Brain Training – Top 5 Questions We are Asked

With over 35 years of research and development at LearningRx, we have gained significant insight into brain training. This enables us to create programs that target specific problems and bring about remarkable improvements in our clients’ lives. There are many factors involved in improving learning and comprehension skills.

Throughout our many years in business, (our Colorado Springs office just celebrated 20 years in business!) we have received a lot of questions about brain training. Here are the top 5.

Q 1 –  How Is Brain Training Different From Tutoring?

This is one of the first questions people ask about brain training – how it differs from tutoring. Brain training and tutoring offer different solutions to different problems.

Learning can be broken down into two components:

• Strong educational content &
• The cognitive ability to learn and apply that content.

Tutoring is a resource for delivering — or in some cases, redelivering — material for additional understanding.

Brain Training helps improve weak cognitive skills to enhance learning abilities.

If your child is behind in school because of the flu, tutoring can help them get caught up. In other words, if you can identify outside circumstances that have interfered with the delivery of information to your child, hiring someone to redeliver that information makes a lot of sense.

If your child isn’t grasping information because one or more of their cognitive skills are weak, redelivering the material over and over won’t work. To see improvement, you need to uncover the root cause of the problem and successfully strengthen the affected cognitive skill(s). That’s what brain training does.

Q 2: What Are Cognitive Skills?

Also known as “brain skills,” cognitive skills are the core skills your brain uses to think, read, learn, remember, reason, pay attention, and perform. They include:

• Visual and auditory processing
• Logic and reasoning
• Memory
• Processing speed
• Attention

Cognitive skills work together to take incoming information and move it into the bank of knowledge you use every day at school, at work, and in life.

Each of your cognitive skills plays an important role in processing new information. That means if even one of these skills is weak, the ability to grasp, retain, or use that new information is impacted. In fact, most learning struggles are caused by one or more weak cognitive skills.

Q 3 – How Is Brain Training With LearningRx Different From Online Games touted to strengthen the brain?

When a client takes part in brain training at LearningRx, they are paired with a brain trainer for an individualized program that consists of game-like mental exercises that are both fun and challenging. Individualization is key as we take what we learn from your initial assessment and immediately apply our training practices to your weakest area.

The difference between these specific brain exercises versus brain games lies in our unique approach. The one-on-one nature of the training relationship allows LearningRx brain trainers to do three critical things:

• Focus on results. We help our clients reach their goals by customizing each training session and encouraging them to work past their comfort levels.
• Focus on attitude. We challenge our clients to recognize and pursue their potential, learning to see failure not as something to be avoided, but as a stepping stone to greater success.
• Focus on confidence. We encourage both struggling students and adults to engage, embrace challenges, recognize improvements, and celebrate gains.

4. What Is the Difference Between ADD and ADHD?

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is the official name of a neurological condition, the symptoms of which include various combinations of poor attention, poor impulse control, and hyperactivity.

There are three types of ADHD:

• Inattentive ADHD (also referred to as ADD), which involves inattentive symptoms only.
• Hyperactive-Impulsive ADHD, which involves hyperactive/impulsive symptoms only.
• Combined ADHD, which involves both inattentive and hyperactive/impulsive symptoms

Generally speaking, what are stereotypically thought of as ADD/ADHD symptoms (hyperactivity and impulsivity, a child who can’t sit still, etc.) can signify either of the latter two subtypes, while ADD (or Inattentive ADHD) symptoms revolve around problems with attention.

Q 5 – Who Can Benefit From Brain Training?

Because cognitive weaknesses are not necessarily strengthened by time, children who struggle with reading, learning, reasoning, remembering, or paying attention often have the same struggles well into adulthood. Many of our clients are, in fact, adults of all ages and stages of life, from college students to career builders to senior citizens.

Truly, almost anyone can benefit from brain training. At LearningRx, we’ve worked with people of all ages who struggle with a wide variety of learning difficulties, from ADHD, dyslexia, and autism to TBI, memory decline, and math struggles. All in all, our programs have helped more than 130,000 individuals and families sharpen their brain skills and gained a step up in life.

Ready to Explore Brain Training For Yourself or Your Child?

Schedule a Brain Skills Assessment with our brain trainers in Fort Collins. The assessment will pinpoint specific cognitive weaknesses and offer an understanding of the why behind the struggles you or your loved one have been experiencing. This tells us where to start.

Check out our results here. Call us anytime to learn more at 970-672-2020.