It’s not only important to give your children a head start academically, but also a holistic approach head start in life. This is where the holistic approach comes in. In today’s world, it’s becoming more and more evident that to be successful in life your child needs to be more than just academically ahead of the rest.
As a form of psychology and a field of neuroscientific study, cognitive development focuses on the growth of key skills in the brain. Specifically, the processes that create the foundations for our children’s lives, improving cognition in their holistic development and creating a basis for this in education and children’s upbringings can have extensive long and short-term effects.
Emotional development is just as important as academics and neither one should be more emphasized than the other when it comes to a balanced upbringing. Your child is going to need to be emotionally developed as well, however, this doesn’t mean either one should be more emphasized when aiming for a balanced upbringing. Holistic education is based on the idea where children can be taught in a natural and engaging way that allows for social and emotional development to complement academic growth. The holistic approach cultivates an internal drive and appreciation within a child to love learning. Enabling your child to discover on their own, which is more sustainable long-term, plus this approach installs confidence and social-interactivity within. Adopting a holistic approach to teaching can also motivate students to learn and not just for the sake of it (or because they are told to), meaning lessons (both life and studies) are better received, absorbed and retained by the students.
If you’re a parent or a teacher or someone who works a lot with children and if you’re thinking about implementing this holistic approach to learning some 2 key areas you should consider are:
- Opt for activities that are well-rounded and incorporate various skills rather than just one which can create the basis for further learning and deeper understanding.
- Don’t be afraid to use technology to its fullest potential to help you achieve this, for example, Neeuro’s Senzeband can be integrated into the Memorie or Smarty Knights app. The Senzeband is a non-invasive headband that safely measures brain signals and allows real-time measurements of the user’s mental state. It allows for a closed-loop system that works with the Memorie or Smarty Knights app allowing children and adults alike to complete challenges and games with their mind and facilitating cognitive development long term.
New psychologists’ research explores how technology can be integrated into education and effectively used to create an immersive learning program that fosters a love of education. A Managing Director of Neeuro's partner shares;
“A good brain helps in having a better attention span, working memory and learning ability, as well as to perform better in creative insight tasks as they think better and clearer. Our partnership with Neeuro gives our children a head start in their educational journey and prepare them for the 21st Century and the future.”
The Memorie app, in particular, helps to complement cognitive development by working to nurture these 5 specific cognitive skills for all its users:
#1 Memory
Not just the short and long-term memory, but also the sensory memory (the area of memory which records new information as we experience it) which is particularly useful for learning. Memory is used daily from reasoning and reading to creating calculations and applying previous teachings to our lives whether that be knowledge or motor processing.
#2 Attention
Although it seems simple, attention is actually a complex function when it comes to cognitive development! It improves awareness and selective focus which is particularly useful for those who struggle to concentrate on long tasks and completing them at all. For those with attention disorders such as ADHD, it also helps to train the brain to get the focus needed to perform tasks or learn and in our constantly distracting world, training this skill will help with sharing and dividing attention to achieve more.
#3 Spatial Perception
This involves our relationships, our awareness of those relationships with our environment and the impact to ourselves. For example, it’s taking in our surroundings, getting as much information as possible and being able to mentally reproduce this so that we could notice changes or objects in front of us. Spatial perception helps with recognition and orientation in our surroundings and allows us to create a starting point and work forward towards a goal, which can be applied in problem-solving as well as daily life.
#4 Decision Making
Much of our lives are formed based on the decisions we make, to turn left or right, to perform tasks in a certain way or even deciding how to act or react in social situations. It is important to not only learn how to make informed choices and weigh up options but also to develop confidence in making the decisions, even if they may be the wrong ones. Learning from our own decisions gives deeper understanding and insight into making new ones in the future so it’s an ongoing process throughout life that needs to be developed.
#5 Cognitive Flexibility
How adaptive and responsive you are to your environment can set you up for success or failure in the future. Having a process to work through is excellent, but without the ability to problem solve or switch from one thought process to another, you’re likely to get stuck very easily and struggle in changing environments (like today’s world) Cognitive flexibility prepares for how you can cope and adapt to these situations and navigate your way through them.
These are all key areas for cognitive function and nurturing these aspects creates a foundation you can build upon academically, socially and emotionally for a holistic approach to raising your children. They make up the key functions in order to thrive and can be adapted to suit whichever situation you are in. If you want to learn more about Neeuro’s brain training program and Memorie App, visit our website and learn how it can help your children.
Neeuro works globally with partners such as training providers, technology system integrators and schools to benefit children. Using modern solutions for cognitive training, cognitive skills such as attention and memory are emphasized and honed. NeeuroFIT aims to improve every child's academic success via better learning outcomes.
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