Status Check

A-One hasn't done much brain training over the last month - just one day in the last four weeks.  His last score on Lumosity was 45th percentile, comprising the following sub-percentiles:

• Speed: 72.4
• Memory: 60.1
• Attention: 46.8
• Flexibility: 53.9
• Problem Solving: 9.1

All of the above are well within the average range, except Problem Solving.  I reckon his overall BPI would be higher than 45th percentile if he learnt his number facts.

So, has anything changed for A-One from his brain training?

When he met with his employment consultant yesterday discussing kitchen hand work, I noticed that he worked out how many years he'd been cleaning up the kitchen at home when I said he'd been rostered on that job since he was at least 8 years old.  Next week he turns 23.  He casually slipped into his conversation 'So, I've been doing that for 15 years.'  No pause, no counting on fingers.

I've also been noticing that his conversations as he plays WOW with his online friends are quite coherent and not all one-way.  Quite different from just a few years ago when he'd get on to a topic and keep talking regardless of signals that it was time to let someone else speak, or to inquire after them.  It all sounds very regular to me.

He now needs to build his confidence, and become motivated to get out of his comfort zone at home.

Arrowsmith in Brisbane!

The very good news is that the Shaping Brains Project of The Benevolent Society has now signed up for the Arrowsmith program at the Acacia Ridge Early Years Centre. The program will be for children - but for adults too!  Sheryl Batchelor emailed me with her exciting news a few days before she went to Toronto for her training.  She will be starting the candidate selection process when she comes back.

I'm sooo hoping that A-One will be a suitable candidate.

I chose my time to tell him about the program coming to Brisbane, because he hadn't shown any enthusiasm for it when I've raised it with him before.

Mum: A-One, you remember the Arrowsmith program? Well, it's now going to be available in Brisbane.

A-One: Well, I won't be going.

Mum: I think it could help change your life.  Even though we don't know that for absolute certainty, I still think it's the best thing that I've seen that could help you.  You could start thinking about a sound engineer course at TAFE or even something else if you wanted to.  The program could help you to learn and to write more easily - to be able to handle a course so much better than when you were at school.

A-One: It's not necessary.

Sisters: So what are you going to do if you don't do this?

Mum ... and Dad: You know the people who usually do the course are just normal, intelligent people. They just have some blockages in their otherwise perfectly fine brain, and they want to work to remove those blockages so that they can make the best use of the already good parts of their brain.

Grandparents:  A-One, this is very exciting for you.  You'd be at the cutting edge of a new frontier!

I think he'll come round.

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.

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.

CogniFit

I've just had a good look at CogniFit.  And it's fun. I saw it referenced in a Friends of SharpBrains LinkedIn discussion.

It's also in SharpBrains list of vendors to watch in 2013/14 and is based on peer reviewed research, although mainly for aging adults. It includes some very interesting features:

• You can register for free and get some free 'neurons' which is like a currency
• You can do an assessment first up to get your profile of cognitive strengths and weaknesses as well as how you compare with others in your age range
• Cognitive abilities are described at quite a granular level e.g. not just Memory, but working memory, short-term memory, contextual memory
• You can earn more 'neurons' by training and 'unlock' new games by spending your neurons, or you can purchase more neurons (with real money) to play more
• You can bet your neurons to win more
• You can challenge other players
• The training is tailored based on your assessment
• It's fun

I hadn't investigated this site in depth before because it's pitched to keeping your mind agile as you age, but I think it would be really good for A-One - especially if we can get some other players for him to play with.  It seems to have incorporated the appeal of online multiplayer games e.g. like WOW and the chance of notching up your 'neurons' to play more.

I'm pretty excited about it as it seems to include a number of features that I've been looking for in relation to A-One, in particular the assessments which can be done at any time, the increased granularity of cognitive abilities including planning, the ability to choose specific games for these, and the ability to play with and challenge others.

I've done several training sessions today and have not had to pay any real money. 

(I started using my mouse left-handed several years ago, mainly to ease some tension that had been developing on the right side of my neck from a highly stressful job.  But for these games today I quickly switched to my right hand because the speed challenge sucked me right in!)

Now the hard part is gaining A-One's willingness to try it.

