
Blog
Usha Patel, Neurocognitive Therapist and Director of Raviv Practice London shares her first-hand experience of working with children /adults and the latest research and upcoming events in her series of blog posts.
Working Memory - Your Minds Muscle
Try calculating 13 times 6 mentally – really, go ahead and try! Most people will begin by calculating 10×6, and put that result (60) to the side, then calculate 3 × 6 (18), and then add the two together (78).
Adults can change their brain – I want to lead by example.
When I first started writing, I was incredibly nervous and worried. What if nobody read my posts or those that did thought they were not worthy of their time. I was full of self-doubt and fear. The fear was paralysing, and it took hours and days to write anything, the wastepaper bin was always full.
How Tom Daley has shown the nation a few things other than diving….like knitting!
A few years back summer of 2021, we are all glued to our TV sets watching the Tokyo Olympics. Nothing was more amusing than seeing Olympic Gold Medalist Tom Daley's knitting. Tom was seen showing off his work to the cameras as he knitted a pouch for his pending medal. So charming – we all went “ahhhh!”.
How movement is connected to how we learn
Neural pathways are routes created in the brain for information, thoughts, and responses to stimuli. However, thinking and talking are formed way later than physical movement. Babies can’t speak, but they certainly can learn to move, grasping and crawling long before they start to talk. The neural channels we create for movement activities are used later for thoughts and cognitive processes.
The Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) - how many days does it take?
If you are here reading this blog post, you may be searching for information on the duration of the SSP programme. You may also need clarification on the program's number of modules. If you have completed the SSP programme before, you may find that the number of modules have increased, and want to……
Why is my child always getting so angry and frustrated by everyday tasks?
Poor emotional regulation can obstruct progress, stopping us from achieving our goals. Most adults will find a way to regulate their emotions for the majority of the time, but children need to learn how to navigate their emotional states as they grow…Most of the time, this is all perfectly normal and you will find a way to address it naturally as your child develops
What good balance does for your body and how to get it.
Whether or not we are as adept at balancing as The Cat in the Hat, we could all do with better balance. Good balance makes it easier to move and helps prevent injury…It is interesting to note that in China, the average number of falls among the elderly is significantly lower than in Western countries.
Having a flashback to a memory long forgotten…
A rainy day in London last December 2022 reminded me of the journey I took to get where I am now in a very unexpected way….My worries just kept on snowballing out of control. I was terrible at spelling. I knew it, my assistant knew it, and the whole architecture studio I worked in knew 'spelling' was not my thing. I was a designer, not a wordsmith.
Why you should not give young children iPads or similar electronic devices
We cannot expect parents to be with their children every waking hour. There are always important chores, such as cooking or laundry, and many parents have to juggle all this with work. Modern life is very demanding. Children are starting nursery without…….
A parent's guide on how to teach your child to learn to read the time
As a Neurocognitive Therapist, I work with all sorts of curious learning glitches. One that seems to be cropping up more and more in recent years is not being able to read the time. Children, who otherwise have the reasonable ability, are stumped at telling the time from an analogue clock!
A rough guide for parents – eye tracking issues and what to look for
When someone has poor vision, an optician help corrects their focusing ability so they can compensate for this particular deficiency.…..When spelling, you need to pay particular attention to the letter configuration - especially when the word being spelt is not phonetically obvious and you need to memorize the order of letters. All of these skills require correct eye-tracking.
The boy who was raised as a dog
On one of my re-reads of this book, I was on holiday in a small Indian village. As I was reading, I was also watching the children of the village play in their extended family setting environments…….. Sadly, this story is not one that had a happy ending, but it is one that teaches us an important lesson. Fortunately, laws have changed since then and children can no longer be left alone like this.
When Dyslexia doesn’t feel like much of a “gift”
For a long time, dyslexia/neurodivergence was poorly understood in education, and only seen in terms of the challenges it created for both those in more old-fashioned schools and those trying to teach them with outdated methods. … It can be called many things: being easily distracted, having poor executive function skills or having poor working memory.
Guide for Parents: Is your child entering years 1 or 2 this September?
Today more than ever, we want to nurture a love for books and stories; it is as natural as playing in the sandpit or with toy sewing machines. The dialogues children enjoy when playing with their peers; the social interaction is so critical.
What is working memory, and why is it so important?
What is working memory, and why is it so important? If your child has difficulties following instructions, is challenged with mental maths or reading comprehension understanidng working memory is the first thing you need to learn about.
Don’t underestimate the value of doing… nothing!
Having ADHD could be considered a superpower. Those with ADHD often say they have many thoughts racing at any one time.
Does your child hate reading?
So, what do you do if your child does not like reading? Do you force them against their will; each day trying to convince them, “to just try,” After all it’s good for them, isn’t it? We all need qualifications, and your child is no different. It is a bit of a dilemma, and we feel we need to do the best for our children to give them the best chances in life....are we doing that? Can we think about this a bit more?
Does your child constantly talk about doing things wrong?
We all want our children to grow up confident and happy in their abilities, and able to face life’s challenges with positivity. So, what can we do to help them if they seem stuck in a cycle of negativity about themselves?
Why Cogmed working memory training can fail
Here, at Raviv Practice London, we have developed a new method that shows more valuable data about the positive effects taking place. While we still use Cogmed as an objective measure, we have also introduced our own, more subjective, measure in the form of a questionnaire.
Power up your amazing ADHD brain with Habit Change!
We find parents of children with ADHD often have traits of ADHD themselves…. adults are a lot less interested in a diagnosis than they are getting help and guidance on everyday things like making sure the fridge is full of food and the laundry is taken care of weekly