LearningRx - One-on-One Brain Training Shares Tips for Easing the Summer-to-School Transition
LearningRx (www.LearningRx.com), the largest one-on-one brain training company, is sharing tips to help students ease the transition from summer to school. The tips highlight three key skill sets that students need to thrive in any setting.
This fall will be a return to in-person learning for many students across the country in nearly 18 months. In addition to the standard learning loss that typically occurs when formal education stops during the summer, this past year and a half was compounded because of school closures, disruptions, and new challenges with online learning. These adjustments have left many students—and parents—concerned about a return to the classroom.
But there's good news: almost everyone is in the same boat.
Here are some tips to help your student develop three primary skill sets to help them thrive this academic year:
• Skill Set #1: Socialization
Understandably, students may feel nervous about returning to a social setting, especially after more than a year riddled with isolation, home-based learning, event cancelations, and limited sports and other extracurricular activities. Look for opportunities to tour the school, attend grade-specific orientations and other social engagements. Depending on your student's interests, needs, and age, you may want to enroll them in individual or group therapy, schedule "play dates", sign them up for a fun workshop (e.g., painting, star gazing, pottery), or take them to a free concert at the Richmond Hill GO parking lot. If needed, encourage them to brainstorm conversation starters or extracurricular activities at the start of school (e.g., theater, student council, intramural volleyball) they can enroll in to make friends organically.
• Skill Set #2: Time management and organization
Summer often means late nights and sleeping in, making the transition to early morning starts particularly stressful. Start by gradually adopting a sleep schedule to best prepare your student for an earlier wake-up.
Like time management, organization often serves as a reflection of learning success. As one might imagine, a well-rested teen with strong note-taking skills, clearly labeled binders, and a detailed homework schedule will likely perform better than a sleep-deprived teen who struggles to stay on top of tasks. Invest in the tools your student needs to keep academics organized like colored markers, binders, notebooks, highlighter pens, a calendar, and a whiteboard. Designate a quiet space in your living quarters—whether it's a desk, fold-up, or dining room table—to establish a learning environment without distraction.
• Skill Set #3: Cognitive skills
Also known as "brain skills," cognitive skills are the underlying tools that enable kids to focus successfully, think, prioritize, plan, understand, visualize, remember, and solve problems. Those skills include auditory processing, visual processing, short and long-term memory, comprehension, logic, reasoning, and attention skills. If one of these skills isn't as strong as the others, it can affect the brain's ability to perform efficiently. Just imagine a bright student whose attention skills make it difficult to focus on the teacher's instruction. They might miss taking critical information while taking notes, a homework assignment, or project details. Imagine if every cognitive skill were strong, including their attention skill, they would thrive in school and perform at their highest potential.
By taking an initial Brain Skills Assessment through LearningRx, the student and parent would see a fuller picture of the student's cognitive skills. Then a tailored program would focus on targeting the skills needed to maximize the student's potential. After strengthening their skills, homework, test-taking, and learning, in general, are faster and easier.
Although a return to school can bring up feelings of inadequacy and anxiety, it's important to remember that almost every student is experiencing something similar. Addressing these three skill sets can help boost your students' confidence, and better prepare them for the return to school. Focus on support, independence, and the excitement of a fresh start—and understand that their apprehension is entirely normal.
About LearningRx®
LearningRx-Richmond is the first LearningRx Centre in Canada! LearningRx, headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is the largest one-on-one brain training company in the world. Their training programs are delivered through more than 200 locations in North America and in 48 countries around the globe (as BrainRx®). LearningRx has helped more than 100,000 individuals and families sharpen their cognitive skills to help them think faster, learn easier, and perform better. In addition to their in-Center training programs that partner every client with a personal brain trainer to keep clients engaged, accountable, and on-task—a key advantage over digital brain games—the company also offers online training through real-time videoconferencing. This virtual delivery method allows clients to train from the comfort of their own home while still receiving the benefits of one-on-one brain training with a personal brain trainer. LearningRx's pioneering methods have been used in clinical settings for over 35 years and have been subjected to peer-review in more than a dozen scientific journals. To learn more, visit https://www.learningrx.com
