• 24Jul

  Brain Training Video Games in the News

  ADHD, ADD, Alzheimer's, Sparks of Genius, aspergers, auditory, cognitive decline, learning disability, mTBI, memory, music, parenting, spatial intelligence, teacher 1 Comment

  There’s good news out there for folks who are looking to increase memory, stave off dementia, reduce the frequency of their “Senior Moments” and have fun doing it. What about training Attention (for Attention Deficit Disorder – ADD)?

  In recent weeks, three new brain training games have arrived on store shelves, each one promising to give us neural networks of steel. There’s “Hot Brain” and “Practical Intelligence Quotient 2,” both playable on Sony’s handheld PSP. And then there’s “Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree” for Nintendo’s new Wii console.

  Full article here.

  But do these games really work?

  Like most things in life, the answer is both yes and no. New and stimulating activities, including these video and puzzle games, can help you “use it” in lieu of “losing it.” So in that regard, yes they can help.

  But once you’ve played a particular game enough times so that the activity is no longer novel, it loses some of its potency. In part this is addressed by offering a variety of games and puzzles. Ultimately, though, these games are not much better than the typical fare you can play online, often for free, at least as far as brain-training is concerned.

  Don’t neglect your 9 IQs

  We all have those 9 IQs: spatial, verbal, math, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, kinesthetic, naturalist and spiritual. These types of games typically offer spatial, verbal and math style puzzles. That leaves two-thirds of your intelligence untapped.

  If you really want to help “train your brain”, learn to play a new instrument!

  Make new friends, write an article or life story, take up bird-watching, solve an old-fashioned jigsaw puzzle (or a new-fashioned 3D puzzle), play a sport, read something complicated. To train your brain, you sometimes have to STRAIN your brain. Just like a muscle, you’ve got to push your brain beyond its comfort zone and it will respond by making new connections and strengthening existing neural networks. That’s why most video games, television shows and pulp reading don’t help. Their too easy.

  To train your brain, you sometimes have to STRAIN your brain.

  Training executive function and attention, two vital higher-order skills, is a different story, and the Nintendo Wii doesn’t have anything to genuinely fit the bill. There are some games that we use here at Sparks of Genius in our Electronic Playground that you can use at home. You’ll find them on this page.

  So work your brain hard…and if you’re a teacher or parent, then work your kids’ brains hard, too. They’ll thank you for it later (if they don’t forget)!

  Good luck!
  Allen Dobkin

• 06Jul

  Beating ADHD Students

  ADHD, ADD, Sparks of Genius, cognitive decline, learning disability, parenting, school, teacher No Comments

  It happens in classrooms and homes all over the world: through no fault of their own, ADHD children are beaten with Sticks. Sadly, many of these children grow up and become romantically involved with a spouse who all-too-eagerly takes up the Stick-bashing role. Some even learn to beat themselves.

  Of course the Stick I have in mind is the proverbial Stick whose natural predator is the Motivational Carrot. ADHD sufferers get the stick even more often and, tragically, it just doesn’t create lasting results. So why do we (and we all do) use it?

  The Stick is used so often due to the (false) belief that it is more effective than the Carrot.

  Here is a phenomenal example of how powerful the Carrot can be. The number one fear of American’s is not Osama bin Looser, it’s public speaking. I’ll let Scott Adams of Dilbert fame take it from here as he describes his experience at a Dale Carnegie Public Speaking Course:

  I think there were about 25 people in the class. On day one, our instructor described the method he would use. It was simple to the point of making me think it couldn’t work. The Dale Carnegie approach to teaching public speaking is to compliment the speaker for whatever he or she does well, and never mention any flaws.

  That’s it. That’s the entire technique.

  The theory is that when you focus on flaws, you don’t address the underlying problem of being uncomfortable in front of people. If you tell someone to take his hands out of his pockets, he will, but he’ll transfer his nervous habit to some other mannerism. At best, you end up with robotic speakers afraid to do something wrong. I had already taken a few public speaking classes that focused on flaws, and I can confirm that the successful graduates were a bit like R2D2.

