"S.M.A.R.T." Program
Stimulation
We use the S.M.A.R.T. concepts--Stimulating, Maturity, Accelerated, Readiness & Training--to help you understand the connection between learning and the brain.Our brains learn by seeing, hearing and touching many, many times. Our brains learn from Frequency, Intensity, and Duration. Frequency by providing many exposure or 'inputs' to concepts. Most curricula give a few exposures or 'inputs' to information rather than many, many. Input is not testing. 'Input' is introducing, demonstrating, saying 'look and listen;, review and summarizing. While the child listens, touches, observes, traces and roll plays rather than fill in worksheets. Once you say the words "can you, how, when, where, why, pick the correct one, show me, etc' you are testing the child for information. When a child learns something they gladly & freely tell you. Intensity is the magnitude of force or energy per saturation of the input. It's the how big, bright fast or exciting of the input. Duration is the length of time of the input. Research shows the brain is only able to hold its attention/focus for 20-30 minutes; so our lessons are short and repeated throughout the day. The increase of stimulation is why students typically gain three years in reading and two in math in a regular school year!
MATURITY
As in maturing systems within the brain and body so that both are ready to learn. Brain stimulation through the S. M. A. R. T. program aims to mature sensory pathways of vision, auditory and tactile/kinesthetic and we 'measure' the maturation through the motor pathways of mobility, language and manual. It works like this; you receive stimulus or INPUT through the sensory pathways of tactile (touch and vestibular/balance), vision, and auditory. The brain processess the information and then you have motor responses or OUTPUT through the motor pathways.
Due to Readiness Skill Deficits, the input into some children is not clear and/or consistent and there appear to be 'gaps' in learning. Therefore, the output is the same and the same 'gaps' appear. These children cannot perform at their natural intelligence, even though they are trying as hard as they can.
ACCELERATION
Now here is where we take education to a cellular level.
The brain’s (CNS- central nervous system) job is to receive, process, store and utilize input from our 6 sensory channels. Our level of function is based on how well the input was received. Skipped, interfered or halted primitive reflexes is at the ‘root’ cause for most social, academic and motor skills. Primitive Reflexes are automatic stereotypic movements directed from the brainstem (first part of the brain to develop) and require no cortical involvement (thought). They are needed for needed for survival and development in utero and the early months of life. However, as higher more sophisticated centers of the CNS begin to mature, these primitive reflexes become a nuisance and must be abated in order for proper neurological organization of the brain to develop. Reflexes lay the foundation of all motor skills. If reflexes are skipped or for whatever reason disturbed or halted they can interfere with social, academic, and motor skills. Conscious life may be disturbed. What can cause retained primitive reflexes? Children born via cesarean section, trauma, toxicity exposure, anesthetics, etc are more at risk of having retained primitive reflexes. Other causes may be: insufficient tummy time as an infant; lack of, or little, creeping and crawling; early walkers, head injuries, excessive falls; and chronic ear infections. Our first priority is to inhibit the primitive reflexes.
A brain cell is called a neuron and we all have 10 billion+ neurons. Neurons are unique in that they communicate with each other. Neurons are messengers. Each neuron has an axon that transmits an electrical/chemical charge. The electrical charge, once its has developed sufficient potency, jumps the synaptic cleft/gap by way of chemicals called neurotransmitters. Then the electrical charge is received by the dendrites of a second neuron. Our hope educators is to help the messages to travel quickly and efficiently. We want to accelerate both the speed and efficiency of the neurons message's!
That happens in two ways, first by increasing the paths by which the message can travel and second by increasing the speed as which the message travels. Novel stimulation causes the neurons to grow branches called dendrites and connect to other cells. Each dendrite can connect between 2 and 200,000 other dendrites. Now that's a lot of options for the brain to take when sending a message!
