from the brain training experts at LearningRx

Test taking tips from LearningRx.docx

Seldom have two words caused such anxiety for both students and parents. For some, poor grades can reflect feelings of inadequacy (as a student or a parent), worries about being held back a grade, or fears of not getting into a good college.

Who’s to blame for learning struggles?
For parents, these fears often manifest as blame; blame on the student, the teacher or themselves. And while the assumptions that less-than-stellar grades are a reflection of poor teaching, lack of intelligence or laziness on the part of the student, or poor parenting, they are almost always untrue.

The truth is, most bad report cards are just a reflection of a struggling learner, many of who have an above-average IQ. That’s because IQ is simply an average of the combined strength of all our cognitive skills – the underlying tools we need to successfully focus, think, prioritize, plan, understand, visualize, remember, solve problems and create useful association. They include things like attention, visual and auditory processing, memory, logic and reasoning, and processing speed.

It’s very common for a student to have an average or above-average IQ score and a learning problem at the same time. For example, a child who struggles with reading may have a severe deficiency in the sound blending and phonemic awareness (two subskills of auditory processing), and be well above average in other cognitive abilities. When you lump it all together and average it out, it’ll look like there’s no problem because the IQ score is average. In fact, that score is masking what could be a serious problem.

What about genetics?

It’s not surprising that parents who struggled in school often experience anxiety over their children’s report cards. While it’s likely that most of the concern stems from the parent’s hope for their child to get better grades than they did, another fear is that they’ve somehow genetically passed on their learning struggles.

Certainly, genetics can contribute to a small part of learning struggles (like reading difficulties); but the majority of learning struggles are simply the result of weak cognitive skills. Students with ADHD, for example, tend to have weak selective, divided and/or sustained attention. Even learning struggles that are inherited don’t need to be lifelong labels or diagnoses; cognitive skills can be strengthened to make learning easier, faster and even FUN!

So how do you strengthen weak cognitive skills?

Cognitive skills training (also known as “brain training”) uses intensive, one-on-one programs to tackle the source of learning struggles and fix them with permanent solutions. Effective brain training customizes programs based on the results of an initial cognitive skills assessment and uses exercises founded on years of clinical and scientific research.

Unlike tutoring which is academic-based, brain training is skills-based. While tutoring can be effective when a student has fallen behind in specific subjects (such as history) due to an illness, injury or family move, cognitive skills training improves the underlying skills needed to perform tasks (like reading) to make learning easier in any subject.

Cognitive skills training physically changes the connections in the brain and it works for all learning disabilities: dyslexia (“trouble with words”), ADD, ADHD, dyscalculia (“trouble with numbers”), and certain autism spectrum disorders, including Asperger’s syndrome. In fact, because brain training treats the root cause – not the symptoms – of learning struggles, it can make anyone a stronger learner. From athletes looking for the mental edge and senior citizens fighting age-related cognitive decline, to soldiers and stroke victims fighting the effects of traumatic brain injury, cognitive skills training is changing lives by changing brains.

Let cognitive skills training change your child’s future by making learning easier. Make this your child’s last bad report card. Take the first step toward helping your child become a more efficient, effective and confident learner by having their cognitive skills assessed. You have nothing to lose and a future of better report cards to gain!

Often those pesky symptoms stem from anxiety, but what’s causing that?

We’re more than a month into school now and it seems like things should be settling down – kids have adjusted to new routines, classes and teachers, regained knowledge lost over the summer and are ready to take on new learning, right? While it should be that way, for far too many families the true struggles are just beginning because of a common but often misunderstood problem: anxiety.

Anxiety is obviously a normal part of life. For kids, it’s far more likely to cause problems during certain times: the start of full-time schooling, around the age of 10 or 11, and during transitions into middle or high school. Even if your student is in one of these tougher times, if they haven’t “settled in” to school yet this year, it may be a sign of a bigger problem: anxiety disorder, which according to the Anxiety Disorders of America Association, affects one in eight children.

Anxiety disorder is a blanket term that refers to a wide range of mental disorders that impact day-to-day life. Anxiety is now the No. 1 mental health problem in America.

