The Mediated Learning Experience in Action

By Rachel Rosen and Louis H. Falik

This book is a hands-on description of the application of the methods developed by Professor Reuven Feuerstein to remediate and elaborate the skills and functions of young children who are experiencing a variety of learning disabilities and delays, based on his theories of structural cognitive modifiability (SCM) and the application of mediated learning experience (MLE).

The lead author is an experienced educational therapist who has worked with a variety of children, initially in the Feuerstein Institute (formerly the International Center for the Enhancement of Learning Potential [ICELP]) in Jerusalem, Israel. This experience under the supervision of Professor Feuerstein and his staff is the basis for the content of this book. Her case studies have been elaborated to illustrate examples of the creative potential in the application of the methodology incorporating mediated learning experience (MLE) into learning activities designed to be effective with a variety of learning dysfunctions. The chapter format highlights important insights in identifying difficulties and resolving them. This book describes how MLE can be used to formulate insightful and creative interventions that make a difference through the structural cognitive modifiability of very low-functioning children. After initial chapters establish the theoretical and conceptual foundations of the Feuerstein approach, the subsequent chapters present interventions provided for children presenting a variety of learning difficulties.

The book will be appropriate for several potential audiences: (1) teachers and parents who interact with special-needs children and who are seeking effective interventions to improve educational performance, (2) clinicians seeking a broadening of their therapeutic repertoires, and (3) scholars who are familiar with or wishing to gain understanding of the implementation of structural cognitive modifiability (SCM) and mediated learning experience (MLE) that was formulated and elaborated by Professor Feuerstein.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 30, 2019
• ISBN: 9781984561817

Rachel Rosen

Rachel Rosen is an Associate Professor at the UCL Social Research Institute, UK. Her research focuses on children and families with precarious immigration status, and their practices of sustenance and care at the intersections of neoliberal welfare and border regimes. Her current research includes Children Caring on the Move and Solidarities: Negotiating migrant deservingness. Rachel is co-author of Negotiating Adult-Child Relationships in Early Childhood Research (2014, Routledge), and co-editor of Reimagining Childhood Studies (2019, Bloomsbury Academic), Feminism and the Politics of Childhood: Friends or Foes? (2018, UCL Press), and Childhood, parenting culture, and adult-child relations in global perspectives (FRS, 2020).

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Copyright © 2019 by Rachel Rosen with Louis H. Falik.

Copyright of the Feuerstein materials belong to the Feuerstein Publishing House.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2018912707

ISBN:   Hardcover   978-1-9845-6183-1

             Softcover     978-1-9845-6182-4

             eBook           978-1-9845-6181-7

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Rev. date: 03/14/2019

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CONTENTS

Letter from Prof. Feuerstein

Acknowledgments

Preface

PART I

Introduction

to the

Process of Mediation

Chapter 1   How MLE Discovers Hidden Potential and Overcomes Learning Difficulty

Chapter 2   From Theory to Practice: Strategies for Evoking Structural Cognitive Modifiability

PART II

Cases of Mediated Learning From Which We Can Gain Insight

Chapter 3   Unrecognized Language Impairments

Jimmy - How Dots revealed Miracles

Andy – Words, but Meaning?

Simon - Noticing Creativity

Chapter 4   Mediation of Psychological Components

Carla- Learning of Monsters and Heroes(?!)

Chapter 5   Tapping into the Child’s Motivation

Gertrude - The Girl Who Loved Numbers and Letters

Susan – Meaningful Challenge and a Feeling of Competence

Bob – Meaning, Method and Motivation

Chapter 6   Psychological Sensitivity, Feedback Awareness and Perceptivity on the Part of the Mediator

Norman- Your I.Q. Can Be Raised!

Nathan – Identifying the Need for Individuation and Psychological Differentiation

Chapter 7   The Creative Factor in the Choice of Material and How It Is Used

Evan - The Potential of Mediation Through Music

Billy- Exploring Concepts on a Musical Keyboard

Sam – Revealing Hidden Strengths

Chapter 8   Misdiagnosis or Not Recognizing the Child’s Ability

Jodi –, Can You Hear Me?

Diana – Can You Reach Me?

Chapter 9   Providing Cognitive Challenges at an Appropriate Level

Thomas - Enabling Higher Cognitive Challenges

Chapter 10   Peripheral Rather than Central Deficiencies

Cynthia – Constructive Cognitive Dissonance

Chapter 11   Bridging

Nissan – Why are there 30 Days in a Month?

