1.0 Reading

Reading is not merely a subject area, it is the rite of passage into the rest of the curriculum. We can prepare the preschooler and kindergartner for the reading instruction they will encounter in the first grade. For the second or third grader who has not learned to read well, we can provide an effective bridge back to the appropriate reading instruction. We can also provide effective recovery for the student who has received years of remedial reading and is still functionally illiterate.

The key to preparation, remediation, and recovery in reading is diagnosis:

• What is the first grade teacher expecting from the students? We will prepare the students to meet those expectations.
• Why has the second- or third-grade student not connected with the reading instruction? We will find the reason and remedy the problem.
• Why have years of standard remedial reading not been effective for the older student? We will look for the impediments and correct them.

2.0 SOI Tests to Diagnose Reading Problems

Finding the cause of reading failure is the first step in finding a cure.

All SOI tests are based on Guilford's Structure of Intellect which identified 90 different intellectual abilities. Each SOI assessment tests a selected subset of the 90 abilities identified in the Structure of Intellect model. The subsets differ according to purpose of the assessment and the developmental level of the test taker.

2.1 How to use SOI tests for selecting students for gifted programs.
Reading problems occur for a variety of reasons.

• First, there are students who have not acquired the necessary skills for reading-whether phonics, word recognition, etc. Classroom teaching, remedial education, and specialized tutoring usually address the lack of reading skills. If the student has had adequate reading instruction and is still not reading, we need to look elsewhere.
• A second cause of reading failure is lack of one or more of the prerequisite abilities for learning to read. (Learning abilities are not the same as reading skills.) Learning abilities for reading are more fundamental than reading skills. Learning abilities are assessed by the SOI tests. If the tests reveal undeveloped or weak abilities necessary for reading, the remedy is to develop those abilities and then return to reading instruction. SOI Training Modules teach the learning abilities required for reading.
• A third cause of reading failure is the general approach to reading instruction. Many students need a different approach to reading because they are not strong in semantic (verbal) or symbolic (notational, phonic) processing. SOI tests will reveal whether students instead have a predilection for a more concrete approach. If they do, SOI has a different approach to reading called LOCAN, especially suited to these learners.
• A fourth cause of reading failure is centered around perceptual and sensory-motor skills. Many students who cannot read proficiently have visual skills problems in processing the written word. SOI tests offer some screening for these problems, and SOI-IPP Therapy Centers offer treatment to remedy these problems.

There are other causes of reading failure, but the four above cover the vast majority (up to 95%), and, in any case, the above causes should be ruled out before other causes are considered.

3.0 LOCAN

LOCAN is an entirely different way of teaching reading. Yet half the people in the world learn to read by the method that LOCAN uses.

There are many reading methods available to the American schools and the American public. Yet many students do not learn to read effectively. There are many reasons for reading failure, and one of the most prominent is inability to reach the concrete learner.

The spatial-concrete learner is baffled by phonics because phonics requires students to process abstract symbols in order to produce familiar combinations of sounds. Concrete learners do not process symbols well, consequently they often fail to benefit from early reading instruction. If they are not reading well by the third grade, they will probably never read well, because the remedial reading that they receive will simply be more of the same.

Who are spatial-concrete learners? Almost all children below the age of six, and many older children as well as many adults. (Boys are particularly vulnerable.) Spatial-concrete learners prefer to receive information in figural or schematic form. So, many non-readers can, nonetheless, read almost any sign or logo in sight. For these students we have translated a sizable portion of English into a figural language.

Children learn this figurally-translated language (LOCAN) very quickly. Then they develop the confidence to make the transition to an alphabetic phonic representation of language. And this is how half of the world learns to read—all Chinese and Japanese children first learn to read in a figural language. But the LOCAN student has an advantage. The LOCAN figural language is much more representational than the Chinese or Japanese, so it is easier to learn.

Most third graders who have not learned to read by conventional methods, learn to read LOCAN in a matter of weeks, and they then make the transition to alphabetic language very quickly.

LOCAN is for all grade levels - even for adults. LOCAN is available in printed form with computer supplements.
3.1 Download: Locan.pdf

3.2 SOI Test of Learning Abilities, Form CR
Six LOCAN computer modules are now available. They come on a CD-ROM and can be run on either PC or Mac. ($99.95)The catalog number is M076.

• CFU-P. This module teaches figural recognition. The CFU-P software takes advantage of computer dynamic presentation to teach left-to-right processing as part of the training. This is a first step for young children as well as for students with vision problems.
• Figural Bingo. This module teaches figural recognition in a more complex mode—the student must search the entire Bingo card to make a match.
• CMU-LOCAN. This module teaches LOCAN vocabulary. This is a core skill in learning LOCAN—associating a glyph with its meaning. This self-directed flip-card exercise builds vocabulary skills through repetition. Verification of the correct concept is made when the program exposes the alphabetic word and its pronunciation.
• Semantic Bingo. This module teaches semantic recognition—like the skill developed in CMU—but in a more complex mode. The students must search the entire Bingo card to find the correct glyph for the target concept. The target concepts are presented in both alphabetic form and spoken form.
• LOCAN CMC. This module is the most challenging of the five in this group. The student must use the concept from CMU to find conceptual similarities and differences. The module provides two types of help—hints and answers. If students do not see a difference among the concepts, they can use the "hint" button to have the difference voiced for them. If they need more help, they can use the "answer" button. And, the combination of the two help modes gives them both the answer and the basis for the answer.
• LOCAN Reader. Students use all of the previously learned concepts and content to practice reading. Optionally, students can read LOCAN Sentences or English Sentences -- each reinforces the other. The LOCAN figures will apear in a sentence and the English words that coincide will appear underneath. The student will be reading sentences.

