Cognitive Training For Children

Hello, I would like to have a few minutes of your time in order to introduce you to a program developed to teach inductive reasoning and problem-solving skills to young children this program was developed for children between the ages of 6 and 12 and Emphasizes the teaching of cognitive strategies and metacognitive procedures The cognitive training program is designed to help children develop inductive reasoning and problem-solving skills The program was originally developed in Germany and has been successfully used in a number of clinical and educational settings since 1992 I have been conducting validation studies with children in Iowa with a great deal of success We have been using the program as a training instrument with individual children and have observed a positive impact of training With children of normal ability with children diagnosed as learning disabled and we are currently working with children diagnosed as attention deficit hyperactive syndrome The program appears to be well suited for use as an educational Intervention for inclusion children in the regular classroom as well as children receiving intervention in a clinical setting This instrument also includes recording forms for monitoring a child's development in terms of cognitive and metacognitive processing during problem solving These recording forms are well suited for inclusion in a portfolio or an IEP file Included in the training manual is a summary of a number of validation studies that have been conducted In both Germany and the United States since 1988 each validation study summary Includes information about the type of child in the study the nature of the training Activities the type of reasoning and problem-solving skills the child Learn to use that is transfer to new problems and a statistical analysis of results In the next few minutes, I have two main objectives First I will provide an overview of the inductive reasoning procedures taught and a sample of the cognitive strategies the children learn second I will briefly highlight how to use the recording forms in order to monitor the development of the reasoning procedures and problem-solving strategies of individual children This training program is designed to teach six inductive reasoning procedures that can be used as problem-solving tools The program consists of ten lessons and each lesson contains twelve problems to be solved In its entirety the program contains 120 problems each lesson can be completed in approximately 20 to 25 minutes. We've had a great deal of success Scheduling three training sessions a week with this schedule We can work through all ten lessons in about three and a half weeks As can be noted in Figure one. The six inductive reasoning procedures are systematically introduced Further as training progresses from less than 1 through lesson 10 the problems become more abstract and complex The systematic nature of the program is best demonstrated by the fact that each of the six inductive reasoning Procedures are represented by 20 problems consequently, each child receives extensive practice with each of the six inductive reasoning procedures that serve as the basis for Training at this time I want to introduce you to examples of the six inductive reasoning procedures These examples are taken directly from the training program The first reasoning procedure taught is generalization of attributes. This example is taken from lesson one Problem plate number five would be placed before the child and the following question ask what three things go together Why as a reasoning procedure? Generalization is characterized by establishing Similarity between or among several objects the objects differ from one another but share at least one common attribute Tributes are commonly considered to be surface characteristics of objects like color size or shape The strategy solution is to identify an attribute common to each object by making a systematic comparison among all objects in the case of problem 5 The child should indicate the blue boot the brown shoe and a cream-colored shoe the second type of inductive reasoning procedure taught is discrimination of attributes an Example is taken from lesson 6 for problem plate 64. The following question is asked What would not be used for working in the garden? Why? Discrimination is the process of noting differences among the attributes of objects There is only one problem form the identification of the object. That does not belong Whenever problems of this type are solved it is again necessary to use a strategy that involves looking for a common attribute However, in this case all objects, except one have the same attributes again Objects are not examined independently But in a systematic comparative manner in this problem the solution is the ladle The third example comes from lesson 2 and involves the inductive reasoning procedure of recognizing relationships When problem plate 18 is placed before a child. The question is asked according to size going from smallest to largest Which animal would enter the tent first second or third in this case? Associations our relationships are possible when at least two objects are present strategies involve the identification of similar relationships The relationships are more varied and complex than recognizing common attributes instead complex relationships may share common characteristics regarding function cause-effect Purpose etc The solution strategy is to first identify the incorrect relationship among the objects and then to establish the correct relation ship this example taken from an earlier lesson is rather concrete and requires the identification of relations among objects on the basis of the attribute of size More complex problems would require the recognition of relations among such structural Characteristics as function cause effect etc Differentiating relationships is the fourth type of inductive reasoning procedure taught the following example problem plate 40 comes from lesson 4 When the problem is presented to a child the following question is posed which ladybug does not belong