What are the underlying causes of a learning struggle? If you, your child, or someone you love is struggling to learn you may wonder, what causes a learning struggle? We can tell you, it may not have anything to do with effort or intelligence. That’s because most learning struggles occur when one or more cognitive skills simply aren’t as strong as they could be. When brain skills—including processing speed, attention, logic & reasoning, auditory and visual processing, and memory—are strong, learning is fast and easy. What does each cognitive skill do? Of the cognitive skills, some can be broken down into subcategories. For example, there are actually three types of attention (sustained, selective, and divided) and two types of memory (long-term and working). Here is what each skill does to help you learn, think, focus and remember: • Sustained Attention: Enables you to stay focused and on task for a sustained period of time • Selective Attention: Enables you to stay focused on a task despite distractions • Divided Attention: Enables you to remember information while doing two things at once • Auditory Processing: Enables you to analyze, blend, and segment sounds • Visual Processing: Enables you to think in visual images • Logic & Reasoning: Enables you to reason, form ideas, and solve problems • Long-term Memory: Enables you to recall information stored in the past • Working Memory: Enables you to hang on to information while in the process of using it • Processing Speed: Enables you to perform tasks quickly and accurately How do learning struggles manifest when a cognitive skill isn’t strong? A common question we hear at LearningRx is, “How can my student have a learning struggle when they’re so bright?” The answer is simple: Even an intelligent student can struggle if one cognitive skill is hindering their processing. Just imagine a student who retains everything they read at home or hear in class, but whose processing speed is slow. They may know all the answers on a timed test but struggle to get through all the questions in time. Or consider the student who pays attention in class and can use logic to solve problems better than their peers but whose visual or auditory processing impedes their reading comprehension at home, in class, and on quizzes. Need some additional examples? Here are some of the common problems students face when one cognitive skill isn’t as strong as the others: • Sustained Attention isn’t strong: You may notice lots of unfinished projects; the student may be jumping from task to task • Selective Attention isn’t strong: A student is easily distracted. • Divided Attention isn’t strong: You may notice that the student has difficulty multitasking and makes frequent mistakes • Auditory Processing isn’t strong: You may notice that the student is struggling with learning to read, reading fluency, or reading comprehension • Visual Processing isn’t strong: You may notice that the student has difficulties understanding or remembering what they’ve just read; they may struggle to follow directions, read maps, and/or do word math problems • Logic & Reasoning isn’t strong: You may notice (or be told by a teacher) that the student frequently asks, “What do I do next?” or says “I don’t get this” because they feel stuck or overwhelmed • Long-term Memory isn’t strong: You may notice that the student forgets names, does poorly on tests or forgets things they used to know • Working Memory isn’t strong: You may notice that the student needs to read directions again in the middle of a project; they may have difficulty following multi-step directions. • When Processing Speed isn’t strong: You may notice that the student takes longer than his/her peers to complete tasks for school What you can do to help Although discovering that your child or teen has a learning struggle can be scary, you can take comfort in knowing that there is hope! When clients come to LearningRx, we start with an initial Brain Skills Assessment. It only takes about an hour and the results help pinpoint which skills are strong and which can use some work to bring out the person’s full learning potential. Using the results of the Brain Skills Assessment, our team creates a personal brain training program designed to target and strengthen the skill or skills most in need of a boost. Your student will be paired up with a personal brain trainer who will use game-like mental exercises that are both fun and challenging. LearningRx programs use all the research and development we’ve done over 35 years to help our clients improve their performance and provide stronger brain skills that will enhance their everyday life. What’s the difference between tutoring and personal brain training? This is probably the most common question we get when new clients come to LearningRx. Many parents have tried tutoring—with little or no results—and worry that personal brain training will simply be more of the same. But learning is made up of two components: educational content and the cognitive ability to learn and apply that content. Tutoring is a resource for delivering or redelivering material. If a student missed a chunk of school due to an illness, injury, or family move mid-school year, for example, tutoring can help get them “caught up” on the material they missed the first time. But if your child is frustrated and falling behind in multiple classes year after year, tutoring probably won’t help. Instead, it’s likely that one or more brain skills need a boost to help the student learn, understand, and remember the information the first time. Instead of reteaching the same material in hope that it will “stick,” personal brain training addresses the root cause of the problem by targeting and strengthening the foundational tools that make learning easy and fast. Where do I start? Visit the LearningRx (www.LearningRx.com) website and find your nearest personal brain training center. Schedule the one-hour Brain Skills Assessment. There’s no obligation to sign up for a brain training program and the results of the assessment will likely provide you with a wealth of information to help you determine the next steps.