Methods like the Soroban, are heavily discouraged by the vested interests of the Western education system. Not a whole lot of studies, but is one of the many that helps all students in the mental department.

Below are the top two sites for the Soroban. I bumped into them a few years ago, when I was working on memory processes of my child. I could not find a soroban, so I got someone to make me one. Today, my 16 year old has very good mental skills in calculating, and has been noted by the teachers. The soroban help, as well as using the number line, where she is visualizing the number line in her head. The kicker is she is still making common errors often found with dyslexias who have numeracy problems, but now the errors can be contributed to her speed of calculating. She needs to slow down her pace somewhat.

  http://www.mathabacus.com/

http://www.nurtureminds.com/aboutus.htm

And yes practice makes perfect, but I think the education authorities have banned this adage from the education files.

Nancy,

You’re correct, ‘practice makes perfect’ has been replaced with ‘drill and kill’.  Any educator using this method is considered a dinosaur.  I know I’m old, but ...