This study investigated pedagogical interventions for adolescents with learning difficulties (LDs) in France, a topic addressed in the Anglosphere but still largely underexplored.

In a cohort of 188 sixth- and seventh-graders, selected tests from the BMT-i battery identified middle-schoolers as having learning deficits based on norm-referenced scores below the 20th percentile in written language or mathematics assessment. After screening, 117 students with learning difficulties (LDs) in written language, mathematics, or a combination of the two were selected. After written agreement from parents, experimental students (n=76) were assigned to 35-session written French (Fr) or math (Ma) teacher-led interventions under researcher supervision. Control students (n=25) participated in none. Intervention effects were measured by comparing differences in initial (T0), immediate postintervention (T2), and delayed postintervention (T3) test scores for different subgroups.

By T2, in the experimental group, deficits had fully receded for reading fluency and comprehension, numeration, and mental arithmetic, and had diminished for spelling and problem-solving; in the control group, deficits remained prominent overall. Effects persisted until T3. Improvements in reading comprehension were greater among Fr intervention participants than among controls (P<0.001). Ma intervention participants made greater progress in problem-solving, numeration, and subtraction (P<0.0001 to P<0.05).

While larger controlled trials are warranted to corroborate them, these findings underscore the value of pedagogical interventions for remedying middle-school LDs.