Chapter 12   Proximal Etiological Factors

Linda - I Can

Chapter 13   Process Orientation

Lisa – How Did I Do That?

Chapter 14   The Importance of Subtle Nuances

Miriam- The Need for Eye Contact

Chapter 15   Mediated Learning in a Group Setting Group Lesson – Orientation In Space 1

Chapter 16   Mediated Learning in a Group Setting: Part II: MLE for the Students, Their Parents and Families

Chapter 17   Epilogue

Appendix

References

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank G-d for maintaining my health, lengthening my days, and bringing me to this point to be able to write this book.

I will always have reverence for the esteemed Professor Reuven Feuerstein of Blessed Memory for his absolute Genius in being able to codify and encapsulate the cognitive functions, formulate a set of instruments that capture the pristine concepts that enable a learner to develop, strengthen and enhance the cognitive functions that are needed to generate creative thought, guide the mediator with the criteria necessary to direct the learner in his cognitive development and evaluate the learner’s cognitive ability to change and grow through a dynamic assessment process that can reveal the locus of the learner’s difficulty in order to better be able to correct it. Professor Feuerstein’s work has benefited and enhanced the lives of many underprivileged children around the world through these pristine instruments that can circumvent cultural, experiential, and educational bias, that many other evaluation methods are subject to. I believe implementation of Professor Feuerstein’s life work would benefit many children in our society that are suffering from underestimated, and under developed potential. His underlying philosophy rests on his belief in the infinite potential of the human brain, and his relentless insistence that goes against the tide of modern educational theory, that imparting the beauty of one’s cultural past from generation to generation enhances a child’s cognition, awareness, and ability to recognize the value of other cultural contributions; that the past and the future are equally relevant to the child’s wholesome development as his here and now experience; that it is the parent’s right and obligation to impart to his or her child, what is important and valuable that the parent holds dear, to the continuation of their heritage, and to the development of constructive ethical and moral values in their child.

The philosophy and methodology that Professor Feuerstein developed rang true as I became familiar with these teachings. They were not new or foreign ideas to me but these concepts that were un-verbalized and disorganized in my mind were identified, recognized, expressed, organized and codified by the Professor. I would like to express gratitude to my parents for their efforts in my education and development such that I benefited from, and recognized the value of these inceptions from within.

I would like to thank Professor Steven Gross, the supervisor of the International Department at the Feuerstein Institute, for his insightful guidance, support, and valuable advice in my work with the children. Even after leaving the institute to care for my granddaughter who lost her mother and suffered a severe traumatic brain injury at the age of 2 months, Professor Gross and his staff have continued to guide me through their periodic assessment of her, providing invaluable professional insights and advice in her development, for which I am forever grateful. Professor Gross has called her a little miracle as she develops into a charming girl, eager to learn, and full of personality.

Professor Lou Falik has provided the guidance, without which, this book would not have been able to be published. I am grateful to Prof. Falik for providing the major writing of the theoretical and philosophical background of the Feuerstein method found in the first two chapters. In a humble manner, he has offered suggestions and material through his editing that have greatly improved the quality of this book. I deeply appreciate all his efforts in bringing this book to light.

I would also like to thank the Feuerstein Institute for their assistance, and permission to publish this book.

Rachel Rosen

January 2019

PREFACE

What this book is about:

This book contains accounts of real examples of my experiences and interactions that were written from cases over the 20 years that I worked at the International Center for the Enhancement of Learning Potential in Jerusalem, Israel, (now called the Feuerstein Institute), where I was trained in the Instrumental Enrichment Program and the application of Mediated Learning Experience, as developed by the director and founder Professor Reuven Feuerstein (of blessed memory), and cases of other students and individuals that I had the opportunity to work with. Sharing these reports in which I helped many individuals who came to the institute from different countries around the world overcome cognitive obstacles to reach their ever expanding potential, could help to promote Professor Feuerstein’s method of mediation to maximize student’s potential and overcome cognitive obstacles, and benefit parents and educators by enabling them to get a better understanding of how to implement this method by reading about actual examples of mediated learning experience interactions and how it impacts the learner.

The Target Audience:

The target audience of this book includes parents, family members, educators, teaching assistants, and other paraprofessionals who assist other individuals of any age develop, maintain and or maximize their cognitive functioning. The reports include feedback to the parent or assistant working alongside the individual in how they could improve their mediation to the student at home or in other environments.

