At Empowered Learning™ we believe students of all ages have various needs for intellectual training. Our intellectual abilities stem from the development of basic physiological skills. During our physical assessments we uncover sensory integration and visual processing challenges that could inhibit a person's intellectual abilities, cognition (comprehension), memory (retrieval from storage), evaluation (judgment, planning, reasoning and critical decision making), convergent production (problem solving where answers are known), and divergent production (solving problems creatively). An explanation of why we do physical screenings and what we look for is provided below:
SENSORY INTEGRATION:
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Balance – Balance is a motor skill. At the beginning of life, motor activity develops before mental actions, then both work together and coexist, and finally mental action subordinates motor activity. The premise here is that proper development of motor skills is critical for learning - motor experiences are the foundation of mental development. When motor skills are not fully developed cognitive learning can be affected.
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Crossing the Midline/Mentally Crossing the Midline – When an individual is able to cross the midline (literally reach across or move across the middle of the body), it means that his/her brain has learned to plan and carry out a sequence of movements in proper order. When internalized, it leads to the ability to know your right from your left. We use ourselves as a reference point in understanding the orientation of an external object or word. If a child had difficulty in understanding his/her own left and right, he/she will have difficulty with the proper orientation of a word or letter, and this may cause word or letter reversals
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Body in Space – An individual should know where his/her body is in space with or without benefit of the visual system. Knowing this contributes to the knowledge and development of left/ right, directions, spatial relations, visualization, etc.
FOCUSING SKILLS:
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Teaming – This is the natural teamwork of the eyes, when both are being used at the same time to see the same thing. But under certain conditions, one is not teaming with the other because it is shut off or suppressed. This condition usually makes the visual system very inefficient
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Aiming at the Target – This is a coordinated movement and alignment of both eyes inward when an object is held close, such as looking at a book; and a coordinated movement and alignment of both eyes outward when looking from a rear object to a distant object, such as looking from a book to the blackboard. Poor convergence skills can cause severe eye strain when a person reads. It may also cause the person to lose his place while he/she reads.
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Shifting Between Seat Work and Board Work –This is a focusing ability. Students with poor focusing skills will have print blur when they read or may have momentary blur when looking from the blackboard to the paper.
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Moving Across the Page – Ocular pursuits are eye movements used when following a moving object. Pursuits should be done subconsciously, smoothly, and without excessive head movement. If an object is moving and a person is moving, many different areas of the brain must coordinate efficiently in order to follow the object accurately. Poor pursuit functions are often associated with poor reading cognition and short attention span. Jerky eye movements when following an object, excessive head movements, overshooting the target, fatigue and clumsiness are early symptoms, even when eye sight is 20/20.
After the physical assessment we develop an individual Integrated Practice Protocol (IPP) with physical exercises to be performed in our Empowered Gym™ to strengthen underdeveloped physical abilities which inhibit the processing of information. These exercises are mastered simultaneously as our clients work on strengthening their cognitive (thinking) abilities, specifically the 26 areas of the brain we use for learning.
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We use the Test of Multiple Intelligences (TOMI) to evaluate our client’s cognitive skills. This comprehensive test reveals to our clients which of their 15 cognitive skills are strong, which need improvement, and which are underdeveloped. These skills are the toolbox of the brain into which the intellect reaches when posed with a learning situation.
The five intellectual operations of the mind are assessed:
- Comprehension: Attention, awareness, discovery, recognition.
- Memory: Retention, and recall.
- Evaluation: Decision-making, judgment, comparison, contrast.
- Convergent Production: Problem-solving, rule-following.
- Divergent Production: Creativity.
We can see from the test results the ways in which we process information, our own unique learning styles which are:
- Figural: Concrete, hands-on, what we see, hear and touch.
- Symbolic: Ideas expressed in notation, sign, mark, code, logo, character.
- Semantic: Ideas expressed in word, sentence or paragraph – written or spoken
In addition, this assessment test measures the hierarchy, (the order) in which we learn content information. Each classification is a foundational thinking skill necessary for the mastery of reading, math, language, and art. A deficiency in any one ability or group of abilities will inhibit the learning process.
- Units: Single, unique details, one by one.
- Classes: Set of units, grouped by common properties.
- Relations: Associations, sequences, analogies.
- Systems: Multiple relations that interlock into structures.
- Transformations: Changes, consequences, anticipations.
- Implications: Inferences, consequences, anticipations.
Below is a chart that explains how we use the above information to determine which abilities we need to strengthen in our Workbook Exercises.
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We develop 15 Learning Abilities
The 15 Learning Abilities .pdf
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Empowered Learning Strategies™
Based on the latest research on the natural processing functions of the brain (“brain-based learning”), our Empowered Learning Strategies™ teaches clients the learning techniques of the best learners.
We help our clients learn to process information in a format that matches their natural processing functions, rather than processing information as it is taught in most traditional schools. These "brain-based" techniques are designed to help our client's with the mastery of spelling, reading, math, foreign language, and to develop superior memory abilities. When using these techniques our clients learn to quickly organize information systematically while storing it in their long term or visual memory.
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