SOI
The Origins of SOI
During the tumultuous 1940s, amidst the chaos of war, the United States faced a pressing need to identify and deploy top-tier talent. Despite recruiting individuals with exemplary IQ scores, perfect vision, and optimal health for the Air Corps, a surprising number were unable to pass the rigorous training phase. Enter Dr. J.P. Guilford, a pioneering psychometrician tasked with unraveling this conundrum.
Guilford, armed with his expertise in human intelligence, embarked on a meticulous investigation. By categorizing recruits into two groups—those who succeeded in training and those who faltered—he aimed to discern the critical factors differentiating them. Through rigorous testing, Guilford and his team uncovered distinct intellectual disparities between the two groups.
Fuelled by this success, Guilford secured funding for the next two decades to delve deeper into the intricacies of human intellect. From his research emerged a transformative model for understanding intelligence and its application in learning and education.
SOI: Beyond IQ
Decades ago, intelligence was often equated with a person’s IQ score. However, this narrow perspective failed to capture the multifaceted nature of human intelligence. The Structure of Intellect (SOI) emerged as a paradigm shift, offering a holistic understanding of cognitive abilities.
SOI enables us to decipher the complexities behind learning disparities. Why does one student excel in reading but struggle with comprehension, while another demonstrates profound understanding yet requires assistance in reading? The answer lies in understanding each individual’s cognitive profile.
With SOI, we transcend mere numerical labels and delve into the underlying reasons for academic challenges. By identifying and addressing specific cognitive weaknesses, we empower educators, parents, and learners to adopt proactive strategies for improvement.
The Significance of Understanding Intellect
Our cognitive abilities influence every facet of our lives, from early childhood development to career choices and daily decision-making. Consider the simple act of selecting a meal from a restaurant menu—our cognitive profile influences how we perceive and approach this task.
Some may rely on visual cues, others on textual descriptions, while some may prioritize cost comparisons. Understanding the thought processes behind these decisions offers profound insights into human cognition.
By gaining a deeper understanding of our own intellect and that of others, we enhance our capacity to make informed decisions and foster empathetic interactions.
The Challenged Minds
As educators or parents, we witness the shortcomings of our children and students. At times, we wonder while at others we get frustrated. And whenever we don’t succeed in creating a change, a solution, or a winning situation, we label the situation as a case of neurodiversity. It doesn’t have to be the case every time. In most cases, those challenges relate to a weakness in a cognitive skill which with training and the proper intervention, can be easily or surely overcome. Observation we make are numerous, so for the sake of illustration, here are a few.
The child may skip letters while reading, misread words such as was and saw, or tilt their head when reading. They might appear clumsy—knocking objects over, overreaching, or tripping. This suggests a weakness in the skill of visual closure.
Signs of a weakness in visual discrimination include mistaking b for p, d for b, omitting words in sentences, and misreading word beginnings or endings.
If your child struggles with problem-solving in arithmetic, they may have a weakness in convergent production—also known as the application of numeral facts.
Or perhaps they find it difficult to relate mathematical concepts, which reflects a weakness in the cognition of semantic units, or simply understanding math problems.
This list of learning challenges doesn’t end here. But the challenges themselves can.
Challenges of the Thriving and the Gifted
The more achieving students and children, those to whom reading, solving, analysing, and evaluation, including memorising might come more easily, we refer to them as neurotypical. Learning seems to be an easier feat, but still presenting its challenges. This is due in part to the few cognitive skills that happened to be less developed than others. This can look like excellent reading and writing skills, faced with challenges in making sense of numbers.
Or, you might have had a child or student who seem to do so well in solving complex mathematical problems, yet struggles when it comes to spatial orientation.
On the other end of the spectrum, where giftedness lies, it is believed that learning is at its best and little to no challenges are encountered. Here is where we get the most surprised. Challenges of giftedness are not few, and they mainly have a behavioral aspect to them. These include self-esteem, impatience, perfectionism, social issues as maladjustment to peers and building relations.
Neurotypical and gifted students need more of our attention as they tend to be assumed as doing fine. However, assisting them has the potential to lift them much higher, the first being moved to the area of giftedness while the other being supported to overcome any remaining blocks to Excel.