Refael Feuerstein

While self-talk like “Now we are buckling you in the car seat so we can go to the store” is common parental practice, this book shows how teachers, parents, and therapists can take this to higher levels to advance language cognitive development and learning potential. Based on neuroscience and their own innovative work, the authors provide the rationale and a step-by-step process for using intentional self-talk and think-aloud methods to improve both language and cognitive development in normal and language-delayed children, as well as in older individuals with disabilities. Stories are sprinkled throughout the text to demonstrate mediated self-talk in action and the remarkable results achieved with real children. With clear guidelines for delivery, content, and timing, the crucial core of the process is to narrate thinking, action, and emotion in the presence of children without requiring their response.

While self-talk like “Now we are buckling you in the car seat so we can go to the store” is common parental practice, this book shows how teachers, parents, and therapists can take this to higher levels to advance language cognitive development and learning potential. Based on neuroscience and their own innovative work, the authors provide the rationale and a step-by-step process for using intentional self-talk and think-aloud methods to improve both language and cognitive development in normal and language-delayed children, as well as in older individuals with disabilities. Stories are sprinkled throughout the text to demonstrate mediated self-talk in action and the remarkable results achieved with real children. With clear guidelines for delivery, content, and timing, the crucial core of the process is to narrate thinking, action, and emotion in the presence of children without requiring their response.

A summary of the work of Reuven Feuerstein. Feuerstein and his co-authors define intelligence as a dynamic force that drives the human organism to change the structure of thinking in order to answer needs. They describe the specific skills of the three stages of thinking - the input and data-gathering stage; the processing stage; and the output stage - and show how student thinking can stall at any of these stages and how intentional mediation can help students restructure their thinking and improve their ability to learn.

A summary of the work of Reuven Feuerstein. Feuerstein and his co-authors define intelligence as a dynamic force that drives the human organism to change the structure of thinking in order to answer needs. They describe the specific skills of the three stages of thinking - the input and data-gathering stage; the processing stage; and the output stage - and show how student thinking can stall at any of these stages and how intentional mediation can help students restructure their thinking and improve their ability to learn.