The Mental Edge

Professional athletes spend years trying to get it. Hundreds of books have been written on it. And coaches often say it’s the difference between winning and losing. It is the mental edge – having the mental and emotional skills needed to excel.

These skills generally include: concentration, focus, attention, goal setting, energy management, self-confidence, commitment, poise under pressure and visualization.

Top athletes spend years honing these skills, and go to great lengths: The U.S. Olympic women’s softball team has performed Navy SEAL training. The Chinese swim team practices yoga, is learning English and spends hours in group problem-solving sessions. Others commit to biofeedback, hypnosis and extremely strict routines to try to get mentally tough. However, the mental edge can come from a lot more common outlets.

Martial Arts

It was Karate, that Judy Maddox of Colorado Springs, CO turned to 20 years ago, after a doctor diagnosed her three boys with ADHD. “He told me to get them into a program that would help with focus and attention, and Karate helped immediately,” Maddox says. “It motivated them, they started paying attention, burning energy, and gaining confidence and self-control.”

Maddox joined her boys in training, earned her black belt four years later, then opened her own Universal Kempo Karate center. Since then she’s trained thousands of people and says she sees daily how martial arts helps people build mental skills. “They learn how to visualize and imagine success. It teaches discipline, respect, focus. They’re learning how to control themselves, how to keep on task and ignore distractions. And it’s not just on the mat. Those skills spread to their home life, school, relationships and sports.”

Brain Training

Hunter Milner got a surprising boost in sports while building his mental skills for academic growth. His mother Maria says she saw the changes almost immediately. “It not only helped him academically, but it also helped him in sports,” says Milner. “He’s a better basketball player now because of the training.”

Hunter’s brain training was through LearningRx, a cognitive skills training company that specializes in building mental skills to make people smarter.

“Our brain training absolutely helps in all areas of life,” says insert name, the insert title of the insert area LearningRx. “We use it to improve focus, attention, memory, visual and auditory processing skills and even hand-eye coordination. Basically, our training builds better, faster more efficient brains, permanently. Of course that will help people become better athletes.”

“Another nearly universal side effect of our brain training is an extreme boost in self-confidence,” says Tanya Mitchell, LearningRx Vice-President of Research. “That obviously will help athletes get the mental boost they need to thrive. Any top athlete will tell you, confidence is key.”

Guided Visualization

High school football coach Monte Gutowski agrees. “Positive thinking, having confidence in yourself, believing in your team’s ability to accomplish something, that’s half the battle,” says the head coach.

He relies on visualization and relaxation techniques and may occasionally turn to the school district psychologist for help in teaching those skills. “So much of any sport is mental,” Gutowski says. “Anything you can do to boost those abilities will help you become a better athlete.”

So if you want to be a better athlete by getting that mental edge, but you just can’t justify the sports hypnotist, brain scans, or military training, look around. Great opportunities may be closer than you think.

To learn more about brain training, visit www.learningrx.com.

Angie Knutsen is a freelance journalist living in Monument, CO.

New Year’s resolutions often revolve around goals to make our bodies look better. “I’ll fit into a size 6.” “I’ll lose my beer belly.” “I won’t be afraid to wear a bathing suit in public.” But what about the inside of your body? If you think those love handles are embarrassing, wait until you can’t remember the names of the people you’re introducing at that next cocktail party.

“The good news is, your brain can get a makeover to help it work faster and smarter,” says Tanya Mitchell, VP of Research and Development for LearningRx. “There’s even new evidence that you can help prevent – and reverse – the symptoms of dementia and Alzheimer’s. It’s important that people know they can take a proactive approach to building a healthy brain in 2011.” Here are some tips from LearningRx:

1. Start with a brain check-up. Get a cognitive skills evaluation to find out which brain skills (memory, attention, visual processing, etc.) are weak.

2. Get enough iron. Women who are iron deficient typically don’t perform as well on cognitive exercises as those who have sufficient iron in their blood. In one test after anemic women were given iron supplements, they did 5 to 7 times better.

3. Eat fish. The omega-3 fatty acids found in fish are crucial for building brain cell membranes, protecting blood vessels and decreasing the risk of stroke.

