Direct instruction (DI) is recognized as an effective teaching model for reading instruction that activates the declarative learning system (medial temporal lobes) in the brain.  Slow learners and students with known reading disabilities often do not respond in the same way to reading strategies as those with no learning disabilities, perhaps because of difficulties involving the medial temporal lobes. 

Cognitive neuroscientists have found that the medial temporal lobes and the basal ganglia play distinct and complementary roles in the acquisition of information.  Therefore, activating the basal ganglia (non-declarative memory) along with the medial temporal lobes (declarative memory) may allow these two systems to work in concert to enhance learning, especially in children with reading disabilities.

The Flippen Reading Connection uses direct instruction (DI), strategy instruction (SI), and specific bilateral arm and leg movements to activate the declarative and non-declarative memory systems in the brain.   A double-blind, randomized controlled trial demonstrated that activating both memory systems through the Flippen Reading Connection is effective in overcoming learning difficulties in children with reading disabilities.