  Most of my classmates in the Dale Carnegie course were basket cases when it came to public speaking. Some knew they had a serious problem and others were forced by their bosses to attend. The first day was grim. One woman stood frozen in front of the group, unable to generate an intelligible word. Beads of sweat literally dripped off her chin. It was horrible to watch. She choked out a few words and returned to her seat, defeated. Our instructor came to the front of the room and said, “Wow. That was really brave.”

  And it was. We all knew it was true. This woman had put her head in the lion’s mouth. Suddenly we all realized we had witnessed something important. We applauded. And it changed her. Each week, she managed a little bit more. And each week the instructor and the class recognized her achievement. By the end of the course, everyone in the class was an exceptional speaker, and we all looked forward to our few minutes in front of the class. It was like witnessing a frickin’ miracle.

  What I am taking away from this story is how powerful the Carrot is when wielded properly. This is the secret to Sparks Of Genius’ success in working with Challenged children, many of whom have attentional issues. They come to us with a track record of failure and scars from the Stick. We find their strengths and help them build a track record of success while playing Cognitive Training Video Games in our Electronic Playground. The transformation is amazing and gratifying.

  I’ll be looking for more ways to use the Carrot in my own teaching and parenting, and hope you will, too!

  -Allen Dobkin

• 04Jul

  How to Cope in a World Gone A.D.D. (Part 1)

  ADHD, ADD, learning disability, memory, parenting, stress No Comments

  Many adults today are not ADD (Attention Deficit) but have many of the symptoms and suffer from “a severe case of modern life.”

  The Wild Trees is a spellbinding story about some daring, adventurous botanists and amateur naturalists who discover a lost, world — the unexplored, untouched canopy three hundred feet high in the coastal California redwoods, the world’s tallest trees. The book was just what I needed at the time to relax, unwind and imagine. It brought back many happy memories of my years in the Pacific Northwest.

  The experience was relaxing and healing and brought back many happy memories of my years in the Pacific Northwest.

  And then bam, I was back at work, the CEO of a growing company. Looking for a great blog topic, I picked up, what else, Crazy Busy: Overstretched, Overbooked and About to Snap, by Dr. Edward Hallowell, the author of many books on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

  The main idea is “Welcome to the Attention Deficit World: Frantic, Free and out of Control.” This world is one that is busy, fast, wired and going who knows where. In fact, it is the world of attention deficit disorder. Hallowell explains:

  “People with untreated ADD rush around a lot, feel impatient wherever they are, love speed, get frustrated easily, lose focus in the middle of a task, or a conversation because some other thought catches their attention, bubble with energy but struggle to pay attention to one issue for more than a few seconds, talk fast or feel at a loss for words, often forget where they’re going or what they’re going to get, have bright ideas but can’t implement them, fail to complete what they’re doing, have many projects going simultaneously but chronically postpone completing them, make decisions impulsively because their brain’s circuitry is overloaded, feel they could do a lot more if they could just get it together, get angry easily when interrupted, feel powerless over the piles of stuff that surrounds them, resolve each day to do better tomorrow, and in general feel busy beyond belief but not all that productive.”

  Sound familiar? Many adults today are not ADD of but have many of these symptoms and suffer what Hallowell calls “a severe case of modern life.”

  Just as I find deep peace —reading, playing the violin, walking with my wife, being at the ocean with our children and grandchildren, engaging in prayer/meditation— everyone must find their unique formula for living fully, healthfully and artfully in this fast, frenzied world.

  I also use technology to de-stress, and we use it in our business, Sparks of Genius.

  Two programs come to mind.

  One is the emWave® PC Stress Relief System, which will help you transform stress and anxiety into vibrant positive energy. You can learn more here:

  

  The other is Journey to the Wild Divine, unique biofeedback adventure games for mind and body which create a beautiful, enlightening experience of deep peace and relaxation.

