Home Page
Overview
Testimonials
Radio & Videos
Brochures & Flyers
Articles
Testing & Eval
Training
Parents
Teachers
Doctors
Center Locations
History
Contents
Contact Us

Autism
ADD/ADHD, Dyslexia

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Overview
Testing
Long Distance Clients

Why commit and complete the program?

The Sharper Mind Centers program can be a lot of fun, with parents or siblings working together through the exercises of the program.  Others will find plenty of resistance (did you think all ADD or learning disordered kids were compliant?)  Making a commitment to doing the program in spite of the challenges that will surface is highly important for the family's success.  Everything worthwhile takes time and effort.  A diamond is not formed by the elemental carbon lying on the sand.  It is only formed by carbon molecules under tremendous heat and pressure.  Everything pure has been refined.  No one ever said that process was easy.  But the end result is worth the effort!

Each step of the Sharper Minds program builds on the foundation and growth of the prior exercises.  The best way of thinking of this is two analogies.  A staircase and a race with hurdles.  

To go up a set of stairs, you have to climb essentially one step at a time.  Each step builds on the height of the prior one.  Leaving out a step, makes climbing the stairs more difficult.  Unless you climb ALL the stairs, you will not reach the top (the goal).  In a similar sense, each set of exercises Sharper Mind Centers uses, builds upon the prior ones.  We start with easy ones, and slowly increase the difficulty and speed with which the student does the exercises.  So at first, the student may do one exercise or mental process every 1/2 second.  Months later, they may be processing 5 exercises in that same 1/2 second.  Success doesn't come from skipping a step, but rather progressing up them.

In a race with hurdles, the hurdles present a series of obstacles to the runner to slow him or her down from reaching their goal (the finish line).  In the Sharper Minds program, each exercise works on different parts of the brain. Each exercise reveals a hurdle (the difficulty in processing the exercise).  One could stop at each hurdle and complain about the hurdle or quit the race, or one can just have a decent attitude, work on overcoming the hurdle and move on to the next one.

Those that climb to the top of the stairs or that finish the hurdle race have accomplished their goals.  Those that complete the exercises of the Sharper Mind program also accomplish a goal of a sharper mind.  One cannot complete the program without developing significant new abilities and brain processing performance and speed.

While often improvements are seen (either by observation or testing) in the first 5-12 weeks of the program, for optimal results, the family must complete the latter modules which build upon those done earlier.  Thus the necessity of sticking the program all the way through, and the need for commitment.

By completing the program, the child will:

• develop higher mental performance and learning abilities including improvement in reading levels and comprehension.  This includes these benefits.
• learn that success is the result of regular practice and reaching smaller goals along the journey
• develop a sense of intrinsic worth, value and accomplishment.
• have greater expectations of themselves
• see themselves in a successful light (and not as a quitter who's favorite phrase is "I can't")
• learn to persist in spite of difficulties (develop perseverance)
• learn they cannot always have their own way, even if they throw a fuss (if they don't, society will be much harder on them when they become adults).

The parent

• came to us for a solution, and that solution needs time and effort to be implemented (brain development is not a "microwave" solution).  It takes time and repetitive exercises to stimulate the brain and grow robust nerve pathways.  Completion of the program assures the best possible outcome from the Sharper Minds program.
• will spend quality time with the child they wouldn't have otherwise.
• will create a positive atmosphere in which their relationship with their child will grow
• helps the child to learn to persevere through difficult times.
• may need to learn how to exert appropriate loving control over their children and this may take time to learn and implement, and for the child to learn his or her proper role. 
• will also benefit as they go through the program with their child (due to the strong genetic component that many processing challenges have)

Here's some additional thoughts on commitment and persistence.

To succeed takes commitment and persistence, a rare commodity in today's world. It's even more rare among those with Attention Deficit Disorder, who flit from project to project, from whim to passing fancy.  In his classic essay, "The Common Denominator of Success" by Earl M. Gray, the author makes it clear that: 

“The common denominator of success --- the secret of success of every man who has ever been successful --- lies in the fact that he formed the habit of doing things that failures don't like to do.”

Gray says that the secret of success is not "hard work", although this is very likely a requirement, but it is that successful people do what failures do not want to do. He also said that the question is not what a person does in his or her life, but why he or she does it. The emphasis is on purpose, the purpose must drive the momentum and keep a successful person resolving everyday to stick to the personal commitments that he or she has made for his or her life.

Among the successful and wealthy, you will often find a higher percentage with learning disorders or challenges than in the general population.  Why is this true?  They have learned the value of persistence and commitment and have learned to effectively work through others.  Commitment and persistence is the key!

E. Joseph Cossman
Do not quit! Hundreds of times I have watched people throw in the towel at the one-yard line while someone else comes along and makes a fortune by just going that extra yard.

Denis Waitley
Losers make promises they often break. Winners make commitments they always keep.

Earl M. Gray
The successful person has the habit of doing the things failures don't like to do. They don't like doing them either necessarily. But their disliking is subordinated to the strength of their purpose.

Cecil B. DeMille
Most of us serve our ideals by fits and starts. The person who makes a success of living is one who sees his goal steadily and aims for it unswervingly. That's dedication.

Marcus Tullius Cicero
Whatever you do, do with all your might.

Charles Kettering
It's amazing what ordinary people can do if they set out without preconceived notions. 

Source: http://www.motivational-inspirational-corner.com/getquote.html?categoryid=6 

Home  |  Overview    |  Info Video  |  Testimonials  |  Testing  |  Training  |  Parents
Teachers   |  Doctors   |  Center Locations  |  Search   |  Feedback  |  FAQs  |  Privacy Policy
In the News   |  Site Map/Contents   |  Articles  |  Brochures & Flyers  |  Company Info

Terms of Use

Questions or comments about this web site?

Copyright © 2002-2005 Sharper Mind Centers, Inc. 
Last modified: October 08, 2008