Working Memory

I can hardly believe it's been over a month since I blogged about my son A-One's brain training. He has continued doing some, but it hasn't been daily, more like every 4 or 5 days.  His overall score has moved up 5 percentiles during that time:

• His Speed is now 72nd percentile, with over half of the games having included information processing
• He cracked 50th percentile for Memory, although only a couple included working memory exercises
• He moved up 5 percentiles in Attention, but slipped back a couple of percentiles over the last few games played
• He has moved up almost 12 percentiles in Flexibility
• Problem Solving stays doggedly around 8-9th percentile, although he has been served up very few problem solving games over the last month

Once A-One had cracked the 50th percentile for Memory, I wanted to include additional working memory games e.g. Dual NBack download because it is a well-known clinically proven peer reviewed exercise for working memory, and is also free.  Roughly speaking, working memory is where you do (manipulate) things in your head e.g. reciting a known telephone number backwards.  A-One has an impairment in this area, and it's a pretty key one for learning.

I chose the downloadable version (there is an online version at Dual NBack online) so that any lack of access to internet would not be an issue.  Although he also does a version of that game in his Lumosity training, he doesn't get working memory games every time he plays, and I'd like to intensify his training in this area.  Cogmed is also a commercially available peer reviewed program for working memory which I had originally thought I'd book him in for, but I wanted to gauge his commitment level before committing funds.

The downloadable version does not have as simple look and feel as the online version, however it is more configurable, and can be set to start more simply than the online version.  Basically, the player has to remember two things (dual) and hit nominated keys when there have been matches from N times ago.  To get him started, I initially set it up for A-One to remember only the previous try (1 Back) instead of the default which is two tries ago (2 Back).  I tried it myself first so that I could explain how to play (for me, the explanation with the game took a few reads through).  He downloaded it happily enough (around 20 March), clearly indicating that he didn't need my help downloading it.

However, when it came to playing it:

A-One: This game is too hard - you have to remember two things.

Mum: Yes, it's difficult at first, but once you get used to it, you'll get the hang of it.

A-One: I'm not doing it.

And he hasn't since ...

60th percentile for Speed!

A-One finally got to his Friday game before he went to bed Saturday morning - when? Don't know.  He's had the same pair of pyjama pants on night and day for the last week.

The exciting news is that he's hit 60th percentile for Speed, and is almost cracking 50th percentile for Memory. He was served an information processing game, but no working memory.  Nevertheless, he gained another PB for the cafe game for remembering names, faces and orders. I suggested to him that once he's hit 50th percentile for Memory, he might adjust his training priorities so that he gets more intensive work on Attention and Flexibility.  He didn't protest, so we'll see once he hits the mark.

Also, through SharpBrains again, I saw a reference to a paper published in Nature, by two professors advocating for games developers and neuroscientists to collaborate to produce digital games that train the brain.  Yeh! When you think that children's game play is how they learn and grow, why not digital games too?  One of the scientists spoke at a TED talk last November.

ESCoNS Cognitive Neurotherapeutics - a new field of gaming

A-One seems to have reached a plateau in his Lumosity brain training over the last couple of days, sitting at overall percentile of  31.9.  His games have included information processing and working memory on most of the last three days with several PBs on Wednesday.  However, yesterday (Thursday) he achieved a PB for Penguin Pursuit! This is the speed game where he complains that the penguin is cheating because it goes faster than he can. Nevertheless he completed level 15 of the game, and commented that he hasn't cracked level 16 yet.

Through SharpBrains I was alerted to an exciting symposium happening at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles this month. It's the second annual conference and meeting of The Entertainment Software and Cognitive Neurotherapeutics Society.  The press release states that it fosters collaboration to advance development of video game therapy to diagnose and combat mental disorders and improve cognitive learning, brain capacity and function. 

The society seems to have developed the whole new and exciting field of “cognitive neurotherapeutics.” What got me really excited was that the founder of the society is a past Executive of Activision Blizzard which publishes World of Warcraft!  So that means that there are others who recognise the potential of combining the disciplines of good game design with neuroscientific brain training!  It makes me feel hopeful about the increasing availability of online brain training exercises.  We just need to ensure that it's clear how to assess which games address which cognitive dysfunctions.

