Brain Training at Learning Charms..and a little vent

"Brain Training" (also called cognitive training) is a hot topic of interest for parents of children who are struggling in school, or who have  ADHD, learning disabilities, attention/focus issues and sensory processing difficulties.  There are many franchises that offer brain training.  Brain training is not new, but is a new "hot word".  Occupational therapists have been helping clients to rewire their brains for decades.  We just called it "occupational therapy".   Occupational therapy increases achievement of students by working on the underlying and foundation issues of development, such as core strength, sensory processing, bilateral use, fluency, motor planning and so on.  Therapists practice increasing left and right brain integration every day because that is part of therapy. This increase in foundation skills increases academic performance.   In the past several decades, new high tech systems (such as Interactive Metronome) have come along that can assist therapists with improving and refining areas of focus, attention and timing.

So, my clients have asked me about these brain training franchises and what they do. I cannot say that I can personally review their effectiveness.  But I will share some insight.  I recently met a student that worked at one of the franchises and I asked what she did there.

Jumping rope in occupational therapy

Why do we jump rope in O.T. and handwriting tutoring?


My students always want to know why I make them jump rope so much.  If you come to see me at Learning Charms then you'll definitely be leaving being much better at jumping rope. 

Why is it important?  Jumping rope is beneficial mostly for fluency.  Fluency is part of motor praxis (meaning "planning") and is basically the ability to keep a steady pace and rhythm. It can be seen in reading fluency, math fluency, and even fluency in independent working pace.  I especially like jumping rope for children with ADD/ADHD.   Fluency is an executive function of the brain, meaning that it is a high level skill.  I teach jump rope to kids as young as 3 years.  As they get older, we learn to jump rope backwards, one footed, with rhymes, and counting backwards by 2's or 3"s.  Jumping rope helps with academic skills, timing, sensory processing and motor coordination too.  Bring out the jump rope this summer!