The greatness of Reuven Feuerstein, clinical, developmental, and cognitive psychologist, known for his theory that intelligence is not fixed, lay in his recognition of the relevance of a child’s past, present, and future to that child’s academic success. A child may have had a rough start, but can still have a brilliant future. Feuerstein knew that—knew that all children are capable of learning, no matter where they are at the start. But Feuerstein is gone, having died at the ripe old age of 93. With Feuerstein now only a memory, who is left to believe that our children, all of them, can learn?
We are a society of labels: ADHD, dyslexia, math whiz, genius, slow, quick. It’s easier to deal with the label than to see through the externals to the strengths buried deep within the child, which might be called upon to advance learning to the next level. This was Feuerstein’s strength: seeing the strengths in the child, seeing the whole child, and defining the next goal in the learning process. It is up to us to keep Feuerstein’s legacy and important methodologies alive.
In the 1950’s, Feuerstein took part in research trials in which a number of academic tests were administered to immigrant children. Feuerstein questioned the poor results of these immigrant children on IQ tests and decided to mediate and intervene. As a result, the performance levels of the immigrant children rose.
There is a pervasive belief that IQ tests summarize a child’s unchangeable intelligence. This is, in fact, untrue. The IQ test was designed by Binet to determine how children enrolled in the Paris public school system were faring. Binet’s intention was that new educational programs would be created in response to the results of French schoolchildren taking the test. The very foundation for the IQ test’s conception was to demonstrate that education and review/practice could bring about fundamental changes to a child’s intellect.
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