- How does Brainjogging affect Autism?
- How long will it take for recognizable changes in the brain to be seen in outward appearances?
- How long will my child need to be on the program?
- Is there anything that may hinder the changes?
- What is the scientific basis of Brainjogging?
- How does Brainjogging help students with Language Processing Disorder?
- How does Brainjogging help students with Dyslexia?
- Is Brainjogging effective with high school and college students?
- How Does Brainjogging Work?
- How is Brainjogging tailored to a Student's Needs?
How does Brainjogging affect Autism?
Children on the Autism spectrum have some brain responses that are too small or completely missing. With new tools, such as Indepenant Componant Analysis software, researchers have begun to realize why this occurs leading them to believe that with Autism there is no coherence or reorganization among the neurons that permit students to focus.
Brainjogging has had unprecedented success with children on the Autistic spectrum. Among Brainjogging’s many success stories are those of nonverbal children becoming verbal; children obsessed with repetitive behaviors breaking out of their behavioral ruts; children acting anti-social, becoming interested in participating in siblings play activities and sustained relationships; and children increasing their learning potential in regular academic environments without the need for specialized personnel. back to top
How long will it take for recognizable changes in the brain to be seen in outward appearances?
It is not uncommon for parents and educators to realize changes in their children within one week. However, we ask that you give the program 90 days. The longer the child is on the program, the greater the changes. back to top
How long will my child need to be on the program?
There are no two children who are alike. It is impossible to determine an exact period of time for any child. However, it is likely that the child improves after every Brainjogging exercise. Like an athlete exercises to improve his reaction time and coordination ability of the game, so does Brainjogging. However, Brainjogging improves the reaction time and flexibility of the thought processes required for “life” skills. It has taken years for the child to act in the manner he/she does currently. Brainjogging is the answer to parents of children with learning disabilities. back to top
Is there anything that may hinder the changes?
Yes! Sleep deprivation will hinder progress. All children need sleep. No program can overcome sleep deprivation.
Yes! Video games will hinder progress. For most children, video games will cause regression, while others develop autistic behaviors. Children may discontinue repetitive behaviors known as stemming as a result of Brainjogging. If exposed to digitized media, these children will often begin stemming immediately. back to top
What is the scientific basis of Brainjogging?
Brainjogging’s patented computer program builds attention span in students as they interact with a series of exercises designed to stimulate specific parts of the brain. The Salk Institute‘s scientists have found that seven independent sources of brain waves adjust their signals following a flashed stimulus. Each source represented synchronous neuronal activity in a brain area. They thought of it much like a pacemaker. When the pacemaker stops functioning coherently and each heart cell chooses its own rhythm, fibrillation occurs. The author of Brainjogging theorizes that likewise, her program acts as a "pacemaker".
Some exercises are theorized to literally build new neurons. Over time, Brainjogging works to stimulate communication among the newly formed neurons.
Again, Charles Stevens of the Salk Institute has demonstrated that the more often the neurons are stimulated, the greater the improvement in communication between the neurons. Since neurons communicate via chemical synapses, and memories are theorized to be encoded by modification of synapses. Long term potentiation (LTP) is widely considered one of the major cellular mechanisms underlying learning and memory. Hence, increasing long term potentiation in students with autism is one goal of the Brainjogging program. back to top
How does Brainjogging help students with Language Processing Disorder (LPD)?
Often times, children with LPD may process speech at a slightly slower rate than others. Brainjogging has been found to increase processing speed which decreases the difficulty children with LPD have in following spoken directions, multi-step directions or classroom lectures. Students report enhanced ability to focus. Teachers and parents often report students have greater communication and participation. They no longer miss important components of lessons or conversations like before when they lost track of the oral line of communication.
Students who suffer from Language Processing Disorder (LPD) often find themselves unable to comprehend verbal and written communication. They may misunderstand sentences with more abstract meanings. They seem to understand in a more concrete, literal sense. Sometimes, these individuals may be described as more “hands on” in their approach to learning.
My daughter’s teacher says she does not follow directions on worksheets, chapter tests or verbal instructions. Will Brainjogging help my child follow directions?
Following written directions is particularly difficult for children with LPD because directions are to be followed sequentially. In addition, children with LPD do not always grasp the importance of specific direction words in the complete directions. Therefore the student may misinterpret the meaning or do only part of the assignment. Reading and writing are often difficult for students with LPD because they attach significance to words, rather than phrases or complete sentences. Therefore these students struggle with interpreting and conveying thoughts through a print medium.
Brainjogging is designed to enable students to close the delayed processing speed gaps and understand “direction” words. Research presented at the 2009 Learning Disability Association presented by the University of Arizona reported delayed processing speed to be the commonality among students with reading difficulties. (Urso 2008) By enhancing these students’ cognitive processing speed, students with language processing disorders overcome many of the day to day difficulties in academic arenas. With continued use of the program, they can follow speech and respond appropriately to it. In addition, they are pleased to become more proficient in their ability to follow written directions. back to top
How does Brainjogging help students with Dyslexia?
Children with dyslexia have been found to have an inactive V5/MT area in the occipital lobe of the brain when compared to a control group(Eden 1998). Brainjogging focuses on activation of this specific area of the brain. Within weeks, children see diminished effects of this disorder.
Developmental dyslexia is a disorder that is defined as an individual’s difficulty learning to read even though they have the intelligence, motivation and education necessary for successful reading.
What is dyslexia? Are many children dyslexic?