Myelin is a fatty layer tissues that sheathes the axon of each neuron. This sheath around the axon acts like a conduit in an electrical system, ensuring that messages sent by axons move quickly and are not lost en route. Picture a regular extension cord versus the thick, heavy-duty orange extension cord. The thicker the insulation on the cord, the higher the rating and capability it has. The thicker the myelin on the axon, the faster the message can be transmitted. Many layers allows for efficient conduction of the electrical impulse down the axon. Think of an axon as a strand of hot dog links. Messages actually jump along the 'link' by jumping across the piece connecting the links not down the entire nerve. The more myelinated the axon the quicker the message. The more positive stimulation the brain receives, the more myelin is produced.
READINESS
To explain readiness, it is important to understand the functions of two areas of the brain. The first, is the lowest level of the brain known as the Bran Stem., The Brain Stem consists of the Pons, Medulla, Mid-Brain and Cerebellum, which controls the coordination of all unconscious motor activity. It is the area in charge of automatic function and is the foundation for readiness skills. Examples are:
It is crucial that these skills are automatic or unconscious when we are learning. If they are not automatic then the Cortex must think about each step needed to complete a 'request''. Like walking; if the person hasn't established a cross-pattern, automatic, walk then the brain must think about each muscle and movement to simply walk. You ever hear the phrase "Can't walk and chew gum?" the person really can't!
This is important, because if the skills are done consciously, then the Cortex can be involved. The Cortex can only do one thing at a time. If the Brain Stem is doing its work automatically, then the Cortex can concentrate to make the eyes move smoothly across a page of print and the student may appear to read. But, the ROLE of the Cortex in reading is to do the comprehension. If the Cortex is involved or 'taken up' with the eye movements, then it is no longer available for the comprehension because it can only do one job. The result or results are things educators see every day when teaching children.
Children who:
With the S.M.A.R.T. program we aim to have the foundation skills in place, so the BRAIN STEM can do its automatic function and the CORTEX is free to do its job!
TRAINING
Finally, we come to training. In the S.M. A.R.T. program children do many activities which TRAIN or encourage the brain to use both hemispheres at the same time. Despite the split, the two hemispheres of the brain communicate with each other through a thick tract of white nerve fibers call the Corpus Callosum. It connects the two hemispheres and transfers important information from one side to the other.
Training is also using all of these principles together; Stimulation, Maturity, Acceleration and Readiness to Train the brain. Can Learn Christian Academy students do this through a series of specific activities, which integrate into existing curriculum, to make the brains and bodies of your children ready so they can learn!
MATURITY
As in maturing systems within the brain and body so that both are ready to learn. Brain stimulation through the S. M. A. R. T. program aims to mature sensory pathways of vision, auditory and tactile/kinesthetic and we 'measure' the maturation through the motor pathways of mobility, language and manual. It works like this; you receive stimulus or INPUT through the sensory pathways of tactile (touch and vestibular/balance), vision, and auditory. The brain processess the information and then you have motor responses or OUTPUT through the motor pathways.
Due to Readiness Skill Deficits, the input into some children is not clear and/or consistent and there appear to be 'gaps' in learning. Therefore, the output is the same and the same 'gaps' appear. These children cannot perform at their natural intelligence, even though they are trying as hard as they can.
ACCELERATION
Now here is where we take education to a cellular level.
The brain’s (CNS- central nervous system) job is to receive, process, store and utilize input from our 6 sensory channels. Our level of function is based on how well the input was received. Skipped, interfered or halted primitive reflexes is at the ‘root’ cause for most social, academic and motor skills. Primitive Reflexes are automatic stereotypic movements directed from the brainstem (first part of the brain to develop) and require no cortical involvement (thought). They are needed for needed for survival and development in utero and the early months of life. However, as higher more sophisticated centers of the CNS begin to mature, these primitive reflexes become a nuisance and must be abated in order for proper neurological organization of the brain to develop. Reflexes lay the foundation of all motor skills. If reflexes are skipped or for whatever reason disturbed or halted they can interfere with social, academic, and motor skills. Conscious life may be disturbed. What can cause retained primitive reflexes? Children born via cesarean section, trauma, toxicity exposure, anesthetics, etc are more at risk of having retained primitive reflexes. Other causes may be: insufficient tummy time as an infant; lack of, or little, creeping and crawling; early walkers, head injuries, excessive falls; and chronic ear infections. Our first priority is to inhibit the primitive reflexes.
