Now that the school year is well underway, this is often the time when parents and teachers start to notice when students aren’t performing as well as they could be. Learning has become challenging. But why?
There are 5 steps for successful learning:
- receive
- process
- assimilate
- store
- use
One of the biggest assumptions we make about students is that they are both physically and mentally prepared to do these things.
Physical Abilities
For just the first step – receiving information – a student needs:
- good vision | eyes that work together and can easily shift from the desk to the whiteboard
- a strong auditory processing system
- a body that can focus and is in control of itself
These abilities are important for the brain-body connection, and if they aren’t in place, will make the subsequent steps in the learning process that much more challenging.
Vision is one of the most common causes of learning difficulties. But it often goes undetected, especially if the student has good eyesight. Unfortunately, just because a student can see clearly, it doesn’t mean that the eyes are working well with each other.
Cognitive Abilities
Let’s not forget the cognitive side of the learning process! Students need a solid foundation of these abilities, too: comprehension, memory, problem solving, evaluation/judgment, and creativity.
Memory – both visual and auditory – is often a students’ lowest overall ability. If we think of memory as “the developed art of paying attention,” then we begin to understand why this is a growing concern in education, especially in elementary school.
Comprehension is diminished by lower memory ability. Problem-solving becomes frustrating when memory ability fails to recall correct information. Teachers and parents can easily become frustrated with having to regularly repeat information. Test-taking scores are lower even though classroom performance may be solid.
How We Can Help with Successful Learning
When a student is struggling in school, it can be hard to pinpoint what’s causing the problem. And if tutoring or special education isn’t helping as expected, it’s time to look at the situation from a different perspective.
If the student doesn’t have the abilities in place to receive and process the information being presented, repeating the information probably isn’t going to help.
It may be necessary to take a step back and ask the question, “WHY isn’t my student learning?” Is it a lack of memory skills? Is it a sensory integration issue? The student’s eyes?
This is where SOI shines. We can help provide the answers to these questions through our learning ability assessments that are designed to identify specific strengths and weaknesses. We are able to see how the abilities are working together, and how they relate to the student’s learning process.
This is life-changing! The student, parents, and teacher have answers. They have a solution. And with SOI training materials, they can get the exact help they need to improve cognitive, visual, and sensory integration abilities.
With these newly strengthened abilities, the student has what they need in order to move through those 5 steps in the learning process with much greater success.
More Information
SOI is used in schools and learning centers across the United States and the world. If you’d like to learn more, please click one of the links below:
