The Feuerstein Method has proven to be highly effective in enhancing literacy skills. This program addresses cognitive weaknesses and can serve as a focused approach to addressing literacy challenges.
The Navarre region of Spain is affluent, but there is a notable education disparity between wealthy areas and lower-middle-class neighborhoods. One of the areas where that difference was most visible was in the area of literacy.
A researcher brought the Feuerstein Method into a primary school to see if it would help bring the children up to the level of their peers. The students took pre- and post-tests in cognitive skills (Cattel Test) and reading comprehension. They were divided into an experimental group, which received training in 4 IE instruments, and a control group, which received the same number of hours of curricular studies. The experimental group made significantly more significant gains in reading comprehension than the control group. In addition, the lower-performing students from the experimental group significantly improved their cognitive skills more than the higher-performing students.
Researcher: Professor M. Luisa Sanz de Acedo Lizarriga
Publication:
- Sanz de Acedo, M.L. (1991). Efetos de la intervencion cogniscitiva en la comprension de la lectura, en el rendimento escolar y en la habilidad deneral en estudiantes del 5 curso de EGB. Metodologia de la Mediacion en el P.E.I. (J.M. Martinez Beltran, J.J.Brunet Gutierrez, & R.Farres Vilaro, Eds.), pp. 286-294. Mardid: Editorial Bruno.