Mind Mapping

Have you noticed that your child is requiring additional support while either at home or while at school when it comes to the use of their short term or immediate memory abilities?

These memory challenges can especially be detected when your child is unable to retain simple oral instructions and obviously when they are given more complex instructions as well such as:

‘Please take this glass, bring it to the kitchen and bring me a cold bottle of water.’

Your child may either follow the second part or even the first part of the instruction, but will be unable to follow it completely.

It is recommended, that you introduce your child to Mind Mapping; this is a diagram that your child can create which is used to visually organize information whether at home or at school as this is especially useful when organizing themselves with their studies as well.

It can also be used in conjunction to maintaining their diaries as to ensure that each task can be ticked off once they have completed it. The classroom teacher, can also further support the child while introducing a peer group support. The peer helper would also be able to further check and support the child along the way. It is important that the child sits in a comfortable area within the classroom where distractions are kept at bay so that they can continue to fully focus and concentrate on the lesson introduced to them in class.

Try introducing your child to these helpful methods and you will begin to notice that they will be better equipped and will gradually overcome these challenges.

Leaders are not born but made- Dr. Alka Kalra

How to handle challenges during exam time

Exam time can certainly be very challenging for parents and children. Although, supporting your child’s emotional well-being during this time is extremely important, as you continue to maintain a pleasant, fun and effective home environment.

As the pressure starts to build within the home environment, you notice that your child will need to maintain a longer study time table. Try introducing tiny breaks, whereby your child can go out and take a short walk. This will keep them mentally and physically stronger and fit. During their walk outdoors, they can be encouraged to focus on the beautiful nature that surrounds them such as: birds flying, listening to the lovely chirping sounds.

Their study time table should also include something that they just love doing as a one of their hobbies. For example: playing a musical instrument, or listening to music.

By interspersing their study time table with these pleasurable experiences will naturally alleviate the stress build up.  Remember, that it is very unnatural to expect that your child continuously sits for prolonged periods of time at a table.

Consider encouraging ‘Acts of Kindness’ within the home environment and outside of the home environment too. For example: Using courteous language towards the neighbors, offering to make a cup of tea for mommy. This will also enable your child to boost their self-esteem as they notice that they are becoming more generous and kinder towards others as well.

Your child will certainly feel refreshed as they are confident to return back to their study time table after experiencing these meaningful moments together. No doubt that exam time will become a joy rather than a chore the next time around!

Communication with child

Communication is an art and it is certainly key when speaking with your child and vice versa. It has been observed, that at times our children may seem to take their parents for granted. Parents develop a sense of resentment and will then not tolerate the manner in which their child will speak to them under any circumstance.  Have you ever stopped to think why this happens and how best to remedy the situation?

How do you react towards your child, when they use inappropriate words?   Initially, you may feel shocked and think ‘Wait, this is not appropriate?’ Correct, it is not appropriate, although you cannot simply let it slide, because it will reoccur under different circumstances, if you do not address it appropriately. By simply stating, ‘I will never talk to you’ may be something that you feel like blurting out at that very moment, although that is not the answer, is it? You will speak to your child again, that is a reality.

You must let your child know that they must refrain and use the appropriate choice of words. Role modelling this within the home environment or also when you are out during social gatherings seems to be the best manner in which your child will naturally receive the social graces of communication. You must also be extremely cautious towards your child when they enter the adolescent stage as teenagers. They are very curious about knowing more about the world around them, while testing their boundaries and seeing just how far they can stretch their limits. They are certainly up for the challenge!

Try to keep the following in mind, as you continue to cultivate a healthy mode of communication with your child:

  • When your child says something to you which you do not appreciate, be sure to let them know, by stating ‘I do not like the way you have spoken to me, it has hurt my feelings.’
  • You must address the fact that you do not at all like nor appreciate the way in which they have behaved. You may also state ‘I do not feel good when you speak to me this way.’ It is important that you also walk away and detach from that particular scenario. This will enable both the parent and child to reflect about what has happened and more importantly, think about how to handle themselves the next time.
  • It is very important to realize that the parent is the role model and your words and actions must always reflect what you are expecting from your child, even your growing teenager.
  • The tone that you use during communication is very important. Remember, that if you are wanting your child to use the appropriate tone when speaking to you, you must also do the same. Never raise your voice and tone when certain moments become heated. Instead, lower your tone while maintaining eye contact and use very direct simple, clear sentences as you communicate with your child. By doing so, you will continue to have your child’s attention otherwise by using a loud voice will only frighten and turn your child away and they are not interested in listening to what you are trying to communicate.

