Getting ready for a change ...

In the last couple of days I've sent off a few emails to others on the advocacy list for Arrowsmith, as well to a couple of educational institutions.  I've also been keeping up with the latest news from SharpBrains, and came across a reference to a free cognitive test called Brain Baseline for iPads and iPhones.  I duly went looking for it but it's only in the US Apple store, not the Australian one.  So I wrote off to them too asking when it would be available in the Australian store.

In the meanwhile I've tested myself out on the CogStateTM practice tests and think I have the hang of them now.  I've uploaded my practice results and am now working out whether the test report is useful to me, or simply to track A-One's scores in a spreadsheet myself. I'm very keen to get started with him as he seems to be losing interest in Lumosity, and I think it's time for a change. So I want to baseline him using CogStateTM, then try something else, giving Lumosity a rest for a while.

I'm very impressed with C8-Kids Cognition Cross Training, another suite of brain training exercises I came across via SharpBrains.  This one's from Yale University and has been used to treat ADHD. I like very much that a few simple games progressively incorporate training for additional cognitive functions, and progressive comprehensive reports on a student's cognitive profile are also available i.e. it combines both training and assessment.  The program also combines mental and physical training, so it's really the whole package! The program is geared to 5-10 year olds, but the interface is not too 'babyish' and adults can benefit from it too. The downside, and this is noted on their website, is that for adults any comparative assessments draw on a much smaller population, so I'm not sure how useful they'll be.

The C8 program requires that the student do 3 - 5 sessions a week ranging from 25 - 40 mins each, generally over a 4 month period.

I recall when I spoke to Sheryl Batchelor that she wondered why the Arrowsmith program needs 3-4 years when other programs show improvements over 3 months or so. I also have some niggling concerns whether A-One would qualify for the Arrowsmith program which requires students to have average or above average intelligence.  A-One's IQ is just below the average range, although when he was younger he was in the average range. Given the C8 program is used for ADHD, and A-One had been on medication for ADD when he was younger, this program might even be more suitable for him than Arrowsmith?

So, I think C8's worth a try.  It seems to match A-One's cognitive impairments, and compares in price to Lumosity.

Arrowsmith advocacy

Last week, Debbie Gilmore, the Arrowsmith program's Australian representative, distributed the email addresses of people wishing to form an advocacy group to bring an adult Arrowsmith program to Queensland.

I'm keen to work with others to see how we can progress this. To that end I've emailed the group, as has one other in the group.

The policy of the Arrowsmith organisation is to not make public the discussions they have with any educational institutions considering the program until they have formally committed to the program and/or are happy to have that made public.  Advocates are not bound by that policy because they do not represent the Arrowsmith organisation.  However, I see the prudence in adopting the same position, so in this blog I'll write only in general terms about such advocacy.

The exciting news is that two more Australian schools have now agreed to offer the program:

• Silkwood School on the Gold Coast
• Mosman Church of England Prep in Sydney

The Arrowsmith website lists both Participating Schools and Prospective Schools.

CogState

An article on SharpBrains referred to using a battery of online cognitive tests developed by CogStateTM, an Australian company based in Melbourne, listed in the top five in SharpBrains' Market Report.

When I had previously looked at CogStateTM's website I had noted that their target markets were primarily for testing cognitive capacities in the aging (Alzheimer's) and sports (concussions), clinical trials for pharmaceuticals, as well as use by academic researchers. I hadn't pursued it at the time because I hadn't thought that the work I was doing with A-One fitted any of those categories.

However, following on from my thinking in The Challenge blog, I wrote to CogStateTM several weeks back making an enquiry about the use of their tests. I was looking for an economical way to independently assess cognitive progress using Lumosity, or CogniFit, or any other online brain training.

Much to my excitement, CogStateTM has offered me the use of their Research battery of tests for 12 months!  This will enable me to take an independent baseline of A-One's cognitive capacities now, and to periodically check how he's going as he continues his training. I'm hoping that it will also help me better target the training that A-One requires.

I checked with A-One whether he was willing to undertake the tests.

A-One: How long will they take?

Mum: Each test takes between a few to several minutes, and there are about a dozen tests. Doing the tests would take perhaps an hour, but the total time would probably be longer than that as you would need to learn what each test entails.

A-One: OK.

So far, so good. No resistance.

I downloaded the software yesterday.  The software comes with a research manual which I have been reading and I'm now training myself in how to administer the tests.

I'm also putting on my thinking cap about how to gather others similar to A-One so that he has some fellow travellers wishing to improve their cognitive capacities. CogStateTM has told me that I am free to use the tests for such a group.

I hope I can keep A-One as excited about this as I am!

Mind Up

A few weeks ago I attended a SPELD seminar presented by Sheryl Batchelor, the Program Director of the Shaping Brains Project funded by The Benevolent Society. 

I had previously not considered SPELD for A-One because many of its clients have dyslexia, and that is one area where A-One does not have a problem.  However, I had spoken to Sheryl late last year before embarking on A-One's brain training program, when she had advised me to be careful to use only evidenced based programs, and I was keen to meet her in person.

The seminar was about the Mind Up program, developed by the Goldie Hawn Foundation, in response to the number of children suiciding after 9/11.  The program helps children manage their self-regulation. Sheryl  first came across the program when she visited the Arrowsmith school in Canada about 6 months ago.  Mind Up is incorporated into the Arrowsmith program to help students manage the frustration they may feel when trying to maintain the sustained effortful attention to brain exercises. A lack of ability to self regulate can often be a student's first learning disability.

