Understanding Learning Difficulties: Strategies for Struggling Students

Not every student who struggles academically is unintelligent, lazy, or unmotivated. Many are working harder than anyone realizes – but hitting invisible walls that the traditional classroom was never designed to accommodate. These students are often called academically challenged learners, and understanding who they are, what they face, and how educators can genuinely help them is one of the most important responsibilities in teaching today.

Who are academically challenged learners? 🔗

Academically challenged learners are students who experience significant difficulty keeping pace with expected academic performance – not because of low intelligence, but because of specific learning barriers. They generally fall into three broad groups: slow learners, underachievers, and students with learning disabilities (LD).

Slow learners 🔗

Slow learners are students who typically learn at a pace below their peers, often with IQ scores in the range of 70 to 85 – a range sometimes referred to as borderline intellectual functioning (BIF). They are not intellectually disabled, but they don’t qualify for special education either. As research published in the Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry notes, these students frequently fall into a gap between mainstream and special education, struggling with traditional academic demands while receiving little tailored support. They usually can reach grade-level expectations over time, but need more repetition, more time, and more personalized attention to get there.

Underachievers 🔗

Underachievers are students whose academic performance falls well below what their measured ability would predict. The gap is not caused by a neurological difference – it often stems from motivational issues, emotional difficulties, family circumstances, or a persistent mismatch between the student’s learning style and how content is being delivered. These students are frequently overlooked precisely because they appear capable, and the assumption is that they simply aren’t trying hard enough.

Students with learning disabilities 🔗

Students with learning disabilities (LD) have neurological differences that affect how they process information. The American Psychiatric Association classifies these under Specific Learning Disorder (SLD), with specifiers for reading (dyslexia), math (dyscalculia), and written expression (dysgraphia). A student with dyslexia, for instance, may have average or above-average intelligence yet struggle significantly to decode written words. Crucially, learning disorders do not define a person’s career prospects or ceiling for success – people with dyslexia, for example, often demonstrate exceptional creative thinking. Early identification and appropriate support make a decisive difference in outcomes.

Characteristics and challenges these learners face 🔗

While each group has its own profile, academically challenged learners across categories share several overlapping challenges that make classroom learning especially demanding.

Difficulty with comprehension and retention 🔗

One of the most consistent difficulties is with comprehension – not just failing to understand a concept on first exposure, but struggling to hold and build on it. Cal Poly’s Disability Resource Center identifies several telling patterns in students with learning disabilities: uneven comprehension of material read, difficulty identifying key themes, trouble following multi-step oral or written directions, and the daily inability to recall what was taught the previous session. For slow learners and underachievers, retention is equally problematic – gaps accumulate quickly when foundational knowledge doesn’t stick, making each new topic harder to access.

Challenges with focus and task management 🔗

Many academically challenged learners also struggle to sustain attention. This includes a fluctuating attention span during lectures, being easily distracted, difficulty managing multiple simultaneous demands, and frequently taking much longer to start and complete tasks. These are not behavioral choices – they reflect genuine differences in how these students process and organize information.

Social adjustment and emotional well-being 🔗

The difficulties don’t stop at academics. Students with borderline intellectual functioning often find it challenging to read social cues and respond appropriately in social situations, putting them at higher risk of bullying and social isolation. Similarly, students with learning disabilities may be unable to detect sarcasm, misread tonal shifts in conversation, or struggle to follow the flow of group discussions. The resulting sense of exclusion compounds their academic difficulties – a student who feels socially rejected is less likely to engage, take risks, or ask for help in class. Repeated academic setbacks also tend to erode self-esteem significantly over time, creating a negative cycle that affects both learning and emotional health.

Effective teaching methods for academically challenged learners 🔗

The good news is that research consistently points to a set of practical, evidence-backed strategies that can substantially improve outcomes for these students. What works isn’t magic – it’s structured, patient, and deliberate teaching.

Breaking lessons into smaller units 🔗

Large assignments and long lessons are among the most common triggers for shutdown in struggling students. Education specialists recommend breaking larger tasks into clearly defined, smaller steps – each with its own short-term goal. Instead of presenting an entire essay assignment at once, for example, a teacher might guide students through brainstorming, then outlining, then drafting a single paragraph. Checklists and visual progress trackers help students see what they’ve completed and what remains, giving them a concrete sense of forward movement. This approach reduces anxiety and keeps students moving rather than freezing at the scale of the task.

Individualized curriculum and differentiated instruction 🔗

The Learning Disabilities Association of America is clear that success for students with LD requires a focus on individual achievement, individual progress, and individual learning – not just group outcomes. This calls for what educators refer to as differentiated instruction: tailoring the content, delivery method, and assessment to meet each student where they are. Research on differentiated pedagogy confirms that when both curriculum and assessment are adapted to diverse abilities, students are far more likely to develop genuine engagement with their learning and a desire to understand the material deeply, rather than just get through it. Differentiated teaching also includes using multiple modes of instruction – visual aids, hands-on activities, audio input, and interactive discussion – so that students who don’t absorb information through traditional lectures have other pathways in.