His scores just keep improving

Last week A-One was frustrated with our intermittent wireless internet so he decided to reboot the router.  This causes issues for all users as we have to delete and reinstall all printer drivers, but this time it caused him an issue as well.  His laptop is now unable to use the wireless internet, despite his dad trying to troubleshoot the problem for several hours one night last week.

So he is without wireless internet access, but until that happened he had been able to do his brain training on Tuesday and Wednesday last week.  Wednesday saw him move up to 24th percentile for flexibility and up to 9.1st percentile for problem solving - his best yet!  Whoohoo!

On Wednesday he made the 30s! for his overall BPI percentile - 30.5th.  He had started at less than 10th - he just keeps improving.  Wednesday's games included another personal best for a game he likes - the cafe game about remembering names to faces and their orders.

And he may be applying some problem solving to real life. His dad and I were away for part of the weekend. When asked earlier in the week A-One chose not to join us.  However, when we were about to depart A-One asked where everyone was and commented that without internet there would be nothing for him to do. I reminded him that he could have come with us, but it was too late now.

As we were driving away I asked his sister to text him about free WiFi at the local library and that we could look up bus timetables if he wanted to take his laptop.  We didn't hear anything. Later on when I was talking to him he informed me that he had brought his laptop down to the study, unplugged his dad's laptop and plugged his in to access the cable internet.  Necessity the mother of invention?

Anyway, yesterday and today he has been happily ensconced at his dad's desk with his own laptop connected (until his dad needs to use his desk) .  He showed me his Wednesday scores, and when we saw that information processing wasn't included in Wednesday's games, he proceeded to choose and play an additional game without even so much as a whimper of protest.  In fact he showed some disappointment with his score having made only two errors.

Thank God it's Friday?

After Thursday's good day, Friday wasn't so flash.

Mum: OK A-One, time to get on to your brain training.

A-One: It's Friday!

Mum: And ...?

Later in the day he tried one game, then something locked up on his laptop and when he tried again it was after midnight and the site was unavailable.  On Sunday night when I asked him whether he had completed Friday's training, he hadn't.  However, he resumed on Monday.

He was given both information processing, working memory and flexibility games, resulting in scores similar to the day before.  He commented that he didn't like one of the games, a working memory game.

Mum: That means you're starting to work at a new level of capability - that's good.

Still, his overall BPI and percentile were marginally up again.  He's now performing overall at 25.6% of the population in his age range.

That sounds like a plan

Today was a good day.

After I woke A-One this morning I asked him about his plan for the day, to which he answered 'I don't know.'

Mum: Did you do your additional information processing and working memory games yesterday?

A-One: Yes.

Mum: Fabulous!

I gave him a gee up about getting on to today's games, then they'd be out of the way, and left it at that. 

Later on in the day, he came downstairs and told me there were three things he had to do today and proceeded to enumerate them.

A-One: I'll eat first, then I'll fix the DVDs folder, then Lumosity, then I'll report my income for Centrelink (which I should have done yesterday).

Mum: That sounds like a plan - well done!

This afternoon I asked him how it all went.

A-One: I've done them all.

Mum: That's great. Really well done.

It gets better.

He's now in the 25.3rd percentile for his overall BPI. He was presented with both an information processing and a working memory game today (so no extra ones to do), but it was his problem solving percentile which had shot up!  He's now in the 8.5th percentile! When he first started he was somewhere between <1st and 2.5th. We checked out which games he had been served: both a quantitative reasoning and a word sort game.  He performed significantly better with the word game, but even the maths one had risen slightly too.

I could see that he was pleased at my reaction to his problem solving result. Howzat!

Both a tortoise and a hare

It's been over a week and A-One has had no calls about going back to work. Despite our urging to make contact to show his interest, he has heard nothing and has not been willing to make the phone call.

So I did.

He has been registered with a disability employment service for several years, and they found him his current job.  I spoke to his consultant.  I had wanted to call her anyway to let her know about A-One's brain training work, and to let her know how it has been going.  I also mentioned the Arrowsmith program and how I have joined an advocacy group to bring the program to Australia.  It was not one with which she was familiar.

Of most interest to me was the feedback she gave about A-One's work.  She found that A-One worked really well on some days, but was very slow on others.  He worked best when there was someone there all the time encouraging him with 'You can do it A-One'.  When there wasn't anyone there he was very easily distracted, or would do the same thing over several times when it wasn't really required.  His work buddy was able to complete the whole job sooner on his own than when they worked together and was not returning to the job. So A-One's job is on hold until they can find someone else to be his work buddy.