Communication is certainly an art; and you can continue to master it day by day along with your family by including some of these useful tips.     

Brain Mapping

Brain Mapping is a tool that has been designed so that parents can find out more about their child’s personality type, thinking style, learning style also including their knowledge about the following quotients including their IQ, EQ, CQ, PQ. It is also referred to as a dermatoglyphic test. It will reveal more about their multiple intelligences whether they are left brain dominant, right brain dominant or whether they have the potency in every lobe of their brain.

The Brain Mapping tool will also reveal the areas in which the child has the most probability to excel in within their life. It can potentially predict the career path that your child may follow while considering the various areas to focus and concentrate their abilities on for later in life.

Upon receiving a 40-page report, the information that will be shared will highlight where your child is and where they currently stand. It will further give concrete suggestions of how one can continue to improve the various areas of multiple intelligences including intrapersonal and interpersonal skills. Highlighting further cognitive skills, linguistic skills, musical skills wherever and whatever interest and potential that lies ahead within your child today and more importantly how best to fine tune it so that it can certainly become better.

Brain mapping is highly recommended as it is for every child even the very young ones so that parents can continue to understand them more while their parenting skills will become more effective as well.

Do keep in mind, that Brain Mapping can also be used on adults. Some adults may go through life not really knowing who they are while not understanding their full potentials completely. Brain Mapping will reveal this to you so that you can get to know yourself more as you will certainly live a more serene, happy and healthy life as it continues to support your mental health. While adapting to this lifestyle, Brain Mapping can eventually put you on the map too!

Memory & Concentration

A very unique gift for the human beings is the brain. The scientists all over the world are still amazed with and the functions that it can perform. Apart from numerous voluntary and involuntary functions of the human body that is controlled and conducted with the brain; one of the most important functions are ‘memory’ and ‘concentration’. We have been successful to invent computers however we have not been to understand how this small part of our body is able to store so much of information, and by the way scientists have mentioned through many researches that all together a human use only 10 % of the total capacity of the brain during their lifetime. So let us understand what is memory then which will enable us to improve the utilization of this most mysterious and amazing part of our body.

In a layman’s understanding memory is something which we are able to recall from our mind. But technically the word memory means a process of 3Rs (Reception, Retention, Recall). Reception means to take information in, Retention means to hold the information in and Recall means to bring back the retained information out. Among the 2 steps of this process if any other step has a challenge, then memory cannot function. If reception has problem, then retention and recall cannot be done. If reception is good and retention does not happen then also information cannot be recalled. if we are organized and structured with the information in our mind then our memory works better but if the details are not organized then we face challenges.

Concentration is when we are putting our mind to the task that we are doing. Many a times we are doing a task and our brain is somewhere else. Students are sitting physically in class but their mind is elsewhere and their concentration is not there. So totally being on the task that you are performing is called concentration. A lot of people confuse concentration with attention. Attention span is actually nothing but the stretch of time for which concentration is there. We are very observant but if we do not pay attention then we say many times we forgot, we don’t remember, or we don’t know. That means that we were not mindfully present there.

Mindfulness is a very good activity for improving concentration. And nowadays, mindful meditation is taught to even young children. So young children can be very  attentive, and they can be focused on present. Sometimes we say, just sit still close your eyes.

Look at you’re breathing. Listen, focus on the sounds around. These are some activities which will help children to concentrate. And I think in a day multiple times, and adults can focus on doing these kind of things which can help children.

Cognitive training which in brain-based training, which will help to improve concentration.

Three R. So, all the three R is we have to improve our reception. We have to improve our retention, and we have to improve our Recall.

In Visualization we are training the person to see a mental image. You are able to visualize it. So, whatever you’re reading, or whatever you’re studying or whatever, you’re trying to memorize, you actually make a mental picture of it. The minute this picture is created, however colorful. However, interesting. However, Moving and absurdities, it will be nice because all strange things we remember. So, we teach them how to make multiple pictures at your mind’s eye, and then you are able to recall them better. Now, linking is like chaining is putting it together. So, like a chain one concept to another concept to another concept. So the minute you are able to recall the first one, the Whole chain is recalled because it is connected. So beautiful level, clusterization.

