Brain Training Articles & News

New research published in Nature Communications has found that adolescents’ brains react more responsively to receiving rewards. (If you’re curious, the World Health Organization defines adolescence as the period between the ages of 10 and 19.) Although this strong reward system can lead to risky behavior, it can also be used to make learning easier. ...

If you’re thinking of having your child’s learning skills assessed, there are a lot of choices. Read on to discover the difference between five of the more common types of tests to evaluate cognitive skills. Achievement assessments: These tests measure proficiency in specific subjects and can alert parents to holes in their children’s education. Although ...

Report cards. Seldom have two words caused such anxiety for both students and parents. For some, poor grades can reflect feelings of inadequacy (as a student or a parent), worries about being held back a grade, or fears of not getting into a good college. Who’s to blame for learning struggles? For parents, these fears ...

Transitioning from a summer of sleeping in, playing all day and staying up late, to a strict school regime with homework and tests is tough for anyone. Factor in things like ADHD, multiple extracurricular activities and a new teacher (and, sometimes, a new school!), and you’ve got the recipe for homework struggles. So what’s a ...

Just because it’s wrapped in pretty paper doesn’t mean it’svaluable. Sometimes the best gifts aren’t appreciated until thechild is older because they’re not “hands-on” toys,clothes, or accessories. Here are 10 gifts that are worthy of your financial or time investmenttoday because they “pay off” (sometimes literally, sometimesfiguratively) in the long run. Responsibility. Have you ever ...

Although it’s generally believed that Polish neuroscientist JerzyKonorski coined the term “plasticity” in 1948 to describethe brain’s ability to experience permanent functional transformations,it wasn’t until the 1990s that the scientific community began acceptingthe implications of “neuroplasticity.” The idea of the brain being able to change and adapt has always seemedlike good news for an aging ...

When Lew Davis founded the da Vinci Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., he made sure that the mission statement for the K-5 facility was clear:“…to successfully educate and enrich all learners through the integration of arts and sciences…” Davis was on to something. He knew that by infusing visual arts, dance, drama, and vocal and ...

Lots of activities are good for your kid’s brain: music lessons, board games, learning a second language, puzzles, and personal brain training. But unstructured play has taken a back seat in our ever-busy, high-tech world. Remember hide-and-seek, dress-up, restaurant, bike rides, roller skating, building snowmen and making up dance routines? That’s “unstructured.” (And fun!) And ...

Tired of hearing, “Are we there yet?” Prepare for the inevitable boredom that comes with a long car ride by stocking up on these brain-boosting travel games. Best of all, they’re all under $10! Travel Scavenger Hunt Card Game ($6.55 on Amazon.com) This pack of 54 scavenger hunt cards has kids looking for things like ...

In recent years, the medical community has broadened its reference of autism to Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Although the new term covers a wide range of deficits and functions, it provides no more insight into an individual’s cognitive abilities. One test that can help identify weak brain skills associated with learning struggles is a cognitive ...