4. Stay hydrated. Even slight dehydration can produce short-term memory deficits, reasoning difficulties and other cognitive problems.

5. Exercise. Even brisk walking increases blood flow to the brain.

6. Eat breakfast. Studies show that kids who eat breakfast have better memories and test scores than those who skip the first meal of the day.

7. Eat curry. According to Gary Wenk’s “Your Brain On Food,” Indians (the subcontinent) develop less Alzheimer’s because they eat a lot of curry, which is rich in antioxidants.

8. Keep your brain active. Do sudokus and crossword puzzles, learn another language, or lose the list and use mnemonics to remember your grocery list.

9. Go organic. The prestigious medical journal “Pediatrics” has published studies linking pesticides and food dyes to malfunctions in the brain, including ADHD.

10. Get your brain trained. Studies show that intensive, one-on-one brain training can help increase cognitive reserves, which significantly helps reduce the risk of developing dementia.

About LearningRxLearningRx specializes in identifying and correcting underlying cognitive skill deficiencies such as attention, memory, processing speed, and problem solving. Dr. Ken Gibson developed the program based on 30 years of research and clinical trials, and nationwide more than 25,000 students of all ages have gone through brain training at 71 franchised locations. www.LearningRx.com/

1. Messy handwriting: Don’t assume your child is just being lazy. For younger kids, an inability to form letters correctly may be more about “motor dysgraphia,” or slow-developing motor skills. For school-age children and teens, writing illegibly may be a sign of dysgraphia (“problems with writing”), which is more about a lack of ability than effort – often due to weak cognitive skills like visual processing.

2. Misspelled words: Sometimes referred to as “dyslexic dysgraphia,” misspelling words when writing is often a sign that certain brain skills like phonemic awareness are weak. One quick way to evaluate the problem is to ask your child to copy written work from another sheet of paper. If the copied work has few or no mistakes, the issue may be less about poor handwriting and more about weak reading and spelling skills.

3. Extra, reversed or omitted letters; heavy pressure: A 2007 study found that students with attention deficits (like ADHD) were more likely to have dysgraphia. In addition to these graphemic buffer errors, writers with ADHD tended to write faster and exert “abnormally high levels of pen pressure.”

If this at-home evaluation brings up any concerns, consider having your child’s learning skills tested. Nationally standardized assessment tools like the Woodcock Johnson Tests of Cognitive Abilities, (WJ III-COG) and the Woodcock Johnson Tests of Achievement, (WJ III-ACH) measure cognitive skills and academic abilities. Once the weak cognitive skills – like attention, visual processing or phonemic awareness – are evaluated, a personalized brain training program can be created to strengthen those skills and make learning easier for ALL areas of academics – not just handwriting.

There are many factors to consider when reviewing a child’s handwriting: age (motor skills), gender (girls tend to write more clearly), size of hands (to hold a pen or pencil), and even personality (a “people-pleaser” might try harder to impress a parent or teacher). And while handwriting skills will improve over time for some, those who struggle due to weak brain skills will only excel when the cause of their dysgraphia is treated.

If you suspect your child’s handwriting is a sign of weak learning skills – like attention, visual processing or phonemic awareness – consider having his cognitive skills tested. Remember, poor handwriting usually isn’t the problem, it’s the symptom.

American baby boomers are recognizing the age-related cognitive decline – and even Alzheimer’s – is creeping up on them. In fact, if no cure for Alzheimer’s is found, the United States could be looking at a million new cases a year by 2050. Already, there are 14 million baby boomers with the disease, and the average boomer is turning 65 next year.

So what’s a senior to do other than wait for a cure? With so much hype around everything from gingkoba and video games to fish oils and “memory pills,” it’s often difficult to know when to open your wallet and when to keep walking. Here are some facts to help you make your own decisions about where to spend your time, energy and/or money to maintain a healthy brain.

1. Ginkgo biloba. There’s no proof that this tree root can help boost memory or prevent Alzheimer’s. However, some doctors believe it could slow the progression of the disease.

2. Cognitive skills training. Although a recent study indicated that “brain-training” video games do not improve mental fitness in any significant way, the opposite is true for specialized one-on-one personalized cognitive skills training.

A just-released study of adults who underwent one-on-one brain training  through LearningRx (www.LearningRx.com) showed that anyone can improve brain function and raise IQ, even those well into their 70s.