Clustering is grouping, putting them under groups. When we talk about clustering, if suppose there is a list of items a person has to recall, we call it the Kim’s game as well. We play it in the camps and children, love it. So, say, for example, there’s some stationery items. There are some animals, there’s some fruits and some vegetables, and there’s some utility items and everything Put together. You have about 25 items, and you ask your children to remember them, and then you expect them to recall. So, it’s been noticed that if you ask them to recall, they’re not able to recall more than 7 to 10. Research show if we bring together under one or other category, then it is easy to recall as compared to various situation.

Leadership Development In Children

Every human being has a right to build their capacities that lead to a happier life. And this attitude of exploring and progressing needs to be inculcated in a human being during the early years of development. As a parent, educator and care giver it is important to develop leadership qualities in young children. Let us get enlightened on why is it important and how can we develop leadership in children.

First of all, let us understand what is leadership development?
It seems a simple word but it is very significant to understand the meaning of it in today’s context, especially for parents and educators. Leadership has gone through variety of finishes over the years. Leadership is a phenomenon of your control on your emotions and yourself that eventually drives your life to the destination of your choice. Do we really have control on our own self? Let us ask ourselves the question if we are performing to the best of our abilities? A lot of children are not even aware of their strengths / weaknesses and do not know themselves. The process of putting those strengths into action and working to eradicate the weaknesses is what is called taking leadership. Certainly leadership can be cultivated easily in young children but that is possible if the adults in their lives during that phase are mindful about it.

Why is it important to develop leadership especially at a tender age?
Let us consider that someone goes through a very tragic experience of losing a loved one. No person can suffer one day, one month, one year or the rest of the life for that loss no matter what the relation may be. For example, you love your husband very much and suddenly you lost him in a very tragic accident. How much you suffer does not depend on how much you loved him? How much you suffer does not depend on how much he wants you to suffer? As a matter of fact, it depends on you and only you. You cannot control the whole world but you can control your own perception towards things. And that is why leadership is important which will enable you to manage your emotions well.
If you are walking through a very thorny path in the jungle, you cannot change the surface of the whole jungle but you can put on slippers to protect your feet. Leadership is finding our own slippers to live a happier, fuller and safer life.

When should we develop leadership in children?
Majorly we understand that 0 to 6 years of age is when the maximum development of the child happens. So most of the parents think when is the right time we should instill leadership in the child? I believe that it is not when from 0 to 6 years

 but you will be surprised to know that leadership should be instilled from the moment when a child is conceived in the womb of the mother. It begins with the emotional state of the mother. Actually it is very crucial that the parents should be emotionally, mentally, physically and financially prepared only then should they go ahead with planning for a child because the journey begins at the moment the baby is conceived. There are numerous researches that have proven that if the mother is emotionally secured then the baby is also emotionally stable. Emotions play a very important role in making us who we are. Emotional Quotient (EQ) is the most significant part of the overall well-being of a person. Certainly formal education also has a major role to play in developing leadership but the seeds are sown from the time of conception.

How should we develop leadership?
Prior to the process of developing leadership quality, there is a need to do an assessment to better understand where your child is? What kind of state of mind does it possess? What are their strengths, weaknesses, etc.? Many parents are not aware of this but a pre-assessment and post-assessment is very important when we do early intervention with the children. It becomes difficult to gauge what kind of impact the intervention is creating if there is no pre-assessment. And it becomes difficult to make any changes to the intervention if we do not have any post-assessments done.
Another important concept of leadership is to teach children regarding the two circles namely ‘AUC (All Under Control)’ and ‘ABC (All Beyond Control). If you focus on ABC circle, then you will end up being miserable. But if you focus on the AUC circle then things will automatically fall in place.