4.0 SOI Preparation for Reading

The debate over which is the best method for teaching reading should never be enjoined. The proper focus is on the student. The best reading program is one that prepares each student for reading instruction.

The best reading system is one that prepares each student for reading instruction--only then will all reading methods approach near universal success.

Two facts are clear:

• No one reading program is clearly better than all the others-if that were so schools would uniformly adopt a single reading program, but schools throughout the nation adopt a myriad of reading programs.
• The combined effort of all reading programs is less than universally successful-estimates vary, but somewhere between 15% and 20% of all high school graduates are functionally illiterate. (An important corollary of this statistic is that the vast majority of the 15-20% end up on public assistance or in corrections-they become a very expensive segment of society.)

The answer is not to look for the reading program; the answer is to prepare students for any reading instruction. How do we do that?

4.1 Kindergarten
Give all students the basic learning abilities that will be required of them with first grade reading instruction.

• Test for these abilities early in the kindergarten year (SOI Tests in Reading)
• Develop these abilities in any child who does not have them (SOI Training Modules/ReadingPrep I )

Give all students a concrete reading experience (LOCAN) so they will understand the rudiments of processing written language (i.e., reading):

• left-to-right processing
• basic sentence syntax
• elementary vocabulary
• perceptual skills required by reading

4.2 First Grade
Be prepared to diagnose reading failure in the first half of the first grade. Failures in reading need to be detected as early as possible and remedied. Most schools, because of funding structure, wait until a student has failed reading two years before they seek special help. Those are two years wasted and two years of ego erosion.

The SOI/IPP Therapy Centers are equipped to diagnose and treat reading failure. The problem, almost universally, is that the student is not prepared for the instruction. The SOI/IPP Center assesses the student, and then, as indicated by the assessment, treats the cognitive, perceptual, and sensory-motor impediments to learning. The success rates of these centers is over 90%. Beyond the First Grade.

• Use LOCAN to convince the students that they can read-even if they have failed reading instruction for multiple years, they will be reading LOCAN within weeks.
• Use SOI/IPP to provide the cognitive, perceptual, and sensory-motor requirements for standard reading programs.

This program frees the teacher to teach reading. This program prepares the student to benefit fully from that instruction.
4.3 Download: SOI Reading Program.pdf

5.0 SOI Remediation

The key to remedy of learning failure is to know why the failure is occurring and to have a systematic treatment for eliminating the cause.

There are three steps to remedy learning disabilities:

• Assessment
• Diagnosis
• Treatment

SOI offers all three.

• SOI tests provide the assessment of learning abilities.
• SOI analysis programs provide diagnosis of the problem.
• SOI Training Modules provide a means of treating the problem.

Unlike most programs of remediation, SOI/IPP offers wide ranging assessment that includes cognitive abilities, perceptual skills, and sensory-motor integration.

Unlike most programs of remediation, SOI/IPP offers specific diagnosis that lead to specific treatment.

Unlike most programs of remediation, SOI/IPP has a program of treatment that is not open-ended. The SOI/IPP program of treatment either remedies the problem or significantly narrows the diagnosis for more specialized treatment. With SOI/IPP in place fully 95% of normally developing students do not need outside professional diagnostic treatment. In school and clinical contexts, the treatment plans are rarely more than six months in duration. In school and clinical settings, the SOI/IPP program has success rates above 90%.
5.1 Download: IPP.pdf

6.0 Reading Comprehension By Robert Meeker

There is a serious, pervasive, and well-documented problem in American education: the majority of students who finish public education cannot comprehend what they read.

We will examine the dimensions of the problem, analyze the causes, and suggest the best means of solution.

The Dimensions of the Problem. In both national (NAEP) and statewide assessments there is a consistent finding: For the populations as a whole, reading proficiency begins to drop in the fourth grade and continues throughout the years in elementary, middle, and secondary schooling. This trend is noted in almost every summary of national and statewide reading tests.

An important corollary to these results is the consistent finding that this drop in reading proficiency at the fourth grade and beyond is experienced most by the economic poor and socially disadvantaged. In other words, in Kindergarten through the third grade, the economically and socially disadvantaged are nearly on a level with the rest of the population, but from the fourth grade onward they are significantly less proficient in reading. This corollary finding provides important clues, as we shall see, to understanding the problem in general....
6.1 Download: Reading Comprehension.pdf