What is SOI-IPP? How Children learn in School?

How do children learn in school?

Learning is dependent on more than just the teacher and the curriculum, but the student and his or her ability to learn.

Through this blog, I want to talk about the SOI-IPP program, that I have been using in my practice for over 10 years. 

SOI-IPP (Structure of Intellect-Integrated Practice Protocol) is primarily based on Dr. J.P. Guilford’s Theory of Intelligence. Dr. Robert and Mary Meeker further extended the application of this theory for assessments and training for children in the areas of giftedness, cognitive & physical readiness/preparedness for learning. Integrated Practice Protocol incorporates learning therapy that deals directly with the causes of the learning issues. It is directed towards developing how a person’s physical abilities pertain to the left and right sides of the brain, which ultimately would lead to learning.

IPP is an acronym for Integrated Practice Protocol:

INTEGRATED: Coordinating separate elements of training to provide a harmonious, interrelated whole.

PRACTICE: The repeated practice of systematic, structured, and sequential  exercises for the purpose of acquiring skill or proficiency

PROTOCOL: The plan for carrying out a research-based scientific treatment regimen is to be followed exactly.

The SOI-IPP program works to improve attention span, memory, comparison/contrast thinking, eye-hand coordination, systems reasoning and other skills essential to the learning process, helping students perform better in school and in life.

In the SOI-IPP Lab, we assess 26 cognitive abilities and 11 perceptual skills including attention, memory, verbal comprehension, visual sequencing, and auditory sequencing. We evaluate the test scores, construct a profile of each student’s skills and abilities, determine what needs to be improved, and then create a specific program of learning development exercises for that student.

Each student’s profile of cognitive abilities indicates areas for improvement while giving teachers and parents a specific snapshot of the student’s strengths, weaknesses and learning style preferences.

During the next 5 to 9 months, the students attend the SOI-IPP Lab at least twice a week for 40 to 50-minute sessions. Cognitive abilities are developed with carefully structured exercises that build one aptitude at a time. Perceptual skills are strengthened through a series of physical activities that repetitively build the neural ‘bridges’ necessary to achieve control of mind over body. These procedures literally ‘bulk up’ attention, memory, rule-following, concept formation, context comprehension, process orientation and the learner’s other essential thinking skills.

Students’ academic performance dramatically improves, they connect with the learning process and increase their capacity to remember and apply information. Once completing the SOI-IPP program they are ready to participate and learn in the classroom environment.