Targeted Support: What Works for Learners with Additional Needs

Hattie's Visible Learning Effect Size Series – #13 Interventions for Students with Learning Difficulties – Effect Size 0.77

To note: John Hattie’s Visible Learning research brings together over 1,500 meta-analyses, covering more than 90,000 studies and millions of students. Its aim is to identify what works best in education by measuring impact using 'effect size'. In this context, an effect size of 0.4 is considered average progress over a year. Anything above 0.6 is seen as highly impactful. This blog is part of a 20-post series exploring the top-ranked influences in Hattie’s Visible Learning research, with a focus on practical strategies teachers can use to make a meaningful difference.

When we talk about progress for all students, it is often those with additional needs who are at greatest risk of being left behind. The good news is that the research is clear: targeted, structured support can make a significant difference, especially when it is timely, precise, and connected to classroom learning.

Hattie identifies Interventions for Students with Learning Difficulties as a high-impact strategy, with an effect size of 0.77. But as with all approaches, it’s not the label that matters, it’s the design. What works is not simply more time or extra worksheets. What works is targeted instruction, skilled delivery, and a strong connection to what’s happening in class.

What Do We Mean by Targeted Support?

Targeted support refers to structured, evidence-informed interventions designed to meet the needs of students with specific learning difficulties. This might include difficulties with literacy, numeracy, memory, processing, or attention.

Effective interventions are:

• Explicit and scaffolded

• Regular and consistent, with time protected

• Data-informed, using pre- and post-assessment

• Closely connected to classroom teaching

• Delivered by trained adults, with monitoring and feedback

Importantly, they are never used as a substitute for quality first teaching. They are a complement, a lever to close gaps and build independence.

Why It Matters

For students with additional needs, classroom adaptations alone are sometimes not enough. Without targeted support, small misconceptions compound, confidence fades, and long-term disengagement can set in.

Targeted support helps to:

• Break down complex skills into manageable steps

• Provide overlearning opportunities for retention

• Reduce cognitive load through repetition and clarity

• Build confidence and motivation

• Foster trust in adults and in the learning process

Practical Strategies for Effective Targeted Support

1. Be Specific and Diagnostic - Before starting any intervention, clarify the barrier. Is it decoding? Comprehension? Number sense? Working memory? A focused diagnosis avoids scattergun support and ensures the right strategy is applied from the start.

2. Keep it Tightly Linked to Core Learning - Make sure intervention content aligns with classroom learning. When students see the connection, they are more likely to transfer skills. For example, a student receiving number sense support should see similar models and representations used in their maths lesson.

3. Use Structured, Cumulative Programmes - Select interventions with strong internal structure and built-in review. Examples might include evidence-based programmes such as Precision Teaching for fluency, Read Write Inc. Fresh Start for literacy gaps, or Number Sense interventions for early numeracy confidence. The common thread is deliberate design: clear instruction, frequent practice, and progression toward independence.

4. Train and Support Staff Delivering the Sessions - Whether led by a teacher or TA, high-quality delivery matters. Build in time for training, modelling, and feedback , not just materials. Ideally, support staff are given access to classroom plans and contribute to feedback loops.

5. Monitor, Review, and Plan for Exit - Use short pre- and post-assessments to measure impact. But also ask: Is the student more confident? Are they applying what they’ve learned back in class? Every intervention should have a clear exit strategy and re-entry plan, the goal is always to reduce the need for support over time.

Quick Wins for This Week

• Review one current intervention. Is it clearly connected to what the student is learning in class?

• Observe a support session and note whether modelling, guided practice, and review are present

• Check that adults delivering support have access to classroom plans and are part of ongoing conversations

• Ask students in intervention: “What are you getting better at?” Their answer can be illuminating

Try This

Choose one student currently receiving intervention support. Ask: “What specific skill or concept are we trying to improve, and how do we know?” Then plan one way to help that student apply the skill in their next mainstream lesson.

Challenges and Considerations

There is a danger in over-relying on interventions, especially if they become a permanent parallel curriculum. If the support is not time-limited, well-planned, and clearly linked to classroom teaching, it risks becoming a holding space, not a launchpad.

We must also guard against low expectations. Targeted support should never mean less challenge. It means more support in meeting that challenge.

For leaders, the key is quality over quantity. Fewer interventions done well, with clarity, consistency, and care, will always outperform a long menu of fragmented offers.

Reflections

For teachers:

• How do you connect what happens in support sessions with what happens in your classroom?

• Do you know what the students you share with TAs are working on?

• Are you giving them opportunities to practise those skills in class?

For leaders:

• Are your interventions designed to accelerate progress or just provide supervision?

• Are they reviewed for impact, consistency, and staff expertise?

• Is there a clear process for exit and reintegration?

Further Reading and Resources

• EEF – Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Schools -https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/guidance-reports/send

• NASEN – The SEND Gateway - https://www.sendgateway.org.uk

Research Connections

• Hattie, J. (2009) – Visible Learning
  Highlights interventions for students with learning difficulties as a high-impact strategy when clearly targeted and aligned to classroom instruction.

• Swanson, H. L. & Sachse-Lee, C. (2000) – A meta-analysis of intervention research for students with learning disabilities
  Found that interventions with direct instruction, strategy instruction, and small-group settings were the most effective.

• Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) – Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Schools
  Offers practical recommendations on diagnosis, inclusion, scaffolding, and improving outcomes for students with additional needs.

Visible Learning Blog Series

1. Stronger Together: How Collective Teacher Efficacy Unlocks Student Potential (1.57)

2. Students Knowing Themselves: How Self-Reported Grades Support Progress (1.33)

3. Judging Potential: The Power of Teacher Estimates of Achievement (1.29)

4. Supporting Every Learner: How Response to Intervention Changes Trajectories (1.29)

5. Teaching for Thinking: Why Piagetian Programs Make a Difference (1.28)

6. From Misconception to Mastery: How Conceptual Change Programs Support Deep Learning (0.99)

7. Knowing Where to Start: Why Understanding Prior Knowledge Enables Effective Teaching (0.94)

8. Making It Stick: Why Connecting New Learning to What Students Already Know Matters (0.93)

9. Belief Before Progress: Why Self-Efficacy Is a Game-Changer for Learning (0.92)

10. The Trust to Teach: Why Teacher Credibility Drives Student Engagement (0.90)

11. Micro-Teaching: How Short Reflections Make a Big Difference (0.88)

12. Classroom Discussion: Dialogue as a Driver of Thinking (0.82)

13. Targeted Support: What Works for Learners with Additional Needs (0.77) — You are here

14. Relationships That Matter: How Teacher-Student Connection Fuels Learning

15. Revisiting and Remembering: Why Spaced Practice Outperforms Cramming

16. Learning to Learn: Embedding Meta-Cognitive Strategies Across the Curriculum

17. Stretching Forward: What Acceleration Means in Practice

18. Calm and Clear: How Classroom Management Enables Progress

19. Word Power: Why Vocabulary Programs Widen Access

20. Read It Again: How Repeated Reading Builds Fluency and Confidence

Next up: Relationships That Matter, exploring how trust, empathy, and connection between teachers and students create the conditions for academic risk-taking and long-term success.