Questions & Answers
What is the advantage to serving a six or seven- year-old?
When we work with a young, elementary age child, they usually have not experienced a great deal of failure in school. Thus, we can treat their learning struggles when they first appear — often preventing low report cards, damaged self-esteem and feelings of not measuring up to their peers. When learning disabilities or problems are addressed early, a child is much better prepared to keep up and succeed when they face more difficult, advanced subjects.
Is it too late to help my struggling, older teen?
It is never too late to change your child’s life for the better! Often our teens are our most eager and successful students. They may have consistently encountered many years of struggle in the classroom and are delighted to discover that they can become A/B honor roll students – typically with just 60 to 70 hours of training. They are often shocked to realize that learning struggles are frequently problems of smart people.
Can adults benefit from Brain Potential?

One of our graduates is a 49-year-old practicing physician from Florida who closed his medical practice for approximately 30 days to undergo Brain Potential’s aggressive treatment. Difficulties ranging from slow patient charting and note writing were dramatically reduced. Immediately upon his return to practice, he managed to see patients on schedule, chart patient notes on time, and noticeably increase his income.

Another adult was a memorable 59-year-old woman who had struggled with a lifetime of illiteracy. Her children had secretly signed their own report cards and written their own notes to their teachers to protect their mom from embarrassment. Today she is proud to read and to write her own thoughts and enjoys being an active participant in her adult bible study. She even plans to write her own book about her learning experiences. Other adults come to Brain Potential for help with GED courses or college classes that they fear they cannot master on their own. So … the answer is a resounding “YES!” Brain Potential can help adults. It is never too late to learn!

My child is a strong student … why do we need to come to Brain Potential?

While 70 percent of the students we serve are reporting some type of struggle in the classroom or work setting, the other 30 percent of children and adults we serve are already the strongest students. Nonetheless, they perform the same brain exercises and also experience IQ increases, better ability to concentrate, better capacity to multi-task and higher grades, and are positioning themselves for scholarships.
How often do students come to Brain Potential?

The brain needs to perform brain exercises at least five times per week — one hour each time — for structural change to occur. Most of our students attend five days a week for one hour of individual instruction. Some students attend three hours per week, and work with a parent for an additional two hours per week.
Do we work with home school students?
Many home school students come to Brain Potential to catch up or to get ahead. Some students have been struggling with their home school curriculum for years and greatly benefit from our program
What is an enhancement program?

An enhancement program is undertaken when it is needed after a student completes the initial assessment and assigned cognitive training. Some students need to re-learn certain academic material that their brain was unable to process before. Areas we customarily address in enhancement programs to bring the student as close as possible to age level and grade level performance include:

 
Why is individual treatment important?

One of the most powerful aspects of a Brain Potential program is that all the work that is conducted with the student is performed on a one-on-one basis. This allows our cognitive trainer to focus full attention on your student — and your student alone — which allows him to progress as rapidly as possible. This often enables our professionals to quickly identify and correct a variety of learning problems that may have been holding your student back for years. This individual approach to learning allows your student to reach their full potential.
What are typical results at BPI?

Students’ IQ scores often go up between 10 and 30 IQ points — generally, with 60 to 72 hours of individual treatment.
The initial assessment test measures the brain’s ability to handle and process information in the following six neurological areas most critical to learning:
* Processing Speed: How rapidly and accurately the brain can move through written material to find what it is looking for; how quickly the brain processes information
* Active Working Memory: The brain’s ability to make a protein print (called an engram) and retrieve that piece of information from its memory
* Visual Perception/Processing Skills: The brain’s ability to handle information from pictures, drawings and shapes. It deals with your ability to use maps, graphs, charts, or set up word problems. This helps the student in the area of math
Central Auditory Processing: The brain’s ability to blend, interpret, and use the 43 sounds of the English language. Problems in this area are one of the best indicators of Dyslexia. Problems in this area result in difficulty concentrating, listening, reading, remembering, writing paragraphs and papers, spelling and following directions
Word Attack: The brain’s ability to sound out and spell words. This allows you to successfully sound out and pronounce any word in the English language regardless of the length or difficulty of the word
Logic and Reasoning: The brain’s ability to break down complex projects into a sequence of steps. Students who are strong in logic and reasoning like to figure things out on their own. A short attention span makes this very difficult. Logic and reasoning trains the brain to focus, pay attention, and concentrate. This helps with ADD/ADHD

 
How has traditional education failed students with learning disabilities?
Particularly in an era of standardized testing we are trying to load increasingly more information, faster and faster on younger and younger brains. Kindergarteners are now required to read, rather than just to follow directions and color. First graders are expected to write sentences and copy from the board. Second graders are expected to read chapter books and take tests independently on computers. As a result, when a brain is immature or struggling with undiagnosed learning disabilities, a child’s grades can fall very quickly, a child’s self-esteem can be destroyed, and is primed for a lifetime of struggle and difficulty.
In traditional education, children are taught in large groups.