The Main Focus of the Material:

The main focus of the material includes how specific mediation criteria are implemented while allowing for creative, dynamic and open ended mediation by the mediator. Examples are shown of how the success of the mediation is enhanced by sensitive, perceptive and psychological awareness on the part of the mediator, and the mediator’s responsiveness to behavioral as well as cognitive feedback from the individual. There are examples of the impact that mediated learning experience has on the structural cognitive modifiability, as well as on the modification of behavior, motivation, and self-esteem, affecting the enhancement of all aspects of the individual’s ever expanding potential.

An Outline of the Book’s Structure:

The book will be a compilation of Dynamic Assessment Reports exemplifying the mediated learning experience while working with individual students. Mediated learning criteria are identified as they are implemented in working with the student. Examples of creative, dynamic, open ended mediation within the parameters of the mediated learning criteria will be highlighted. The reader will also experience examples of how mediation is enhanced by the sensitive, perceptive and psychological awareness and responsiveness on the part of the mediator, to behavioral as well as cognitive feedback from the individual. In each report the student’s strengths and difficulties will be identified as well as the interactions revealing their deficient cognitive functions. Included are examples of the impact that the mediated learning experience has on the students’ structural cognitive modifiability in terms of improvements in these deficient cognitive functions, as well as on the modification of behavior, motivation, and self esteem, affecting the enhancement of all aspects of the individual’s ever expanding potential. Each Chapter will offer insight into the creative, individual aspect involved in the process of mediation and reflect a different important component obtained through perceptive sensitivity, and creativity on the part of the mediator, over and above the mechanical techniques of the MLE, that can enhance the Mediated Learning Experience. One or more cases will be included in each chapter that reflects the particular component identified in the chapter. However, the reader will find overlapping of many of these considerations to be prevalent in each case.

One major chapter will describe in detail the exact methodology used in a group instrumental enrichment project, requested of me by Professor Reuven Feuerstein (O.B.M.). The instrument chosen by me was Orientation in Space l (from the FIE program). The group was heterogeneous, consisting of 7 students of multilingual backgrounds, ages and functional level. Some of the philosophy behind the decision to work with a heterogeneous group, and to invest time for international students to learn to recognize and respond in Hebrew in a closed system word recognition task will be addressed. Specific modifications and modalities will be highlighted which enabled students of varying functional levels to interact and respond, to circumvent individual limitations. Described in detail is the step-by-step building of prerequisite concepts and skills necessary for the elaboration and successful performance of the instrument Orientation in Space l with a gradual movement from concrete to abstract. This process enabled the participants, students and their accompanying assistants alike, to explore the concepts inherent in the instrument in depth and achieve levels of reciprocity, awareness, comprehension and responsiveness at a high level of complexity and abstraction that their family and onlookers didn’t think possible! Also included is advice to parents and accompanying assistants for improvement in their mediation skills where deemed appropriate. The development of social interaction of the students was another major focal point of the group project. A detailed description is given of the group exercises that took place, as well as individual spotlight activities done to enhance the student’s comprehension and participation. The group was charged with an exciting dynamic that made the interaction enjoyable throughout the course of the instrument.

An introduction to the group lesson outlines the format, goals and methods of the project. An appendix includes sample pages of students work on instrumental enrichment instrument "Orientation in Space l, a list of the Deficient Cognitive Functions, Mediated Learning Experience Criteria, and The Cognitive Map. Names of all the participants in this book were changed to protect confidentiality.

PART I

Introduction

to the

Process of Mediation

CHAPTER 1

How MLE Discovers Hidden Potential and Overcomes Learning Difficulty

The work with the children who are presented in this book describes application of a theory and the practices of evoking structural cognitive modifiability through the provision of mediated learning experience. The approach is that of Professor Reuven Feuerstein, who formulated that theory of structural cognitive modifiability (SCM), and the operational concepts that guided the development of applied programs for assessing cognitive functioning (the Learning Propensity Assessment Device-LPAD) and the building or strengthening of cognitive functions through the application of the Feuerstein Instrumental Enrichment (FIE) program.

The absolute genius of the late Professor Reuven Feuerstein was his ability to develop instruments that captured and extracted pristine cognitive functions void of the content and prerequisites that many of these children had repeatedly failed at, put up learning blocks against, or were never exposed to. Professor Feuerstein was able, through these instruments, to reveal and raise the level of many culturally deprived youngsters who otherwise would have been considered much lower functioning than their true capabilities.

