By Rhonda Massad
www.thesuburban.com
One lucky student, who will remain anonymous, from Terry Fox Elementary School in Vimont, has won the $2,500 brain training workshop from H.O.P.E. Resource Centre.
Late last year, H.O.P.E. Resource Centre offered a chance for all Sir Wilfred Laurier Schools to win the annual School in the Hat contest. Principals were welcomed to put as many as 20 names in a hat once their school had been chosen from a draw.
The lucky winner this year will commence an intense two week program with one hour spent on his learning skills at the centre. He will then follow that with 12 weeks of reading comprehension and speed reading.
According to co-founder Patricia Fata, studies show that children begin the program processing information in a fragmented way and after the brain training sessions the brain functions work in unison.
“Comprehension is a skilled reader’s ability, not a low level reader ability,” Fata explained in an interview with The Suburban, “after the sessions comprehension improves enormously. In everyday life we need it to understand what we read effectively to function optimally.”
The centre is located at 1600 St Martin East. It offers parents and their children a range of brain training programs and shorter workshops led by experts. The center’s experts work with a wide range of learning difficulties and learning disabilities, from trouble with homework to diagnosed conditions such as dyslexia, ADHD, and auditory processing disorder. Programs are available in one on one or group sessions.
H.O.P.E. is one of seven locations in the Montreal area certified to offer alternative learning programs such as Cellfield, a neuroplasticity computer program to accelerate learning as well as a technology called brain training. As described on the center’s website at www.hoperesourcecentre.com
