Opinion Editorial: Pupils' Mental Skills for Reading, Math Operations Are Trainable
By Norm Erickson
Contributing Editor
for Education and the Environment
Jan Kuyper Erland's work, Mem-ExSpan, Inc., has been referenced a couple of times previously in this column, because it addresses human mental development in an original and effective manner. It has the potential to improve the academic performance of our students, their attitudes toward learning, their self-esteem, and their choices and capabilities regarding education, and career goals.
Academic performance is dependent on our ability to listen and read accurately, and also to remember sequences of information without error. We also need to be able to think using verbal and visual representations of information.
Some researchers argue that we all have some mental disabilities. Those of us who can't carry a tune would be considered learning disabled if singing was central to success in our schools. Likewise, those of us who cannot maintain a rhythm or perceive fine difference in colors or perspective could be called learning disabled in other learning contexts.
Students identified as learning disabled or reading impaired have the misfortune of being weak in a cognitive skill area in which they need strength in traditional classrooms. They might be geniuses in other skill areas that are overlooked or discounted in our school systems and culture.
The good news is that those mental skills needed for reading and mathematical operations are trainable, just as other skills are. The bad news is that school systems have generally not recognized the possibilities and modified their curricula accordingly.
Compare the data from two fifth-grade public school classes. One class received Jan Kuyper-Erland's The Bridge To Achievement (The BTA) training, the other did not (controls). The gains are measured in grade equivalent values (G.E.); the amount of learning expected in a school year is 1.0 G.E.
- Reading Total
- BTA 3.76
- Controls 1.66
- Reading Comprehension
- BTA 3.79
- Controls 1.56
- Vocabulary
- BTA 3.16
- Controls 1.27
- Math Total
- BTA 3.22
- Controls 0.95
- Math Computation
- BTA 3.99
- Controls 0.65
- Math Concepts
- BTA 2.65
- Controls 1.12
- Math Problem Solving
- BTA 2.43
- Controls 1.56
These are remarkable gains, especially considering that training was during the last half of the school year and the math and reading curricula were not altered.
Students with learning and reading difficulties learned at a rate equal to normal students without the training. Their IQ gains were comparable to the rest of the class, which equaled +16 to +20 points for the training.
Another follow-up study determined that the improvements were permanent.
Repetition of the training by students with learning and reading difficulties produced significant improvements each time. Some had their learning and reading classifications removed, and became successful, independent learners.
Jan's presentation is being sponsored by the Minnesota High Success Consortium in Rochester.
Norm Erickson has about 18 years' experience in planning, developing, and teaching in corporate education He has attended dozens of education conferences, courses, and workshops conducted by university consultants and corporate education. The opinions expressed are his.