Top Signs Your Child Needs Brain Training

If your child struggles this school year, you may be looking into options for ways to help them catch up (or even get ahead). While tutoring can be helpful in certain situations, for many struggling learners, brain training is what is truly going to help them bridge the gap to become successful! Here are some of the top signs that your child could benefit from brain training:

Your Child May Benefit from Brain Training If:

They’ve been tutored and still struggle. 

Tutoring re-delivers the same information; brain training makes it easier to receive the first time. If you’ve been on an endless loop of tutors (or are just starting out and want to avoid the trial-and-error phase), switching to a brain training mindset can be helpful.

A brain with strong cognitive skills can adequately and effectively process new information, apply it, and remember it. If these are areas where your child struggles, throwing the same information at them over and over is not going to make it stick any better. Making their brain stronger will make the information easier to understand in the first place!

They are behind in more than one class.

If your child only struggles in science but does well in everything else, then it may be a situation where a tutor could help them catch up. But if their struggles are more widespread, the most effective and long-term beneficial option is brain training.

You use the SAME cognitive skills, no matter what subject you are learning. Everything needs to go through the gears of visual/auditory processing, processing speed, logic & reasoning, attention, memory, etc. 

If your child’s struggles are across the board or in more than one subject, it is likely caused by weaknesses in these brain skill areas—not just subject preferences. Targeted strengthening of these weak skills through brain training may help them succeed in all areas of school, work, and life!*

They’ve always disliked or struggled with reading.

Reading is the foundation of learning once you get past the early elementary years. If your child is in 3rd grade or above, they are expected to be able to decode, fluently read, and comprehend at a level that a majority of kids struggle with.

Building reading skills isn’t a simple process, but our approach to reading help has had incredible results! In a 24 week program, our students gained an average of 3.5 years in reading skills compared to peers.* 

This is HUGE. 

If your child struggles with reading, says it’s “boring” or “hard,” or constantly fights any attempts to help them learn to read, our ReadRx program may be the thing that unlocks this skill to make learning easier.

Check out this blog for some of the FAQs we get from parents of kids who struggle with reading.

They have to work harder or longer than their peers.

Does your child always finish tests last? Does homework drag out endlessly, making you all want to cry in the corner? Are they continuously having to study more, work longer, and try harder than most others in their class?

These are all signs of school struggles that are rooted in cognitive skill weaknesses. Processing speed especially is a skill that when it is weak, your kids will struggle more than necessary. Brain training targets weak skills like processing speed to make learning faster and easier, no matter the subject area or class dynamic. 

They struggle with anxiety or completion of tests.

If testing days are wrought with anxiety or if accommodations are what get them through, brain training may be the best thing you can do to help them gain confidence and independence. Tests require lots of skills:

• Processing speed (to finish the tasks in a given amount of time)
• Working memory (to remember what you’re supposed to be doing for each question)
• Logic & Reasoning (to figure out next steps, select appropriate answers, and plan your time)
• Long-Term Memory (to recall what you’ve learned accurately)

Brian skill weaknesses in these areas, along with others, can make test-taking harder for kids. Brain training addresses the root cause of these struggles instead of just accommodating them. This allows students to become more independent, successful, and confident long-term!

They say they feel stupid, can’t succeed, or aren’t as smart as other kids.

As a parent, it is SO hard to hear your kids get frustrated and down on themselves. The pressures to perform can really weigh on students, especially if learning doesn’t come easily.

One of the biggest tangible things our students report after brain training is an improvement in overall confidence and willingness to try hard things.* These changes go beyond the walls of the classroom into everyday life to make students more resilient, capable, and able to self-advocate.

If your child struggles in school or has a lack of confidence in any area of life, brain training can open the door to more success in these areas. Give us a call today to learn more!

*These are results and reports from past clients. While you may or may not experience the same outcomes, we will do our best to work with you to create a plan to help you achieve your goals!