You can also develop leadership in children with lots of different activities some of which are mentioned below: –
– Developing interpersonal and intrapersonal skills of communication
– Self-expression (putting thoughts into words)
– Memory (short term and long term memory -The 3 R’s Receiving – Retaining – Recalling) (types of memory are visual, auditory and kinesthetic)
– Focus and concentration
– Creative thinking activities
– Fine motor skills development (Hand – Eye Coordination)
– Gross motor skills development (Body – Mind Coordination)
– Emotional and Mental Well-being activities (Emotional Intelligence)
– Social skills development

Nurture Your Happiness

There has been a recent surge amongst researchers, educators, scientists and doctors in sharing their knowledge about finding the quest to Happiness. If you step into a bookstore, you will see bookshelves filled with a variety of books written by various authors sharing their ‘Secrets to Happiness’. Some of us may have already found this ‘special ingredient to life’ – but for others, it may take an entire lifetime to even begin to understand what the true essence of Happiness really is.

Happy is defined as the following in The Collins English Dictionary:
“Feeling, showing joy.” Therefore, Happy + ness = Happiness. By simply adding this suffix to the adjective Happy, it transforms it into a certain “state, condition or quality.”

Is it that simple? That is the mystery question for many of us and perhaps it may not be as simple as that.

We may need to REFLECT on our own personal experiences starting right from childhood, adolescence through to adulthood.

As children, we all start off by needing the very same things no matter where you were born including Love, Food, Shelter, Safety and Security just to mention a few. Therefore, it is obvious we all start off with NEEDING the same things.

As we begin to grow up, these needs begin to CHANGE as our personalities and characteristics take shape, and then we begin to EXPERIENCE different things during our adolescence. As we all know, adolescence has been referred to as a ‘rebellious stage’ mainly caused by the physiological changes that occur. Nonetheless, adolescence helps us TRANSITION into ADULTHOOD with a bit of know-how. However, do we really know how to experience happiness as adults notwithstanding that by this time in our life we do have so much knowledge and life experiences?

What happened to that child that was filled with so much curiosity about the world? How about that rebellious adolescent who wanted to change the world? Has the adult become overburdened and lost?

Happiness will certainly present itself as a CHOICE as to what matters most in one’s life and how one wishes to live each day. This is very personal to each individual. To be sure, there are specific things that one can EMBRACE in order to achieve HAPPINESS while on this lifetime journey including kindness, mindfulness and selflessness just to mention a few.

We have certainly come to realize during this most challenging time that we are all facing whether as children, adolescents or adults, that our human connectedness allows us to rely on each other in order to achieve HAPPINESS in our life.

Remain in the present so that HAPPINESS can be felt no matter what.

Allow yourself to feel HAPPINESS so that the lingering effects of gratitude can be shared and felt by others too.

Help your teenagers to become a highly effective leader, and not laggards while they are at home during this crucial phase of their development.

It is often said that teenagers are the future of tomorrow. 

“Growing up isn’t easy, but with the help of right guidance and support young adults can learn to navigate through this crucial phase and come out on the other side as a highly effective adult. If we want our growing teen at home to be highly effective, then firstly they should be empowered as young adults by reminding them that it is perfectly normal to make mistakes. If and when your teenager behaves in an intrusive  or presumptuous manner, then help them navigate the treacherous waters of adolescence. The best way to navigate them is, through literary and personal experiences, hopefully teenagers can learn to take complete control of themselves and be responsible for their behaviour. This will ultimately help them discover the effective adult waiting underneath the surface. As a parent or guardian you need to take necessary steps to equip your children with the right tools to ensure that they can play an active role in shaping the future of our planet rather than just being followers.  

 Teenage years have been associated with experimental years and being a teenager is one of the greatest moments in someone’s life. Even during the later stages of life, many people still look back at their adolescent years with fond memories; their memories may not be vivid, but those memory fragments do bring smiles on their faces. Hence, it is the time when you acknowledge the fact that ‘it is okay if our growing teens make mistakes, for they have a future ahead of them to rectify those mistakes’. 

Sometimes, the future looks bleak for teenagers. What hinders teenagers is negative thinking. They always have an excuse for not doing something, citing past bad experiences or what happened to someone else. Teenagers must face tomorrow with a positive frame of mind and we are responsible to help our growing teenagers to be the future and be prepared to fight and head towards success. At this point of time it is important that our youth look within themselves and decide where they want to be in life. Things don’t just happen; one has to work hard, and the hard work should start as early as possible. And to begin the journey, what could be better than this quarantine period? 

