Understanding the Broad Dimensions

The broad dimensions of the model give insight into the strengths and weakness of individuals. These “strengths” and “weaknesses” are more appropriately referred to as “highly developed,” “developed” and “under developed.”

  • Well developed is considered above average ability.
  • Developed is seen as average for a particular group.
  • Under Developed is viewed as below average abilities.

Individual’s intellectual abilities can be understood in terms of the board dimensions and also the individual composite abilities. The broad, general dimensions relate to the general intellectual development of people. However, these general abilities should never see as “fixed” because they are not, but rather understood as being underdeveloped. Each of them can be developed with the right type of programing for enhancing them. Years of experience in working with this model have more than demonstrated to us that intellectual abilities can be greatly improved over time.


Interpretation of the Content Abilities

Contents can be defined as the type of material or information involved in mental, intellectual, or thinking activities. There are three types of Content abilities.

Figural

Definition:
Figural content is concrete information, real objects, non-conceptual material and spatial information and real objects. Research shows that it is generally associated with the right hemisphere of the brain.

Well Developed:
Strength in Figural Content indicates that students work well with concrete and spatial material. They may have good number concepts and spatial organizational skills. They are comfortable working with manipulatives and concrete material.

Under Developed:
Weakness in Figural content indicates poor ability in dealing with concrete and spatial information. These types of weaknesses lead to arithmetic and mathematics problems as well as difficulties in other curriculum areas require them to understand figural and spatial material.

Symbolic

Definition:
Symbolic content involves numbers, letters, music, Morse code and all other types of coded information. This type of content information relates to representational information and appears to operate at the crossover point of the brain, connecting the two hemispheres.

Well Developed:
Students with strong Symbolic Content ability work well with numbers, letters and other types of notations. They may have high arithmetic and math skills and exceptional facility in understanding and programming computers. They are skilled in working with information at a representational level and learn to read best through a phonetic approach.

Under Developed:
Weakness with Symbolic Content shows difficulty in understanding symbolic material. This is usually seen as problems with number concepts or in learning to read through a phonetic approach.

Semantic

Definition:
Semantic content deals with words, ideas and concepts. It is abstract information and clearly related to the left hemisphere.

Well Developed:
Students with high Semantic content ability are able to work with abstract verbal information such as concepts and ideas which are communicated through words. This ability allows students to work with and manipulate abstract material. They will probably learn to read best through a sight-word approach method.

Under Developed:
Weak Semantic content ability shows that a student may not learn well from verbal material-written or spoken. They have difficulty dealing with the abstractness of words and the concepts and ideas which are conveyed by them. These students will not do well with a sight-word method of teaching reading.