Fundamental Skills 1

Abstract: Visual integration is an intellectual skill that conditions the learning of reading, writing and the capture of 80% of the information processed by the brain. All knowledge begins with the senses. In the stage of concrete thought (before the age of 7) we must verify if this capture is complete, precise and effortless.

Implications of poor visual integration:

This profile causes information captured by the visual sense not to reach the brain completely or to be slow and difficult to process. At this age children need to stimulate this skill that will be key in later learning.

Spatial orientation is an indispensable skill for mathematics, writing and reading: it influences location on paper, directionality and spatial calculation.

The product of the relationships emphasized in this skill is a great challenge for children's intelligence because it has to find the "invisible thread" that exists between a certain position and variable spatial references. The capture of spatial relationships increases the basis for the transition between concrete and abstract thinking.
 

Implications of poor spatial relations:

Trouble in: reading, writing and mathematics.
 

Visual memory is a skill that conditions the learning of reading and writing. In the first phase, the mind captures letters as a figure or image (CUF), then memorizes it (MUF) in the Visual Letter Representation Area (VWFA). The activation of this neurological zone is the main factor that most accurately predicts reading success.

This skill also includes the visual attention that is essential for detail memory to work.
 

Implications of poor visual memory:

It crucially conditions the learning of reading and writing. Fortunately, it is a skill that depends more on systematization than on the intensity of stimulation.

This is a skill that conditions the learning of arithmetic in a first level: the sense of the number.

With manipulative material the test checks the child's understanding of numbers up to this point. Since arithmetic is the cornerstone of mathematics, it is necessary to verify the initial understanding from an early age.

Implications of a poor level of numerical concepts:

Although this ability is not a priority at this stage, it is convenient to attend to it since logical mathematical reasoning will be fundamental in the next academic life. It is important to consider this result as a preventive element. The development of this skill also helps to strengthen logic, the handling of implications and the transition to abstract thinking.

The diagnosed skill is the mental dictionary that the person possesses up to this point. Vocabulary refers to the semantic units that form the raw material of language, both oral and written.

Since all learning is transmitted with a language, an enriched vocabulary is a necessary condition to achieve a proper understanding of all subjects and communication in general.

Implications of poor vocabulary:

Since the mental dictionary is fundamental for learning in all its facets, it is indispensable to work more systematically on this skill.

It is not possible to improve the vocabulary in an intensive way, but through a continuous use of new words.

The ability to classify the information captured by the mind is crucial to learning, as students need to learn how to organize the data they receive so that it can be effectively evoked later.

Preschool children face concrete, particular and specific challenges; they gradually capture the essence of different objects that share a characteristic. It is the first degree of abstraction for the "mind's eye" to detect a common element that allows different units to be placed in the same category.
 

Implications of poor classification:

All skills are developed by the stimulation we provide to children and, from preschool onwards, this transition from concrete to abstract thinking has to be worked on continuously both at school and at home.

This subtest measures the ability to follow directions and to understand extensive information, as expected for the preschool stage. After vocabulary, this intellectual resource is the most decisive in learning from primary school onwards, since all didactic processes and the understanding of content depend on structured language. All skills depend on methodical exercise, but especially this must be worked on every day so that the mind processes more complex information content accurately and gradually.

Implications of Poor Instruction Follow-Up:

Attention to this skill is preventative in preschool, but if it does not develop it will cause learning problems from primary school onward or require much effort and/or time to meet later challenges.

Gross motor coordination refers to the automatic control over long muscles to perform harmonious movements. Before age 7, the infant brain needs to coordinate these muscles and then do so on ideas or emotions.

Implications of poor gross motor coordination:

Gross coordination refers to neurological control over the large muscles as a prerequisite for fine control and finally coordination of thoughts and emotions. It is essential that children achieve adequate control of their body through defined and coordinated movements before the age of seven. Since this skill is the foundation of other higher intellectual resources, it is indispensable to work continuously and systematically in this area.

Copying and writing depend on this intellectual skill and refer to the convergent, specific and concrete production coming from a visual capture, memory and discrimination. Similarly, spelling is conditioned by this intellectual resource.

Its development depends on the formation of a neurological circuit that then, operates automatically to project itself into the way a person writes, draws or turns over information manually.
 

Implications of poor writing:

It is essential to propose continuous exercises to increase this intellectual tool since fine coordination is necessary for most academic activities; otherwise, you will have to invest time and energy to achieve a minimum efficiency in writing of all kinds.

The test of conditional learning skills in preschool considers some subtests that are not applied in other school levels. Oral expression is a performance test that assesses the ability to interpret figurative information and to communicate adequately in oral form.

Shyness may affect assessment in this subtest as it inhibits personal expressiveness.
 

Implications of poor oral expression:

It will be indispensable to work on this skill, since verbal expression is the means by which an external preschooler lives his or her inner life: thoughts or feelings.

This skill is measured with the same material as Oral Expression. The focus of this subtest is to diagnose the clarity and proper vocalization of speech sounds. In the pre-school stage, the mechanisms of mother tongue pronunciation are still being established and it is necessary to detect its timely development, since communication affects not only academic performance but also the proper social interaction of children.

The measurement of this skill depends on the performance during application: the evaluator detects the correct pronunciation of the sounds of our language and the spelling or separation of words. Among the most important are: the sound of the r, the compound consonants (br, bl, pr, pl...) the discrimination between similar sounds (p, d, t, m, n...)
 

Implications of poor language:

Since oral expression affects children's primary communication in preschool, in addition to their self-esteem and social skills, an auditory evaluation is essential to rule out problems with information input, as well as greater promotion of expression with children of their age.