The Well-Being Check-In: Academic/Cognitive With school officially underway, this is a good time for parents to check in on their children’s and teen’s academic and cognitive well-being. LearningRx, the world’s largest personal brain training company, has put together a simple guide to help parents better understand what’s working (and what’s not) now that school back in session. We’ve included some useful tips, sample questions to ask your student, and resources to make changes when necessary. What to know: Learning can be broken down into two components: strong educational content (good content in a textbook, for example) and the cognitive ability to learn and apply that content (e.g., strong brain skills, such as attention, memory and visual processing, among others). If your student gets sick and misses two weeks of school, you may need to help them get caught on the material they missed. You can do this yourself, hire a tutor, or use whatever assistance the school has in place to essentially re-teach what was taught in the classroom during their absence. But if your student hasn’t missed school and simply begins to fall behind in multiple classes, or you notice them taking longer than usual to complete homework, the issue may be that one or more cognitive skills could use some strengthening. Don’t panic! Even smart kids have learning challenges. And there are cognitive assessments that can pinpoint which brain skills could use a little tune-up. But first, you need to gather a bit of information from your student to determine if and where they might be struggling. What to ask: While it’s still too early for report cards, there are other ways to determine if your student is in the right classes and on track for learning. Until your scheduled parent-teacher meeting, use some of the following questions to get a feel for the challenges your student may already be experiencing with academics: 1. What’s your favorite class and why? 2. What’s your hardest class and why? 3. What’s your easiest class and why? 4. Who is your favorite teacher and why? 5. In which classroom are you the most (un)comfortable and why? (e.g., English room too hot, math teacher calls on kids to respond out loud, P.E. teacher lets us go outside, etc.) 6. Which teacher gives the most homework? 7. Are there any subjects you dread? Any you love? Where to learn more: If you have any concerns that your child may be struggling in one or more classes, consider scheduling a Brain Skills Assessment at your local LearningRx brain training center or online. This affordable, one-hour assessment measures cognitive skills, such as auditory processing, memory, attention, logic & reasoning, processing speed, and visual processing. The results of the assessment will help you determine which of your student’s brain skills are strong and which could use some strengthening to make learning faster and easier in any subject. The results of a Brain Skills Assessment can also help LearningRx develop a personalized one-on-one brain training program. These programs use fun but intense mental exercises to target and train specific cognitive skills that are integral to thinking, learning, reading, memory, and attention. In addition, most graduates of LearningRx personal brain training programs say they got a huge boost in confidence! To hear what students and parents have to say about their experience with LearningRx one-on-one brain training, visit www.StudentShoutouts.com. Ready to schedule a Brain Skills Assessment for your student? Find a Center near you via www.learningrx.com.