That certainly consolidated for me the consistency of our experience of A-One:

• at home
• his first job after he left school (Life since school)
• this job (It's all in the timing)

I spoke with A-One about it.

A-One: Why did you phone up? That's not your business!

Mum: Because Dad and I wanted to know what was going on.  We wanted some idea as to when you might be going back to work.

Mum: We're hearing again that even though you know the job very well, it's the inconsistency in your pace that is difficult for employers.  You often tell me 'I know' when I remind you about doing things, and it's clear to me that you can readily learn a job, but you need help in doing it at a consistent pace.

A-One: My work buddy probably got sick of me.

Mum: I don't know anything about that.

A-One resumed playing WOW  as I was speaking to him.

Mum: Could you take your character to a safe place and pause the game while we're talking about this?

A-One: I can listen to you while I do this.  See I'm responding to you?

Mum: That's pretty amazing seeing your auditory processing is somewhat impaired ....

Mum: Remember your cooking plan which includes the times of when to do things (It's all in the timing)?  What if you do that for other jobs so that you can do them at a more consistent pace, and improve your work prospects?  Use the clock as your friend to check things off against the time on the plan. Remember how I tell you to take note of the time when you start and finish jobs? We've been trying to tell you this, but you haven't wanted to know.

A-One: I get it Mum.





Later on A-One came downstairs and asked me which additional games he should play today.

That's a first. 

I'm good with names

A-One's overall percentile after today's training was 24.5th - achieving a new high yet again at 808 BPI. His memory score was significantly further up from yesterday and his flexibility had just nudged higher than his previous highest before the break.

He was not served up any information processing or working memory games today. His memory game was about remembering faces. He usually does quite well with the cafe game where he has to remember both faces and orders, so it seems that remembering faces is quite a good strength for him.

Best yet!

Whoohoo! Today A-One increased his BPI for memory (and it was working memory) by 113! (It wasn't before 10am, but at least it was before lunch.) And his overall BPI is the highest it's been, with his overall percentile at 19.6. He gained PBs for flexibility and problem solving which is now at 5.5th percentile.

Mum: Hey, that's fantastic - your score for memory!   And you're not only back at the level that you were, you're higher!

A-One, flatly: Yeh-Mum-it's-fantastic.

I noticed that his speed was still down, and that it wasn't an information processing exercise.  I told him ne needed to pick one of those and add it, so that he gets an information processing exercise in per day.  I needed to go out, and I haven't found out yet whether he added it.

I doubt it.

Speak to me of love ...

Another conversation this morning about making brain training a priority.

Mum: Get on to your brain training this morning so that I can write it up and then my day is clear for other things.

A-One: Can't I just tell you when I've done it?

Mum: I'm the busy one, and I need you to work in with me so that I can plan my day.

A-One: I don't have to do it to suit your convenience! You don't have the authority to tell me when I have to do it.  (Doesn't he have great verbal skills?)

Mum: Well, yes I do. It is a requirement of living in this house that you complete your brain training by 10am every day.  

A-One: You don't say things like that to your immediate family!  Maybe to others, but not to me, and I don't see you saying it to .. (A-One's sisters).

Mum: Your brain training is that important! Successful people decide what are the top 1-3 things to do every day, and don't let other things get in the way - they make time for the important things first!  I'm trying to show you successful life skills.  I've given up work so that I can work with you or find something to help you.  I have made this my top priority.  (I felt tears rising) it's because I love you A-One, not because I want to make your life difficult. I've researched this work, and you will have to give me the benefit of the doubt about its value.

A-One: Okay.

On reading this, those who subscribe to a self-directed learning philosophy may squirm. It's clear what my priorities are for A-One, what about his? They may ask, how is that respectful of him? Yet our experience of A-One is that he lacks initiative. He lacks the capacity to translate an abstract goal into real concrete steps, and from what I have read, I think this passivity is one of his cognitive impairments. Last year, the neuropsychologist told us to be directive in taking positive steps.  She commented that waiting for him wasn't working, was it?

In the end, we want him to know he is loved, and our drive (and frustration) comes from there.