The participants – adults aged 20 to 80 – showed significant increases in every cognitive skill trained and in every age bracket. On average:

• Executive processing speed increased an average of 46%
• Long-term memory jumped 66%
• Short-term memory jumped 39%

•            IQ jumped 11.4 points

The results support similar research demonstrating that even seniors can see huge benefits from the mental exercise of brain training, just as they can from physical exercise.

Even if you don’t undergo one-on-one cognitive skills training, there are things you can do at home to exercise your mental muscles. The Alzheimer’s Association recommends crossword puzzles and memory exercises as “mentally stimulating activities [that] strengthen brain cells and the connections between them, and may even create new nerve cells.”

3. Omega-3s, vitamins and HDL cholesterol. Diet may be one of the most controllable factors in maintaining brain health. Research suggests that consuming cold-water fish like tuna, salmon and trout, can help the brain due to beneficial omega-3 fatty acids. Likewise, the antioxidants in nuts and dark-skinned fruits and vegetables, and supplements like vitamin E and C, folate and B12 are believed to lower the risk of developing Alzheimer’s. Unlike “bad” cholesterol and saturated fats, which clog arteries, HDL (also known as “good” cholesterol) might actually help protect brain cells.

4. Exercise. Even moderate physical exercise increases blood flow to the brain, and aerobic exercise (like yoga and walking) has been found to reduce brain cell loss. In addition, studies have shown that adults who were obese by middle age were twice as likely to develop dementia later.

5. Memory pills. Almost every so-called memory pill on the market is hype – with the exception of one: aspirin. According to Dr. Mehmet Oz, taking just one 162-milligram pill (or two baby aspirin) daily reduces buildup in the brain and helps prevent mini-strokes.

Until there’s a cure for Alzheimer’s and age-related cognitive decline, all you can do is gather research and make an informed decision about how to spend your money. And if you do decide to run out to buy the latest and greatest miracle cure, leave your car at home. The exercise will do your brain some good.

Wendy Burt-Thomas is the author of four books, including “The Writer’s Digest Guide to Query Letters” (Writer’s Digest Books).

The benefits can be far-reaching. Aside from the obvious physical advantages, participating in youth sports can build self-esteem and confidence, leadership skills, and self-discipline. It can also teach the value of sportsmanship, teamwork, time management, perseverance, cooperation and more. Plus, and perhaps most importantly for kids, it can be a whole lot of fun.

Unfortunately, studies show that up to 73 percent of kids quit organized sports by the age of 13 because it simply isn’t fun for them anymore. Generally, that’s about the same age that sports become more competitive, and more expensive – when kids (and parents) decide they really want to be part of the high school team or an elite club team.

The cost to keep competing can be staggering: high-tech gear and mandatory equipment, fees, travel costs and medical expenses, plus personal training sessions and specialty sports camps that can run upwards of $400 per day. According to the Industry Statistics Sampler for Sports and Recreation Instruction, sports and recreation instruction was a $2.4 billion industry in 2002. Since then, the industry has exploded with most revenue coming from camps and schools that offer athletic training.

This type of instruction is not generally aimed at the average 5-year-old distracted by dandelions during T-ball, but at the high school athlete shooting for a spot on the team or a door into college. And that college dream is a long shot: the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) awards about $1 billion in athletic scholarships each year, but according to the National Center for Educational Statistics, fewer than 1 percent of the kids participating in organized sports today will be good enough to earn any of that.

“A valuable alternative to specialized athletic training is often brain training,” says Dr. Ken Gibson, author of Unlock the Einstein Inside: Applying New Brain Science to Wake Up the Smart in your Child. “The right type of brain training can absolutely give a child a competitive edge in sports. An intense, personalized, one-on-one brain training program will improve focus, attention, memory, visual and auditory processing skills and even hand-eye coordination. Obviously that will help them become a better athlete, and it may take them to the next level, but unlike most sports training, brain training will continue to help them even if sports doesn’t get them into college.”

