Why The Koi Academy?

1. Students with attention challenges are 5 times more likely to be performing below grade-level in reading, math and written language. In response to this trend, The Koi Academy provides services and products with the aim of improving the academic performance of students with attention problems.
• According to a study done by David Rabner, Ph.D. Senior Research Scientist at Duke University (Attention Problems and Academic Achievement: February 2003) – of the 620 students in his study, “among students in the top 155 on teacher rated attention problems, the percentage rated below grade level ranged from 76% in reading to 92% in written language.  Overall, inattentive students represented between 35 and 40% of all students rated below grade level, even though they comprised only 15% of the total student sample.
• After taking all these factors into account (gender, ethnicity, and teacher ratings of oppositional behavior, anxiety, attention problems, and hyperactivity), students in the top 15% on the attention problems scale were 5 times more likely to be rated below grade level in reading, math, and written language than other students. Neither stimulant medication nor behavioral interventions have yet shown to result in long-tern gains in academic achievement.
2. Research has shown that just as physical fitness requires regular physical exercise, mental “fitness” can come through daily workouts. Through our individualized Cognitive Training Plans, The Koi Academy is able to train 23 specific cognitive skills assessed by Koi Coordinators, Psychologists, Psychiatrists, Learning Consultants, Teachers, Counselors, Therapists, Caregivers, and other crucial members of the client’s team.
• In “A Healthy Brain is an Exercised Brain,” Alice Jacobs Ed. D, MS, Director of www.braingain.info, states that “mental exercise is just as crucial to well being as physical exercise…if you want to stay sharp, you have to do some sort of ‘neurobics’…”
3. Neither stimulant medication nor behavioral interventions have yet shown to result in long-tern gains in academic achievement. The Koi Academy offers cognitive training to address the most crucial and underlying skills children need to learn. Cognitive training increases synapse response, and the benefits of “new” neural connections results in long term gains. When combining cognitive skill training with behavioral modification, and academic enrichment, the gains are substantial, and the underlying skills can be used in all life domains.
• According to a study done by David Rabner, Ph.D. Senior Research Scientist at Duke University (Does Medication Treatment Improve the Academic Performance of Adolescents with ADHD: April 2002) - Although several studies have documented that stimulant medication treatment is associated with immediate gains in academic productivity and work quality for children, it has yet to be convincingly shown that these gains in daily academic work are associated with better long-term achievement
1. In “Behavior Therapy”(www.cs.cmu.edu/~sleator/Esther/ADD-book/ADD-5.pdf) , the author states, “First, it is clear that ADD children suffer from a lack of cognitive and behavioral skills that are necessary for academic and social adjustment.  To the extent that these skills must be acquired for successful long-term outcome, medication alone- which does not teach a child alternative behaviors for coping with problematic situations would not be expected to be a sufficient treatment. However, the addition of a behavioral intervention that focused in part on teaching such skills might improve the long- term outcome that would be achieved with medication alone. Conversely, the cognitive techniques that have been developed to facilitate long-term effects of behavioral interventions have not yet been shown to be effective in that respect. .
4. Many deviant behaviors are exhibited in the school setting, due to academic frustration and underachievement. Teachers may be educated in academic development, but lack proficiency in either behavioral health and/or the needs of the client in the home. Education budgets are not able to address the needs of children at the individual level. Koi Academy Coordinators are certified by Crossroads of Learning Tutoring Foundation, certified to create cognitive training plans using Captain’s Log, and are experienced in the behavioral health field. The Koi Academy utilizes cognitive training to address underlying skills so that self-defeating behaviors can be minimized, thereby enabling a better learning experience.
• According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (May 1999), “The child, trying very hard to learn, becomes more and more frustrated, and develops emotional problems such as low self-esteem in the face of repeated failure.  Some learning disabled children misbehave in school because they would rather be seen as "bad" than "stupid."
5. Social Research has shown that education is the number one indicator for success in underserved populations. The Koi Academy offers products that can increase the skill sets needed to boost academic performance.
• According to America’s Children in Brief: Key National Indicators of Well-Being 2006, education shapes the personal growth and life chances of children, as well as the economic and social progress of our Nation. Early educational experiences of young children, such as being read to daily, encourage the development of essential skills and prepare children for success in school.26 Later aspects of academic performance, such as mastering mathematics, reading, and other core subjects, as well as completing high school, open opportunities for higher education and future employment.
• In 2005, 60 percent of children ages 3–5 were read to daily by a family member, an increase from 53 percent in 1993, when the data were first collected. White, non-Hispanic and Asian children were more likely than their Hispanic and Black, non-Hispanic peers to be read to daily in 2005.27 Children living in families below their poverty thresholds were less likely to be read to daily than their peers in non-poor households (both those at 100–199 percent of their poverty threshold and those at 200 percent of their poverty threshold or above).
6. Other tutoring programs exist, but Koi uniquely targets clients with ADHD, ADD, learning disabilities, brain injuries, developmental delays, mental retardation, and psychiatric disorders.
7. Behavioral Assistants are not allowed to work with children on homework, and while mentors are able to do this, it is not a specific job function, as they are not trained/certified, nor expected to produce outcomes in this area. As stated previously, Koi Academy Coordinators are certified by Crossroads of Learning Tutoring Foundation, certified to create cognitive training plans using Captain’s Log, and are experienced in the behavioral health field. This gives the Koi Associate the ability to provide one-on-one academic enrichment in a therapeutic environment.