How Brain Training is Different Than Tutoring for Struggling Students

If your child is performing below grade level in school, the natural first response is likely to hire a tutor. While this is the right course of action in some scenarios, the reality is that tutoring is not going to solve your child’s learning struggles. 

What tutoring does is re-delivering information. But what if your child’s brain isn’t prepped to focus, learn and remember? What if reading continues to be such a struggle that there is zero comprehension, fluency, or confidence? What if tutoring is not enough to give them the leg-up they need to succeed?

These are the questions that can be answered through brain training.

What Tutoring Does Well

Tutoring can be very helpful for kids who:

• Were absent frequently from school
• Had an inconsistent or inexperienced teacher
• Or had some other disruption to content instruction. 

Tutoring re-teaches the same information in a different way, and for some kids this can be what makes it “click.”

Tutoring can be helpful if, for example, your child really struggles in math with one particular concept. Or it can be reassuring leading up to exams to help reinforce content in subjects like science and social studies.

But if your child’s struggles are more wide and varied, and if they seem to be in constant need of a tutor, brain training may be the better course of action for your family.

What Brain Training Does Differently Than Tutoring

While tutoring focuses on content, brain training targets the skills your brain uses to learn in the first place. Kids who struggle in school always have one or more cognitive skill weaknesses that are causing mental hangups and making it harder to learn.

Brain training is helpful for kids who:

• Have been through tutoring, yet continue to struggle in that subject
• Are behind in more than one class
• Have always struggled with or done poorly in reading 
• Chronically struggle with test performance or anxiety
• Have to work harder or longer than other kids to achieve good grades
• Say they feel stupid, that they can’t succeed, or that they aren’t as smart as other kids

What brain training does differently than tutoring is that it targets the root causes of learning struggles. Instead of a bandaid fix to help your kids pass the test, brain training looks at the “why:” 

→ Why does my child struggle with learning, no matter what teaching style we try?

→ Reading always a fight; why don’t seem to get it?

→ Why can’t they seem to focus, remember, or problem-solve without constant support?

These are questions that brain training targets in order to make learning faster, easier, and better for your child.

Reading Is Key!

As you see in the list above, reading struggles are an automatic sign that brain training is the right choice for your family. Why is this?

Reading is one of the most foundational skills for effective learning, yet more and more kids are falling behind. Estimates show that up to ⅓ of US kids are in need of remedial reading support in school, and unfortunately even this is not enough to help most kids catch up.

Learning to read is not a “natural” skill (like, say, talking). Instead it requires a re-wiring of your brain to derive meaning from letters and words. Mastering phonics, auditory processing, and manipulation of sounds and letters is critical to becoming a successful reader! (And these reading skills are some of the most important for learning across the board in all subjects.)

If your child struggles with reading, don’t put off figuring out their unique “why.” Uncovering the reasons your child struggles is the first step to helping them succeed. 

Our unique approach to reading helps build these basic reading skills—and helps kids catch up by 3.6 years on average over a 6 month training period!*

Learning Skills that Translate into Everyday Life

Cognitive skills aren’t just important in school. They also translate into sports, peer relationships, hobbies, and jobs. Your ability to focus, learn and remember continues to be important in ALL areas of life, and strengthening them now may open the door to greater success for years down the road.

Virtually every client who completes a brain training program reports greater confidence, more willingness to try hard things, better resilience when things get hard, and an overall improvement in school or work performance.* If you want to support your child’s ability to learn more easily and confidently, give us a call today to learn more!

*These results are from past clients. You or your child may or may not achieve the same results.