One common anxiety disorder is didaskaleinophobia, or school refusal. First dubbed “school phobia” back in 1941, it’s now officially recognized by the American Phobic Society and affects an estimated 2 to 5 percent of American kids. A wide range of symptoms include:

• Refusal to go to school or elaborate plans to avoid school
• Missing the bus to school
• Illness and pain just before leaving for school
• The quick disappearance of physical ailments if the child is allowed to stay home, followed by reoccurring symptoms the next morning
• Frequent visits to the school nurse with headaches, stomach aches, nausea, diarrhea, sore throats, aches and other symptoms that can’t be attributed to a physical ailment

It’s these physical symptoms that are often the most frustrating, because parents don’t always realize they can be signs of another problem. They often spend months chasing the diagnosis with visits to pediatricians, chiropractors, allergists and other specialists. Confounding the problem is the fact that many of these physical complaints are also symptoms of the five most common illnesses that keep kids out of school. According to the Mayo Clinic, the top five absence-causing sicknesses are colds, ear infections, sore throats, pink eye and stomach viruses.

So how do you determine what’s causing these symptoms?

1. Talk to your child to eliminate obvious causes like bullying, few friends, learning difficulties or problems at home.
2. Make sure no underlying physical illnesses are causing the symptoms. If you haven’t been to the pediatrician yet, make an appointment now. And don’t be afraid to ask about the possibility of an anxiety-related cause.

1. Get a comprehensive evaluation from a mental health professional. This can lead to a formal diagnosis, treatment and therapy.

1. Have your child’s cognitive skills tested at a certified brain training center like LearningRx. Cognitive skills are the mental tools we all need to think, reason, read, remember and pay attention. Anxiety is often a symptom of weak cognitive skills especially if the problems are just emerging now, when the review is over, the work is harder and the expectations are greater. The student gets frustrated because he can no longer easily handle the workload, so he tries to avoid school, homework, and other mental challenges. Often his self-esteem will suffer and he becomes more withdrawn or acts out irrationally. A cognitive skills assessment can pinpoint weak skills and help in the diagnosis of the mystery illness. If cognitive skill weaknesses are the problem, strengthening those skills through intense one-on-one brain training can often greatly reduce or eliminate the symptoms.

While searching for answers, work on ways to alleviate the symptoms.

• If possible, keep your child in school. Absenteeism usually exacerbates anxiety.
• Continue talking with your child about his feelings, fears and stresses.
• Meet with teachers or counselors seeking input and support.
• Pay attention to patterns. Is it worse before a test? Do symptoms subside at home?
• Strive for a healthy lifestyle with nourishing meals, exercise, plenty of sleep, and limited caffeine and other stimulants.

Searching for the cause of a mystery illness can be time-consuming, frustrating, and even expensive, but keep at it. Eventually your perseverance will bring the answers you need to help ease your child into a more settled, happier and productive school year.

Contact: Tanya Mitchell

LearningRx Colorado Springs

Tanya@LearningRx.com

(719)264-8808

Are You Ready for Summer With a Teenager?

LearningRx Colorado Springs Shares 10 Insights Into Your Teenager’s Brain

Colorado Springs, CO— As the end of the school year approaches and parents prepare to spend the summer with their teens, local brain training center LearningRx Colorado Springs is offering 10 scientific explanations for adolescent impulsivity, moodiness and general alien-like behavior. Here is a sampling of the insights:

1. When reading facial expressions to determine the emotions of another person, teenagers use the amygdala, the part of the brain that guides “gut” reactions. Adults, however, tend to rely on the part of the brain that controls reason and planning, called the frontal cortex. While the amygdala is about reactions, the frontal cortex is about rational thought. This may explain why adolescents tend to take more risks and act more impulsively than adults.
2. The gray matter (neurons) of the brain continues to thicken through childhood, peaking at around 11 for girls and 12 for boys. Around puberty, the excess connections are thinned or pruned, leaving only the essential (and most-used) connections. You can see why engaging in activities like piano or chess at a young age (or any age, for that matter!) would help your teen later; with neural connections it’s use it or lose it!
3. It’s not your imagination: girls’ brains mature earlier than boys’. In addition, girls have larger basal ganglia, part of the frontal lobe. It’s now believed that the size of these ganglia may help protect girls from common childhood disorders, such as autism, dyslexia, ADHD, Tourette’s and learning disabilities in general – all of which are more common in boys.

“By far, the most encouraging discovery regarding the brain is that it’s is “plastic,” that is, always capable of change,” says Tanya Mitchell, VP of Research and Development for LearningRx. “The idea that anyone’s brain can be trained to strengthen cognitive skills like memory, attention or processing speed –  even well into our 80s – is astounding. How inspiring to think that everyone can become a faster, smarter learner with brain training!”

To view all 10 insights that can help you better understand your teen, visit http://media.learningrx.com/?p=2347 .

About LearningRx

LearningRx brain training uses intensive one-on-one programs to help people of all ages strengthen cognitive skills like memory, attention, processing speed and auditory processing. With 80 centers across the country, LearningRx brain training can help anyone – from 5 to 85 – increase the speed, power or function of their brain.