Elite athlete Cerge Sincere didn’t realize the power of brain training until after his playing days at Florida Atlantic University when he became a brain trainer at LearningRx in Boca Raton while trying to further his football career. “Training these kids has forced my brain to become faster and smarter too. I think quicker now. I can remember things way more easily. I truly feel like this has helped me tremendously and I think this could help anyone become smarter and a better athlete.”

Many parents who enroll their kids in a LearningRx program for academic reasons are surprised by the quick athletic improvement. Maria Milner says she saw changes almost immediately when her 11-year-old started training. “It not only helped him academically, but it also helped him in sports,” says Milner. “He’s a better basketball player now because of the training.”

“Brain training will continue to pay off in many areas of life long after your child’s playing days are over,” says LearningRx Vice President of Research and Development Tanya Mitchell. “Our training simply makes faster, smarter, more efficient brains. That’s something that will give them an advantage for the rest of their life.”

Most parents agree that simply playing organized youth sports gives kids an advantage. In a survey by the Physical Education for Life group and the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association, 93 percent of parents said youth sports promoted personal growth and 84 percent said organized athletics nurtured good moral behavior. Chances are, if you survey kids, they’ll just tell you it can be a whole lot of fun.

So if you’ve been shying away from organized youth athletics, National Youth Sports Week may be a time to reconsider getting your child in the game.

Angie Knutsen is a freelance journalist living in Monument, CO.

Stevanne “Dr. Toy” Auerbach, Ph.D. recently released her choices for Best Vacation Products 2010. This is one of many annual reports released by the noted child development authority and Director of the Institute for Childhood Resources.

According to Dr. Toy, summertime provides the perfect opportunity for kids to continue informal learning and stretch their minds.

Dr. Ken Gibson, author of “Unlock the Einstein Inside: Applying New Brain Science to Wake Up the Smart in your Child” agrees. “Teachers typically spend four to six weeks re-teaching or reviewing material that students have forgotten over the ‘Summer Slide.’ Even simple toys can help kids strengthen their cognitive skills, like attention, auditory and visual processing, memory and processing speed. Plus, kids learn best when they’re having fun.”

Of the extensive items on the list, here are 10 that parents may want to look for this season:

1. Treasure Hunt (Free Spirit Publishing)

Various ages; $9.99; www.freespirit.com

This 3” jar contains cards with treasure hunt items. Helps build vocabulary and observation skills. Set a time limit to increase processing speed.

2. Mini Morphs (Wild Republic)

For ages 5 – 8; $5.99; www.wildrepublic.com

Think Mr. Potato Head but with dinosaurs! These mix-and-match, snap-together toys allow kids to combine legs, fins, wings, heads, arms and bodies to create silly mixed breeds. Stimulates creative thinking and visual processing.

3. Balance Benders (The Critical Thinking Co.)

For ages 9 – 12; $9.99; www.criticalthinking.com

“Math, science, test taking and, most importantly, reading comprehension, all require visualization skills,” says Tanya Mitchell, Director of Training for LearningRx (LearningRx.com), a national brain-training franchise. “Things like Balance Benders  are great tools to develop math computations, as well as logic and reasoning.”

4. Spoon Racers and Beanbots

For ages 4 – 12; $2.99; www.beantowntoys.com

Fun, colorful and interchangeable construction systems encourage creative thinking and motor skills.

5. Yamodo (Idea Storm Products)

For ages 8 – 12; $9.95; www.yamodo.com

An inexpensive travel game for the whole family to play together! Players draw and define the made-up word on each card, then pass to the next person to add their two cents! Builds sound analysis, reading skills, visual processing and creative thinking.

6. What Zit (The Original Toy Company)

For ages 3 – 12; $3.50; www.theoriginaltoycompany.com

Six brightly colored blocks are strung together for elastic so your child can create countless shapes. Strengthens visual processing.

7. Scribble & Doodle (ALEX)

For ages 4 – 8; $9.99; www.alextoys.com

This activity pad comes with 50 preprinted pages and 25 blank pages, as well as eight finger crayons. Simple sentences help teach reading skills.

8. Rubbabu Education Balls (ISEO Chemdis Pvt Ltd.)

For ages 1 – 6; $5.95; www.rubbabu.com

Each colorful bouncy ball has a different tactile “lesson.” Of the 36 styles, there is one with raised uppercase letters, another with raised lowercase, one with raised shapes and another with raised numbers. Depending on the ball and how you use it, this toy can build phonemic awareness, reading skills, sound blending, and more.

