How SOI Helps Non-Readers

“Dyslexia” is not synonymous with “non-reader” — and it is misleading to use the two as interchangeable.  There maybe many reasons for an inability to read, and dyslexia is only one of them. Applying “dyslexia” too loosely is more than semantic misuse; it may actually preempt interventions that are more appropriate and less expensive.

What are the intervention therapies for a non-reader?

INTERVENTIONS BEYOND STANDARD INSTRUCTION

If students are beyond the third grade and have still not learned to read, we must assume that they have already encountered all of the standard reading instruction — whether it is phonics, whole word, language experience, or any other method — so, we can reasonably assume that more of the same will not be an answer.

CONVINCING STUDENTS THEY CAN READ

For non-readers beyond the third grade, there is an additional problem — they first need to be convinced that they can read.  They have confronted the non-reader label over and over again, so they begin to identify as a non-reader, and they become less motivated to keep

SOI System’s Approach to Learning Problems

SOI Systems is a company with a 50 year history of addressing student learning problems. Our focus has been primarily on making sure that the student’s capacities for learning are matching the expectations of the teaching situation – whether that is in a school, a university, or less formal circumstances like home schooling.

When the student’s capacities for learning do not match the expectations of the learning situation, we take a clinical approach to the situation – isolate and identify the learning problem; make a preliminary diagnosis, test to find the probable cause; prescribe an intervention; and monitor to see if the intervention is effective.

This is not a one-size-fits-all approach – it is individualized for each student-client. On the other hand, as with any clinical practice, there are broad guidelines based on years of experience. These guidelines define three general areas.

INTELLECTUAL ABILITIES AND CONCEPTS

All learning situations are predicated on a set of expectations about the student’s cognitive abilities – acquisition of new data or concepts (cognition), recall of data acquired (memory), information

Reading with LOCAN

WHAT IS LOCAN?

LOCAN is a new method for teaching reading.

Most children who have not learned to read by the third grade are probably figurally-dominant. They are labeled “learning disabled” or “dyslexic” because they cannot read. Concrete learners will also probably struggle to progress in reading with any of the existing methods. Or, if they do learn to “read,” it will probably be reading without comprehension. All children who are preliterate or non literate can benefit from LOCAN!

LOCAN is a hieroglyphic language, making it direct and concrete. Every word in the language has its own glyph. Picture-characters (or glyphs) stand for words. One picture-character equals one word. The meaning is directly represented in the symbol. Children first learn to read logos, trademarks, stop signs, etc. It is the natural way to learn to read. LOCAN extends this natural experience into the English language.

It is easy to acquire vocabulary, and is much easier than

Getting to the Root of Learning Difficulties

IPP gets to the root of learning difficulties by addressing the issues that often cause poor academic performance.

The IPP program is successful because it addresses the cause(s) of the learning difficulty. It works to improve attention span, memory, comparison & contrast thinking, eye-hand coordination, systems reasoning, and other skills essential to the learning process. This helps students perform better in school and in life.

IPP HISTORY

Years of identifying and training cognitive dysfunctions have revealed the importance of underlying physiological processes, especially focusing skills and sensory integration functions.

SOI training will help even in the face of focusing skill and/or sensory integration dysfunctions, but, obviously, the prognosis would not be as good as if there were treatment for those functions that underlie cognitive processes. To address this need, SOI developed the IPP program to

Making the Most of SOI Test Results

SOI tests are tests of learning abilities. If someone is having difficulty learning, the cause may be a lack of learning abilities.

Our tests are a great way to get a snapshot of students’ learning abilities and to see their learning potential. Now that you know more about your students’ learning abilities, what’s next? How do you help all of these unique students?

EMPOWER YOUR STUDENTS. LET US HELP.

The SOI test results have profiled your students’ strong and weak abilities. Now what?

SOI is the easiest and most efficient way to improve their learning abilities. We provide you with

SOI Personalized Program

SOI HELPED AND AIDED THIS STUDENT IN HIS READING AND LANGUAGE ABILITIES.

Good readers are phonemically aware, understand the alphabetic principle, apply these skills in a rapid and fluent manner, possess strong vocabularies and syntactical and grammatical skills, and relate reading to their own experiences.

Difficulties in any of these areas can impede reading and language development. Learning to read begins far before children enter formal schooling. This child in second grade was referred to us with the specific problem areas of reading and understanding. He also didn’t like the school subject Language.

• Spells poorly and has  difficulty recalling facts and numbers
• Has trouble learning new skills (compensates by relying on memorization)
• Has trouble following directions or instructions
• Struggles to recognize letters, match letters to sounds and make a sentence
• Inability to read simple 3 letter words or associate them
• Can’t comprehend what he reads or listens in the classroom

We started with his personalized workbooks and CDs, which are available based on students’ test results. These workbooks have an added advantage in that tasks are articulated within the book. In other words, the easier part of a given module is presented early in the sequence and the more difficult part is presented later.