Dynamic Assessment is the method of assessing one’s propensity for modification – one’s learning ability. The assessment is a process of structured learning, with mediated intervention according to the need of the student. Analysis of the interaction between the mediator and the student during the course of the assessment, enables the mediator to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the cognitive functions of the student in the three phases of thinking – input, elaboration and output, and determine the most efficient ways to overcome these deficiencies.

There is a rich and extensive literature on the two programs, LPAD and FIE, that the reader is encouraged to access, starting with Beyond Smarter (Feuerstein, Feuerstein, and Falik, 2010) and extending backward and forward in time (see the reference section at the end of this book).

In the cases included in this book, there are variations in clinical application, according to the needs of the children and their responses to mediation. It is the goal of this chapter to provide an orientation to the approach, both from a clinical perspective and through the structure of the theory. The reason for the latter is that the practices are guided by theory—the practitioner constantly considers intervention from the perspective of what the theory orients us to do, and to use both the structures of the applied programs (LPAD and FIE), and adaptations of them through the observations of the mediator, as things unfold over time and across tasks.

In order to understand the many meaningful and interesting changes experienced by the wonderful children in this book, it is necessary to provide a brief outline of several of the important operational concepts, and how the mediator/teacher/clinician applies them. They will be in evidence, applied in unique and innovative ways, throughout the various learning experiences of the children you will meet in this book. They can be explored more deeply in the aforementioned bibliographic references mentioned above. Here we will limit ourselves to a few of the highlights, directing the reader to what will come.

Mediated Learning Experience (MLE)

Feuerstein proposed that we learn from two kinds of experience, direct learning and mediated learning, and that both contribute to our understanding and mastery of our worlds. Direct learning comes from our immediate and repeated experiences with the objects and events of the world, and develops throughout our lifetimes, beginning even when we are in our mother’s wombs. Mediated learning experience (MLE) occurs when significant caregivers focus, interpret and make meaningful our experiences with our worlds. This broadens, deepens, and enhances the learner’s engagement with the stimuli and social interactions, starting at birth and even prior. There are a number of variables that influence the availability, course, and integration of MLE, and these can be understood through an exploration of the many writings about them (see above). A schema for observing the relationship between direct and mediated learning is presented here, without further explication.

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Taken by permission from the Feuerstein Publishing House

MLE is the vehicle through which cognitive modifiability is achieved. The learner experiences various aspects (we call them parameters) according to the nature of the stimuli to which the learner is exposed, and the needs and response capacities of the learner. For the children we will meet in this book, the latter condition is salient. That is, when the learner is not available to receive the mediation, or is deprived of mediation either for internal or external reasons (see the discussion and schema for distal and proximal determinants in chapter 2), one can posit some type and degree of special need. In such situations, MLE is directed—through specially provided activities and focused interactions—to these needs and the experiences that address them. All of the children you will meet in this book manifest some degree of need for mediation, some more serious and others less so. The kind of mediation offered, their responses to it, and the cognitive modifiability that ensues, is the focus of this book. Our intention is to show how MLE is the vehicle for this to occur. One of the important distinctions learned from Feuerstein was that all teaching is not mediation, but all mediation is teaching.

MLE requires a skilled mediator, and can be applied to all areas of practice—including occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, physical therapy, academic skill teaching. The effects of mediation are enhanced when the mediator possesses insightful and perceptive relationship skills. In both of these regards, the theories and practices acquired from the Feuerstein perspective are critically important. The mediator assesses the tasks that the learner must respond to, observes the learner’s response, and then interposes him or herself to enhance the experience for the learner—employing a variety of strategies to enable the learner to maximize his benefit from the encounter with the task. These include emphasizing relevant aspects of the stimulus, focusing attention by highlighting the stimulus, simplifying a complex task to its component parts, relating to the stimulus in a way that transcends the specific task at hand, and other possible interventions.

There are 12 criteria of MLE. The first three can be described as universal meaning that they must be present in any mediated interaction. Every learning encounter should have them deeply embedded, both implicitly and explicitly. The remaining nine are situational, in that particular circumstances or conditions may be present to invoke their activation. For the purposes of this book, we will focus primarily on the first three, and refer to the others as they appear in the cases we present in subsequent chapters. (See the list of MLE Criteria found in the appendix). Detailed descriptions of the other MLE criteria are available in several publications, described in the reference section at the end of this book. To put them in context, we have developed an integrated model of how the parameters relate to one another.

Mediation Mandala Schema

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