why? Differentiating relationships is similar to discrimination in that such a strategy can be employed only when similarities are present the disturbed series form of differentiation occurs in two variations in the program The first variation requires the definition of a correct series by reordering objects the second variation Requires that one object be excluded in both cases the solution strategy requires finding a relationship That occurs among the remaining objects This enables the problem solver to recognize the object that disturbs the series in Problem 40 the solution is the fourth ladybug from the left Cross classification is the fifth procedure taught. The following example is taken from lesson 5 Problem plate 52 is presented to the child and the question is asked which object has the most in common with the banana Why? cross classification is an inductive reasoning task in which at least two attributes must be considered simultaneously a Determination of both common or different attributes is required The advantage is that all combinations of attributes which are possible can occur So the child practices determining different features of each object Because this may be a rather called reasoning strategy to grasp the problem-solving process can be modeled in the following manner I First have to describe at least two attributes of a banana. It is a fruit and it is long now I use a comparative strategy in the following way a pair is a fruit and it is long a pail is not a fruit and is not long an Apple is a fruit but it is not long a ball of string is not a fruit and it is long So the banana and the pear have the most in common because they are both fruit and are long The last inductive reasoning procedure to be discussed is system construction This example comes from lesson 8 and is problem plate 89 system construction establishes either equivalent or dissimilar relationships the types of strategies used to solve these tasks are similar to those used to solve cost classification problems in Cross classification problems there are at least two attributes and in system construction problems There are at least two relationships in which similarity and dissimilarity are to be verified the overall solution strategy again relies on the ability to map relationships successively the Solution to problem 89 is the three by two red Domino We have found that the teaching or training Strategies employed are easily learned and are dictated by the child's level of cognitive functioning Several instructional strategies are discussed in the manual and we have found that we have used all of these techniques at one time or another The guiding principle in our work has been to use whatever technique is necessary in order to help a child grasp the appropriate procedure and strategy There are two invariant features of the program The first is how the question is asked in some cases We first teach to an understanding of the question asked and then follow up with teaching the procedure and strategy in other words the question must first be understood before the development of a cognitive or Metacognitive strategy makes any sense to the child The second feature is that a child is always given the opportunity to solve a problem independently before teaching commences having reached my first objective of providing an overview of the inductive reasoning procedures taught it is time to turn to an example of how the Development of reasoning and problem-solving skills are monitored at the outset I mentioned how the recording forms could easily become a part of a child's portfolio or IEP file The recording form that we have here is designed So that performance can be analyzed into cognitive and metacognitive components for each problem in every lesson cognitive processing is monitored by noting whether or not the problem was a not solved be Solved with help or see solved independently Metacognitive processing is monitored in the following manner during problem solving did the child a differentiate between attributes or relationships B Demonstrate knowledge of problem class that is what reasoning procedure was being taught C Articulate the solution strategy and D. Did it use a checking strategy these metacognitive monitoring skills are discussed in detail in the program manual a Summative assessment can be constructed for all 10 lessons by using the master summary. She Instruction for using the recording forms are to be found in Appendix one of the manual These performance profiles provide a rather detailed and complete Permanent record of a child's development in terms of inductive reasoning and problem-solving performance The training manual that describes the program is divided into three major parts part one Introduces the program and describes its construction The six basic reasoning procedures we have discussed are further explained and training goals are identified Part one is primarily devoted to a description of how to use the program part one concludes with a summary of training methods that involve verbal self instruction guided discovery and verbalization and self reflection part two Explains the theoretical basis for the training program Since the use of transfer as a tool for problem-solving is the theoretical underpinning of the program issues involving the transfer of cognitive strategies and metacognitive procedures are discussed Part three is devoted to a summary of the research that has been conducted in both Germany and the United States validating the success of the cognitive training program Persons with experience in training and assessment have found the manual easy to use and the assessment procedures can be quickly learned the Program is unique in that It encompasses the teaching of cognitive and metacognitive strategies as tools for problem-solving Further recent follow up data from children who have gone through the program Indicate a long-term maintenance of gains and cognitive development resulting from training Thank you for watching and I hope you find our program useful in teaching inductive reasoning and problem-solving skills to children You