The following article came from Dr. Carol Brown’s research. We have been working together – her Equipping Minds Curriculum uses our Maintaining Brains Everyday, and our Brain Advancement Coaching using her Equipping Minds workbook. Both methods are based on the Pyramid of Potential model of brain development, which I have used for the past 15 years. I knew that this method worked, Carol knew it worked, now she has proven it through rigorous testing. I have added to the article below the references to Brain Advancement Coaching.
For more information, to find a coach or to become a coach, go to www.brainadvancementteam.com.
IQ and Academic Scores Increase
By Dr. Carol Brown
Study supports Equipping Minds increases verbal and
nonverbal abilities, IQ, and academic skills.
In my doctoral research, I looked at the transfer effects of cognitive development training with Equipping Minds Cognitive Development Curriculum (EMCDC) [Brain Advancement Coaching].
Thirty-two students with a diagnosed specific learning disorder (SLD) were randomly assigned to one of two groups. Half of the students trained with EMCDC (Training Group) and the other half received extra academic tutoring (Active Control). Each group received training or academic tutoring for one hour a day, five days a week for 30 hours over 7 weeks.
BEFORE TRAINING: A qualified professional measured their working memory, verbal and nonverbal abilities, IQ, and academic skills. Students in the Training and Active Control attended a private school for students with learning difficulties and were 4th through 8th graders.
ASSESSMENTS : Alloway Working Memory Assessment (AWMA-2), Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (KBIT-2) and Terra Nova Annual Academic Assessment for 2015 and 2016
INTERVENTION: The Equipping Minds Cognitive Development Curriculum (EMCDC) is designed to strengthen existing neural connections and, more importantly, to create missing neural pathways that may inhibit one’s ability to learn. EMCDC employs a holistic approach to cognitive development training through primitive reflex exercises, sensory-motor development exercises, and cognitive developmental exercises [the same as Brain Advancement Coaching, both based on the Pyramid of Potential]. The participants in the training group received cognitive developmental training for 60 minutes, 5 days a week for 7 weeks in a small group of two participants with a trained mediator using EMCDC. The Maintaining Brains Everyday DVD for the primitive reflex exercises and the fear paralysis exercises were done by the participants at home or at school for 15 minutes a day. The sensory-motor development exercises included the use of sound therapy which the participants wore during the one-hour intervention sessions while doing the cognitive developmental exercises. The mediators follow an abbreviated format of the EMCDC full program as the intervention was limited to 30 hours. The participants in the active control group received academic support with a teacher for 60 minutes, 5 days a week for 7 weeks in a small group. All participating learners continued to receive standard special educational support services as a result of their learning difficulties.
AFTER TRAINING: While the Training group made gains in working memory, it was not at a statistically significant level. However, the Training group showed statistically significant improvements in verbal and nonverbal abilities, IQ, and science. In fact, the Training Group made greater improvements in reading, science, language, and social studies than the Active Control Group. The Active Control, who received 30 hours of academic tutoring did not make significant improvements in working memory, nonverbal abilities, IQ, or academic skills. However, they did make gains in verbal abilities.
…the findings from the current study are consistent with Feuerstein’s research that training cognitive functions can have significant impacts on cognitive and academic abilities. The Equipping Minds Cognitive Development Curriculum (EMCDC) is a method of cognitive skill development in the areas of processing, working memory, comprehension, and reasoning, which are based on correcting the deficient cognitive functions as described by Feuerstein.
Additionally, this present study demonstrated that it possible to use EMCDC to raise the cognitive abilities of learners to an extent that has previously not been linked to learners with these disorders in 30 hours over 7 weeks. The current research found that training in working memory, processing, comprehension, and reasoning with EMCDC does provide convincing evidence to the generalization of verbal abilities, nonverbal abilities, and IQ composite. Similarly, far transfer effects to academic abilities in science were substantiated with significant gains using EMCDC. The results support the findings in neuroplasticity. EMCDC’s use of a human mediator and cognitive developmental exercises, which are based on developing cognitive functions, have a greater impact than working memory training by a computer program alone.