  These computer programs teach us how to shift from a negative emotional state to a positive one. Negative emotions, just like frantic multi-taking, shut down the frontal lobes of your brain. This causes stress, disorganization and poor decision-making.

  Part 2 is here!

  -Dr. Rohn Kessler

• 20Jun

  How to Make Tough Choices

  ADHD, ADD, aspergers, cognitive decline, learning disability, mTBI, memory, parenting, social skills No Comments

  One simple way we can sort out what choice is best is to create a plus and minus column.

  Put in the advantages and disadvantages of your proposed choice. Number each choice on an “important to me” scale of one to ten. Add up both columns or get a friend to help.

  Many genius minds got their inspiration after napping or a good night’s sleep.

  Still undecided? Separate your thoughts into three sections I feel this way, I think this about this and I sense or remember this could happen. The first method gives you the “what” of the story while the second method gives you the “why.”
  Now you need the “when.” This you can get by asking your self “Why is this a good time for this choice?” What can I gain by waiting, deciding immediately or not choosing at all”? For the where of this story consider if this is the best place or would a change of location make a difference. Also ask your self is there any knowledge missing I need to make this choice.

  Sleep on your decisions and listen to the voice on the inside. Often you will sense a green light, a red light or a yellow proceed with caution.

  Our minds have amassed countless categories and can assess in a moment of time what you could take months to think about actively. Many genius minds got their inspiration after napping or a good night’s sleep. It can work for you too!

  Mathematicians have determined we can make informed choices by following what are called axioms. They use numbers to explain things but we will use life examples to share these ideas.

  There are 5 principles or axioms for making decisions.

  1. Comparability
  2. Transitivity
  3. Dominance
  4. Independence
  5. Invariance

  The first principle is called “comparability.” For this you need to know you prefer apples to bananas or banana to apples or that you dislike or like both bananas and apples.

  Axiom two is called “transitivity,” which means if you prefer apples to bananas and bananas to carrots you must prefer apples to carrots.

  “Dominance” is axiom three. Here is how it works, a choice is dominant and must be preferred if when it is compared to an alternate choice it is best in at least one respect and better in all other respects. Dominated or lesser choices are not to be preferred.

  Axiom four is called “independence.” This says “no outside data should affect your choice.”

  The last axiom, number five, is “invariance.” Different scenery involving the same choice scenario should not affect the choice. Another way of saying this is your choice preference should remain independent of how it is described.

  When any of these axioms are not met there are several possibilities. The choice was not yours to make. In this case move on. You can not take responsibility for other peoples’ choices.

  Zig Ziglar says ‘Life is like the movies …You produce your own show!”

  Happy people live nineteen percent longer. Make a good investment. You can invest in worry or you can invest in you.

  There was not enough information available to make an informed choice or you were not given the power to make the choice. Life happens and life cycles, what goes around comes around. Think out a strategy for next time or watch for something effective another individual is using to negotiate the issue.

  You are a champion. Experience and coaching will help you win. Experts practice and watch for doors of opportunity. Novices give up because they see an event as defining them.

  Failure is an event and not an identity.

  Any novice can become an expert. Failure is an event and not an identity. Failure looks for servants, refuse to serve it!

  Your choice was clouded by a cultural mindset or political manipulation and does not represent you.

  For this scenario you will feel dissatisfied even when the choice is beneficial to you because you can not own it without changing your identity.

  • Think about how you can change your world one step at a time.
  • The way you see yourself is the way others will treat you.
  • Change your words and determine your destiny.
  • Your words will build you or destructure (destroy) you.
  • Go back to the chapter that suggests you decide what you would do if only you could. Find a way to take one step towards your destiny and do it!

  –Dr. Amy Price

• 19Jun

  Broke brain? Here’s the work-around

  cognitive decline, learning disability, mTBI, memory No Comments

  Research has shown that we can increase our ability to solve problems. Expand your way of looking at the problem by decreasing the restrictions so you can see it a new way.

  Here is how.

  Look from a different angle such as how would you see someone else dealing with the issue. Change the structure of your thinking.

  For example suppose you were to consider how a man can marry ten women in one month? If you see him as a man this is a challenge but if you see him as a minister, rabbi. priest or imam who performed marriage ceremonies it all makes sense!

  Life is like this too. Sometimes a solution is right there on the inside when you see things a different way.

  The flexible can be bent but are difficult to break. We can see this by comparing a young branch to an old twig. Flexibility can be learned and practiced. Just do it!

  Pay attention to error feedback—ours and other folks. It is OK to ask “How did I get this to work for me? and “What gave me the clue to solve the issue?”

  For the memory or spatially impaired this means writing down what did not work and doing it another way next time. When you hit the jackpot and figure it out write down what worked. If you hate writing or typing, say it into any recording device.

  –Dr. Amy Price

• 11Jun

  Video Games as Alternative Therapy

  ADHD, ADD, Sparks of Genius, aspergers, cognitive decline, learning disability, mTBI, memory, parenting 2 Comments

  A new video game might prove to be a very productive use of time for young cancer patients: It helps kids fight their diseases figuratively and literally.The game, called “Re-mission,” is a 20-level journey through the bodies of fictional patients suffering from different types of cancer, and of course, it can be played by adults and healthy folks as well. But the primary idea is to give patients a sense of control over their disease.

  Click here for article.

  Children and adults around the world have embraced video games, with both positive and negative results. Here’s another shot in the arm for the folks who see video games as more than just an excuse to stay inside on a sunny day. Sparks of Genius uses video games as alternative therapy for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD or ADHD), Asperger’s Syndrome, Memory training, to fight off Cognitive Decline, and build any number of Cognitive Skills including executive function.

  Click here to check out their new Summer Brain Training Boot Camp!

  ---

  This article reprinted with permission from Rotten Apples: News from the front lines of America’s War on Education.

• 10Jun

  Tips on Parenting and Homework

  ADHD, ADD, anger, aspergers, homework, learning disability, parenting, school, teacher No Comments

  10 Steps to Argument-Free Homework

  Get homework done quickly and efficiently without wearing out your vocal cords.

  1. De-escalate.
  2. Use positive reinforcement.
  3. Express interest in homework, schoolwork and grades.
  4. Treat homework time like it is a big deal.
  5. Do your homework visibly.
  6. Spend 15 minutes negotiating Homework Expectations.
  7. Write down and post the Homework Expectations.
  8. Give your child three free passes.
  9. Reward a Perfect Homework Record.
  10. Email the teachers!

  What about kids with Learning Disabilities?

  Challenged Children, those with any kind of learning disability, need the exact same treatment. They need all the rules, reminders and rewards even more! Don’t let their disability fool you: expect them to perform to their 100% capacity. If we settle for less, we do them a disservice.

  -From www.whyschoolsux.com

  Read the article here.

• 06Jun

  Mental Obesity

  ADHD, ADD, art, aspergers, cognitive decline, learning disability, memory, parenting, school, social skills No Comments

  Think of your brain like your body.  What do you feed it each day?  A brain diet high in video games and low in cognitive demands will lead to mental obesity!

  The NY Times is reporting that new web sites aimed at children, especially girls, are on the rise. These sites allow kids to chat, Instant Message, Accessorize their cartoon avatars, dress up dolls and play video games.  Sounds like fun, so what’s the problem?

  The problem is that your brain is like a muscle–use it or lose it.  Spending an hour or two playing high stimulus, low cognition games (or watching equivalent TV programs, or reading equivalent comic books) is fine IF IT IS PART OF A WELL-BALANCED BRAIN DIET.

  What makes a well-balanced brain diet?

