Struggling Student? Look Beyond Mainstream Interventions
Tutoring, neurofeedback, social-emotional counseling, or brain training? For parents of a struggling student, it can be difficult to determine which interventions to pursue outside of the school setting.
Part of the problem is that brain-based issues can include a wide variety of causes and manifestations, from learning disabilities and anxiety to behavioral issues and depression. Without always knowing the exact cause or diagnosis, choosing the right intervention can be confusing. Although teachers, school counselors, and members of a child’s individualized education program (IEP) team may be able to provide some guidance, parents often have to guide out-of-school interventions.
If you’ve been researching your options to enlist the help of other experts outside the school but don’t know where to begin, we’ve got some alternative solutions worth considering.
1. Neurofeedback
What it is:
Neurofeedback is a non-invasive, medication-free treatment that focuses on developing healthier patterns of neuronal activity in the brain. The methods used includes reward learning with real-time feedback to either reinforce the desired brain activity or inhibit unfavorable activity patterns.
What it does:
Neurofeedback teaches self-control of brain functions
Who can benefit:
Students with ADHD, anxiety disorders, autism, behavioral issues
How it works:
The patient sits in a comfortable chair—often reclining—in front of a computer screen. Proctors place electrodes on a patient’s skull to measure brain waves. When the electroencephalogram (EEG) detects that brain wave activity has met the goal sought from treatment, the patient’s brain is rewarded. Depending on the center’s methods, the reward may include enjoyable audio (music or sounds), puzzle pieces on the screen coming together to form a satisfying image, or a simulation of achieving a high score on a video game. As the therapy trains a patient’s brain to regulate fast brain wave activity, they begin feeling a sense of calm. Eventually, the training allows the patient to self-correct outside the clinician’s office.
2. Tutoring
What it is:
Tutoring is private academic support given for one or more subjects to learn information in areas in which they may have fallen behind.
What it does:
To help students “catch up” on material they may have missed when it was originally taught.
Who can benefit:
Students who have missed an extended amount of school due to an illness, injury, or family move may benefit from tutoring. In some cases, students who struggled to learn from a substitute teacher (but who were otherwise on track in the class) may benefit from being taught the material again.
How it works:
Tutors may come to your place of residence or a library, or you may take your student to the tutor’s facility if it’s a designated tutoring business. The tutor will work with your student to explain concepts, strengthen subject comprehension, and, in some cases, prepare individualized lessons.
3. One-on-one Brain Training
What it is:
While tutoring focuses on delivering or reteaching information, personal brain training helps students build stronger learning skills. These core learning skills—including attention, memory, auditory and visual processing, logic & reasoning, and processing speed—are the cognitive skills your brain uses to think, read, learn, remember, reason, and pay attention. Working together, they take incoming information and move it into the bank of knowledge that students use every day at school, at home, in sports, music lessons, and other activities.
What it does:
Just as a personal training can help you strengthen your body for maximum results, one-on-one brain training can help strengthen a student’s brain. By boosting the foundational skills needed to succeed in school and life, clients can learn more easily, think faster, overcome learning difficulties, and unlock hidden potential.
Who can benefit:
Students with learning differences (e.g., ADHD, autism, dyslexia, speech disorders, etc.), concussions, and memory loss, as well as young children who are developing early learning skills, have benefitted from cognitive skills training.
How it works:
Successful cognitive skills training starts with a Brain Skills Assessment. This simple test identifies which brain skills are already strong and which can benefit from training. The results can be used to develop an individualized learning plan for your student. Your student is paired with their own brain trainer for the duration of the sessions, which include mental exercises and games to improve the way the student learns and thinks. Effective brain training has created significant improvements in academics, confidence, and even behavior with a focus on:*
- Repetition
- Practice
- Intensity
- Positive reinforcement
- Multitasking and layering activities
- Step-by-step progression
4. Social/emotional counseling
What it is:
Sometimes called “social and emotional learning” (SEL), social/emotional counseling helps children understand and manage emotions, feel and communicate empathy, set and achieve positive goals, and maintain positive relationships. Counselors may also help students develop responsible decision-making skills regarding issues like attendance, drugs, interpersonal conflict, and social adjustment.
What it does:
Social/emotional counseling can help students reduce behavioral problems, lessen emotional distress, improve academic performance, and engage in positive social behavior.
Who can benefit:
Because students’ emotions and socialization influence everything from attention and memory to decision-making and learning, almost any student—as well as their family members—can benefit by the students’ engagement in social/emotional counseling.
How it works:
Social/emotional counseling can be done in a one-on-one or group setting. Rather than a lecture format, the students actively participate in the discussion and exercises. The five components of SEL are self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationships skills, and responsible decision-making.
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If you’re looking for interventions for your struggling student, consider doing some research into these four options. The right solution may help your student become a happier, more confident and engaged learner!
Curious about one-on-one brain training? Schedule an initial Brain Skills Assessment to determine how your student’s brain skills measure up to their peers. Start here today!
*Results based on past clients. You or your child may or may not achieve the same outcomes.