A brain cell is called a neuron and we all have 10 billion+ neurons. Neurons are unique in that they communicate with each other. Neurons are messengers. Each neuron has an axon that transmits an electrical/chemical charge. The electrical charge, once its has developed sufficient potency, jumps the synaptic cleft/gap by way of chemicals called neurotransmitters. Then the electrical charge is received by the dendrites of a second neuron. Our hope educators is to help the messages to travel quickly and efficiently. We want to accelerate both the speed and efficiency of the neurons message's!
That happens in two ways, first by increasing the paths by which the message can travel and second by increasing the speed as which the message travels. Novel stimulation causes the neurons to grow branches called dendrites and connect to other cells. Each dendrite can connect between 2 and 200,000 other dendrites. Now that's a lot of options for the brain to take when sending a message!
Myelin is a fatty layer tissues that sheathes the axon of each neuron. This sheath around the axon acts like a conduit in an electrical system, ensuring that messages sent by axons move quickly and are not lost en route. Picture a regular extension cord versus the thick, heavy-duty orange extension cord. The thicker the insulation on the cord, the higher the rating and capability it has. The thicker the myelin on the axon, the faster the message can be transmitted. Many layers allows for efficient conduction of the electrical impulse down the axon. Think of an axon as a strand of hot dog links. Messages actually jump along the 'link' by jumping across the piece connecting the links not down the entire nerve. The more myelinated the axon the quicker the message. The more positive stimulation the brain receives, the more myelin is produced.
READINESS
To explain readiness, it is important to understand the functions of two areas of the brain. The first, is the lowest level of the brain known as the Bran Stem., The Brain Stem consists of the Pons, Medulla, Mid-Brain and Cerebellum, which controls the coordination of all unconscious motor activity. It is the area in charge of automatic function and is the foundation for readiness skills. Examples are:
- the eyes moving smoothly together across a page
- A sense of balance that allows a child to sit upright in a chair
- Ability to differentiate between similar sounds
It is crucial that these skills are automatic or unconscious when we are learning. If they are not automatic then the Cortex must think about each step needed to complete a 'request''. Like walking; if the person hasn't established a cross-pattern, automatic, walk then the brain must think about each muscle and movement to simply walk. You ever hear the phrase "Can't walk and chew gum?" the person really can't!
This is important, because if the skills are done consciously, then the Cortex can be involved. The Cortex can only do one thing at a time. If the Brain Stem is doing its work automatically, then the Cortex can concentrate to make the eyes move smoothly across a page of print and the student may appear to read. But, the ROLE of the Cortex in reading is to do the comprehension. If the Cortex is involved or 'taken up' with the eye movements, then it is no longer available for the comprehension because it can only do one job. The result or results are things educators see every day when teaching children.
Children who:
- Only seem to be abler to follow one step in a list of directions
- Seem to have learned a skill in isolation, but cannot transfer it
- Can read a text but cannot remember what they just read
With the S.M.A.R.T. program we aim to have the foundation skills in place, so the BRAIN STEM can do its automatic function and the CORTEX is free to do its job!
TRAINING
Finally, we come to training. In the S.M. A.R.T. program children do many activities which TRAIN or encourage the brain to use both hemispheres at the same time. Despite the split, the two hemispheres of the brain communicate with each other through a thick tract of white nerve fibers call the Corpus Callosum. It connects the two hemispheres and transfers important information from one side to the other.
- We want to train the two hemispheres to communicate because using both sides of the brain is very important when learning how to read and when expressing feelings and thoughts...
- Right hemisphere controls feelings and thoughts
- Left hemisphere controls language
- We use both sides when we talk about how we feel
Training is also using all of these principles together; Stimulation, Maturity, Acceleration and Readiness to Train the brain. Can Learn Christian Academy students do this through a series of specific activities, which integrate into existing curriculum, to make the brains and bodies of your children ready so they can learn!
