Dyslexia: Development of the COGENT Program

COGENT is based on the PASS theory of intelligence (Das, Naglieri and Kirby, 1994). As discussed earlier, the PASS theory proposes that cognition is organized into three systems. The planning system is responsible for controlling and organizing behavior. The attention system is responsible for alertness, maintaining arousal levels, and assuring focus on appropriate stimuli.

The processing system employs simultaneous and successive processes to encode, transform, and retain information. In simultaneous processing, information is coded so that relations among items can be seen and information integrated. In successive processing, information is coded so that the only links between items are sequential in nature.

PASS Constructs—A Summary for Teachers

Attention prepares us to select and to focus on what is relevant. An attentive child does not get distracted easily and at the same time shifts attention when it is necessary. Children differ in their strength of attention.

Planning is deciding on a course of action to achieve a goal. It is the first stage for problem solving. It involves strategies for a solution and thinking before acting. When doing a task, a good planner evaluates the course of his or her action, anticipates problems, and takes appropriate steps to correct the course of action.

There are two coding processes—Simultaneous and Successive. We get a medley of information, which needs synthesis to enable the processing of information simultaneously. A common pattern must be seen when we group the different bits of information that we wish to analyze and see the relationship between them simul-taneously. Some children are good at finding such a common connection among designs and figures, and even among ideas expressed in a sentence. They see the whole without getting lost in the parts. Some other children cannot do this very well.

At other times, we are frequently called upon to arrange information in a sequence. At no time though can we see the entire chain of events, words, or ideas. This ability to arrange information successively is essential in memorizing a list of unrelated words and for speaking fluently. Children differ in their capacity for following a sequence of actions or remembering what came after what. After witnessing a series of events or the words in a sentence or passage, some children are good at repeating it in sequence. They are good at successive processing.

When you read the description of the five modules of COGENT later, watch how far each of the following operations is present in the tasks that the children are asked to do. In each module, children are engaged in three main mental activities—they perceive, they remember, and they must think and conceptualize (Das, Kirby and Jarman, 1975). Let us elaborate these operations in one of the modules.

In Module 1, children are asked to squeeze a ball once whenever the teacher shows a picture of a small animal, squeeze twice when the picture shows a big animal, but not squeeze at all when a flower is shown. The animal pictures include a whale, an elephant, a butterfly, and a cat.

• Perceive: Children have to look at the picture with all its features.

• Remember: As soon as they have looked at it, they reach into their memory, recall images of the animal if they have seen one before or other pictures of the same animal even though none of them look exactly the same, then recognize it, and give it a name. Upon recognizing it, they are also reminded of many things about that animal, but they must focus on its size—is it a big animal or a small one?

• Think and Conceptualize: What am I supposed to do? How am I going to respond? Oh, yes, squeeze the ball once because it is a butterfly. It is really a little animal, although in the picture, it looks the same size as the elephant. Oh well, this is tricky because all the pictures are the same size!

The four cognitive processes are used in each one of those mental operations. First things first—children have to pay attention to what the teacher is showing them. Attention*. The picture has to be recognized and placed in the class of either big or small animals. Simultaneous processing*. Then, children have to plan how many times they need to squeeze the ball; squeeze the ball according to their inner voice—Hey! This is a big animal, squeeze, squeeze. Planning*.

The teacher goes on changing the pictures faster and faster. Children have to maintain their rhythm of squeezes, squeeze faster and faster, in sequence, as the pictures are shown. Successive processing*.

Some children may be good at one kind of processing but not so good at another. But all mental activities use each of these processes to some extent; some need more, some less. Cognitive enhancement is a term for promoting the processes, making it easier for children to do the mental operations that are appropriate, to make a habit of using the processes quickly without much effort. COGENT helps the children to use the processes in academic work.

COGENT should benefit cognitive growth, typically of developing children as well as children with special needs, such as those with limited exposure to literacy, mild developmental delay, language impairment, and those at risk for developing dyslexia and other learning difficulties. The program is suitable for classroom instruction as well as for one-on-one and small group training in clinical and educational settings.

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