Cognitive Training & Autism Support

Autism is a lifelong neurological condition that usually becomes noticeable during early childhood. It affects approximately 1 in every 160 people worldwide, regardless of gender, ethnicity, or socio-economic background.

Autism Awareness Month is dedicated every year to increasing understanding and awareness of autism both locally and globally. During the month of April, autism-friendly programs, educational initiatives, and community events are organized to encourage acceptance, expand knowledge, and strengthen support for autistic individuals and their families. But what happens if you missed it or forgot? And what happens to all that awareness momentum after April? That's where we can help!

What is the Autism Spectrum?

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) refers to "a range of conditions characterised by varying degrees of impaired social behaviour, communication and language, and a narrow range of interests and activities that are both unique to the individual and carried out repetitively."

The term Autism Spectrum reflects the broad variety of strengths, abilities, and challenges experienced by individuals living with autism. Unfortunately, stigma and discrimination surrounding neurological differences continue to create barriers to proper diagnosis, treatment, and support.

Autism is commonly associated with the following characteristics:

• Avoiding eye contact.

• Preferring solitude over social interaction.

• Difficulty understanding the emotions of others.

• Limited verbal communication or delayed speech development.

• Echolalia (repeating words or phrases frequently).

• Distress caused by small changes in routine or environment.

• Strongly focused or restrictive interests.

• Repetitive movements or behaviours such as rocking, spinning, or hand flapping.

• Heightened or unusual responses to sounds, smells, textures, lights, tastes, or colours.

• Because autism exists on a broad spectrum, every individual's experience is unique. Some people may display only a few of these characteristics, while others may experience many. The intensity and impact of these traits can also vary significantly from person to person.

Cognitive Training and Autism

Cognitive training can make a meaningful difference for individuals living with autism. By strengthening core cognitive skills, children and adults with autism can improve the way they think, learn, process information, and perform in school, work, and daily life. While we do not diagnose or treat autism, our programs have helped enhance cognitive performance for customers with a variety of diagnoses, including individuals across the autism spectrum and with many other different and overlapping kinds of neurodiversity.

Whether you are an adult living with autism or a parent seeking support for your child, the professionals at Thinkable Learning Centre are here to help. We provide personalized, brain-based training programs for individuals from ages 5 through adulthood, including into the elderly years. We provide a number of evidence-based, high quality, gold-standard cognitive tools and program offerings to help with the large variety of cognitive issues we encounter, but.... we are the ONLY fully trained, certified, officially licensed provider of BrainRX® in Dublin AND the only provider of the innovative ReadRX® program in all of Ireland!

BrainRX® is a customized cognitive training program designed to address the root causes of learning and cognitive difficulties by promoting neurological growth and stronger brain performance. As one of the world's leading one-on-one brain training programs, BrainRX® is specifically designed to support individuals with autism. Participants benefit from a highly individualized "personal trainer" approach that delivers exceptional results.

What's the Evidence for BrainRX® Help Support Autism?

Over a six-year period, 857 children and adults on the autism spectrum participated in a cognitive learning study. Cognitive abilities were assessed before and after brain training, and the results were remarkable.

Among participants diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, significant improvements were recorded in areas including "IQ, long-term memory, broad attention, and auditory processing." In addition, long-term memory scores increased by an average of 20 percentile points after completing cognitive brain training. Participants also experienced an average improvement of 3.1 years in age-equivalent cognitive performance.

Additional cognitive improvements included:

IQ - 3.8% increase

Working Memory - 3.6% increase

Learning & Reasoning - 3.2% increase

Processing Speed - 2.0% increase

Auditory Processing - 5.5% increase

Visual Processing - 4.5% increase

Long-Term Memory - 4.1% increase

Broad Attention - 3.2% increase

And while these outcomes are phenomenal, it's our experience that many of our students EXCEED these gains and also have additional, secondary improvements in emotional regulation and nervous system function as well.

TLC for Autism

At Thinkable Learning Centre (intentially named "TLC"!), we are committed to promoting autism awareness within our community. If you would like to learn more about how BrainRX® cognitive training may support you or a loved one living with autism, our team is here to help.

The first step is always to see exactly what help is needed and we use an easy, affordable, (fun and engaging!) assessment process, never any wait list involved, to make sure you get exactly what you need.

Want to get in touch and chat first? Easiest ways are:

Call us or send us a WhatsApp @ +353 (0)87 350 0757

Email us at info@thinkable.ie

Send us a chat on our website: thinkable.ie