Learning Center Results 2009

Learning Processes
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2009
Learning Center
Results

Introduction from the
Director of Research & Development
We teach reading, comprehension, and math.

A simple statement that includes so much. Written language is believed to have started around 5,000 years ago,
yet with all of the technological advantages of modern life, children still struggle learning to read. According
to the National Center for Education Statistics, 25% of eighth graders and 33% of fourth graders tested ‘below
basic’ in reading just this year.

The United States Department of Education has pumped an unprecedented amount of money into improving
poor-performing schools. What’s the basis for determining a school’s poor performance? Answer: the state
tests that require reading, comprehension, and math.

We teach reading and comprehension with our core programs—Seeing Stars®, LiPS®, and Visualizing and
Verbalizing®. Seeing Stars® and LiPS® develop the sensory-cognitive functions of phonemic awareness and
symbol imagery, necessary for decoding skills such as word recognition, word attack, paragraph reading, and
fluency. Visualizing and Verbalizing® develops the sensory-cognitive function of concept imagery for improving
comprehension, vocabulary, and thinking skills.

We teach math with On Cloud Nine®, an approach that develops sensory-cognitive functions for application
to arithmetic and mathematics. All of our programs have emerged from our clinical interaction and academic
research.

Lindamood-Bell’s forty-three learning centers provide individual instruction for thousands of students each
year with the goal of helping them learn to their potential. The centers’ success is based on (1) accurate
assessment of an individual’s language processing skills, (2) appropriate instruction, and (3) an appropriate
learning environment that will develop independence.

While the over 2,300 individuals who received instruction at Lindamood-Bell® Learning Centers in 2009 are
unique, this report provides results from groups of students based on similar need, age, or preexisting diagnosis.
I hope you find the information helpful as we continue to teach reading, comprehension, and math.

Please visit our website, www.lindamoodbell.com, for additional information.

Dave Hungerford
Director of Research & Development

Due to the extremely diverse nature of the population of individuals we service, Lindamood-Bell makes no guarantee or representation of warranty (express or implied)
regarding an individual’s results from program participation, or as compared to the aggregate results contained in this report. Results will vary from student to student.
1

Table of Contents

Who Comes to Lindamood-Bell? .................................................................................. 3

Why Do Individuals Attend Lindamood-Bell?................................................................ 4

Assessment ................................................................ .................................................... 5

Comprehension Results ................................................................................................. 7

Decoding Results .......................................................................................................... 8

Results by Prior Diagnosis ............................................................................. ............... 9

Autism Spectrum Disorders .......................................................................................... 10

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) .......................................................... 10

Dyslexia.................................................. ............................................................ 11

Hyperlexia................................................................................................................. 11

Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD)................................................................ 12

Results by Specific Groups ............................................................................................. 13

Kindergarten to Second Grade ...................................................................................... 13

Adults ................................................................................................................... 14

Visualizing and Verbalizing® (V/V®), Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing Program® (LiPS®), Seeing Stars® (SITM), and On Cloud Nine®
Math (OCNTM) are trademarks and are the property of their respective owners. All of the materials on these pages are copyrighted
by Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes. All rights reserved. No part of these pages, either text or image, may be used for any purpose
other than personal use. Therefore, reproduction in any form or by any means, for reasons other than personal use, is strictly prohibited
without prior written permission from Lindamood-Bell.
2

Who Comes to Lindamood-Bell?
Every day individuals come to the Lindamood-Bell® Learning Centers seeking help. One may be the parent of a
child who has struggled to learn to read but who understands the stories if his parent reads aloud. Another may be
a young adult who is getting by in college but who has to read and reread text in order to understand it. We work
to develop language processing with people of all ages and skill levels.

The following tables show the distribution of the age and grade of students who received instruction at our
Learning Centers in 2009. The average age was 10.8, and the majority of clients were between six and twelve years
old. The average grade level was 4.1. More males attended than females: 61 to 39 percent, respectively.

Age of the Clients: Grade of the Clients:
350 339 1000
329
309
848
300
260 800 751
250
208
600
200
QUANTITY

QUANTITY

157 159 440
150 400
121
108
98
100
66 66 172
49 200
50 34 105
13
0 0
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18-65 Pre-K—2nd 3rd—5th 6th—8th 9th—12th Adult
AGE of STUDENTS GRADE LEVEL

Many individuals have sought help through their school district and other private reading instruction providers
before seeking Lindamood-Bell® help.

Individuals who reported...
• Receiving speech therapy: 42%. • Receiving special education services: 31%.
• Receiving remedial reading help at school: 28%. • Repeating a grade: 15%.
• Being identified as Gifted: 6%.