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10 Scientific explanations for adolescent impulsivity, moodiness

and general alien-like behavior

First, let’s be clear: these are explanations, not excuses. No one’s condoning your son’s tendency to drive 20 miles over the speed limit or your daughter’s ability to shapeshift from angel to imp in 10 seconds flat. But if nothing else, understanding the physical developments (or lack thereof) behind that “thick skull of theirs” may help you realize that your teen’s crazy behavior isn’t necessarily due to bad parenting.

So until they mature into responsible and congenial adults, you’ll have to work hard to open the door to understanding, communication and compromise. Even if it’s only to hear it slam when you enforce curfew.

1. When reading facial expressions to determine the emotions of another person, teenagers use the amygdala, the part of the brain that guides “gut” reactions. Adults, however, tend to rely on the part of the brain that controls reason and planning, called the frontal cortex. While the amygdala is about reactions, the frontal cortex is about rational thought. This may explain why adolescents tend to take more risks and act more impulsively than adults.
2. The gray matter (neurons) of the brain continues to thicken through childhood, peaking at around 11 for girls and 12 for boys. Around puberty, the excess connections are thinned or pruned, leaving only the essential (and most-used) connections. You can see why engaging in activities like piano or chess at a young age (or any age, for that matter!) would help your teen later; with neural connections it’s use it or lose it!
3. Don’t worry that you’re “babying” a teen who needs a little extra help getting organized or planning his next science project. The frontal lobe – which controls strategizing, planning and organizing, among other things – is still developing. No one’s going to blame you for that little nudge or note on the calendar.
4. The frontal lobe, sometimes referred to as the “CEO” because of its executive functions, also controls decision-making. You can see where this is going. Granted, everyone makes bad choices from time to time. But teenagers are known as repeat offenders in this realm, particularly with the adolescent cocktail of drugs, alcohol and hormones.
5. It’s not your imagination: girls’ brains mature earlier than boys’. In addition, girls have larger basal ganglia, part of the frontal lobe. It’s now believed that the size of these ganglia may help protect girls from common childhood disorders, such as autism, dyslexia, ADHD, Tourette’s and learning disabilities in general – all of which are more common in boys.
6. Yes, your athletic son may have more girls calling him at 11 p.m. than the teen who sits in his basement playing video games. But it might not be because of his great physique. It’s believed that physical activity most influences the cerebellum, the part of the brain that we use for higher thought, including social skills. So the more athletic, the more social. The more social, the more dating prospects!
7. While the brain’s plasticity may cause you to want to enroll your child in violin lessons, Japanese and math club, don’t overlook the importance of love. As Jay Giedd, M.D. explained it in an interview with PBS: “The brain is largely wired for social interaction and for bonding with caretakers. And sometimes it’s even disappointing to people that, with all the science and all the advances the best advice we can give is things that our grandmother could have told us generations ago: to spend loving, quality time with our children.”
8. Teenagers don’t have as much myelin (that fatty coating around nerves that’s often referred to as “white matter”) as adults. In fact, this “nerve insulation” doesn’t complete until the mid-20s, which means there are fewer connections to the part of the brain insight (that darn frontal lobe again!). And without insight, your teen may frequently come across as selfish and unable to recognize how their actions affect others. Yes, it’s rude. But it’s also partially due to normal development.
9. Our internal body clocks – called Circadian rhythms – change at puberty. That’s why teens usually fall asleep later than kids and adults, and have a harder time waking up early. It’s a brain thing – not an act of defiance against your imposed bedtime.

10. The best brain news might be that your teen’s brain is “plastic,” that is, always capable of change. In fact, numerous studies have shown that our brains can be trained (to increase attention, strengthen memory, raise IQ, etc.) well into our 80s. Teenagers who undergo intense one-on-one brain training can strengthen the neural connections, making them faster, smarter thinkers and learners – in school, athletics, extracurricular activities –  and on the road.

So there you have it – a rundown on your teen’s ever-changing brain. It’s not always pretty, easy or predictable, but it’s also not permanent. Remind yourself that it’s a normal phase of development and it won’t last forever. And while you can’t lock them in their rooms until they’re 18, you can tighten the door’s hinges!

http://thealternativepress.com/articles/learning-rx-in-warren-can-help-you-retrain-your-b

http://www.woodlandsonline.com/npps/story.cfm?nppage=46682

http://warren.patch.com/articles/reality-show-participants-join-march-30-autism-event-in-warren

http://www.ktbs.com/news/LearningRx-helps-students-with-brain-training/-/144844/9691770/-/w0wydyz/-/index.html

http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/news/2012/mar/21/chamber-honors-local-schools-talents/