If a child is struggling, it is very difficult for the teacher to provide individual support and special instruction, or specific techniques that your child might need. Classrooms are filled with children who, due to these learning weaknesses, simply zone out, missing more and more instruction each day. Even when teachers try to help, often they are instructed to teach to the students’ strengths. Many students, particularly with language processing problems, are highly visual, but how practical is it for a high school student to “draw the Civil War” on the board?

We find that teachers teach the way they are taught, and it is our job at Brain Potential to provide individualized training to make your student as strong as possible in all critical learning areas — so that, regardless of the methods of instruction the teacher uses, your child will be able to keep up and succeed.

At Brain Potential we strive to identify your child’s learning problems as early as possible, and to immediately begin strengthening the brain so that it can handle and process the incoming instruction successfully.
What about Medication?

We believe brain exercise and brain training are the missing components that make the difference in classroom performance with or without medication.
The decision to take medication for attention problems or for any other medical problems is a decision between the physician and parents/adult students. Brain Potential does not make that decision, nor do we make recommendations.

Some of our students take medication while others do not. Usually we find that taking medication alone will not result in a student’s suddenly achieving the A/B honor roll or being promoted. Many students are unable to take medication due to medical side effects.

My student routinely takes medication for attention/concentration. Should they take medication on the day of the test?

Normally, students who routinely take prescription medication without side effects should take their medication on the day of the test in order to get best test results. Sometimes families are curious to see how their student will perform without medication. If this is your desire, please let our staff know ahead of time.
What medical diagnoses do we generally encounter in our students?
Most of our students are just regular kids who are struggling in the classroom, but we are particularly effective when the following problems are present:
Attention Deficit Disorder
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Dyslexia
Developmental delay
High functioning Autism—Student must be able to speak
Depression
Central Auditory Processing problems
Sensory Integration Disorders
Bi-Polar Disorder
How does our approach differ from traditional tutoring?
If your child is having problems in school … having difficulty listening, following directions, or doing homework … fighting frustration every day of his life … or been called lazy, unmotivated, or “a student at risk,” traditional tutoring is not the answer!
Simply stated, traditional tutoring merely attempts to re-teach information or a subject such as math, reading, or history, to the existing struggling brain. Brain Potential intends to strengthen and change the brain. Tutoring is only a temporary solution. The student never truly performs on his own. Many parents pay thousands of dollars year after year for tutoring. After completing the programs a student has a permanently improved ability to perform independently, at school or work.
What if my child has already received extensive testing elsewhere? Do they still need to test at Brain Potential?
Regardless of prior testing, all students take the initial assessment. It is a quick screening test that checks your student’s performance in six critical neurological areas that govern learning. Students and parents should bring any additional testing they have experienced to their initial consultation — including IQ, achievement tests, TAKS tests, neuropsychological evaluations, individual educational plans, and reports of ARD meetings, educational diagnostics, and others.
What if my student hates to take tests?
Typically children and adults enjoy taking our admission test. It is fun to find out how your brain works. It is very different from a math or language arts test at school. Kids often enjoy testing that doesn’t require them to read, write, spell or do math on our tests. We are simply performing a brain-wiring check, and it seems more like a learning game than a test.
What is the advantage to serving a six or seven- year-old?
When we work with a young, elementary age child, they usually have not experienced a great deal of failure in school. Thus, we can treat their learning struggles when they first appear — often preventing low report cards, damaged self-esteem and feelings of not measuring up to their peers. When learning disabilities or problems are addressed early, a child is much better prepared to keep up and succeed when they face more difficult, advanced subjects.
Is it too late to help my struggling, older teen?
It is never too late to change your child’s life for the better! Often our teens are our most eager and successful students. They may have consistently encountered many years of struggle in the classroom and are delighted to discover that they can become A/B honor roll students – typically with just 60 to 70 hours of training. They are often shocked to realize that learning struggles are frequently problems of smart people.
 
 
Links

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