What is Equipping Minds?
The Equipping Minds Cognitive Development Curriculum was developed to address the cognitive skills which are the foundational tools for learning. Equipping Minds is designed to improve a learner’s working memory, visual and auditory processing, attention, processing speed, logic, comprehension, language, social skills, attention, executive functioning, behavior, and self-regulation. The classroom connection activities provide foundational skills for spelling, reading comprehension, writing, math, phonemic awareness, science, and history. There is also a section on instructional methods and study skills. The curriculum is designed for use in the regular or special education classroom, clinic, or home environment for children and adults from preschool to senior adults of all abilities.
How does the Cognitive Development Curriculum Work?
When using the program for 1:1, it is recommended for 30-60 minutes a day, 5 x a week for 12-36 weeks depending on the learner. High school students can count the daily sessions as a critical thinking course.
Who will benefit from the Cognitive Development Curriculum?
The program is used with a variety of individuals of all ages and abilities with great success. The program is designed to help any individual wanting to strengthen their ability to learn. This includes Autism Spectrum, Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia, Gifted, Learning Challenges, ADD/ADHD, Traumatic Brain Injury, Memory, Comprehension, Down Syndrome, Processing Disorders, Dementia, Executive Functioning, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Communication Disorders, and Neurodevelopment Disorders. Students from 3 years old to 90-year-old adults have used the program.
Talk with other parents and teachers who are using Equipping Minds:
- Down syndrome and Equipping Minds Program
- Equipping Minds Homeschoolers
- Schools Using Equipping Minds Program
Equipping Minds is a research-based curriculum, read the research here.
“”Equipping Minds is a game changer!
My son is sixteen and has Down syndrome. His reading level was stuck around fourth grade and comprehension late first grade. I knew he was capable of so much more. When I found Equipping Minds, I was cautiously optimistic based on the research but not 100% confident in my ability to work one-on-one with my teenager, who frankly saw his mother as dumb and annoying (typical teen thoughts). I brought the program to our Orton-Gillingham tutor [Wendy] and she thought it looked great!! She got trained and we have never looked back.
We have seen gains like never before in reading. In just three months, we jumped four reading levels and saw significant gains in comprehension. Teachers started asking what we were doing. His coping skills were better and his ability to carry out multiple step instructions skyrocketed. We were seeing progress everywhere. It’s been almost a year and I’m not sure we will ever stop. My child has had more therapies and interventions over his sixteen years of life than I can even remember. Equipping Minds has been by far the best and demonstrated the most success.
I credit most of the growth to the program and even more growth due to its delivery by Wendy. Put a fantastic program in the hands of a caring and knowledgeable provider and you have nothing but success. Wendy knows how to prompt my son; she knows when to push and when to pull back. She had already worked with my son and knew his triggers in instruction. Equipping Minds was no different, she quickly learned how to read his frustration and help him understand how correction, something that is a huge stumbling block, could be seen as a positive.
While he can still be a grumpy, argumentative teenager, he is now a totally different kind of learner. You can actually see the wheels turning as he processes through information. His confidence is considerably improved and his ability to navigate through his day is much better; there is no way I could have gotten that kind of progress without Wendy!! She is a master at finding what works to motivate your child and runs with it!!” -L. Morley