“As a general rule, parents want to look for age-appropriate games that build learning skills,” says Mitchell. “And once a child masters something like a puzzle, parents can add a time limit – like with a stopwatch – to strengthen processing speed.”

9. Scramble Squares (b. dazzle, inc.)

For ages 8 – 12; $8.95; www.b-dazzle.com

If you like challenging educational puzzles that can keep your children captivated for hours, scramble squares can do the trick. They’re very affordable and come in a variety of patterns. Works problem-solving skills, working memory and visual processing.

10. Dweebies (Gamewright)

For ages 3 – 12; $9.55; www.amazon.com

Capture Dweebies of varying professions and match the cards on both ends of any row. Easy to play but hard to win! Reinforces math probability skills, matching skills and strategy.

Want to learn more about games that build essential learning tools? Download a free chart showing well-known games and the cognitive skills they build (attention, memory, logic and reasoning, visual processing, etc.) at www.unlocktheeinsteininside.com.

To view the entire list of classic toys, visit www.DrToy.com.

According to Dr. Toy, summertime provides the perfect opportunity for kids to continue informal learning and stretch their minds.

Dr. Ken Gibson, author of “Unlock the Einstein Inside: Applying New Brain Science to Wake Up the Smart in your Child” agrees. “Teachers typically spend four to six weeks re-teaching or reviewing material that students have forgotten over the ‘Summer Slide.’ Even simple toys can help kids strengthen their cognitive skills, like attention, auditory and visual processing, memory and processing speed. Plus, kids learn best when they’re having fun.”

Of the extensive items on the list, here are 10 that parents may want to look for this season:

1. Treasure Hunt (Free Spirit Publishing)

Various ages; $9.99; www.freespirit.com

This 3” jar contains cards with treasure hunt items. Helps build vocabulary and observation skills. Set a time limit to increase processing speed.

2. Mini Morphs (Wild Republic)

For ages 5 – 8; $5.99; www.wildrepublic.com

Think Mr. Potato Head but with dinosaurs! These mix-and-match, snap-together toys allow kids to combine legs, fins, wings, heads, arms and bodies to create silly mixed breeds. Stimulates creative thinking and visual processing.

3. Balance Benders (The Critical Thinking Co.)

For ages 9 – 12; $9.99; www.criticalthinking.com

“Math, science, test taking and, most importantly, reading comprehension, all require visualization skills,” says Tanya Mitchell, Director of Training for LearningRx (LearningRx.com), a national brain-training franchise. “Things like Balance Benders  are great tools to develop math computations, as well as logic and reasoning.”

4. Spoon Racers and Beanbots

For ages 4 – 12; $2.99; www.beantowntoys.com

Fun, colorful and interchangeable construction systems encourage creative thinking and motor skills.

5. Yamodo (Idea Storm Products)

For ages 8 – 12; $9.95; www.yamodo.com

An inexpensive travel game for the whole family to play together! Players draw and define the made-up word on each card, then pass to the next person to add their two cents! Builds sound analysis, reading skills, visual processing and creative thinking.

6. What Zit (The Original Toy Company)

For ages 3 – 12; $3.50; www.theoriginaltoycompany.com

Six brightly colored blocks are strung together for elastic so your child can create countless shapes. Strengthens visual processing.

7. Scribble & Doodle (ALEX)

For ages 4 – 8; $9.99; www.alextoys.com

This activity pad comes with 50 preprinted pages and 25 blank pages, as well as eight finger crayons. Simple sentences help teach reading skills.

8. Rubbabu Education Balls (ISEO Chemdis Pvt Ltd.)

For ages 1 – 6; $5.95; www.rubbabu.com

Each colorful bouncy ball has a different tactile “lesson.” Of the 36 styles, there is one with raised uppercase letters, another with raised lowercase, one with raised shapes and another with raised numbers. Depending on the ball and how you use it, this toy can build phonemic awareness, reading skills, sound blending, and more.

“As a general rule, parents want to look for age-appropriate games that build learning skills,” says Mitchell. “And once a child masters something like a puzzle, parents can add a time limit – like with a stopwatch – to strengthen processing speed.”

