Enhanced Learning Skills for Kids » Tutoring

5 reasons why intensive brain training may not be the answer

colleen — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:00:02 +0000

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 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.

How to Decide Which Brain Training Program is Right for Your Child

colleen — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:36:08 +0000

Introduction

One of the most popular questions that I am asked by both parents and professionals is "Which brain training program should I use?" When you look at the top 2 programs on the market, BrainSkills and BrainWare Safari, it can be a bit overwhelming and confusing. Upfront, I am letting you know that one of main benefits of working with a Certified Student Transformation Specialist (CSTS) is that the confusion is removed from the decision making process. These highly qualified experts are able to guide you through the Student Transformation Program and answer any questions you may have about choosing a brain training program to work with your child yourself. What follows is a discussion around the most popular questions I am asked about each of the program's effectiveness to improve learning – especially within Reading.

Which program should I use to improve Reading?

Both programs will improve a child's ability to read. In order to give specific recommendations, I usually need to know what the parents really mean when they want to improve reading. Are we talking Literacy (reading, writing, comprehension)? In some cases, the parents are referring to only one specific issue whether it is reading, writing or comprehension. Depending on the child's background, medical and education history, my recommendation on which program to use would be different.

DECODING WORDS

For example, if a child is at least 6 years old and is struggling with sound-to-code, the ability to read new words and have a strategy to do so, then I would probably recommend BrainSkills. The reason for this is based off of the full child's history, the child may have been surviving to date on visually memorizing/recalling whole words. However, the child may now be at a level in school where memorizing will not work due to the vast amount of words required for his/her age group.

In this type of scenario, using research based approaches to support strengthening and development of phonological awareness, an intense exposure to sound to code of the English Language is recommended. BrainSkills provides this by speaking a sound or complex sounds to your child and then your child must select the correct code or codes. This exercise also strengthens auditory processing weaknesses.

BrainSkills also offers an extension (in Beta) of the reading exercises for drilling for your child to equate to the full Master the Code program previously completed in person now online. My online cognitive assessment will determine in which skills your child shows weakness and these results are factored in when making the recommendations.

Children I worked with to target auditory and word attack skills have shown progress comparing pre and post measures.

SPELLING WORDS

In this type of scenario, you need to be specific and your CSTS will ask you the right questions to allow you to answer with the necessary information – don't worry! You need to be clear if the spelling issue is due to a combination of sound-to-code issues and recall or just recall. If your answer is a combination of both, then again, I would recommend BrainSkills to attack the sound-to-code and spelling issues.

However, if your child can read new words using phonological awareness strategies but spelling is very weak, then I would recommend BrainWare Safari. BrainWare Safari is phenomenal when it comes to auditory/visual strengthening. Since your child is weak in recalling how the word is spelled, it may very well be weak visual memory or processing. My online cognitive assessment will determine in which skills your child shows weakness and these results are factored in when making the recommendations.

BrainWare Safari challenges your child in the most effective, yet fun approach to strengthening your child's ability to learn. Almost, if not all of the exercises in the program, use a strong visual component paired with some auditory and rhythm (metronome) component. Your child will strengthen visual memory and processing using this program. In fact, the children I worked with to target visual skills have shown progress comparing pre and post measures.

AUDITORY PROCESSING

When a parent comes to me and states that their child has Auditory Processing Disorder per their Audiologist, I will ask for specifics in symptoms and behaviors. Again, if sound-to-code weakness is being observed, then BrainSkills is recommended. However, if the child reads and spells fine but may be processing slowly or needs directions repeated, then BrainWare Safari can be used because of its high auditory/visual component. Any child that I worked with using BrainWare Safari will tell you not to be fooled by the program's presentation of a "Jungle Scene" as the games are quite challenging and very effective. The deciding factor in this type of scenario is really which game you and your child are drawn to for ease of use, budget, protocols and overall ability to sustain interest.

If a parent comes to me and states Auditory Processing symptoms or behaviors but reading is fine, this is another option to use BrainWare Safari. This program "speaks" to your child in almost every exercise requiring your child to attend, process, remember and recall while listening and following directions. Your child plays a lot of fun games without realizing they are training the brain. Again, the deciding factor in this type of scenario is really which game you and your child are drawn to for ease of use, budget, protocols and overall ability to sustain interest.

In Closing

Both programs, BrainSkills and BrainWare Safari do what they claim to do. Both strengthen all of the necessary cognitive skills required to learn. However, they do so using different presentation styles. Also, depending on your child's challenges, one program over the other can be tailored to meet your child's specific needs. I highly recommend that you work with a Certified Student Transformation Specialist to ensure you are providing your child with the most research-based, proven, resources for success. Get started today by having your child take a non-academic, online cognitive assessment and then discuss the results with me so together we can help your child reach success in as little as 12 weeks.

4 Kindle Fire Apps that Can Help Your Child Learn

colleen — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 20:30:33 +0000

With all the hype about the iPAD in the classroom, I thought I would give you some comparable ways to use the Kindle Fire. After comparing apps, the Kindle Fire has just about the same type of apps available. The good news for you is that the Kindle Fire is much less expensive, too. I compiled a list of 4 apps available on the Kindle Fire that you can use for educational purposes. There are tons more but wanted to keep this list to a minimun.The apps are listed in no particular order.

Remote Mouse – Take control of your presentations from anywhere in a room with wireless network access. With mouse-click control, scrolling, keyboard, and touchpad, you can control and display anything from your computer screen onto a presentation screen.

This is great for teachers who are walking around the classroom while presenting on whiteboards or using a smartboard. Moms — what about reviewing flash cards or study notes with your child as you are
multi-tasking? Now, you don't need to be tied to your computer in the family room. AWESOME!!

Little Piano – Little Piano allows you to tinkle a few ivories and pass a little musical time while on the go. With this app, you'll always have a piano right in your pocket. Play a tune or two while you're waiting for an appointment, standing in line, or sitting through a long flight.

Kid Mode – Fun, educational games for kids 8 and under. All your child's favorite Android apps in one place. With our Child Lock feature, kids stay safely in Kid Mode!

TaptoTalk - TapToTalk turns an Android device into an affordable augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device. Tap a picture – TapToTalk speaks. Kids think it's fun. The TapToTalk App comes with a sample AAC album that you can use to see of it is appropriate for your child. You can get additional free albums by following the instructions in the App. If you want to create albums that are individualized to meet the specific needs of your child, you can buy TapToTalk Designer at http://www.taptotalk.com.

BONUS #5 App Just for You!!

Office Suite 5 - Create, view, edit and share Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files and attachments and view PDF files

Again, there are tons more that you can look for that will help your child learn and experience learning from a more digital perspective. The point I'm trying to make here is that you don't necessarily have to invest $900 plus for a iPAD. $199.00 for a Kindle Fire will give your child a comparable digital learning experience.

Search for Related Posts

Enhanced Learning Skills for Kids » Tutoring

5 reasons why intensive brain training may not be the answer

Introduction

Reason #1

Reason #2

Reason #3

Reason #4

Reason #5

In Closing

Related Posts:

How to Decide Which Brain Training Program is Right for Your Child

Introduction

Which program should I use to improve Reading?

DECODING WORDS

SPELLING WORDS

AUDITORY PROCESSING

In Closing

Related Posts:

4 Kindle Fire Apps that Can Help Your Child Learn

Related Posts: