By Dina Halaseh, Educational Psychologist & Daniella Sweidan
Can our brain change? Can your child get smarter? What can you do? And many more questions are on many parents’ minds.
The simple answer is YES! Your brain can absolutely change and this is referred to as Neuroplasticity.
The brain rewiring
Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to change and adapt by forming new connections.
This ability allows the brain rewire itself and adapt to new experiences, learn new information and recover from injuries—it changes the way the brain works!
Brain training involves activities designed to improve cognitive functions such as memory, attention, problem-solving, reasoning and more.
Just like training a muscle, your brain can be trained to become smarter! The idea is that just as physical exercise strengthens muscles, mental exercises can strengthen the brain.
Repetition and practice
Every time you learn something new, your brain forms new connections between neurons. Repetition and practice strengthen these connections and lead to learning new skills and enhancing existing ones.
Challenging ourselves with hard new tasks will eventually lead us to mastering these tasks and getting smarter!
Brain training
We asked one of our students to share some of the improvements she felt after finishing her brain training journey: “Thankfully, all the challenges I faced lead to positive outcomes making life easier,” Daniella Sweidan (17) says.
Here are 10 changes which she shares with us:
1.Paying more attention in class; I am able to focus on all tasks, assignments and information provided
2. Understanding more complex tasks and solving complicated problems (in maths, business and psychology)
3. Recalling information better. This means my memory improved and was able to recall certain pieces of information which I couldn’t before
4. Making new friends in and out of school. I am able to bond more with schoolmates. I made new friendships and deepened old ones
5. Getting out of my comfort zone by joining the school’s newsletter team and podcast group; meaning that I had to work with strangers and publicly share my work on the school website
6. Committing more to school by studying more and willing to spend hours studying on both school days and weekends
7. Attending class on time (with time to spare!). I am making it to my meetings long before they start which leaves me with plenty of time to hang out with others
8. I was able to participate more in class without making mistakes
9. Contributing more to projects. When there are projects, I take thme seriously. I try my best to contribute to projects the best I can by doing all the research I can and generally, being more available especially if the projects take several days
10. Working around strict restrictions and guidelines to write the articles in the newsletter and still write good articles which my teachers commended
What can you do?
Here are some things you can try at home to increase your mental skills:
Memory: Try recalling lists, recognising patterns, or remembering sequences. You have to memorise to remember and train your memory!
Attention: Try any task that may require you to focus on certain stimuli while ignoring distractions. Add music to an existing task and push your limits
Logic and reasoning: Try puzzles, logic games and strategy games to enhance critical thinking and decision-making
Processing speed: Try timing your activities and try to beat your own time. You can also try games that require fast reaction times
Just like our muscles, our body needs regular and consistent physical exercise, our brain needs consistent challenging exercise and practice to keep and improve cognitive functions.
Start by adding one challenge a day until it becomes easier and build up the challenge one day at a time.
