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.

Brain Training, Maths, Working Memory Usha Patel Brain Training, Maths, Working Memory Usha Patel

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!”. 

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MNRI, Coordination Usha Patel MNRI, Coordination Usha Patel

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. 


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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……

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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

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Dyslexia, Neurodivergence Usha Patel Dyslexia, Neurodivergence Usha Patel

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.

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Handwriting, Coordination, Reading Usha Patel Handwriting, Coordination, Reading Usha Patel

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.

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Neurodivergence, PTSD Usha Patel Neurodivergence, PTSD Usha Patel

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.

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Dyslexia, Working Memory, Executive Function Usha Patel Dyslexia, Working Memory, Executive Function Usha Patel

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.

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Reading, Working Memory Usha Patel Reading, Working Memory Usha Patel

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?

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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.

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