THE METHOD
The principles of – SCM are realized in its applied systems:
IE -Instrumental Enrichment Programme
IE is a systematic learning method, based on the belief that any human can become a better learner by being exposed to a mediated learning experience.
The IE programme is a cognitive intervention programme that can be used both individually and in a classroom framework.
It is a classroom cognitive curriculum, designed to sharpen critical thinking, diagnose and correct deficiencies in thinking skills, and help students learn how to learn.
The fundamental assumption of the programme is that intelligence is dynamic and not fixed. Thus, it seeks to correct deficiencies in fundamental thinking skills, provides students with the concepts, skills, strategies and techniques necessary to function as independent learners, increases their motivation and develops their meta-cognition.
It has been successfully used worldwide as a tooI for the enhancement of learning potential and of the cognitive function of children and adults.
For individuals with special needs, IE is used as remediation programme, while for higher functioning learners, it is a tooI of cognitive enrichment.
Fourteen instruments are included in the IE programme.
Each of the instruments addresses a different set of cognitive processes, such as analytic perception, orientation in space and time, comparisons, classifications, etc., through a different set of tasks.
Specially trained teachers work together with a student on a regular basis, in order to improve the effectiveness of the learning process. Parents may also become certified IE teachers after appropriate training.
LPAD – The Learning Potential Assessment Device
Based on Feuerstein’ s theory of SCM, LPAD is an assessment procedure comprising a set of 15 instruments, designed to evaluate the learning process and identify the individual’s cognitive functions related to perception, attention, memory, logical reasoning and problem solving.
LPAD evaluates individual learning propensity and cognitive modifiability and offers a viable desirable alternative to static IQ tests. It focuses on the learner’s potential rather than on the current level of performance, while the evaluator actively serves as mediator to the student in the assessment process.
The goals and procedures of LPAD differ in principle from static assessments. It is process-oriented, and investigates the learner’s process of reasoning. The learner’s performance is compared to his/her own performance at different times and conditions, rather than to the age norm.
It actively produces within the learner a sample of cognitive changes and uses them for evaluation.
LPAD may be used for assessing children with severe developmental, behavioural and learning problems, but can also be used for selecting adult learners for professional training or pre-academic courses.
The outcome of LPAD is a descriptive profile of modifiability that includes the area of cognitive change and the degree of change. It also enables recommendations to be made regarding the psycho-educational intervention, which often includes the IE program.
LPAD assessments may be carried out individually or in a group of up to 15 students. Training in LPAD is offered to psychologists, educators, speech and occupational therapists and other professionals.
Shaping Modifying Environments
The Modifying Environment is a concept based on an active modification approach in residential care programmes, as opposed to the passive acceptance approach.
The idea is that many residential -group care settings provide passive-acceptant environments, in which little fundamental change is expected of their residents, due to staff’s underlying conviction that significant change is impossible.
The active-modificational approach, the basis of the Modifying Environment, on the other hand, is rooted in the assumption that fundamental change can be stimulated by planned, active intervention.
This intervention systematically makes demands on the students for cognitive, emotional, and social modification. It does not accept the stage the student is in at present, but merely starts from there, building on existing competencies.
As competency and performance improve, demands rise accordingly, thus establishing higher functioning levels.
Whatever the setting, the task is to establish and maintain a modifying environment, appropriate to the needs of the individual in question.
The objective is for students to be able to perform tasks differently, in ways that will better enable them to approach and master similar tasks in the future.
This kind of development is considered transformational learning, rather than linear progression.
The four basic components of Modifying Environments are:
- Expectations – belief that students can succeed in achieving the desired growth;
- Importance – the conviction that these are the most important tasks of the programme;
- Resources – both physical and ideological resources;
- Individualized process – ongoing assessment of the interventions with the students, the use and adaptation of the available resources, and the parameters of the caregiver’s interaction with the students.
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