Some children seem to be harder to reach than others; my most hard-headed child recently told me, “You’ve taught me good study habits, Miss Sellers.”
I am not at all lying when I say I almost cried. This child, however, is a pubescent boy who would have been mortified at the sight of tears, especially ones he brought about, so I kept it together and patted him on the back and said, “You just made my day, friend.”
This particular child struggled to copy down his homework; if he did copy it down at school, he did not complete it at home; if he did copy it down and complete it, he often forgot to turn it in. He also struggled with multiple-step directions, often completing one direction quite successfully but completely ignoring another. There were parent conferences, there were teacher conferences – but children need to realize their own intrinsic strength and ability. This child needed confidence, and he needed to understand that he is not only capable of completing his work and turning it in, but also that he is proficient in his studies when he really attends to them.
The thing is, I did not necessarily teach this boy good study habits. I modeled them and encouraged them, but Brainjogging did the difficult work of preparing his mind to receive the instructions! Brainjogging helped this boy to access his potential. He blossomed from a sullen, video game-addicted preteen to a friendly, confident young man. He looks you in the eye when he speaks to you; he tells jokes; he even volunteers information about upcoming tests and quizzes and proceeds to launch into a litany of relevant facts. I don’t believe that this boy could have made such a phenomenal transformation without Brainjogging’s help – and I am so thankful for this child and his progress!