Brain & Learning
The Brain & Learning centre in Tecom, Dubai, was the first brain-training centre in the Middle East when it was opened in 2011 by the Maths teacher Pooneh Roney. Getting a master’s degree from the mind, brain and education programme at Harvard Graduate School of Education triggered a “paradigm shift” in her thinking, which prompted her to set up the centre. It follows the BrainRx programme, which offers individualised support and claims to strengthen weaknesses in the child’s key cognitive skills.
The initial cognitive skills assessment and consultation with parents is Dh500, while hourly rates range from Dh267 to Dh275.
For more information, call 04 453 4170,
email info@brain.ae, or visit
The Brain Workshop
Located in Jumeirah One, The Brain Workshop was set up two years ago by Sahar Riad. As with all BrainRx centres, children are given an initial assessment to determine which cognitive skills need to be developed and another at the end of the programme to measure progress the child has made.
“To start with, it’s the parents who want their kids to go, but after the child does a trial session, they usually enjoy it and they, too, want to do the course,” says Riad.
For more information, call 04 327 5075, email info@thebrainworkshop.com, or
visit www.thebrainworkshop.com
Dots & Links
Located at Al Wahda Tower, Dots & Links provides the BrainRx programme in Abu Dhabi for anyone age 6 and above. It was opened in 2011 by the teachers Zinah Madi and Razan Nabulsi.
Madi sees the brain as a muscle that can be strengthened by doing specific brain exercises. “When you exercise your body, if you’re not committed to a certain number of hours then it doesn’t work,” she says. “It’s the same with the brain. Students have to be ‘mentally sweating’ for it to work. So we try to give them fewer breaks as the course progresses. The programme is intensive, but students normally leave here happy.”
Each one-hour session costs between Dh250 and Dh275. The 72-hour course is bout Dh18,000. For more information, call 02 445 9994, visit dotsandlinks.ae, or email info@dotsandlinks.ae
Little World Discovery Centre
Located in the new Nation Galleria Mall in Abu Dhabi, the centre isn’t in the same category as other brain-training centres – its “edutainment” facility looks more like a play centre, and that’s what makes it so popular with kids.
There are eight educational areas, including Kinetics!, where children learn about gravity and kinetic energy.
To guarantee your kids get their neurons fired up, the discovery programmes provide hands-on, brain-boosting science activities, such as making parachutes to learn about air resistance. The children then drop them from the top of an enchanted treehouse to test their creations.
Costs Dh250 for each two-hour session or Dh900 for four sessions. Play sessions cost from Dh100 to Dh110 when accompanied by an adult, or Dh150 for unaccompanied children. For more information, call 02 681 8824, email info@littleworlduae.com, or visit
The Brain Gym
The Brain Gym, which has just moved to Tecom, teaches 26 movements that recall those done naturally in the first years of life when the brain is learning to coordinate the body.
The instructor Anna Mitchell teaches the techniques as a course to parents and educators and provides one-on-one sessions for children. Her students are given sets of exercises to practise at home.
“It’s all about finding the body’s stresses and strains to improve cognitive abilities,” she says. “If a child is slumped over a desk, that will create problems in their academic work. To improve handwriting, we might need to do eye tracking or a whole body movement.”
The next Brain Gym course starts in January, requires a commitment of four hours a week for six weeks, and costs Dh2,800. Mitchell’s one-on-one sessions with children cost Dh450 per hour. For more information, call 04 276 6737 or
email anna@eyes-me.com
Brainobrain
Brainobrain has 32 centres in Sharjah, Dubai, Ajman, Al Ain and Abu Dhabi and claims to provide whole-brain development for 5- to 14-year-olds.
Its advanced skill development programme uses the abacus to sharpen maths skills and also incorporates concepts
from Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Brain Gym.
“It helps improve concentration, confidence and imagination,” says Vasanthi Ramalingam, a Brainobrain trainer.
There are 10 levels of courses and each takes three months to complete. The weekly, two-hour classes are on Saturdays from 9am to 11am. The monthly fee is Dh250 and there's also an initial registration fee of Dh300. For more information, call 056 117 0550, email officeuae@brainobrain.com, or visit brainobrain.ae
Future Kids
Future Kids in Knowledge Village, Dubai, was launched a year ago by the Australian Samantha Malkoun, 29.
She was inspired by the whole-brain training method pioneered by Makoto Shichida from Japan, which starts at age six months.
The “accelerated learning” classes she has set up at Future Kids last for 50 minutes and involve 30- to 36-minute-long activities. The teacher flashes four to 15 items on a memory board for one to three seconds and the children then recall what they saw on their board.
“For the first half of the class, we focus on the right brain, to encourage superfast processing and photographic memory. As a parent, it’s my favourite thing to do”, says Malkoun.
“Activities such as group music classes you can’t measure, but with this, you see how much they’ve
absorbed. After three to five classes, parents should see an improvement.”
Parents are encouraged to join their child for the classes. Accelerated learning classes cost Dh180 per class. For more information, call
04 448 7650, email register@futurekids.ae, or visit futurekids.ae