  Introducing the Brain-Food Pyramid:

  • 1-2 Hours of High-Stimulus, Low-Cognition activities: video games, TV, passive music, chatting with friends, internet surfing.
  • 1-2 Hours of  High-Cognition Activities: reading above grade level, write an essay, playing a musical instrument, peak-performance athletics, planning a big project.
  • 1-2 Hours of Physical Activity: walking, jogging, swimming, unstructured playing, sports, bicycling, etc.
  • 1-2 Hours of Socializing: hanging out with friends and family.
  • 7-10 hours of sleep!

  “Kids these days” are packing on 4-14 hours PER DAY of high stimulus activities that require next to zero thinking.  They’re ignoring the other aspects of life, sacrificing social skills and physical health (including sleep) in order to get their next “fix” of almost-free brain stimulus.

  Your brain needs exercise every day in order to stay in shape.  Don’t let Barbie take that away!

  Good luck,

  Allen Dobkin

• 04Jun

  Get the Biggest Advantage for Your Child

  ADHD, ADD, Sparks of Genius, aspergers, homework, learning disability, parenting, school, social skills, teacher No Comments

  Our nation has shifted its educational focus to standardized testing performance, for good or bad. One result is that parents, schools and districts are all looking for ways to play the system. If a school can massage the numbers just right, they get more funding. If parents can have their child diagnosed ADHD or with a Learning Disability, then the child can get extra time on the FCAT and SAT, which leads to a higher score and better college prospects. Plus, a little Ritalin or Adderall goes a long way. For anyone. Are your children getting lost in the shuffle? We hope to show you a trick or two to make sure that your kid has the best advantages, no matter what gimmicks are used by other parents and schools.

  Are the children getting lost in the shuffle?
  We hope to show you a trick or two to make sure that your kid has the best advantages, no matter what gimmicks are used by other parents and schools.

  The NY Times ran an interesting feature highlighting the advantages in redshirting: keeping a child out of kindergarten until he or she is a little older, as much as a year.

  Click here for the full article.

  Tool #1: Train your child to think that he or she is the boss.

  This may seem counterintuitive. After all, we often fight our kids to get them to do their homework. You want to transition your child’s current thinking from the perspective of “Educational Victim” to “Educational Entrepreneur”.

  Educational
  Victim	Entrepreneur
  Homework is an imposition	Homework is a challenge/tool
  Teachers are authority figures	Teachers are like employees
  I’m never going to use this in real life	How can I use this in real life?
  No dreams beyond play	Big, earth-shaking dreams
  High level of concern with appearing smart or cool	High level of concern with overcoming challenges
  Parents complain about school system	Parents participate in school system

  The institution of education, whether by accident or design, tends to create Educational Victims. In order to transition your child to thinking like an Educational Entrepreneur, requires adult-to-adult conversation. Your child doesn’t have the tools to change their own attitudes, so you must show them the way. Here’s how you do it.First, fix the “Stinking Thinking.” When you hear your child say things like, “I’m never going to use this in real life”, or “Miss Stinkyfoot is a rotten teacher” or “I hate homework”, take ten minutes and walk through this process. First, ask them exactly what is bothering them. Make them get specific. “He’s a jerk” doesn’t cut it. Once the complaint is out in the open, you must reframe it from the perspective of an Educational Entrepreneur. Here are some common translations.

  Translate Stinking Thinking
  Stinkin’ Thinkin’	iThoughts
  Homework is boring	Let’s turn it into a challenge: how much can you finish in 15 minutes (then take a fun break).
  Mr. Soandso is mean to me	Let’s find a way to make him a friend…just like we would as an adult with a mean employee
  I’m never going to use this in real life	Sometimes the content isn’t what is important, but mastering the PROCESS is. The best businesses have the best processes, not necessarily the best products.
  The subject is boring.	Tie the subject in to real life and show how it is important.
  I’m bored/hate school.	This student is stuck in victim mode. Reframe the school experience so that the child is the boss. Consider that the child may be overwhelmed and need some one-on-one help.

