AN OVERVIEW OF SOME OF THE RESEARCH INTO THE ARROWSMITH PROGRAM

The Arrowsmith Program of cognitive exercises was first offered to students with learning disabilities in 1978. Arrowsmith School was established in Toronto in 1980 where the program has been offered and continuously developed since that date. It is now offered at public and private schools in Canada and the U.S.

The Arrowsmith methodology is based on neuroscientific research and over twenty-five years of experience demonstrating that it is possible to help students strengthen the weak cognitive capacities underlying their learning dysfunctions. We are pleased to provide an overview of some of the research that has been conducted into the work at Arrowsmith School and into the improvements that have been made by students enrolled in the Arrowsmith Program.

The Arrowsmith School website at www.arrowsmithschool.org contains a description of the Arrowsmith methodology and additional information on the types of learning disabilities that it addresses as well as articles about Arrowsmith School and the text of the research studies that are referred to in this pamphlet.

In 2001, the Donner Canadian Foundation funded a three year study that was designed to follow a sample of 79 learning disabled students attending the Arrowsmith School in Toronto. The study was prepared by Dr. William J. Lancee, Ph.D. who is Head of Research in the Department of Psychiatry at Mount Sinai Hospital and Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto.

From the Introduction to the Outcome Evaluation of the Arrowsmith Program
For Treating Learning Disabled Students. (November 20, 2005, Dr. W.J. Lancee)

Learning Disabilities (LD) seriously affect academic and emotional development and are unlikely to remit without specialized intervention. Students with learning disabilities tend to fall farther and farther behind their peers in academic performance and subsequently tend to have a low sense of self-worth. Klein and Mannuza (2000) followed 104 children with LD who initially did not have emotional difficulties. Sixteen years later, these children, when compared to 124 controls, had a much lower status occupational level and continued to struggle with a high prevalence of psychiatric and addiction disorders.

Various special education programs have been developed to address learning disabilities. The approach of the Arrowsmith Program is first to distinguish finely between elemental cognitive impairments and then to implement an individualized task-oriented program that challenges the identified deficit. It is thought that these highly targeted cognitive exercises create ways for the brain to provide the necessary functionality for encoding and decoding spoken and written discourse, and for storing, organizing, processing, and integrating knowledge. If this is successful, the child can rejoin his or her peers in normal academic progress. It should be understood that successful graduates of the Arrowsmith Program will require some time to make up for the learning time that was lost due to the original impairment. The developer of the Arrowsmith Program has high expectations for the successful graduates and believes that they will become academically and occupationally competitive.

The study sample

The total number of students followed was 79 with a male to female ratio of 2 to 1 (53 male, 26 female). All students in the study sample completed at least one year. The majority of students were in the study for two years (62%), and 23 students (29%) were in the study for 3 years. … The majority of the students (81%; 64 students) received six 40 minute periods per day of AP cognitive exercises and one 40 minute period each of English and mathematics instruction while 19% (15 students) received eight 40 minute periods per day of AP cognitive exercises and no academic instruction.

From the Executive Summary to the study

The results were informative and encouraging. The amount of improvement was slightly dependent on intake severity level (the number of performance problem areas on intake). The rate of improvement varied from one year to three years, and was dependent on initial severity. The amount and rate of improvement were not dependent on other baseline characteristics such as age, gender or IQ. Furthermore, the rate of improvement was not dependent on the type of impairment at intake. All deficit areas identified by the Arrowsmith Program improved as a result of the application of Arrowsmith Program cognitive exercises. A specificity of effect was found suggesting that the cognitive exercises could be directly linked to performance improvement. Moreover, students who through specific cognitive exercises improved with respect to AP cognitive functions also improved on related achievement tests.

In the study sample, the cognitive deficits tended to be multi-dimensional, and there was no clear pattern of combinations of deficits. In other words, a given AP student was likely to have more than one deficit and his or her combination tended to be specific to the student.

This study, combined with previous research of the program, strongly supports the effectiveness of the Arrowsmith Program for a wide spectrum of learning problems. These results provide hope for parents and teachers, and open up opportunities for children struggling with learning difficulties.

Summary and Conclusion of the 2005 Lancee Arrowsmith Study

Previous research on the Arrowsmith Program has supported its effectiveness in broad terms. The present study funded by the Donner Canadian Foundation provides specific answers to important questions about why and how the AP cognitive exercises are effective.

1. For whom is the Arrowsmith Program most effective?

ANSWER: All but 2 out of the 79 students did improve. The 2 students who did not improve were not distinguishable from other students in their pattern of test results at intake

a. Are some impairments irreparable?

ANSWER: all AP cognitive functions improved through AP cognitive exercises

b. Does it depend on student characteristics (age, gender, IQ)?

ANSWER: age, gender, and IQ (controlling for intake severity) were not related to improvement.

2. What affects the rate of improvement?

ANSWER: rate of improvement depended primarily on the extent of impairment on intake – the number of performance problem areas

a. Is it related to the type of impairment at intake?

ANSWER: rate of improvement was not related to any specific functional deficit

b. Is it related to other student characteristics (age, gender, IQ)?

ANSWER: rate of improvement was not related to age, gender or starting IQ

3. Are performance problems identifiable in terms of AP cognitive functions?

ANSWER: Since a specific cognitive impairment can effect more than one academic performance area, identification requires testing for specific impairments and cannot be based on performance on achievement tests

4. Can exercises be directly linked to performance improvement?

ANSWER: There is a specificity of effect. Students who, through specific exercises, improve with respect to AP cognitive functions also improve on related achievement tests."

