We all know that no test is perfect, and few people are perfect, though many of us would like to be. The Structure of Intellect (SOI) test is an assessment of abilities and thinking. The SOI assessment is given in a timed situation, however, the main purpose of the test is to learn accurate information about students abilities. 

The SOI Tests are not tests of achievement, or of knowledge, or of how much one learned in school and retained. Many of the tests on this baseline assessment require students to think in new ways. The SOI analysis is new information, not complicated information. It gives us all an opportunity to find a beginning point to develop abilities. 

What happens when tutoring is not enough? 

We have a good number of parents who come to us after spending years and sometimes hundreds, even thousands of dollars, only to have their child continue to struggle in school. 

Parents often start considering tutoring a starting point, but what if this doesn't help? What if you're like many of the parents and students I've seen that are frustrated because they feel like they've tried everything and it isn't working? What happens when tutoring is not enough?

School Stages 

As a student starts school, they begin in the sheltering, nurturing early childhood stage (generally through second grade). Starting in 3rd grade students begin the transition into the older elementary stage where our learning is quantified and ranked by more external means (standardized testing), yet still with a degree of nurturing. It’s at this point that students, parents, teachers and the system in general begin to feel more pressure.

Just as we all begin to understand the system of Elementary School, Middle School and adolescence begins to loom.  School becomes more demanding and self directed. More independence, organization and self discipline are required. 

This is the stage that many parents seem to dread the most and where students tend to start having difficulties. How do we help our students accomplish successful transitions in school during the busy lives we find ourselves living especially when interventions like tutoring aren't working?

Why tutoring may not be enough

Each phase of school requires a basis, a well-developed understanding of previously taught concepts as well as organization and self discipline.  

In order to transition from one level to the next successfully, students must have key concepts and physical abilities in place so that the newly presented curriculum makes sense.  

If a student is still in the process of making sense of a concept and the class moves on to the next step, it creates an understanding level gap that eventually can build on itself and eventually becomes too great to cross.  

Frustration and even failure can set in, even in otherwise capable learners.

Tutoring a student that does not have these key concepts in place, may lead to some temporary success, but they will inevitably continue to struggle as the curriculum changes.  

For example, a student might have a lack of vocabulary understanding from not reading rich and interesting literature and therefore, a vocabulary concept deficit develops not necessarily a reading difficulty.

A student may not be able to grasp the material presented because lack of vocabulary has created a comprehension pothole on their road to reading. It’s a vicious circle! 

Unfortunately, vocabulary drills or writing and memorizing definitions are not always pathways to better vocabulary!

Going beyond Tutoring and Discovering the Missing Pieces

At Synap2it! Learning Center we are experts at discovering the missing pieces, training them, and setting students back on the path of success! We can understand and impact learning in ways that no amount of conventional tutoring can.

We would love to talk with you more about your child’s specific situation and help you come up with a plan to address the root causes of the struggles they’re having in school.

Whether it’s reading, math, writing, problem solving, or other academic concerns, we’re here to help! Contact us here to learn more and schedule a free consultation.

This is the story of an extremely bright student who, although he was captain of the his nationally recognized robotics team, had all but given up the idea of higher education. He was one of those students that I say, "slips through the cracks."

Nothing about his performance in school would have qualified him for special education, and most people would have just passed him off as just an “average student” or a student that just “gets by.”

Due to his inability to “get it” when it came to reading and writing assignments he had come to the conclusion that college just wasn’t for him. Because he was bright, he had figured out exactly what he had to do on assignments that didn’t involve writing in order to obtain a seventy percent passing grade. Seventy percent!

Obviously, he could problem solve but there was obviously something derailing his school work. Time was of the essence. He was already in his senior year of high school!

What Does Standardized Testing Measure?

The Texas STAAR program as well as any other standardized test measures the Essential Knowledge and Skills as determined by a state’s curriculum standards.

In other words, how well does a student remember the information presented through the designated grade level curriculum and how well are they able to interpret the questions written on the test and determine the right answer as presented in a multiple choice format.

Standardized testing DOES NOT measure THE IMPACT OF:

• the ability to see a complete word from first letter to last
• a students ability to classify and conceptualize multiple items
• if a student is misreading beginnings and endings of sentences
• if a student is able to conceptualize similarities and differences in meanings
• if a student can readily recognize new words
• the students ability to hold information in mind while “processing it at the same time”

Each of these areas are VITAL for a student to be able to take in the instruction that they’re given by teachers and actually learn the material they’re given. If these areas are not developed, a student will struggle and could “fall through the cracks”. 

What Does the SOI Measure?

The SOI system goes much deeper to determine the “root cause” of learning difficulties by identifying and helping a student improve up to 27 different “intelligences” needed to be successful in school. This, in addition to assessing motor-sensory integration and visual skills makes this program a more holistic approach for lasting change.

The listed abilities above are only six of the twelve different intelligences the Structure of Intellect system has identified as essential for the area of READING. Reading, as we know, also impacts Social Studies, Science, Mathematics, and Language Arts and many more endeavors.

Many smart individuals with just one or two underdeveloped abilities that cause them difficulty, wrongly conclude that they are just “not smart” or “not college material” as was the case with the student I was working with. This isn’t the truth AT ALL!

So what can be done to help these bright students who are “slipping through the cracks?”

In the case of the student I mentioned earlier, we assessed his cognitive ability and found many areas of strength….and some weaknesses. Because time was short, we met and decided on a very intense program of perceptual training coupled with intense cognitive training for the areas of weakness (evaluation).

His goal was to get himself in a position to be able to su