For Cynthia Peltier, Director, developing the executive function skills for all students in need is a priority.
Pull-Out Sessions Benefit Both the Special Education and General Population
Special Education Director, Cynthia Peltier, believes that access to high-quality, cognitive cross-training programs shouldn’t be limited to children within the special education population. All struggling students, regardless of their diagnosis, deserve the opportunity to learn and grow in the area of executive functioning. This can be a challenge for students in the general population as well.
Let’s face it, many individuals have a challenge with attention. Have you ever sat in a meeting or attended a conference and found your mind wandering? The goal with students that exhibit an excessive difficulty with sustaining attention, or any high-level functioning areas, is to catch the challenge as early as possible. When this is done, instructors can address and meet students’ individual challenges head-on with tools that give unbiased feedback.
Cognitive cross-training programs are important tools that are available to help struggling children. Since programs like this are so valuable, Peltier didn’t want to limit its use to only one area of Texas City’s student population. Occasionally, children’s schedules are rearranged during school hours to get access to these programs. Peltier plans to use this pro- gram as a tool to help children’s individual challenges.
Technology Does the Heavy Lifting
Instead of deciding which areas of executive function to focus on, TX City ISD can let the neuroscience technology do the work. The cognitive cross-training program turns each child’s computer session into a data goldmine that accurately pinpoints the exact area of executive function that that needs to be developed. Every click, choice, answer and hesitation is captured for each student. All of this raw data is then organized for her teacher into multiple, unbiased reports for them to use to guide instruction and strategies. For Peltier, this was one of the appeals of the program and what may most help her teachers give differentiated instruction to struggling students in both special education and the general population.
Cognitive Cross-Training Program and RTI, A Natural Fit for Providing Students with Differentiated Instruction
The three-tiered RTI model and cognitive cross-training program work hand-in-hand for a school- and district-wide strategy to provide differentiated instruction. The cognitive cross-training program meets students exactly where they are and using real-time error diagnostics, guides them along a unique path based on their individualized brain function.
Computer Program as a Medical Intervention
Every time the child uses the program, a medical intervention takes place by stimulating the areas of executive function in the brain thereby in- creasing dendrite growth. Research indicates that growth in the areas of executive function can transfer to improved test scores and noticeable behavioral changes. Dr. Bruce Wexler, Professor of Psychiatry at Yale University, won the NIH Director’s Award for this “high impact, high innovation, and paradigm changing medical research.”
Differentiated Instruction for Physical Education (P.E.)?
Director, Cynthia Peltier, believes that the cognitive cross-training physical exercise program may work for kids who don’t fit into the traditional PE classes. This not only benefits the child physically, but also strengthens their executive function skills because the exercises are designed to stimulate the area of the brain that deals with executive function.
Built to National K-3 Standards:
Designed by physical education experts, each of our lessons has been mapped to the National Association for Sports and Physical Education’s Standards for PE for grades K-3. Both the school and home program consist of over 100 exercises designed to exercise the same cognitive skills of the computer program.