“G and I still speak frequently of our experiences at
Lindamood-Bell and the friends we made there. What
a wonderful and memorable experience we had with all
of you. I cannot express enough the difference you all
made in G’s life. I find myself in awe, amazement and
joy as I witness her breezing through all of her school
work, homework and tests! I was very pleased with the
progress G made and amazed that she was able to learn
thanks to the effective program and to all of you.”
~G’s mother

3

Why Do Individuals Attend Lindamood-Bell?
Language Processing and Literacy Skills and Programs
Individuals come to us with a wide range of abilities and challenges. The directors of Lindamood-Bell have authored
instructional programs that develop the sensory-cognitive functions necessary for oral and written language/literacy
competence. Each individual receives a diagnostic learning evaluation to determine which program or programs
are appropriate. In general, deficits can be considered as being in one of the domains described below—with
language/literacy skills being composed of decoding and comprehension. Also described are the programs used to
develop the skills of each domain.

Decoding—identified by word reading, phonemic Math—the core sensory-cognitive functions can also
awareness, symbol imagery, word attack, spelling, and be reflected in difficulty in mathematical computation
fluency skills. and thinking.

Appropriate Instructional Programs Appropriate Instructional Program
Seeing Stars for Symbol Imagery (SI ) develops
® ™ On Cloud Nine® (OCN®) program applies
symbol imagery and phonemic awareness, parts of symbol and concept imagery to arithmetic
the phonological and orthographic processes of and mathematical reasoning. It improves both
reading, spelling, and fluency. computational skills and the ability to solve
word problems.
The Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing®
(LiPS®) Program develops phonemic awareness
for reading, spelling, and speech.

Comprehension—marked by text and oral language
comprehension and expression, vocabulary, and critical
thinking skills. The following table illustrates the number of students
Appropriate Instructional Program in these primary domains. The Math section includes
The Visualizing and Verbalizing® (V/V®) students who received OCN® math instruction only
program develops concept imagery, a base or a combination of OCN® and instruction in one or
for language comprehension, vocabulary, and more other programs (e.g., OCN® and V/V®).
thinking.

The Talkies® program is a primer to V/V® that
develops oral language comprehension and 15%
expression for young students or students with
32% Decoding - 655
very low oral vocabulary.
Comprehension - 455
Decoding and Comprehension—some students Decoding &
exhibited difficulty in both domains of skills. 31% Comprehension - 620

Appropriate Instructional Program Math - 296
Seeing Stars , LiPS and Visualizing and
® ®
22%
Verbalizing® are the core programs, and
individual differences dictate the ratio and overall
time of instruction recommended.
4

Assessment
Lindamood-Bell uses nationally normed tests to diagnose student need and measure progress. A range of standardized
tests, administered one-to-one, provides an accurate profile of strengths and weaknesses in language processing skills.
The following table shows the skills assessed and the tasks used to measure them.

SKILL TASK
What the test measures What the test requires
SENSORY-COGNITIVE
Image and manipulate orthographic
Symbol Imagery
and phonemic patterns.
Perceive sounds in isolation
Phonemic Awareness
and within words.

BASIC DECODING
Read a list of progressively
Word Attack
difficult nonsense words.
Read a list of progressively
Word Recognition
difficult real words.
Spell a list of progressively
Spelling
difficult real words.

PARAGRAPH READING
Read paragraphs aloud. Fluency is
Rate, Accuracy, and Fluency
a combination of rate and accuracy.

COMPREHENSION
Select one picture from four that
Vocabulary
matches a spoken word.
Answer multiple-choice questions
Comprehension
after reading a paragraph aloud.
Mark visual material after
Oral Directions
hearing spoken directions.
Say the opposite of a verbally provided word.
Word Opposites
A measure of expressive vocabulary.

“Many aspects of my hours at Lindamood-Bell come to mind. Caring clinicians, always with
smiles from the heart, and happy children of all ages, feeling comfortable in a potentially
frightening environment. Thank you for your consistent and professional approach.”
~B, a student
5

Assessment
Test Interpretation
One of the most common ways test publishers provide results “J and I were at the video
is through the use of percentile scores, which allow for direct store and I was looking
comparison to other tests on the same scale. Derived from standard
at a movie. He came up to
scores, a percentile is a ranking (1 to 99) between people of the
same age. For example, if a student scores at the 75th percentile, he me and asked what I was
scores as well as or better than 75% of the people his age. looking at. I simply said,
‘Just some movie,’ and J
Percentile Range Definition asked me, ‘Well, what is the
Below 25th Below Normal Weakness main idea of it? Who is the
main character and what do
25th - 36th Within Normal Moderate Difficulty
you see her doing? Can you
37th - 62nd Within Normal Adequate Ability
give me a summary?’ I was
63 -75
rd th
Within Normal Ease amazed! He had never used
Above 75th Above Normal Strength that type of language before
and I thought, Thank you

Aggregate results are tested for statistical significance using paired Lindamood-Bell!
t-tests. Significance is not a measure of the size of gains, but of
the improbability of the gains being due to chance. Statistically
~J’s mother
significant results (which are unlikely to have occured by chance)
are noted with an asterisk.

