Introduction
Brain training is considered to be intensive when your child is working on a brain training program 5x a week for 1 hour at a time. It can be very intensive when your child is working 1:1 with .jpg)
a brain training coach – in person. Brain trainers are taught to recognize when a child is stressed and will not benefit from brain training work. Why is your child unable to train intensively? This article explains 5 reasons why intensive braining training may not work for your child.
Reason #1
If your child is under constant anxiety or stress. Research shows us that your child's brain is less likely to learn when in a state of anxiety. The Franklin Institute states if your child's brain is under chronic stress, it will go into overload and the result can lead to damaged neurons. This means that your child's wiring and communication system can get damaged or negatively impacted. When this is the case, your child is less likely to handle the additional stress and overwhelm of intensive brain training.
Reason #2
If your child has a traumatic brain injury. If your child suffers from a traumatic brain injury, like my daughter, you have to be careful when you engage in brain training in an intensive manner. Since my daughter has suffered from several TBI's from her auto immune disorder, we have to wait a certain period of time to engage the brain and possible raise the stress level.
Initially, after the brain injury, your child will need to allow the brain to rest and heal itself as much as possible. You will witness your child in a state of anxiety and confusion until the brain "resets" itself and you are able to return to a baseline. At this point in time, you need to evaluate how much your child can attend without overwhelm.
The most recent attack for my daughter put her brain in a state of confusion and flux for 3.5 months. She basically slept on/off most the time and was unable to focus and retain. After the 3.5 months, she was then able to begin to process small amounts of information at a time.
We worked with her for 1-2 hours a day with breaks as needed. It has been 5 months since her last attack on her brain and I still won't engage in intensive brain training because I know her brain isn't ready yet. Instead I will use a less intensive method to achieve similar results. I will provide examples at the end of this article.
Reason #3
If your child suffers from seizures. It does depend on the type of seizures. Computer based brain training may be a trigger for some types of seizures. This is up to you and your doctor to determine if its safe for your child to engage in CBT brain training 5x a week. Your child's doctor may say it is fine but only for 3x a week for 30 minutes at a time. Seizures are often triggered by lack of sleep and stress to name a few. Your brain trainer needs to be aware of this and should not overwhelm your child in the sessions thinking they will help your child push through when they should be slowing down.
Reason #4
So far we talked about some medical reasons why intensive brain training may not be the answer. Another reason may be your child's schedule is too busy. You do not or will not make brain training a priority for your child. In this case, adding more to your child's already packed day will not be successful. Instead, you will see your child perform worse across the board because the brain can only take so much at once. I have had some families who have their child busy from 6am to 9 pm and they want some ideas of how to fit brain training into the day. It won't work …
Reason #5
The last reason would be that you want the brain training more than your child. Your child is not interested and is not trying at all. In fact, you spend most of the sessions just trying to get your child to stop arguing and do the darn program already! Your brain trainer needs to be trained in recognizing children who will not fit the program. Your brain trainer should say no to your child starting a program until they are ready. If your child is not fully engaged, brain training will not occur and no changes will take place in your child's brain.
In Closing
Intensive brain training may not be the answer for your child. The good news is that there are other options to reach similar changes in your child's brain. There are also cognitive strategies that you can use to help your child compensate and be successful. On my live interview tonight with Gerald Hughes, Cognitive Strategies Expert, we will discuss what you can do to help your child succeed.
For example, there are easy spelling strategies to help your child remember words when you are unable to brain train. You can also brain train with any of the popular brain training programs at a modified schedule. It may take your child a year to get through what some children may accomplish within 12-16 weeks. There are also some games that can be used for a little time every day over a long period time to reach success.
