SMART training does require a certain amount of task persistence. If your child does not engage with the programme, they will not benefit from it. So there is no problem with you assisting your child with training, and even sitting with them if necessary. However, it is very important that they are answering the questions by the,selves most of the time.  Remind them that by just pressing making an effort teh sofgtware will sllwly but surely teach them why they were wrong if they were wrong - its the many many examples that does the teahcing.  It is not a test - it is TRAINING.  The understanding comes AFTER the engagement - not before.

Your child will only benefit from this programme if he or she engages with it. While we have “gamified” this program as much as possible, SMART is not after all primarilly a form of entertainment. For some children, parents or guardians may need to use some sort of external reward system for getting a child to engage with the program, in the same manner in which a guardian might use an incentive system to encourage a child to complete their homework. Our advice is to use rewards for effort, not just for success, although you may wish to add small extra rewards for completing stages. These rewards should get bigger as the program progresses as they get progressively more difficult. While we have tried to make this leaning as fun as it can be, parents and guardians can do a lot to make a child look forward to their training and to passing stages.

While every user is different, our research suggests that 2-3 times per week for approximately 30-60 minute sessions appears to be optimal brain training for maximum IQ gains. You should NOT brain train more often than three times per week. Your intellectual skills will improve most when brain training is spaced out evenly across a long period of time (i.e., several months at least). In the same way, you will get more physically fit by training in a gym for an hour per day for 20 days, than you will by training for 20 hours all in one day!

This largely depends on your own individual set of circumstances and on the preferences of your child. Many users have found it best to use the program during the school year because they can then apply everything they are learning to their school or college work and this will make many classes easier for them. However, research from the field of educational psychology also supports the idea that learning takes time to “consolidate” and so training during relaxed periods free from other pressures also has its advantages. One real consideration is that you or your child may have so many activities and so much homework to do during the school term or college semester that fitting in SMART training seems impossible. If this is the case, it can be treated as a fun leisure activity that is done at weekends, holidays breaks and so on. The training may take longer this will but it will be at least as effective if not more so due to being spaced out over a longer period.

While there is no set best time of day, we do recommend doing SMART brain training when you are not overly tired or stressed. We suggest you include your brain training as part of your weekly schedule if you are an adult or as part of your homework or classwork if you are a child. Try to pick a time of day when you don't have other things competing for your attention or when you are not overloaded with distractions.