YES!

Yes they can, but not too many years ago the generally accepted answer to this question was no.  Even when it was the popular response, researchers were questioning this conclusion and looking for ways to test it.  Major universities funded studies examining the potential to positively modify intelligence.  The results were encouraging.  Today is it acknowledged that general intelligence can be improved by directly exercising and strengthening the underlying cognitive skills responsible for processing the data we receive in the learning experience. Numerous findings support this conclusion.  Research sited in the article Exercising the Brain articulates this point.  In another report, brain injury patients displayed dramatic improvement when the right combination of exercises, drills, and repetition were administered.  See a discussion of these concepts in the article Cognitive Rehabilitation.

Study results document the changes

Study results from 1995-2010 prove that basic and underlying cognitive skills not only can be improved, but the improvement can be measured by industry-recognized standards.  This improvement is recorded by well-established tests such as the Test of Non-verbal Intelligence (TONI-2), the Structure of Intelligence, and Learning Ability (SOI/LA), and the Detroit Test of Learning Aptitude (DTLA-3).  Check out the 1995 test results from over 280 students in 7 states and Canada.  These were recorded using standardized tests TONI-2 and SOI/LA.  The 1996 and 1997 results further supported the improvement.  The results are positive and encouraging.  Cognitive skill improvement is a real possibility, and the resulting improvement in intelligence and learning capacity is life-changing. See the 2010 Results.

Specific, well-designed techniques are required

Unfortunately, not every effort to help learning disabled or learning-hindered students is effective.  There are many private and institutional methods in use today to "help" students who struggle with learning.  Many of those efforts focus on the symptoms of learning difficulties rather than the causes.  In the article Causes and Symptoms of Learning Difficulties, the case is made recognizing cognitive skill weaknesses and the primary cause of learning trouble.  "Lawning Trouble" is a uniquely coined name for a powerful illustration of treating the symptoms and not the underlying cause.  Read the Grass and Soil illustration here.  Nothing short of a complete reworking of the underlying weak skills will have the desired effect.  One necessary step is outlined in the article Sequencing and Loading.  It is one of the many techniques needed to rapidly and permanently improve the underlying learning skills a student needs to learn effectively.  A more complete examination of just what a program must do to be worth the effort and money is outlined in a document entitled "Solutions List."  Another way of clarifying the options many utilize (and what must eventually be done to solve learning difficulties) is the River Illustration.  In it you will see how real structural changes must be made to the system that handles incoming information if a student is to learn faster and more easily.

Conclusion:  Cognitive skills can be trained and improved.

Cognitive skills, and the learning capacity that they promote can be improved quickly and dramatically.  The studies and research suggest that it is so.  The specific 1995-2010 study results from PACE providers and students prove it.  Anecdotal evidence from thousands of PACE parents, students, and providers over the last decade and a half reinforce the study data.  Lives are being changed every day because of PACE, and its revolutionary training method.