Easy Brain Methods

The common complaint that parents have of their children is that they can’t focus.  ‘Daydreaming in class again,’  is the song they hear the teacher sing.  What is the child’s perspective?

Ask them and you will hear:

The teacher is boring.

She called my friend ’stupid’ in front of the class and I don’t want to receive the same.

I needed a drink of water and to stand up a little but teacher says I disturb my classmates.

The fact is not all children learn the same way.  Could it be that the teacher is not able to reach out to the child at his level? Why just blame the recipient and when the transmitter is at fault?   A simple classification of learning styles puts some things into perspective.  All of us, whether adult or child, we have  different preferences according to our cognitive strengths:

The VISUAL LEARNER.

This person must have pictures.  It’s like unless I see, I will not believe.  The fact is the visual system of this person is more switched on than the other systems.  We all need our visual system switched on of course.  The question is how much details does your brain process and is your processing fast enough?  Test you own processing by doing some spot the difference games.

Note that children with poor visual acuity also often have learning difficulties and vestibular challenges.  They tend to be poor readers – by which I mean they do not really comprehend what they read; have to read a passage more than once to understand, etc.  Vestibular challenges refer to their physical balance in space.  Does the child have to lean against a wall or person most of the time?

The AUDIO LEARNER.

This child or adult is affected very much  by the tone and volume and speed of the person speaking.  Speak at the correct level of warmth and acceptance and he will simply absorb without perceiving any threat of the raised or unhappy voice.  A person with strong audio discrimination often remembers  what he hears better and may be using sub-vocalisation to recall or memorise.

On the flip side, the audio preferred learner is also often distracted by a noisy environment- interesting TV sounds and friends playing just outside the window are examples.  Parents, its your job to ensure the correct environment for your child to study at home.  A poor listener on the other hand may need repetition and to sit in front in class.

The KINESTHETIC LEARNER

These learners need to move to learn – a fact that is disregarded as children grow into higher levels.  Dr Paul Dennison of Brain Gym fame puts it this way,”Movement is the door to learning.”

Just allowing the child to stand up occasionally has proven to work for a teacher friend of mine.   Apparently they have more wiring to the parietal lobe.

IN PRACTICE:

When in kindergarten,  learning is great for the child with lots of visuals, songs and hands-on stuff to do.  Colouring, drawing, doodling in class is given high praise.  Left and right brain stimulation goes on adinfinitum with hands-on and Motessorri learning aids.  However as we grow up, the visual and kinesthetic systems are gradually discarded until we become audio absorbers only! You won’t find your university lecturer welcoming your shuffling and  running around.  At that stage, you had better be a good listener.  No way is the professor going to break out in song and dance to demonstrate a point and help students to associate facts.

HINT: So what is one way to ensure learners learn?  Change your delivery to fit!  Having said that, what if you are a recipient in a lecture?  what do you do if your strength is not auditory?

So if you are strong on video mode, use a mind map to locate information in y0ur head.  And if you really cant get away from moving, twiddle your thumbs!

ALSO,

Get the learning profile done – we offer that to some 95% accuracy. (See tab above.)

The learning profile will show you a breakdown of how anyone uses his brain as well as define new learning styles beyond the simple VAK model describe above. What percentage of his cognition is visual, auditory or kinesthetic? Once you know your child’s natural modus operandi, its easy for you to adapt your presentation and interaction with the child – especially in the area of motivation and early development.  Send him for appropriate training, as a parent you’ll save a lot of time.  And of course, consult us.

Apply BRAIN GYM

This is the best thing you can do for your child to improve academic abilities and other faculties.  Learn and apply Brain Gym everyday – the changes you can work are tremendous and really fascinating

Switch-on with Brain Gym is always my key phrase.