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Home::Reference & Education
Tutoring Versus Training
Author : Dr. Ken Gibson, LearningRx Inc.
Your child has difficulty in third grade math. You send him to a
tutor. The tutor works diligently for several weeks with him on
his grade-level math concepts and assignments. He goes on to
pass the third grade with B's. So far so good. Summer comes and
goes. His fourth grade assignments hit, and once again, basic
weaknesses prevent him from learning the new concepts. The
processing and visualizing skills he needs just aren't there.
You could pay for another round of tutoring to help with these
assignments as well, but the underlying reason he failed to
understand them in the first place goes untouched. It will
reemerge...
How do you "train" someone to learn?
Current learning science makes it necessary to look at learning
as two distinct parts: Specific academic study and a student's
underlying ability to learn. To create the best opportunity for
maximum academic progress, the underlying mental skills that
lead to easy learning must be as strong and efficient as
possible, and this may require specific training. Why? The brain
physically changes in response to appropriate training. Its
neural pathway efficiency improves in much the same way that
muscle cells respond to progressive resistance training by
developing added strength. The "untrained" brain that performs
slowly and inefficiently (resulting in persistent sub-par
learning) can become a fit brain, quick to respond when facing
new learning challenges. You can literally train and strengthen
your mental skills and have more brainpower!
What is Brain Training?
Brain training (also known as mental or cognitive skills
training) is significantly different than tutoring. Common
academic study, and special help such as tutoring, both focus on
specific academic tasks, and simply ignore the condition of a
student's underlying mental skills. In fact, success in general
academics or special tutoring is completely dependant on the
student's underlying ability to learn. For those who struggle or
fail, it is not necessarily his or her study habits or missing
academic knowledge that is the problem. Underlying cognitive
weakness is often the cause of the difficulty. Until the
underlying skills that provide the basic ability to learn are
strengthened, tutoring help can only produce temporary progress
at best. Struggles WILL reemerge at the very next new challenge,
and the next, and the next, until the challenges grow too
difficult even with tutoring help, or the student simply gets
frustrated and gives up. If this is your child, he or she is at
risk of being identified as a failure by these repeated
struggles. You risk paying for tutoring each and every year with
absolutely no guarantee of future success.
The appropriate mental skills training is different. It provides
you and your student the chance to get to the root of the
problem and literally rebuild his or her basic ability to read
and learn. A struggling student, or one seeking to optimize
academic performance, must consider training the mental skills
that are the foundation to learning.
Two Different Needs, Two Solutions
As mentioned above, learning can be divided into two elements:
the specific academic challenge (such as reading) and the
underlying skills needed to perform it well (for example,
auditory processing and word attack). A tutor can enhance
academic success in a given task if the student has sufficient
underlying skills to meet the challenge. If that student
struggles due to skill weaknesses, a trainer, not a tutor, is
needed. Once you learn to read, you should be able to do it with
little thought. But if one of the basic and necessary reading
skills (such as sound blending and auditory processing skill)
were missing, you'd have difficulty reading well no matter how
much tutoring you got. Further assignments in reading theory or
even practice reading wouldn't overcome the underlying problem.
Look for Better Testing and Training Options
Intense training exercises focused on specific areas of weakness
can quickly strengthen key mental skills, and literally change
the way a student learns. But how do you know if training is
what your child needs? When looking for effective help, the
right testing is also critical. Far too often a student's
individual underlying skills are either not identified or are
averaged and reported as an IQ score. Even when classified in
terms such as "an auditory learner" or "a visual learner" this
imprecise identification limits the help a student can receive.
On the other hand, testing prior to skills training is designed
to single out key skills that impact the learning or reading
struggle. It is then possible for a qualified mental skills
trainer to enhance cognitive skills such as auditory and visual
processing, logic and reasoning, and working memory through
direct training. The results are better academic performance
almost immediately, and an enhanced ability to learn into the
future.
Tutoring can benefit students in certain situations, but for
those with underlying cognitive skill weaknesses, cognitive
skills training is the answer. So, when you're looking to help
your child eliminate persistent struggles in school...think
brain training first.
If you believe there is unrealized learning potential in
yourself or someone you love, a simple cognitive test could be
the key to unlock that potential. At LearningRx
Learning Centers, we offer such testing as a wise and
affordable first step. Please give us a call today at (719)
955-6703. We can answer your questions, and help test and
strengthen skills that can lead to that brighter future.
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