Why S.M.A.R.T.?

Contrary to conventional wisdom, children are not born with brains that are ready to learn. A brain must be stimulated. As a S.M.A.R.T. educator, you are aware that for various reasons, including the expanded use of safety devices like car seats and stationary swings, sedentary life styles, restricted play areas, absent caregivers and a host of issues related to poverty, many children do not receive sufficient stimulation to develop the automatic basic functions of their brains.

An increasing number of students enter school today without the physiological and neurological readiness skills necessary to perform expected school tasks. Often, these students continue to have difficulty learning, become increasingly frustrated and struggle in school.

The basic curriculums used in primary schools today assume that students have reached a certain level of development. They assume that students see clearly what is printed in front of them and that they see a clear, single image. They assume that students have developed the finely coordinated muscle control in the eyes necessary to follow along and read in a book, maintain reading place and not unknowingly miss words or entire sentences. They assume that students have already developed or will naturally develop the muscle skills necessary to coordinate the fine muscle movements required for activities such as writing, cutting, and coloring.

Unfortunately, without intervention, many of these students lacking basic readiness skills will never develop these skills by simply performing or repeating the academic tasks in school. Instead these students become frustrated and fall even further behind.

The S.M.A.R.T. curriculum is intended to help students develop the readiness skills they need for academic success. It is designed to help all students, from those who are already struggling to those who are ahead of the curve, build readiness skills and increase reading and math performance.

In 12 years of documented use, students who do 30 minutes every day of S.M.A.R.T. activities for the length of a school year have been shown to make gains in reading achievement averaging one year and several months.

Our second article "Benefits of S.M.A.R.T" is a good reminder of why we do the activities we do and what the benefits a child receives.