Brain Train - Basics

Teacher Training is available via Canvas. Contact the researcher Marghi Ghezzi to discuss access: m.ghezzi@griffith.edu.au

The primary focus of each Brain Train session:

Explicitly provide training with opportunities to Stop-Think-Before-Acting to reach a goal, when dancing, playing snap or memory card games, playing the Go-Fishing game, or with bean bags.
Each session starts and ends in the same way, consistency and known routines create a safe space to learn and grow.
Focus on the goals the children need and want to achieve with each game, activity, and exercise.
Avoid YES/NO questions, unless a Y/N answer is allowed. Instead of: Are we ready to go? Try: It is time to go: do you want to march or hop to class?; Avoid: Shall we sit down now?, and try: We need to sit down now: on the floor or a pillow?
Work on recognising, naming, and talking about the specific emotions the children may feel, and help them recognise their peers' emotions too.
Train children on specific strategies to manage emotions via breathing, mindfulness, movement, and rhythm; each child will have different needs and preferences.
Train their attention skills & senses (eyes, ears, body) to manage and block distractions, and help them recognise and name distractions.
Problem solving with social stories and during sustained shared thinking & reading: ask open-ended questions to elicit children's thinking skills in solving issues and challenges: how would we go about it? What could we say? What could we do? How could it go if.... ? Make hypotheses and encourage children to think: how would this go if...?
Be very clear on negotiated and agreed-upon CAN and CANNOT, expectations for the sessions. If the children are not following them, give them options to choose amongst allowable choices (e.g., wait for the game they like, sitting silent observing, drawing something whilst others finish) or they can choose to go away and miss out, never make it emotional just based on negotiated expectations.

A video exemplar of a session is provided, for more, check the padlet.