Standardized Tests: 4 factors within your control

There are lots of factors that contribute to test performance results. Here are four of the most common, with tips on how to help:

• Focus on Nutrition: Children’s brains burn through energy very rapidly and needs consistent fuel. Feed children meals balanced with healthy carbohydrates, protein and fat. Look for ways to incorporate healthy “brain foods” into your family’s diet: beans, olive oil, walnuts, blueberries andomega-3-rich fish like wild salmon, mackerel and tuna.
• Manage Anxiety: Whether genetic or situational, extreme worry can cause physical responses in the body that hinder a child from performing well on a test. Teach your child relaxation techniques like meditation, deep breathing, or visualization.
• Help Your Child Get Enough Sleep: Sleep deprivation is known to decrease attentiveness, response time, short-term memory, and performance. Here’s a handy chart to help you determine what time your child should go to bed.
• Train Your Child’s Cognitive skills: While knowledge is the information that is acquire-such as math formulas-cognitive skills are the tools the brain needs to learn, understand, and apply to those math formulas. When taking timed tests, one of the most important cognitive skills is processing speed. More than 90% of students who completed the ReadRx program showed improvement on state reading achievement tests. Enroll your child in a one-on-one cognitive skills training program to target the fundamental learning tools needed to excel on all types of timed tests.