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.

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.

He's a Sharpshooter!

I was listening to a 'Founder Story' of Mike Scanlon, Lumosity's Chief Scientific Officer today.  He made reference to a broader cognitive test that Lumosity members can use every few months to see how their cognitive capacity is going as distinct from how well they are performing in the brain exercises.  (Note: It doesn't seem to work with IE 10, but does with Chrome.)  I can't find a link from the Lumosity website, but I had an email record of the URL from my initial inquiry to Lumosity.

I can't recall why I didn't get A-One to do it initially because that had been my plan.  Perhaps I had thought that limited levels of co-operation were better directed to the actual brain training.

Today he was willing enough to do it.  His test results tell him that his strengths are Speed and Attention. Problem Solving is rated above Memory which is his weakest, even though Memory is his area of strength in the actual exercises and Problem Solving his weakest. The report notes that Attention is good for driving. Imagine that! For a boy who had been told all his life that he needs to be kept on task,  had been on ADD medication for a while, and last year told by the neuropsychologist that he shouldn't get his drivers licence.

I love the encouraging way the report is presented and the smile on A-One's face when he read it: A-One, you are a Sharpshooter! Quick, observant and incisive.  You easily take in information and use penetrating insight to make quick decisions.  With a keen sense of spatial orientation, people with these strengths make natural athletes and navigators.   His overall score also put him in the 'about average' range for people in his age range.

(Would WOW also have something to do with this?)

Mum: See A-One, I think for someone who has your capabilities, it's criminal that you're not out there working or learning an occupation.  And you should be playing to your strengths - get to the gym three times a week!  or Tae Kwon Do or Roller Blading. I'm happy to take you.

A-One: I'd like to go to gym.

Mum: Great.  What time of the day do you want to go - and it should be at least 3 times a week.

He's still thinking about that one.

Mum: For someone who is decisive, it shouldn't take too long for you to make a decision about that.

A-One: I don't think I'd do very well at TAFE, because I struggle with the theory.

Mum: Don't base all your decisions on what you were good at, or not, at school.  Remember all this brain training is to enable you to do those things.  It's not because I'm 'into it' that I'm getting you to do brain training.  It's to make it possible for you to do those things that you are interested in!

A-One: OK.

Motivation and discipline

Once we got home, A-One had some jobs to do which he hadn't done last night, and I reminded him that I wanted to see his last Lumosity results (from Friday). Eventually he called me upstairs to see them.

He pointed out to me that he had achieved five PBs - I was pleased that he showed some interest in his results.  I told him again what great progress he had made - he's almost at 40th percentile overall, is already in the 40s (percentile) for Flexibility and almost the same for Attention.

Mum: You're doing so well, I think it's time to change your training priorities.

A-One: No. Nuh. No.

Mum: You need to work on your Problem Solving (which is still under 10th percentile).  You have done so well on all the others - up 60 percentiles on Speed since you started! You would do really well on Problem Solving if you just revised all your tables and number facts.  You used to know them, they would come back if you worked at them.  If you did that, I reckon you would zoom up on Problem Solving too, just like you have on all the others.

A-One: I know, but look, I will be doing a Problem Solving game today.  It's a Maths one though.

Mum: As I said ....  You know, I'm really looking forward to seeing what difference this all makes for your next job.

Is it making a difference in real life?

Last week A-One's dad asked him to do an outside job - pull down a vine off the fence.  It's a job he had done before, and it usually takes days of hassling to get him on to it.  However, last week he offered far less protest and actually had it done before his dad came home.  I didn't even remind him about doing it, and he did an excellent job.

This morning I asked him if he was ready to leave for Centrelink by 8:20am for an 8:45am appointment.  Recalling the last appointment, he said we could leave by 8:30am and be there on time.  When I think of all the times I try to get him to commit to a time and work back from there as to when to start getting ready! Seems that when it suits him, the working back from a time (time planning) may be all there?

I was reading a discussion on Friends of SharpBrains LinkedIn page this morning, which stressed the need for continued, disciplined effort for brain training to be effective.  That even parents find it difficult to maintain the focus for their children on brain training programs.  I also listened to a TED talk on motivation. How a manager takes notice of what people do can make all the difference to their willingness to stick with things (although I think any parent knows this too).  I know that if I left his brain training to A-One, it would never happen.  I just hope that my continued interest, encouragement and hassling - he sees me recording all his results in 'the red folder' - is sufficient to ensure he is doing enough for it to make a difference.

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.

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!