  To be continued tomorrow.

  -Allen Dobkin

• 31May

  Gimme a break! How to get kids to work more, waste less.

  ADHD, ADD, aspergers, homework, learning disability, parenting, school, stress, teacher No Comments

  ROWE, ROWE, ROWE your boat…at work but not at school. ROWE stands for Results Only Work Environment. Long story short: let people work how they want, when they want. Only measure the results. Performance and morale improve.

  There workers can come in at four or leave at noon, or head for the movies in the middle of the day, or not even show up at all. It’s the work that matters, not the method. And, not incidentally, both output and job satisfaction have jumped wherever ROWE is tried.

  Full article here.

  How can we use Results-Only to get our kids to perform?

  The bottom line for teachers and parents is that they need to get cooperation from 1-150 kids on tasks that, lets be honest, often aren’t interesting to them. If the child has ADD or a Learning Disability, the challenge is even greater.

  Are our schools results oriented?

  With few exceptions, in my opinion, No. This does vary from school to school and teacher to teacher, but overall I think that the atmosphere in America’s classrooms (big generalization here) is one in which students are evaluated on a mixed curriculum of education and discipline. In other words, the student’s grade is determined by both his or her mastery of the material and by how well he or she fits into the stereotypical pigeon-hole of a “good student”.

  It is not enough for a student to learn the curriculum. He or she must also meet the teacher’s expectations of behavior and discipline or their grades will suffer. Which means that their collegiate futures are at risk. Which means their behavior in and around the classroom will in part determine their future.

  Why is this bad? In my opinion, it is appropriate to evaluate behaviors, rule-following, conscientiousness and sociability. However, this evaluation needs to be made separate from an academic evaluation. Not merely out of fairness but because a student’s behavior does not reflect his or her mastery of the material. If the student has mastered the curriculum, and demonstrates that mastery on assessments, then his or her grade should reflect that mastery.

  Further, teachers evaluate behavior based on their biased backgrounds. Students with different backgrounds are unfairly penalized. Since most teachers are middle-class, poor students suffer.

  What do I mean? I mean that the student should not be penalized because he or she did not complete a non-assessment assignment (busy-work) or was disruptive in the classroom, or had a poor attendance record. Notice that each of these items are strongly correlated with poverty and a low socio-economic status. They also fit the profile of kids with Learning Disabilities.

  In my opinion, when teachers mix assessment grades with behavior grades, they are doing these kids a major disservice. I am especially thinking of my LD students. These kids’ futures are already at risk. If they are graduating on a regular diploma, and most are, then they need every point they can get on their GPA. When I go into an Individualized Education Planning (IEP) meeting for a student, and I see that his assessment grades are A’s, B’s and C’s but his report card is full of C’s, D’s and F’s I conclude that the student’s needs are not being met. Isn’t it obvious? He can ace the exam, but has seven zeros for homework assignments…he’s learned the material. Even more, he did it without doing the homework. For him, the homework was really just busy work.

  The goal of our schools should not be to pump out mass-produced cookie-cutter worker.

  Corporate America is realizing that if you let good people make choices about how and when to work, everybody wins. Lets take that lesson home and into the classroom. Recognize that people have different learning styles and preferences and that the goal of our schools should not be to pump out mass-produced cookie-cutter workers.

  Teachers: create multiple routes to success. Keep behavior and academic evaluations separate.

  Parents: realize that your kid needs breaks. LD and ADD kids need LOTS of breaks. Split their homework session in two. Have a physical activity planned for in between.

  One last quick story: a student of mine often comes in completely brain-fried. You know, that horrible feeling that you can’t even spell your own name right…for no reason! Once I realize we are up against the wall we go for a ten-minute walk and talk about video games. This lifts the mind-fog and learning can begin again.

  Good luck!

  Allen Dobkin

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