9. Scramble Squares (b. dazzle, inc.)

For ages 8 – 12; $8.95; www.b-dazzle.com

If you like challenging educational puzzles that can keep your children captivated for hours, scramble squares can do the trick. They’re very affordable and come in a variety of patterns. Works problem-solving skills, working memory and visual processing.

10. Dweebies (Gamewright)

For ages 3 – 12; $9.55; www.amazon.com

Capture Dweebies of varying professions and match the cards on both ends of any row. Easy to play but hard to win! Reinforces math probability skills, matching skills and strategy.

Want to learn more about games that build essential learning tools? Download a free chart showing well-known games and the cognitive skills they build (attention, memory, logic and reasoning, visual processing, etc.) at www.unlocktheeinsteininside.com.

To view the entire list of classic toys, visit www.DrToy.com.

Four tips for improving standardized test scores

Just because your child is smart doesn’t mean they’re going to ace the state assessment tests or SATs. There are lots of factors that contribute to test performance results. Here are four of the most important with tips on how to help.

Poor nutrition

To keep cognitive function at it’s peak, the brain needs “good” fuel. Add the wrong kind of fuel (like processed sugars) or not enough fuel and it’s not going to perform well. “People don’t realize a child’s brain is burning through energy very, very rapidly and needs consistent fuel,” says registered dietitian Martha Rosenau of Colorado Springs. She says kids need to eat meals balanced with a portion of healthy carbohydrates, protein and fat. “Kids would be short-changing themselves in terms of production, concentration and productivity if they try to do brain work on an empty stomach.”

How to help: Look for ways to incorporate healthy “brain foods” into your family’s diet on a regular basis. Beans, olive oil, walnuts, blueberries and Omega-3-rich fish like wild salmon, mackerel and tuna.

Anxiety

Whether genetic or situational, extreme worry can cause physical responses in the body that hinder a child from performing well on a test.

How to help: Teach your child relaxation techniques like meditation, deep breathing or visualization (where they picture themselves doing well on a test). You can also go over material with a child the night before a test to help them feel prepared. In severe cases, consider seeking professional help from someone trained to work with child/teen anxiety.

Lack of sleep

Sleep deprivation is known to decrease everything from attentiveness and response time to short-term memory andperformance. Unfortunately, lack of sleep is a common issue for school-aged children and teens but not always for the same reasons. For those who are heavily active in extra-curricular activities, it could mean being too alert to fall asleep after a late-night of basketball practice or staying up late to finish homework due to a busy evening of overscheduled band practice, piano lessons and attending a sibling’s soccer game.

The Nemours Foundation recommends 10 hours of sleep for kids 6 to 9; 9 hours for 10- to 12-year-olds; and 8 to 9.5 for teens.

How to help: Work to create relaxing routines (warm bath, time to unwind, reading) and try to stick to a schedule. Encourage your child or teen to go to bed at the same time each night and avoid foods that contain sugar, food dyes or caffeine.

Weak cognitive skills

The SAT Reasoning Test is broken down into three sections: math, critical reading and writing. The test, which is published and developed by the College Board, takes three hours and 45 minutes. According to the College Board, the SAT measures several pre-college skills: literacy and writing skills, and analytical and problem-solving skills. And because the test is more cognitive-focused than knowledge-focused, many high-IQ societies like Mensa accept SAT scores as part of their admission criteria.

Similar to the SAT, the ACT tests English, Math, Reading and Science reasoning. There is also an optional writing test that measures how well a student can plan and compose an essay. Each section is timed and although some of the test is knowledge-based, almost all is a test of cognitive skills.

“While knowledge is the information you acquire and memorize – such as math formulas – cognitive skills are the tools you need to learn, understand and apply to those math formulas,” explains Tanya Mitchell, Vice President of Research and Development for LearningRx (LearningRx.com), a national brain-training franchise. “They include auditory and visual processing, comprehension, logic and reasoning, memory and attention. When taking timed tests, one of the most important cognitive skills is processing speed. After all, just because two children can (eventually) solve the same math problems doesn’t mean they’ll do equally well on a timed test.”