 

His scores today were similar to yesterday; speed was down, but the others were OK. A couple of new games.

As we looked at his scores, I explained to A-One the importance of two types of games based on his previous capability assessments: information processing and working memory. We looked at the games available, noting those that exercised these capabilities. I told him that if the program doesn't serve up these games to him, he needs to add them in as 'extras' every day.

Time will tell whether I've got through to him for just today, or for the days ahead too.

New priorities for the new year?

A-One's laptop came back from repair on Tuesday (2 days ago), so he has been able to resume his online brain training yesterday and today. We're finally back into the swing of things after a long vacation period.

The most challenging aspects of the vacation period was when I needed A-One to do some jobs by a certain time, especially being ready to go away on holidays. I still haven't struck the magic formula for having him co-operate in that respect, which heightens the stress levels all round. Nevertheless, once we do get away, he is more willing to do as asked by those not from his immediate family.  So I'm thinking I need to more actively pursue brain training alternatives this year which involve people outside his immediate family, who may be more successful in having him give it higher priority.

It has been almost two months since he has logged on for anything. For a while he had access to another PC in the office, but his sister decided to reformat her external hard drive, and it seems she included its C: drive because it no longer boots up.  So A-One occupied his time mostly with X-Box and DVDs while eagerly awaiting his laptop repair.

Happily, when I went into his room yesterday, he was logging in to his Lumosity training (after some reminders).

A-One: Mum, see how the dot in the calendar appears in the middle of the week? Isn't it better to start next Monday so that the calendar shows dots for a full week of exercises?

Mum: No, it doesn't matter.  It's better that you resume your training as soon as possible.

I had to go out, and when I returned, he was happy to show me how he'd gone.  He was given all new games to do, so all were personal bests (PBs). He had dropped 43 in his overall Brain Performance Index (BPI) from 737 in December, mainly due to a drop in speed.  I wondered how long it would take him to recover his former scores.

His conversation however was all about a slight glitch he had encounted while playing World of Warcraft (WOW). He was keen to describe, at length, the glitch and his attempts to fix it including posting a question to a game master.  Today he received a reply, and spent many hours following the tips, which resulted in his now being unable to log on (hooray!).

Mum: How has your brain training gone today?

A-One: Fixing this is more important!

Mum: ... a repeat of a conversation we've had many times ... my patience is waning ...

I wish!

Nevertheless, by the time I came back to 'remind' him again, he had logged on.

Several hours later when I was free again to see how he went, he had almost recovered his former BPI score!  He had again gained PBs for all games, including the old 'cafe' game where he had to remember people's names from way back in December!  He was also keen to show me how to play the new games, so I was happy to see his willingness to play them again.

Lumosity has games specifically for working memory, so I've started encouraging him to add in some additional games each day, just for that.  Now I have to think about how I'll get him to do it ...





 

The penguin's still cheating Mum

A-One continues to do his daily online brain training, but in this hectic pre-Christmas season, I have not been able to add any clocks or reading exercises for a couple of days.  By including the additional logical, rather than arithmetical, problem solving game, A-One's problem solving is finally advancing beyond the 2nd percentile to 4.5th percentile.   Today he was offered a new attention game, so his attention BPI took a slight dive, but I expect he'll recover that fairly soon.  Even so, he gained 4 PBs.

His speed is now at the 59th percentile! He's still grumbling about the 'cheating' penguin which, for the level he's playing at now, travels faster than he can make his penguin move.


Faster A-One!
 

I've been visiting some of the sites listed in SharpBrains' market report.  One in particular appears to be based in Lyon, France Scientific Brain Training Rehabilitation Program which describes very well which cognitive functions are exercised by each of their 28 exercises. I'm particularly interested in the Executive Function exercises which include strategy through logical reasoning, and planning through forming mental images of which steps to execute.

No pause, so I'll restart

As A-One did his Lumosity today he was grumbling that some games did not let him hit the pause button (so that he could mentally catch up with the game.) I barely heard his comments over the music playing in the study. It was too loud for me to concentrate, so I don't know how he does.

He was willing to add a logical problem solving exercise to his usual set of games and is working at a level where his comment was something like 'I don't know why it's wrong.  I can't figure it out.' He restarted the game three times mid-game.

No PBs today.