Boost Your Child’s Brain Power with a Little Imagination

By Charlotte Reznick PhD

It’s just the beginning of the school year and already the test grades are pouring in – not always with the best results. We want our kids to be happy and successful in school. Yet too many are labeled lazy, slow, or disruptive. Does a child you know have a learning style that sometimes gets in the way of his success at school? Without understanding and support, kids with different learning styles than their peers can suffer from low self-esteem, anxiety from too much pressure, or a negative attitude toward school and learning.

Not every kid can be a super learner, but every kid can aspire to reach her potential. Your child’s imagination is a resource that can be used to maximize her own individual learning style and boost her brain power and overall school performance.

Here are six imagination tools to try: Go on a tour of her brain. Have your child take a few deep “balloon breaths.” With her hands around her navel, have her breathe slowly and deeply into her lower belly so it presses into her hands like an inflating balloon. Now ask her to close her eyes and take you on a tour of her brain and describe what she sees. Which images and symbols are happy? Which are gloomy or sad? Which part is associated with homework and school? The images she conjures up will give you a common set of symbols to talk about and work with.

Clean out his brain. Encourage your child to take time before homework to clear out his fuzzy brain of negative thoughts about his abilities or the subject at hand. Have him start Balloon Breathing, then imagine cleaning out the dust, clutter, and gloomy places with white soapy bubbles, light, or anything else that pops up. He can picture his brain primed to learn, or he can increase his brain power with a Super Smart Solution. Finish by having him imagine how satisfied he’ll feel when he successfully completes his homework.

Invite a Subject Wizard to help. Your child can close her eyes and ask for special help – like reading with a Reading Wizard, or math help from a Math Wiz. Have her describe the wizard in detail and tell the wizard what she wants him to do. In one girl’s case, a Spelling Wizard helped to turn her spelling drills into a fun studying game. Her spelling improved to the point where there were just 3 or 4 errors per paragraph dictation down from 27! Wizards can also help during quizzes, when kids can imagine them whispering the correct answer in their ears, reminding them of what’s already been learned.