I Can Do It When It’s Tough: SOI Training

Happy 2016! As I was contemplating our success and challenges over the past year, while looking forward to the new year, I realized there is a key value in using the SOI philosophy: perseverance. Perseverance is defined as “steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.” I love the synonyms for perseverance: tenacity, determination, staying power, indefatigability, purposefulness; patience, endurance, application, diligence, dedication, commitment, doggedness, tirelessness, stamina; intransigence, obstinacy; stick-to-it-iveness.” When working with our children and their parents, the process of overcoming learning barriers through training is not easy or quick; it is a not sprint but…

SOI From the Perspective of an Educator

Early in the 1990s, I knew in no unmistakable terms that I was to serve “the least of these.” Throughout my career as an educator, I endeavored to do that. But late in 2014, I began to ponder the question again with greater intensity: “Who ARE the least of these that I am compelled to serve?” Since I had spent a good deal of my time in socioeconomically disadvantaged schools, I had always assumed it was “the poor.” But recently, as I began working with a broader range of students, I realized that “the least of these” fit into an…

SOI and the Art of Kung Fu

When most people think about “kung fu” they immediately think about Chinese martial arts, not SOI. I have dedicated a large portion of the last 10 years of my life to the study of Chinese martial arts with one of the world’s last true masters. There are many Chinese martial arts styles which fall under the heading of kung fu: Tai Chi, Wudang, Wing Chun, Choy Li Fut, Shoalin, Wushu, amongst many others. But, you might be surprised to know that “kung fu” actually translates as simply “hard work”. Calligraphists, artists, athletes, chefs, and school children in China are all…

Learning Abilities Testing: How It Works

The key to remedy learning failure is to know why the failure is occurring and to have a systematic approach for eliminating the cause. TESTS SOI tests are tests of learning abilities. If students are having difficulty learning, the cause may be a lack of learning abilities. Learning abilities are more fundamental than curricular skills, yet most “diagnostics” of learning problems focus exclusively on curricular skills, and thus most remedial programs are focused on the same curricular skills. When the usual remedial programs are not successful, the causes of the learning problems have probably been misdiagnosed. SOI tests offer an…

Functional, Integrated Education

One of the things we learn by experience is that truth is truth. We know there are certain immutable, undeniable facts that no matter how some may argue, are found to be true. Whether we are considering the realm of the physical or the mental, the concretely understood or the intangible, the “truth” wins out. Just as the body will heal itself given the right input in terms of nutrition, we also learn that in education, if the correct methodologies and input are applied, the mind and body will work together to accomplish learning! Hence, we come to an understanding…

What is SOI? A Tool for Learning Success!

Help your struggling students. Challenge those that are gifted. Give them all a solid foundation for their academic career! For those who don't know much about SOI, here is a quick summary: SOI is a system of assessments and training materials that develop intellectual abilities/learning functions. We equip students with the necessary intellectual skills to learn subject matter, do analytical thinking, become more creative, and, most importantly, learn how to learn. For those of you who already use SOI, you know this is true! If you're interested in learning more about SOI, I would suggest watching the video below! I…

Building a Real Student Support Team

YOUR SCHOOL CAN DEVELOP A VERY PROVEN WAY OF ADDRESSING RESPONSE TO INTERVENTION (RTI) THROUGH YOUR STUDENT SUPPORT TEAM AND HAVE STRATEGICALLY TAILORED INTERVENTIONS TO MEET INDIVIDUAL STUDENT NEEDS. What if you were able to... anticipate, identify, and intervene with ninety percent of your “at-risk” students in kindergarten or first grade help eliminate students’ self-esteem issues related to failure in school bypass reliance on the observations of overextended classroom teachers for most intervention referrals develop an individual and developmentally appropriate plan to effectively intervene with students by the first semester of kindergarten develop an efficient, systematic, easily documentable Student Support…

The Least of These: A Conversation About Education

Twenty five years ago I stood in front of the storage closet in my special education classroom. It was the second semester of my first year of public school teaching. The bloom was off the rose. Tired and depleted, I had spent money that I didn’t have to supply and equip my classroom with items that were truly needed, but not in the budget. I sighed and closed the door, wishing I could go home, but knowing there was still much to do to prepare for the next week. My resolve and enthusiasm was giving way to the harsh reality…

Intellectual Abilities Training

In developing SOI training modules for intellectual abilities training, we follow two guiding principles. First, we focus as much as possible on only one intellectual ability at a time – there are over 90 abilities in the Structure of Intellect, so we recommend finding which are most in need of development, and then in turn we concentrate on training each of the single abilities. We use the SOI Learning Abilities test to determine which abilities are most in need of development. We have over two hundred printed and computer-based modules that train one (or at the most two) abilities at…

If Teaching Were the Problem

If teaching was the problem, tutoring would be the answer. When school starts, it is a positive thing for many children. With new shoes, colorful backpacks, high hopes and aspirations, they climb onto buses, exit automobiles, and walk expectantly into schools to begin learning! For other students, it is a dreaded event. For them, little positivity is associated with this yearly ritual. The above expectation seems to not be available to them. Year after year they are held in, held over, and held back because they are not successful, despite the best and most extensive efforts and expenditures of teacher…

I Can Do It When It’s Tough: SOI Training

SOI From the Perspective of an Educator

SOI and the Art of Kung Fu

Learning Abilities Testing: How It Works

Functional, Integrated Education

What is SOI? A Tool for Learning Success!

Building a Real Student Support Team

The Least of These: A Conversation About Education

Intellectual Abilities Training

If Teaching Were the Problem

Support Request

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