Lisa-Marie commenced the new year of Arrowsmith with some of last years participants continuing and then new faces coming onboard too. It was a great reconnect after the holidays and looking towards a new year of what changes this program will bring to lives.

The particpants within the pilot program last year, completed several assessments along their journey to measure any potential improvements in academic and cognitive performance and the results have just arrived in a report conducted by Arrowsmith and the results are impressive. It really does change lives. Here’s some extracts from the report:

Arrowsmith Symbol Relations Cognitive Program

The Arrowsmith Symbol Relations Task is a computer-based cognitive exercise consisting of a sustained visual-spatial processing task of progressively increasing difficulty. It requires students to use relational reasoning to conceptually and automatically process relationships that increase in complexity. Over the years, many research projects have been conducted with various cohorts of individuals, from those with learning difficulties/disabilities, traumatic brain injury, long COVID and those without learning challenges wishing to enhance performance.

The Symbol Relations cognitive function is involved in:

· cause and effect reasoning

· understanding the ‘why’ of things

· grasping concepts across all academic disciplines

· comprehension of what is read or heard

· making rational and considered decisions

· understanding the world, oneself, and others

· fluid reasoning and flexibility of thought

· logical grasp of mathematical concepts

· processing speed

· insight which is critical to the therapeutic process

· semantic grasp of language necessary for comprehension and vocabulary development

· perspective taking which involves the ability to consider other points of view necessary for empathy

If there is a difficulty in this cognitive function all of these processes are impacted.

Research on the Symbol Relations program outcomes for individuals with learning difficulties or learning disabilities has demonstrated significant improvements in:

· neural networks in the brain

· cognitive functioning

· acquisition of academic skills

· emotional intelligence and well-being

The Group

There were 8 participants, comprised of 3 males and 5 females, with an average age of 13.1 and ranging in age from 8 to 20 years old. They worked on the Symbol Relations cognitive program four hours per week over 8 months. This population of children have had significant negative impact on their cognition related to trauma, prenatal issues, childhood experiences and substance abuse.

Fluid Reasoning – measures broad ability to reason, form concepts, and solve problems using unfamiliar information or novel procedures.

Cognitive Processing Speed – measures the ability to quickly perform both simple and complex cognitive tasks, particularly when under pressure to sustain controlled attention and concentration.

Perceptual Speed – measures the ability to rapidly identify matching items.

Cognitive Efficiency – measures the ability to cognitively process information automatically which frees up working memory.

Visual Auditory Learning – measures long-term storage and retrieval. (spelling) patterns.

Concept Formation – measures categorical reasoning based on principles of inductive logic.

Pair Cancellation - measures interference and inhibition control (executive processing) and sustained attention (attention/ concentration).

Reading - word identification, reading speed, comprehension

Reading Skills- word identification and word attack (phonetics)

Mathematics – applied math problems and calculation

Written Language – spelling and writing samples

Academic Skills – word identification, spelling, calculation

Academic Applications - applied math problems, comprehension, writing samples

Broad Achievement – word identification, word attack, applied math problems, calculation, comprehension, writing samples, spelling, sentence reading fluency, math facts fluency, sentence writing fluency

Spelling - spelling

Passage Comprehension – reading comprehension

Calculation – math computation

Writing Samples – writing samples based on a verbal or picture cue

As you can see there were pretty significant improvements in both Cognitive and Academic abilities from just 10 months in the program. Graphs are great but what did the participants themselves say about what they have experienced from the program?

Participant 1

“It helped me a lot with my maths and I started to get better grades in maths. It helped me understand more about things that I struggled to understand before. I felt proud when I got to go up a level and had met my goals in clocks. I feel more confident to have a go at problems and try and find ways to solve the problem and I learned that as I get older I am capable of learning new things.”

Participant 2

“It was hard at the beginning when I started becuase I got really frustrated. As time went on the clocks started to make more sense. It helped with my memory, it helped in maths and I started to do better at school with all my work because I could understand the work better. I started to think clearer sometimes and it helped with solving problems - sometimes when other people can’t know, I can. I still get angry but I didn't give up and I finished the year on 4 hands which was a good achievement.”

Self-Report Survey Questionnaire Results

Three to six months after completion of the Symbol Relations cognitive program, parents and/or guardians reported significant improvement on several behaviours which correspond to the changes noted above in cognitive abilities.

· Now asks in depth questions

· Vocabulary is much better

· More able to understand and comprehend during a conversation

· Better able to argue a point in a clear and thoughtful way

· School is reporting better behaviour

· Better learning outcomes at school and more settled in class

· Teachers report learning is getting better

· Improved understanding of the work in class

· Changes seen in English, Mathematics, Written Expression

· Spelling is better and essays make more sense

· Now enjoying schoolwork and learning new things

· Getting better grades

· Finds schoolwork easier and requires less help

· More eager and motivated to learn

· Getting work done on time and getting good grades

· Becoming confident to go places without me

· Thinking and strategies have improved

· More settled and able to regulate quicker in most situations

I am continually impressed with what I see within participants in the Arrowsmith program. We have opened the program now to the public to join the program. This is just one area of the program we have immersed these participants in. There are even more areas this program can assist to overcome learning difficulties and disabilities and the great news is you are never to old to start. Our brains are amazing I’ve seen some results coming through from this program with people that have suffered strokes and are having improvements all the time.

If you would like to know more about this program, discuss your own or your loved ones challenges in these areas then please connect with Lisa-Marie for a confidential and obligation free discussion, she will love to help you via email: arrowsmith@teenchallengetasmania.org

Link to the full report here

Arrowsmith "It helped me understand things that I struggled to before"

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