Education fraternity pitches for cognitive skills training

Updated on: Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Most academic battles are lost because students lack of cognitive skills which boost the process of thinking. City schools that recognise and identify children with learning difficulties are now looking at training them in cognitive skills. Education experts say that most learning disabilities stem from the lack of cognitive skills, and strengthening them can help increase overall academic learning ability.

Cognitive skills are core mental abilities that help effective learning. They support the ability to read, comprehend, remember, interpret, and analyse information. They are essential for academic performance because they boost higher order thinking and acquisition of knowledge. Several city-based schools, teachers and parents who know that a weaker processing speed or working memory can hamper a student’s attention span, are looking at training to boost the children’s cognitive skills. The training focuses on strengthening processing deficits through special software to individual coaching.

“Students performing poorly are usually doomed due to their perceived academic incapability. However, research shows that there are certain tools which when used, can make learning easy, enjoyable and stress-free. These tools are cognitive skills,” trainer Avinash Bartakke said. His outfit Neural Space provides one-on-one training on cognitive skills to students. His wife Eileen said that they were telling people that development of cognitive skills is a precursor to learning. “Teachers are being told that it is important to understand why students perform well in certain subjects and stumble in others,” she said.

Parents too are seeking advice from experts. Meenu Prabhakaran, a teacher, sends her two children for special training on cognitive skills. “I let my children take an online test on cognitive skills and I realised that they are actually lacking in areas which I thought they were good at. I was able to clearly see their pluses and minuses. This revelation prompted me to send my kids for the special classes,” said Prabhakaran.

Her 13-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son take one-on-one training five days a week, after school hours. So is it the case of getting better at studies? “My daughter used to lack processing speed and computational skills. She is good at languages and social studies, but poor in math. Long-term memory was a problem with my son. He never enjoyed history and geography, but is gifted with strong visualisation, processing speed and a love for math. With their cognitive skills training on, I see my kids gradually turning their weaknesses into strengths,” said Prabhakaran.

“Ordinary school set-up does not facilitate brushing up of one’s skills. Hence, additional training is needed,” she added. Kavita Agarwal’s ten-year-old son is a distracted child, but not academically weak. “If he likes what he is studying, he will understand it well, otherwise he is distracted and unwilling to study,” said Agarwal, who has been sending her ward for one-on-one cognitive skills training.

“He started classes a few weeks ago, because something needed to be done about his distraction. I now see positive changes in him now,” she said. Another mother chose to avail of cognitive skills training for her dyslexic son. “Due to delayed brain development, he used to often feel intimidated by the competition at school. Noticing his distraction, short attention span and total disinterest in studies, I decided to send him for cognitive skills training,” said the parent. Lots of brain games, visual memory skills, simple mathematical calculations are helping her ward. “These exercises require focus and speed. Since they are being made enjoyable, my son likes them. He seems a lot happier and confident now. I’m just taking my chances here to see how positive the difference can be,” she said.

Such training holds hope for academically weak students, said Seema Ramchandani, coordinator at Daffodil International School. “We have one student from our school who is currently undergoing this training privately. I’m hopeful that such training will largely benefit weak students,” she said. But to introduce such training in school, requires the training package to be cost-effective so that parents are able to bear the charges. “It also requires parents’ approval to impart such one-on-one training to their wards,” said Ramchandani.

Vidya Murlidhar’s daughter, although academically bright, used to be withdrawn and reserved. But with ongoing training on cognitive skills, she has opened up. “She communicates more now,” said the parent. She is also a cognitive skills trainer. Murlidhar feels such training boosts a child’s self-esteem and confidence. “A child need not necessarily undergo such training to stand out in the academic rat race. But as a parent and a trainer, I’ve noticed that such training is a confidence booster and helps a child feel better about herself,” she said.

Lakshmi Kumar, director of The Orchid School, believes that teachers should be first trained in providing cognitive skills. “It has to be an integrated application-oriented approach wherein teachers can suitably apply cognitive skills in the classroom itself while teaching various subjects. That’s why there is a greater need to integrate cognitive skills training in the school curriculum. We will look into this option at our school in the forthcoming academic year,” said Kumar.

She said that conventional teachers’ training courses hardly touch upon usage of cognitive skills. “The teachers’ training programme does not address the need for teachers to apply cognitive skills for educating their students. Unless these skills are made a part of the basic school curriculum, such training imparted to children in isolation will not have any effect,” she said.

Education fraternity pitches for cognitive skills training

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