Learners who experience reading problems and difficulties in reading skills development can benefit significantly from remedial counselling in reading. Reading Problems include poor word recognition and decoding skills, as well as poor reading comprehension. Reading fluency and reading for meaning are directly affected by this flaw.

Poor fluency results in a loss of motivation and may cause a learner to evade reading task and activities, which in turn worsens the problem. In order to address these problems, the learner's reading proficiency level is assessed and the specific problem area is identified. The learner then received the appropriate remedial counselling.

With regards to writing difficulties, remedial counselling focuses on the physical construction of numbers and letters as well as sentence construction, grammar, spelling and organisation. Writing skills are developed and Remedial counselling in spelling pertains to the development of basic phonetic principles an aims to rectify deficiencies in the domains of the brain with regards to spelling structures. The aim is to improve writing skills. Reading skills are definitive of a learner's scholastic performance. Spelling skills are addressed in remedial counselling and range from Grade R to 12 regardless of proficiency. Spelling skills development include phonetic pronunciation and the development of spelling skills.

Learners who struggle with numeracy and arithmetic skills receive remedial counselling focused on the enhancement of these areas. Numeracy in early childhood can determine the numeracy skills later in life and should be addressed as soon as possible. A numeracy test is conducted as well as a literacy and numeracy test and numeracy skills test. This should not be confused with math lessons, as these focus on the foundations of numeracy and arithmetic, not the application of the subject.