Lag vs. Skill Deficit

I will be a teacher soon and my main goal as a teacher is to give all of my students the necessary opportunities to succeed. While reading the American Federation of Teachers’ “Waiting Rarely Works: Late Bloomers Usually Wild” (WRW), I realized that of the two theories for reading difficulties explained in this article there is only one that I believe to be true. Not every student will be able to use the same opportunities because they will be too hard at the time for some students. I will have to adapt at times. Adapting is not apart of the “developmental lag” theory. According to this theory, teachers will continue to use the same curriculum for all students because even though there will be students who fall behind, they will eventually catch up to the “normal” reading level when their brain matures. I like to call it the “wait and see theory”. As this article explains, this theory only holds true for a very small minority of students. I also choose to go against this theory because “waiting and seeing” goes against my philosophy. I want to give my students who need extra help the necessities when they have trouble because this is the only way that they will have a chance to pick up reading skills. Intensively giving extra help to students who have trouble learning the “typical” reading skills falls under the “skill deficit” theory.