Report on the Study of the Arrowsmith Program in the Toronto Catholic District School Board (January 22, 2003, Dr. W.J. Lancee)

The 2005 study followed an earlier study also prepared by Dr. Lancee of a group of students in the Arrowsmith Program in the Toronto Catholic District School Board which offers the Arrowsmith Program in seven elementary schools across Toronto.

The following excerpts are taken from the 2003 study which is titled "Report on the TCDSB Study of the Arrowsmith Program for Learning Disabilities" that was released on January 22, 2003.

From the Conclusion to the 2003 study

Despite some study design limitations and small sample size, the study results strongly support the Arrowsmith Program as instrumental in changing the developmental course of the majority of children with LD in this sample. In only 12 months, almost one third of the AP students were on a course that brought them closer to their peers. Another 27% improved their performance at the same rate as expected from their non-LD peers, that is, they stayed at the same distance but did not fall further behind. All other AP students (43%) improved at least somewhat on the various achievement tests. None of the 10 students in the comparison group progressed substantially beyond their entry status.

Relationship between improvements and satisfaction

The 30 AP students, their parents and teachers completed a 24 item satisfaction questionnaire. Improvements were seen by at least 2 raters (teacher and student; student and parent; or teacher and parent) in more than 80% of students in the following areas: reading comprehension; ability to focus on task; understanding ideas; legibility of written work; confidence; self-esteem; and ability to self-advocate. Between 70% and 80% of students were seen as having improved in: telling time; remembering factual information; listening skills; organizational skills; and understanding and following instructions.

2004 Eaton Case Studies

Eaton Arrowsmith School in Vancouver was established in 2005 by Howard Eaton and is modelled after Arrowsmith School in Toronto. Howard was diagnosed with Severe Developmental Dyslexia in 1972 and was fortunate to receive intensive remediation. He went on to earn a psychology degree at the University of British Columbia and then a Masters in Education at Boston University specializing in Special Education and Assessment. He is currently completing his Ph. D. in neuropsychology.

Over the last 10 years Howard has been involved in conducting psycho-educational assessments, training teachers at both public and private schools across the Lower Mainlaind, writing curriculums on Self-Advocacy and Transition Planning and teaching at the University of British Columbia as a Sessional Instructor for the Faculty of Educational Psychology and Special Education.

The Arrowsmith website contains the results of case studies of students who had been enrolled in the Arrowsmith Program that were conducted by Howard Eaton in 2004. Three Arrowsmith students were pre-tested and then post-tested after one, two and three years in the Arrowsmith Program on the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities and Achievement. The significance of these findings led Howard Eaton to establish Eaton Arrowsmith School.
The following improvements were observed:

• faster cognitive efficiency
• improved visual-motor integration
• improved visual-perceptual functioning
• improved auditory processing for speech sounds and discourse
• improved semantic knowledge
• improved achievement skills

Toronto Catholic District School Board Learning Disabilities Program Review

The Arrowsmith Program was first offered outside Arrowsmith School in the Toronto Catholic District School Board where there are now seven schools across Toronto that offer the Arrowsmith Program.

In 2004 the TCDSB completed a report on students with learning disabilities in the Board. There are 3,400 students within the Board identified as having a learning disability and the report is a comprehensive review of learning disabilities programs offered to elementary school students within the Board. This report was presented to the Special Education Advisory Committee of the Toronto Catholic District School Board on November 24, 2004

The Program Review included the Arrowsmith Program, the Hospital for Sick Children Learning Disabilities Research Program, self-contained special education classrooms and resource/withdrawal or integration in the regular class with modifications and/or accommodations.

The Report stated:

“Recognizing that each model of program delivery in the area of Learning Disabilities has its strengths and may address the needs of very specific populations of students, this review is not designed to compare models of delivery or to identify the single model of delivery that will best serve the needs of all students identified as Learning Disabled. However, data analysis does allow for the comparison of skills addressed in various programs.”

and with respect to the Arrowsmith Program concluded:

“The Arrowsmith program has had a statistically significant impact on most processing measures and one reading measure. Effect size analyses indicate that gains were achieved on the Processing Speed measure and on the WJ Pair Cancellation measure. Gains were also achieved on three of the phonological measures. On most measures, students maintained relative standing with their peers.”

Extracts from reports presented at Poster Sessions at conferences OF THE American Psychological Association by Barbara Young, M.A. and Donald F. Burrill. PH.D.

From ‘Correlates of a Test of Motor Symbol Sequencing Performance’ (105th APA Annual Conference at Chicago on August 15, 1997)

Summary
This study investigated the relationship between a test developed to measure the rate of learning a repeated sequence of symbols as an automatic motor pattern and standardized tests of writing and copying. Performance on the motor symbol sequencing test, for a group of 12 learning disabled individuals and a control group of 35 adults, correlated significantly with standardized tests of copying and handwriting. Performance on the test significantly discriminated between the two groups. Further research is needed to see if this test could be used to identify individuals at risk of having difficulty with the motor act of the writing process.

From ‘Treatment Outcome for a Motor Symbol Sequencing Dysfunction’ (108th APA Annual Conference at Washington, D.C. on August 7, 2000)

Summary
This study investigated the relationship between a treatment program designed to train automatic written motor symbol sequences for a group of 12 learning disabled individuals having difficulty with the writing process and outcome measures on a test developed to measure the rate of learning a repeated sequence of symbols as an automatic motor pattern and standardized tests of writing and copying. Significant positive changes were found from pre- to post-treatment testing on all measures.