Dyslexia has a prevalence estimated between 5% and 17% (Shaywitz 1998). Children with dyslexia often have difficulty reading and spelling isolated words moreso than reading paragraphs and story lines. However, they may skip words, or entire lines when reading. They may look at the first word and guess at the remainder of the word or fill in words to make sense of the sentence. In addition, these children may not be able to read a sentence efficiently, but answer the comprehension question correctly!
Children with dyslexia may have difficulty learning to recognize letters of the alphabet when learning to read. A symptom may encompass (writing “d” instead of “b” or “p,” for example); leave out letters or put letters in the wrong order when spelling words; and confuse left from right. As these students progress, they are often plagued by inability to acquire adequate reading skills or read more slowly than expected. It is not uncommon for a parent or grandparent to have reported like difficulties.
Brainjogging’s patented computer program is designed to retrain the brain of dyslexic students. There are many evidences from neuroimaging (Eden and Zeffiro 1998) of phonological processing deficits and visual processing deficits among dyslexics. Brainjogging is designed to target each of these. Among the hundreds of students diagnosed with learning disorders utilizing Brainjogging, dyslexic students appear to have the most rapid improvement with the greatest long term potentiation.
Brainjogging is the answer for students suffering with the characteristics of dyslexia! back to top
Is Brainjogging effective with high school and college students?
A successful collegiate academic career hinges on students’ ability to be productive without constant reminders from family and teachers. Even more so in college than in high school, students are responsible for their academic success. College challenges students with heavier workloads, large quantities of reading materials, papers to write, exams to take with varied exam formats and an increase in scholastic demands.
For students with learning disabilities, the stress of entering college compounds. One may be concerned by leaving the academic safety net of conscientious parents and teachers whom the home environment provided. Students will find that college confronts them with more work and higher expectations related to quality and accountability; students must plan and prepare accordingly. Brainjogging is the answer. Brainjogging not only helps students assimilate new information but also enhances their cognitive processing speed. As students’ cognitive processing speed increases, it becomes easier for them to assimilate and understand new information. The combined impact of constant exposure to academic material increases students’ understanding of said material while simultaneously improving students’ spelling. By enhancing cognitive processing speeds, Brainjogging bolsters students’ ability to survive and thrive in their new academic environment.
In addition to fostering students’ academic success, Brainjogging promotes accountability. Students must brain jog at least twice a day. Adding Brainjogging to their daily schedules encourages students to organize their time and use it wisely. Better grades within weeks encourage students to continue Brainjogging. In turn, continuing Brainjogging continually enhances their cognitive processing speeds, spelling and understanding and retention of material, in addition to continually reinforcing the necessity of time maintenance.
College students need to understand that they are responsible for their scholastic success. Brainjogging not only contributes to students’ ability to succeed in a demanding collegiate environment, but also teaches children to shoulder that responsibility themselves.Brainjogging is the answer for high school and college students! back to top
How Does Brainjogging Work?
Brainjogging is not a miracle program, nor is it a “quick fix” for severe learning disorders. It is an incredibly successful program for retraining the brain to learn more efficiently, block out extraneous stimuli, to enhance learning and memory. If used every day for five to seven minutes, as directed, this cutting edge scientific research based program will gradually train the brain to process new information efficiently.
Since its inception, Brainjogging has achieved extraordinary success when implemented and followed properly. Brainjogging’s success is due entirely to its scientific foundations. The program was designed based on the brain’s basic functions. In order to transmit information, brain cells act as both senders and recipients: the sending cell dispatches a transmitter molecule, which binds to a receptor molecule on the receiving cell. These molecules are called neurons, or transmitters, which act as messengers for cell-to-cell communication. Neurons cross over gaps called synapses. These synapses are not static; the frequency of their use dictates their strength of effectiveness in transmitting information. Thus, these synapses become stronger with increased use.
Brainjogging strengthens students’ neural connections. The eye movement exercises increase students’ eye muscles’ strength and trains the eyes to move quickly and efficiently. The eye movement exercises also strengthen students’ neural connections and visual recognition: because students must say, spell and then say again the displayed word, they pay close attention to letters’ orientation within words. The letter flash exercises measure the accuracy and speed of students’ visual letter recognition. Brief, repeated exposure to letters further enhances cognitive processing speeds, thus enabling Brainjoggers to assimilate and understand new information with greater ease. back to top
How is Brainjogging tailored to a Student's Needs?
Brainjogging simultaneously enhances cognitive processing speed, visual recognition, spelling and assimilation and understanding of material. Even so, Brainjogging is designed so that it can increase understanding within given subjects. Brainjogging’s content is based on students’ academic material. Students make specific lists for each subject. For example, students generate lists for each spelling vocabulary unit. These lists contain the vocabulary word and its synonyms. Students then see these particular lists when they Brainjog, so that they are repeatedly exposed to information on which they will be tested or otherwise evaluated. Studying for final exams is easy, because the students are constantly reviewing the information! The learn and forget signature is no longer an issue!
As students receive information in school or come across it in books, they are trained by a Brainjogging coach to generate word lists containing that information in a condensed format. The lists make information more accessible than do textbooks: definitions are abbreviated to make information concise, usually in two-word sequences. Students generate lists for every subject they will come across in a particular school year, in addition to material that is otherwise relevant to them: science, vocabulary, literature, math, biology, etc. Brainjogging even contains lists of “direction” words and their specific meanings so that students, particularly those with Language Processing Disorders, are well-equipped to follow directions they might otherwise misunderstand.
Brainjogging can be used to enhance the retention and understanding of any information: academic information, schedules, Bible verses, etc. It is truly an ideal tool for students, as it can be applied to any and all information. back to top