Fostering self-confidence and a growth mindset 🔗

Many academically challenged learners arrive in class already carrying a heavy load of academic failure and self-doubt. Rebuilding confidence is not a “soft” add-on to instruction – it is foundational to learning. Research-backed classroom strategies include the “Two by Ten” approach: a teacher takes just two minutes per day for ten days to connect with a struggling student on a personal level – asking about their interests, their weekend, their life outside school. This simple practice builds trust and helps teachers understand how to support each student more effectively. Beyond relationship-building, encouraging a growth mindset – the understanding that intelligence and ability are not fixed – helps students reframe mistakes as part of learning rather than evidence of failure. Setting short-term achievable goals, involving students in self-assessment, and celebrating small wins all reinforce the message that effort matters and progress is possible.

Specific and encouraging feedback is equally important. Rather than only marking errors, educators are advised to name what the student did well and pair that with guidance on what to improve. This approach reinforces a growth orientation while keeping students motivated to try again.

Encouraging peer acceptance and building an inclusive classroom 🔗

Teaching strategies alone are not enough if the social environment in the classroom works against academically challenged learners. Peer dynamics profoundly affect how these students experience school – and teachers have more influence over those dynamics than is often recognized.

Why peer inclusion matters 🔗

Research cited by the NCBI shows that the amount of time a student with a disability spends in the general education classroom is positively correlated with higher test scores in reading and math, less disruptive behavior, and better long-term employment prospects. Separating or isolating these students – even with good intentions – can reinforce the idea that they are fundamentally different, with lasting consequences for their self-image and social development. UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring Report is direct on this point: well-planned inclusive education delivers measurable improvement not just in academic achievement, but in social development, self-esteem, and peer acceptance. Including diverse students in mainstream classrooms actively works against stigma, stereotyping, and alienation.

Building a culture of empathy in the classroom 🔗

Peer acceptance doesn’t happen automatically – it requires deliberate cultivation. Research published in Frontiers in Psychology found that students without special educational needs who engage in interactive learning activities alongside peers with SEN develop greater respect for individual differences, become more patient, and form new friendships they wouldn’t otherwise have made. Inclusive learning benefits the whole class, not just those who struggle. Structuring group projects and collaborative tasks deliberately – so that academically challenged learners can contribute in ways that play to their strengths – is one practical way to build these connections. Assigning peer mentors is another: when a student who understands a concept is paired with one who doesn’t, both students benefit. The mentee gets support, and the mentor deepens their own understanding by explaining it.

Using positive reinforcement consistently 🔗

Positive reinforcement is one of the most reliably effective tools available to teachers working with struggling students. Recognizing small successes – completing a task, improving on a previous score, demonstrating persistence – sends a clear message that the student’s effort is seen and valued. Brookes Publishing’s guidance on resilience-building highlights the value of identifying individual strengths and translating them into classroom responsibilities, giving students a concrete sense of contribution and belonging. When a student who struggles academically is recognized for something they do well, the social and emotional ripple effects extend well beyond that single moment.

It’s also worth noting that how a teacher handles wrong answers publicly matters enormously. Rather than immediately moving to another student for the correct response, pausing to treat the mistake as a teaching moment – reviewing the process together – tells every student in the room that getting it wrong is part of how learning works.

The role of institutional support 🔗

Individual classroom strategies are most effective when they operate within a supportive institutional structure. Research on learning disabilities in higher education shows that with appropriate accommodations – extended time, alternative assessment formats, distraction-free environments – students with LD can perform competitively with their peers and graduate with comparable results. Institutions that establish clear written policies on documentation, accommodations, and appeal processes give students with learning difficulties a fair and transparent path to accessing support. A 2024 review in Frontiers in Psychology identifies the core challenges these students face at the system level: insufficient awareness among educators, limited resources, and absence of clear regulations for providing support. Addressing these structural gaps is as important as any individual teaching technique.

Meanwhile, UNESCO’s framework on inclusive education emphasizes that true inclusion is not simply about physical access to the classroom – it requires transforming the entire education system so that curricula, pedagogy, and assessment are genuinely responsive to diverse learners. The goal is not to lower standards but to widen the pathways through which all students can meet them.

What do you think? If you’ve worked with academically challenged learners, what single shift in your teaching practice made the biggest difference – and do you feel that your institution provides enough structural support to make inclusive teaching genuinely sustainable?

References

1. https://www.edubloxtutor.com/slow-learner/
2. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11220478/
3. https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/specific-learning-disorder/what-is-specific-learning-disorder
4. https://drc.calpoly.edu/content/eligibility/collegeStudentsWithLD
5. https://www.stemlytutoring.com/blog/top-strategies-learning-disabilities-support
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7. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11786651/
8. https://www.teachhub.com/teaching-strategies/2025/06/teaching-strategies-that-help-struggling-students-thrive/
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10. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK554622/
11. https://gem-report-2020.unesco.org/thematic/
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14. https://www.asha.org/policy/rp2000-00126/
15. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1356615/full
16. https://www.unesco.org/en/inclusion-education/need-know