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SOI TREATMENT AND LEARNING IMPAIRMENT |
Having discussed the theory of Structure of the Intellect (SOI) testing in the last issue of The Pointer, it might be enlightening to take a brief look at how SOI testing and treatment have been providing startling results for children and adults in the real world of learning. Although this amazing program can be used to enhance skills already developed, its major contribution to the world of educational therapy is for people who have evidenced some major learning difficulties and who have needed to have some learning opportunities opened to them that had seemed forever closed. It is one thing to discover weakness or deficiency in a student's learning profile but quite another to do something observable about it or even to offer hope for change. But change is indeed what is happening in the learning patterns of some children and adults who had come to feel hopeless.
The SOI theory is based upon years of study and testing in which researchers were able to identify twenty-seven abilities that are essential for learning as well as for high performance in careers and in general intellectual functioning. Since intellectual abilities develop through neural networking in the brain, the stronger the connection from one neuron to another, the greater the communication between them will become and the more intellectual development will be facilitated.
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In fact, when these neural connections in the brain are weak or underdeveloped, we experience learning disabilities, an ability that has simply not yet been developed. Furthermore, we cannot afford to overlook the importance of vision in our analysis of learning deficiencies. First, we must recognize that vision is not the same as sight. For example, we may be able to read eye charts successfully in testing for a driver's license (sight), but have low reading skills because the brain is not interpreting visual messages adequately (vision). In this sense, vision affects much of what we attempt in learning, and if certain brain connections are not strong, learning ability in several areas will be diminished.
In a study conducted among welfare recipients enrolled in a JOBS Program in Portland, Oregon reported in 1994, on an average, serious disabilities were shown in eight different areas that would adversely affect both academic performance and general intellectual functioning. What we cannot afford to miss in this study is that vision was also deficient and clearly had a strong role in undermining the other eight mental functions. Learning functions depend upon adequate vision. The good news is that brain stimulating SOI modules are available and can be used to reduce the intensity of such disabilities and to transform them into abilities. After only 20 hours of SOI instruction in the JOBS Program, every area of deficiency was dramatically improved. On a scale of 100, the average improvement in scores overall was over 31 points, ranging from an improvement high of 54 points to an improvement low of 19 points. Life for these participants was makedly improved, with an increasing prognosis for success in vocation as well as in life. But if needed a more focused and intense therapy was also available to be used in conjunction with SOI training. |
It is important to note that neither children nor adults will outgrow learning deficiencies simply by adding time. Specific brain areas must be properly stimulated to improve connections. Furthermore, nearly everyone has treatable deficiencies; the trick is to know what abilities are underdeveloped. This, of course, is the genius of SOI. For example, there are thirteen reading related abilites, seven arithmetic abilities, and six math abilities. When a child is having difficulties, SOI can pinpoint which brain connections are weak and provide a program to strengthen them.
Difficulty could exist also in such mental functions as comprehension, memory, evaluation, convergent problem solving (i.e. solving problems where possible answers are known), or divergent problem solving (i.e. solving problems creatively). SOI modules can be recommended with considerable accuracy to strengthen any of these specific abilities. Students whose semantic learning abilities are low and undeveloped will have a difficult time in school situations since classroom learning depends in large measure upon word meanings and word usage. So having strong semantic abilities is very important to success in this setting.
There is clear evidence that SOI treatment programs are more effective in improving several abilities at one time than the usual curriculum training in a class setting. In a study of five different abilities in a "Literacy Indepencence for Kids" program in Lubbock, Texas, participants who had undergone only six months of SOI training, averaged 11 percentage points higher than the control group which received only the usual curriculum instruction. The study strongly indicates that treatment programs based on SOI testing will enhance multiple abilities and produce a significant change in participant's learning success. |
Evidence suggests that scores in standardized tests can also be improved through SOI training. An SOI study at an elementary school in Anacortes, Washington demonstrated that with the help of an SOI treatment program, Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores can be improved and that the improvements can be held. The first year after implementing the SOI program on a school-wide basis as a part of daily curriculum, the overall SAT arithmetic score went from the 50th to the 85th percentile and was maintained at that level for six years. An almost identical pattern of improvement occurred in an Orcutt, California study as well. Results of both studies showed a stark contrast with recent SAT trends nationwide which have remained relatively stable.
Other studies have been and are being conducted with equally impressive results, showing beyond doubt that SOI treatment is effective in treating children with low and underdeveloped learning abilities whether they are in regular clasroom instruction or are preparing for a special test. These and other similar training programs are available to families through Family Learning Services. |
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