The following analyses include pre- and post-instruction results. All
students had at least 20 hours of instruction and less than 240 hours
of instruction, comprising about 90% of the overall clientele.

6

Comprehension
Results of Students Who Received Comprehension Instruction
The debate on teaching reading has primarily focused on the decoding domain. Comprehension has been
underemphasized even though it is the primary reason to read. Comprehension of text is a teachable, learnable skill
that is the end goal of reading. A majority (53%) of Lindamood-Bell® students received instruction designed to
improve the comprehension domain skills.

Severe Comprehension Weakness
Below are the results for students who scored at or below the 25th percentile on text comprehension at pre-test. This
would be considered a severe deficit. On average these students progressed to the 23rd percentile, nearing the normal
range. The majority of these students received between three and nine weeks of instruction.

Pre- and Post-Test Percentiles
30 27
25 23 23
Pre
20 19 Post

15 13 13

10
6 6
5
0
Vocabulary* Word Opposites* Oral Directions* Comprehension*
*Statistically significant (p < .05)

Moderate Comprehension Weakness
Below are the results for students who scored between the 25th and 50th percentile on text comprehension at pre-
test. This would be considered in the normal range. As seen below, the students made substantial gain on a measure
of reading comprehension and on a test that requires listening comprehension (Oral Directions).

60 58 58 58
Pre
50
50 47 45 45
Post

40
30
21
20
10
0
Vo c a b u la r y * Word O p p osit es* Oral D irect io ns* Co mpreh ension*
7

Decoding
Results of Students Who Received Decoding Instruction
The majority of students who exhibited weakness in decoding received instruction using the Seeing Stars® program.
Below are the results before and after Seeing Stars® instruction. Most students received between three and nine
weeks of instruction, and many students made a substantial improvement that allowed them to read text with
confidence and proficiency. Notice also the change in comprehension following the decoding instruction.

80 Pre- and Post-Test Percentiles
Pre
70 66 Post

60 58
55 55
50 47
39
40 32
32
30 25 23
19
20
10 7

0
S ymbol P honemic Wo r d Wo r d P a r a g r a p h R ea d i n g C o m p r e h e n s io n *
Image r y* Awareness* At t a c k * R ec o gn i t i o n * A c c ur a c y *

Results of Students Who Received Both Decoding & Comprehension Instruction
Many students received instruction in bothVisualizing andVerbalizing® and Seeing Stars®. Clearly, decoding and comprehension
have a crossover effect, and the results below indicate substantial growth for these lower-performing students.

80 Pre- and Post-Test Percentiles Pre

70 63
Post
61
60
50
50 45 47 47
42
40 37 37
30
30 25 23
27 25 27 25
20 14
10
10
0
Symbol Phonemic Word Word Paragraph Reading Comprehension* Vocabulary* Word Oral
Imagery* Awareness* Attack* Recognition* Accuracy* Opposites* Directions*

8

Results by Prior Diagnosis
What Diagnoses Have Lindamood-Bell® Students Reported?
While individuals receive a thorough diagnostic learning evaluation that analyzes a wide range of language processing
skills, Lindamood-Bell does not assign diagnostic labels to individuals. However, in 2009 the following diagnoses
were reported by students or parents as having been previously conferred:

• Autism Spectrum Disorder (including Asperger’s Syndrome, Pervasive Developmental Disorder, and Autism).

• Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (includes ADD)

• Central Auditory Processing Disorder

• Dyslexia

• Additionally, a wide range of other diagnoses were reported, including Specific Learning Disability and
Speech or Language Impairments.

“My son has a future now, and for that you have my most
heartfelt gratitude. MY SON CAN READ!! I want to shout it from
every mountaintop.” ~S, a mother

Approximately 60% of 2009 Lindamood-Bell® students reported having received a diagnosis prior to attending.
The following chart shows the number and percentage among those that reported the four main diagnoses.

20%
34% Autism Spectrum Disorder - 102

Attention-Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder - 175
Central Auditory
Processing Disorder - 53

35% Dyslexia - 172
11%

9

Autism Spectrum Disorders
This class of disorders is a rapidly growing concern, with reports of 1 in less than 100 births in the United States
being affected. Individuals exhibit a wide range of strengths and weaknesses, but the majority of those attending
the Lindamood-Bell® Learning Centers received instruction designed to strengthen language comprehension. The
following are the average results for those individuals.