After seeing the program first-hand, Sheryl is keen to bring the Arrowsmith program to Brisbane for primary children and adults - to enable a family approach if that's what's required. After speaking with Sheryl after her presentation I emailed her to ask how I can also help bring the Arrowsmith program to Brisbane.

Under his own steam

Over the last month I have not been overseeing A-One's brain training too closely.  Under his own steam he has averaged training 3 times a week, which I'm very pleased about. 

At 53.6th percentile, his Flexibility has now finally passed the 50th percentile which is great news too! 

His Problem Solving is the only area that still lags under 10th percentile.

Over the last month we have been learning more about his WOW friends because he talks to them frequently, using his headphones and microphone. When playing, he sits in our family room so that he can use the internet cable instead of our unreliable wireless - we can't help overhearing his end of the conversations.  His sitting in our family area helps to include his online life with ours.

The Challenge

A few days ago I was reading a SharpBrains article about whether brain training really works, and read with interest my own burning question: 'how to max­i­mize the like­li­hood of trans­fer from train­ing to daily life.'

One of the conditions is that it must target a bottleneck. 'For instance, if you need to train your exec­u­tive func­tions but use a pro­gram designed to enhance speed of pro­cess­ing, you may well con­clude that this pro­gram does not “work.” But this pro­gram may work for some­body whose bot­tle­neck is speed of pro­cess­ing ...'

Bingo.
This is the area where I have been looking lately for some professional assistance.  Where is the user's guide to online brain training, so that someone can pick the right brain training exercise for their specific area of impairment?  Even the jargon for describing cognitive capacities seems to vary between sites, or is too general, so it's not always clear which exercises match A-One's specific deficits.


To this end, I have contacted some organisations to raise the possibility of combining professional expertise with online brain training, not for general brain fitness but specifically to improve cognitive deficits, just as I am trying to do with A-One.

For example, the co-ordinator of a 'brain gym' for brain injured soldiers at Walter Reed Military Hospital in the US presented at SharpBrain's Virtual Summit last year. She described how they use readily available brain exercises based on peer reviewed neuroscience, delivered via various media - online, mobile device apps, Nintendo etc - combined with standardised neuropsych evaluations to help soldiers rehabilitate their cognitive capacities after an injury, so that it is evidence based.

It seems to me that A-One could benefit from working with others seeking to improve capacity in their areas of cognitive deficit, where each person's brain exercises are targeted to their individual bottlenecks.  I think he would benefit from the social aspects of meeting with others, as well as increased motivation to keep working at it.

I keep coming back to the initial assessment phase of the Arrowsmith program and the classroom environment for delivery, and why that has been so successful. Could there be something similar for readily available, and inexpensive, online brain training?

So I'm running a few parallel paths of activity at the moment:

• I'm contacting support organisations for people with learning disabilities or developmental or neurological deficits, with a view to joining with other parents and practitioners who have an interest in brain training to see what we could get happening for group training, especially for adults with average or above average intelligence with cognitive deficits.
• I've contacted TAFE to discuss what would be needed for TAFE to deliver the Arrowsmith program
• I have been raising awareness of the educational implications of developments in neuroscience, and the Arrowsmith program in particular.  For example, Coursera have recently announced their Continuing Professional Development program for Teachers which includes a course called The Brain-Targeted Teaching® Model for 21st Century Schools from Dr. Mariale Hardiman at John Hopkins University. I've alerted the Learning Support teacher at my daughter's school to this, and she is raising it with the school's senior admin. I also sent a link to my contact at TAFE, and the Australian Arrowsmith program as it may be a useful supplementary professional development course for teachers involved in this year's pilot in Sydney.

Not bored. Disappointed.

Over the last few weeks A-One's overall Lumosity BPI has stayed pretty steady at around 1000 or 43rd percentile.  He's been playing on average about three to four times a week.  The exciting part is that he is almost at the 50th percentile for Flexibility, and almost, almost at the 10th percentile for Problem Solving.  I'm still trying to convince him to re-prioritise his training preferences with Problem Solving at the top so that he can give himself a good workout in that area.

I asked him today if he was getting bored with Lumosity, because there are other exercises he could try, for example CogniFit.

A-One: It's not so much that I'm bored, but that only a few of the games have a 'Pause' button.  They flash up things so fast that it doesn't give me time to get it right. And sometimes I get only one thing wrong, and it gives me a low score - which is disappointing.  And the Penguin still goes faster than I can, which is cheating. Do they have a feedback section where I can tell them?

Mum: Some of the games might be testing your speed, just above your current level of skill, so that it's stretching you to get better.  Do you know what happens when you play any game against someone better than you?  Like tennis?

A-One: You lose?

Mum (laughing): Yes, probably.  But you get better!  They help you to lift your game. 

A-One: Sometimes you need to pause to do something else, like answer the door or something, and then for that day, you get a low score.

Mum: Well, after your official training for that day you could always do the game again to see how well you could really do without taking a break.  It wouldn't count in your official score, but you'd know how well you've really done.  And that's what really important isn't it?

A-One: Yes, I could do that.

Mum: If you want to send in some feedback, why don't you and see what they say?

A-One: I will, but not now.