negatively impact working memory and academic performance (Owens et al., 2012). Indeed, when exploring the firsthand perspectives of students with dyslexia, research shows that these emotional and environmental pressures heavily influence how they experience and showcase their learning in the classroom (Ashraff, 2025). As a result, a child may understand more than they are able to demonstrate under test conditions. This can be particularly true for learners who have experienced repeated academic difficulties and have become worried about making mistakes.

Classroom Examples:
(1) A student may confidently answer comprehension questions during a small-group intervention but remain silent during whole-class discussions. The fear of being called on or making mistakes in front of peers can inhibit their willingness to participate, despite knowing the answers.

 (2) A learner may perform well on practice questions at home or in intervention, but “freeze” during formal tests. Worry about grades, time limits, or teacher expectations can occupy mental space that would otherwise be used for thinking and recalling information.

What Can Parents Do To Support Their Child

While transfer of learning takes time, parents can support this process in several ways:

  1. Focus on consistency over perfection
    Look for gradual improvement over weeks and months rather than expecting immediate mastery. Small gains in accuracy, confidence, and independence are meaningful.
  2. Encourage practice across different contexts
    Provide opportunities to apply skills in varied settings: reading different text types (stories, news articles, instructions), practising spelling while writing in daily activities (messages, lists, emails), and using math skills in real-life situations (shopping, cooking, travel).
  3. Celebrate Small ImprovementsRecognise improvements not only in grades, but also achievements such as:
  • Effort
  • Persistence
  • Willingness to try challenging tasks
  • Self-advocacy (e.g., asking for help, using strategies independently)
  • Improved reading accuracy
  • Greater reading confidence
  • Increased independence
  • Reduced avoidance behaviours

    4. Maintain communication with educators
    Teachers and Educational Therapists can share insights into progress that may not yet be visible in formal assessments. Regular updates help align support at home, in intervention, and at school.

    5. Be patient with the learning process
    Transfer of learning is often gradual. What appears inconsistent today may become more reliable with continued practice and support.

    6. Help reduce unnecessary cognitive load at home
    Break homework into smaller steps, provide quiet workspaces, allow short breaks, and use visual aids (checklists, timers, graphic organizers) to support planning and memory.

    7. Talk openly about anxiety and stress
    Normalise feelings of worry and help your child develop simple coping strategies, such as deep breathing, positive self-talk, or planning ahead for tests. Let them know that struggling does not mean they are not capable.

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