As people face the uncertainty of the future, the most important thing is to focus on today and what one can see. A person must be determined to go all the way, even if it means cutting through the desert. Perseverance is the key to success. It conquers obstacles, sometimes, without fighting them. 

So help your teenager at home to be ready and prepared to take whatever life throws at them. Empower them with motivating words like, ‘if life throws bricks and concrete blocks at you, build a wall or bridge. If it throws plants, flowers, and trees; then make a beautiful garden. Never give up. Keep on pushing. Keep on knocking on the doors. Keep on climbing the mountains. Keep on dreaming. One day, you will live the dream.’ When such statements are quoted repeatedly, it reinforces a positive attitude in a teenager which results in building their confidence and self-esteem. This way you are enlightening the leader in your growing teen and developing their leadership skills too. 

Leadership is an important skill for the students in middle and high school to acquire. While they continue to hone their leadership style and skills not just through their teenage years, but even during the later stages of their careers, students can benefit from gaining an early understanding of what makes a great leader and what holds someone back from becoming a respected leader.

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How to develop leadership at a young age

Leaders are not born but made. “Before one becomes a leader, success is all about growing yourself. But when one becomes a leader, success is all about growing others.”
The overall development of the child depends on various factors ranging from academics to exposure to environment, passion or interests, extra-curricular activities, etc. Today’s young children will be the next generation of leaders in their families, communities and workplace. And hence it becomes very crucial to enhance all factors since their early age to develop their leadership qualities.

Young leaders should be encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning, which in turn develops a sense of responsibility, self-efficacy and positive mindset, coupled with planning and organisational skills. This process enables them to become better learners, therefore develop qualities like creativity, confidence, problem-solving, perseverance, focus, non-verbal communication, receiving constructive feedback, collaboration, dedication, and accountability.
Amidst today’s very competitive environment, a child would be reluctant to take up initiatives, and therefore a series of interventions with a completely different approach is required to overcome this limitation. Genuine leadership opportunities support to transition into adulthood, foster skills and character to be responsible citizens and promote social and emotional well-being. These opportunities should be such that provide real-life occasions to practice – where successes and failures are equally valuable and time is spent on self-reflection with coaching feedback.
Eduscan Institute conducts such Leadership training; specially designed by Dr. Alka Kalra – a renowned educational psychologist; which is unique because the training focuses on identifying and highlighting the hidden potentials rather than working on personality gaps. The training is designed with carefully selected activities that not only boosts physical and academic progress, but also other personality aspects such as stage confidence and social skills. The learning outside the classroom accelerates the learning inside the classroom. Thus enabling children to conceive a positive self-image and trust their abilities to lead. The leadership training batch starts on 1st July and will continue till 31st August. Visit their website to know more about the course.

About Dr. Alka Kalra

Dr. Alka is renowned Psychologist and a Professional Counselor who is known as a crusader for children who are misperceived as underachievers. With her Unnerving passion for children who have hidden learning difficulties, Dr. Alka wanted them to never undermine themselves and realize that they have unique skills and strengths. To work on these children she established EDUSCAN in 1995. Within the span of two decades in the UAE. Dr. Alka has changed the lives of numerous children who struggled at school due to their low-performance they are now in the roles of white collar jobs with good portfolios.
Dr. Alka’s passion is to work on who are poor in math and have reading, writing and spelling difficulties. She believes in training teachers as it is incredibly crucial because teachers can touch many lives. Dr. Alka conduct programs such as the “Walk on Fire” where participants walk on burning coals without a single blister which she calls a “life changing” experience. Community Development Authority (Dubai) certified psychologist Dr. Alka is famous for assessment of personality, aptitude, intelligence and hidden learning difficulties etc. Dr. Alka has the honor of receiving university gold medal in Masters of Psychology and has second Masters in Education as well. She had earned her Ph.D. and had her Postdoctoral Research from University of Pittsburgh- USA.
A true all-rounder, she was also the winner of the All India Best Cadet Award and received the Gold Medal from the late Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi. Some of the other major awards she has won are “Woman of the Year Award” by International Women Association, Lady of the Year award by Indian Ladies Association and Lioness of the Year Award by Lions Club International. The latest feather in cap of success is that she is honored to be Super Hundred Women Achiever from India in Middle East & Africa.