Frequently Asked Questions
Train Your Brain. Transform Your Life.
These are some of the most frequently asked questions about learning disabilities, their causes and solutions, cognitive skills, and cognitive training. For additional information, please visit www.LearningRx.com, the website of Learning Rx, the research-based designers of the PACE program which forms the foundation of our training; or http://jwilford.Processingskills.com
Note: For ease of reading, the following questions and answers refer to children, but would be equally applicable to teens and adults.
How to I know if my child has a learning problem or a learning disability?
Answer: An easy definition is "a person has a learning problem is he/she makes more mistakes than the average person, takes longer than the average person, or has to work harder than the average person."
What are the causes of learning problems, and what can be done about them?
Answer: There are several main causes, each with their own solution(s):
- Personal/Family issues such as poor nutrition, lack of sleep, poor study environment, or unsettled family relationships.
Solution: Improve the causal situation(s) and the learning problem will disappear. This is usually handled within the family or with counseling.
- Vision or Hearing Problems. Solution: Have vision checked by a developmental optometrist (even if an ophthalmologist says there is no problem). If words continue to "move" on the page or headaches persist, consider and Irlen Institute specialist. Visit www.irlen.com for information. Get hearing checked by an audiologist.
- Poor Instruction or Lack of Instruction. Solution: Get tutoring or other help. If this is the problem, the child should catch up rapidly and not need tutoring in various subjects. However, this is frequently not the real problem; if other students in the class are succeeding, it is unlikely that poor instruction is the main reason for the difficulties.
- Poor Motivation. Solution: This is more likely the result of repeated frustrations because of learning problems, rather than the cause. This can be "tested" by offering a big enough "bribe" to fully motivate the child. If the task still cannot be accomplished, you know the cause is not a lack of motivation.
- Heredity. Solution: Learning difficulties can run in families. The problems usually result from cognitive and processing difficulties. (See the list cause below). Note: If the above issues are addressed, and learning problems continue, it is most likely that underlying skill weaknesses (see next item) are the cause, so don't give up!
Can actual physical changes in the brain really occur?
Answer: Absolutely! Current medical research shows that "the brain is 'massively plastic' - not rigidly fixed like a computer chip - and can rewire itself throughout life with the help of rigorous training." (Time magazine, July 5, 1999)
How is Victory Learning Center's training different from tutoring?
Answer: Unlike tutoring, we identify and strengthen the underlying CAUSES of the reading and learning problems, rather than focus on the academic symptoms. Once the foundational processing and cognitive skills are strong, academic success can occur.
What are "cognitive skills"?
Answer: Cognitive skills are the basic mental abilities needed to think and learn. They are similar to a tree's roots, which must be strong and healthy for the tree to thrive. Academics are like the leaves and fruit of a tree; they are what is noticed and appreciated. If the tree's roots are weak, the leaves will wither, the fruit will be poor, and the tree will struggle and eventually die. Processing and cognitive skills, similar to the roots of a tree, are hidden and often ignored, but they support the entire learning system. If the underlying skills are strong, learning and academics will flourish. If they are weak, learning will be a struggle and the child will experience frustration and failure.
What are the specific cognitive skills which must be strong in order for reading and learning to be fast and enjoyable?
Answer: There are six main processing and cognitive skills:
1. Attention Skills: How the brain maintains attention for an extended period of time, attends to several tasks simultaneously, and discards distractions in order to remain focused.
2. Auditory Processing and Analysis: How the brain analyzes, interprets, and uses the information it receives through hearing, as well as the specific skills of analyzing, segmenting, and blending sounds which are necessary for reading and spelling.
3. Visual Processing and Visualization: How the brain receives and manipulates visual information received through sight.
4. Processing Speed: The efficiency with which the brain processes the data it receives.
5. Memory: How the brain stores and recalls information, and how the short term working memory remembers and interprets multiple bits of new data.
6. Logic and Reasoning: How the brain compares new data with recalled facts, solves problems, and creates and applies new strategies for learning and living.
How can cognitive skills be best strengthened?
Answer: Mental skills are similar to physical skills in many ways. Physical skills can be strengthened through intense, challenging physical
exercises in a carefully sequenced program, under the direction of a personal trainer. Similarly, the brain's neuropathways and targeted cognitive skills can be dramatically enhanced with intensive personalized and focused one-on-one cognitive training exercises, done with an experienced brain trainer. The Processing and Cognitive Enhancement (PACE) exercises are challenging, fast-paced, and carefully sequenced to provide maximum improvement in the shortest time possible.?
Does cognitive training really work?
Answer: Yes! Click here to see a research-based summary of PACE results:
http://www.pacetutoring.com/study_95.htm
At Victory Learning Center, we promise at least 2 years' improvement in a deficient cognitive skill in just 12 weeks.
What changes should I see in my child after cognitive training?
Answer: If weak processing and cognitive skills are identified as the cause of your child's learning struggles, the training will increase the speed and ease of learning. With this comes the opportunity for academic success and improved self-esteem.
Can anyone come to Victory Learning Center for cognitive training?
Answer: No. Only those people (ages 5-adult) who have processing and cognitive weaknesses identified through our FREE assessments are eligible. Of those, only those willing to make this training a priority for 12 weeks, and spend at least one hour each day working on training exercises are accepted. We want each of our students to be successful, and experience dramatic, fast, measurable results!
Can you help students who have been diagnosed as ADD, ADHD, dyslexic, LD, or slow learners?
Answer: Yes! Frequently these students have underlying cognitive and processing differences or deficiencies. The first step is a call and an evaluation to determine whether we can help. If we can, we will personalize a training strategy to gain the maximum benefit in the shortest possible time.
Will cognitive training benefit average or gifted students?
Answer: Yes. Just as gifted professional athletes continue to train to increase their skills (and their successes), good students can become even better with brain training. Some students do cognitive training for the extra edge it gives them in preparing for the SAT's or college. Adults have also found it valuable for better, easier, and faster learning and working in their chosen career fields.
What happens during a cognitive training session?
Answer: Each hour, affectionately known as "mental boot camp", is individually designed to best meet the needs of each students and attain maximum improvement in the shortest possible time. Therefore, each session is different. However, the training exercises are always one-on-one with the trainer, and are carefully chosen and sequenced to be fast, focused, challenging, and motivating for the student. The activities are more game-like than academic, so it doesn't seem like "more school." There is immediate feedback and frequent success. As each level is achieved, a new activity is "loaded" on so skills become automatic. These are the foundational skills which make learning faster, easier, and more enjoyable, and allow academic success to become possible. Parents are welcome to watch, and are required to attend the last few minutes of each session so they can learn how to do the exercises which will be assigned for Home Training.
How many hours a week will I spend in training?
Answer: Our goal is maximum results in the shortest possible time. So you must commit to at least 6 hours of training time per week, for 12 weeks. To keep it most affordable, usually the trainer works with the student an hour a day on alternating days, and the parent works with the student on the other days. Parents are taught how to do each of the activities, so they will be confident and effective training partners.
What methods or programs do you incorporate into your training?
Answer: Based on individual deficits and goals, procedures are selected from
I have more questions. What should I do?
ANSWER: Call Jennie Wilford, director of Victory Learning Center at (208) 870-9671. It will be our pleasure to serve you, or guide you to others who might better meet your needs. Also, please visit these excellent, informative web sites:
www.learningrx.com and http://jwilford.processingskills.com
Victory Learning Center
Transforming Struggling Learners in the Treasure Valley
with Integrity, Expertise, and Enthusiasm