How to help: Enroll your child in a cognitive skills training program. Unlike tutoring, which focuses on knowledge of a particular subject (such as history), cognitive skills training works to strengthen the fundamental learning tools needed to excel on all types of timed tests that measure intelligence – not knowledge.

Taking a timed test can make even the most well adjusted child anxious. You can’t take it for them, but you can help prepare them with a nutritious breakfast, plenty of sleep, relaxation techniques, and strong cognitive skills.

And while most parents’ biggest concern is the possible side effects, perhaps an equally important consideration should be that stimulant medications only treat the symptoms – not the underlying cause – of the problem. This means that, although the child may be been easier to “handle” at school, chances are that his/her grades are still sub-par.

So what’s a parent to do?

Understanding the weakest link: Attention

As with almost all learning struggles, the most common root cause is one or more weak cognitive skills – the fundamental tools of effective learning.

“Cognitive skills are the underlying tools that enable us to successfully focus, think, prioritize, plan, understand, visualize, remember and create useful associations, and solve problems,” explains Tanya Mitchell, co-author of “Unlock the Einstein Inside: Applying New Brain Science to Wake Up the Smart in your Child.” “A child’s cognitive skill set is made up of several cognitive skills including auditory processing, visual processing, short and long-term memory, comprehension, logic and reasoning, and attention skills. In children with ADD or ADHD, the weakest cognitive skill is attention, although other areas tend to suffer as well.”

The three types of attention

According to Mitchell, there are three types of attention: sustained, selective and divided. In general, they are described as:

• Sustained: Allows the child to stay on task for a long period of time

• Selective: Prevents the child from t being easily distracted

• Divided: Allows the child to do more than one thing at a time

In those with ADD, the frontal cortex (surface) of the brain has more difficulty using glucose and less blood flow than in people without ADD. The frontal cortex inhibits impulses, initiates behavior, and controls working memory. When underactive, the ability to screen out irrelevant stimuli is reduced, and the individual pays attention to EVERYTHING. This results in poor regulation of the motivation system and makes staying on task difficult without immediate rewards.

“Video games provide rapid, constant feedback and stimulation and tend to be very engaging for people with ADD,” explains Dr. Russell Griffiths, a Licensed Educational Psychologist. “Neuroscience shows that by targeting and stimulating the underactive region of the brain responsible for the characteristics of inattention, attention can be strengthened. Therefore, the correct approach (to ADD/ADHD) is the opposite of the usual accommodations used (at schools) – like removing distractions, reducing workload, or isolating students into quiet areas.”

Exercises to improve the three types of attention

Although Mitchell recommends a thorough, intense program of cognitive skills training for children who are on stimulant medications like Ritalin, she does offer suggestions for exercises that parents can do at home to improve the three types of attention in their children. They include:

• Sustained Attention

Parents use a stopwatch while their child does a small task or homework assignment and take notice when the student loses focus. If the child starts playing or looking around at 1:30 minutes, the parent stops the time. The child is then given a goal to try and focus for a longer period of time, e.g.1:45 minutes. The game should include prizes or special privileges for the child to look forward to upon making the goal. The parents continue adding new time to the goals until the student can repeatedly focus for 5 minutes at a time.

• Selective Attention

Parents can do the same activity for sustained attention but the parent now adds small distractions and the child tries to stay on task. As the child in able to handle small distractions, the distractions should increase. Make sure to do the task in a game-like setting and once the child completes a goal, they receive a small reward or privilege.

• Divided attention

The most important attention skill. Parents can purchase a game like Simon, Bop-it or Perfection where the game has a timing and attention component to it. The child starts the game and the parent asks for other information while the child is playing (e.g. the parent names an animal and the child has to make the sound, the parent gives two numbers and the child gives the sum, the parent asks the child to describe their room). This may seem overwhelming, but by setting small goals (e.g. two correct answers), and then increasing the goal, a child can strengthen there ability to multi-task.

Mitchell says parents should try to do these activities three to four times a week.

“Again, I’d suggest that parents try these exercises at home to complement a cognitive skills training program,” says Mitchell. “After working with a professional (brain trainer) in a one-one-one setting, most children who have been labeled as having ADHD, ADD or other learning disabilities like dyslexia can improve from three to five grade levels and about half the students will no longer require medication.”