27
Post
25 23

20 19
16
15 14
12
10
10
5 4

0

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Many students (35%) reported having been diagnosed as having ADHD. It is estimated that between 5-8% of
the general population of children qualify as ADHD. Inattentiveness, hyperactivity, and impulsiveness are the
main characteristics. The students’ instruction was fairly evenly split between decoding, comprehension, and a
combination of the two. The results follow.

70 66 Post
61
60
50 45 45 47

40 32
30 27 25
20
10
0
Symbol Imagery* Phonemic Awareness* Word Attack* Comprehension*
10

Dyslexia
Dyslexia is a term that has historically been applied inconsistently. In general it is defined by evidence of a student
having difficulty in decoding, fluency, and spelling. The results below are from students whose primary instructional
program was Seeing Stars®. Some had additional Visualizing and Verbalizing® instruction. All reported having
received a diagnosis of dyslexia prior to instruction.

80 Pre
68 68 Post
70 66
60
50
50 45
39
40
30 32
30 25 23
21
20
9
10
0
Symbol Phonemic Word Word Spelling* Paragraph Reading
Imagery* Awareness* Attack* Recognition* Accuracy*

Hyperlexia
A less-common diagnosis, hyperlexia generally denotes above-average decoding skill and below-average reading
comprehension. The chart below shows the results of students with hyperlexic characteristics. The students exhibited
above-average decoding (word attack and word recognition at or above 50th percentile) and poor listening comprehension
(vocabulary and oral directions at or below the 25th percentile).

30 27
Pre
Post
25
25 23

20
15 12 13
12
10
10
5 3

0
11

Central Auditory Processing Disorder
Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) is a general term for disorders that affect how the brain processes
auditory information. It is not a hearing impairment. Below are the decoding results for students reporting CAPD
who received Seeing Stars® and/or Visualizing and Verbalizing® instruction.

80 Pre
Post
70 63 66
60 53
50 47 47
39
40
30 30
30
20
10
0
Symbol Imagery* Phonemic Awareness* Word Attack* Word Recognition*

50 47 Pre
Post

40 37
34
32 32
30 25
19
20
14
10

0
Paragraph Reading Accuracy* Comprehension* Word Opposites* Oral Directions*

12

Results by Specific Groups
Kindergarten to Second Grade
The first three years of the scholastic experience are extremely important. Necessary decoding, comprehension,
and mathematics skills are emerging as a part of a child’s normal cognitive development. And if that development
lags, a course can be set for children that is difficult to correct. For decades, the process of providing special services
for children has included waiting until third grade; then, if a child is unable to read, comprehend, or succeed in
math, he or she is eligible for extra assistance. Unfortunately, at third grade, school curriculum traditionally shifts
to emphasizing content as opposed to language processing. Students that are not competent at this point may be
left behind.

Parents and educators are increasingly unwilling to accept this wait-to-fail model. In 2009, 297 kindergarten to
second grade students received help at Lindamood-Bell. Below are the results for those who received instruction
only in Seeing Stars® and then those who had a combination of Seeing Stars® and Visualizing and Verbalizing®.

Pre
80 77
Post
70
58
60 55
50 50
50
39
40 34
30
30 25
19
20
10
0
Phonemic Awareness* Word Attack* Word Recognition* Spelling* Comprehension*

60 58 Pre
55 Post

50 47
45
40
34
30 25
21
20 18

9
10 7

0
Word Recognition* Paragraph Reading Fluency* Comprehension* Vocabulary* Oral Directions*
13

Results by Specific Groups
Adults
A small percentage of the students who attended the learning centers were over age 18. The majority of these
students received some Visualizing and Verbalizing® either alone or in conjunction with Seeing Stars®. The results
indicate that substantial gain can be made as a lifelong learner.

35 34 34 Pre
Post
30
30 27 27
25
20 18 19 19

15 14 13
10
5
0
Phonemic Awareness* Word Recognition* Paragraph Reading Accuracy* Comprehension* Vocabulary*

“How you’ve changed my life and my mind! Though I have a long way to go, I believe I’m
getting stronger and stronger. Each and every one of you believe in us and want to see us
through. Thanks for believing in my mind and that it is possible to get better.”
~S, a student

Conclusion
While these results of the 2009 students are presented in aggregate, Lindamood-Bell realizes that each individual’s
skills, challenges, and motivators are unique. Our research-based programs are taught by highly qualified staff,
and the progress of each individual is closely monitored throughout the process. We are extremely proud of the
individual progress represented by the preceding results.

© 2010 Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes
14

Learning Processes
416 Higuera Street
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
(805) 541-3836 or (800) 233-1819
www.LindamoodBell.com

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These Lindamood-Bell® Learning Centers are the only centers licensed and endorsed by the authors of the Lindamood-Bell® programs.

Learning Center Results 2009

Learning Center Results 2009

Learning Center Results 2009

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