Achievers Brain Cognitive Development, Bandar Puteri Puchong

Thus, abcd strives to address the focus and concentration part of the child’s learning with the emphasize on managing the child’s emotion.

This interview started off brightly but ended up as one of the most moving and personal interviews I have ever conducted. Ms. Daphnie was so passionate and forthcoming that at certain junctures the interview was interrupted by quite lengthy pauses so that we could collect our emotions and thoughts.

The founder and principal of this centre is Ms. Daphnie Wong. She is a certified and licensed Brain Gym® Instructor and Consultant, and believe me there are not many of them around. She is an amazing lady who wears many hats. Ms. Daphnie is a specialist in language and movement, with more than 33 years experience helping children and adults with problems that include motor problems, attention deficit problems, learning disability and autism. She has also obtained various international credentials in teaching and training children and adults in yoga, the Brain Gym movement program, natural health and diet, magic balls massage and specialises in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL).

Ms. Daphnie has put together a holistic, well rounded movement program she aptly names Kitz Gym. She modifies her program according to individual needs but also runs group classes for children and adults alike. She conducts consultation for parents and children and then gives them sets of very specific prescribed movements to carry out at home. The centre also conducts training for teachers, parents and caregivers locally and internationally. She uses a very simple and accurate assessment kit that can quickly pin point the subject’s imbalances. When Kitz Gym training is used with children and adults with less severe challenges it will improve their motor abilities and its control such as coordination, muscle tone and integration of primitive reflexes. Additionally, many people have noticed improvement in different areas such as speech, vision and difficulties with attention, hyperactivity, reading and writing. According Daphnie’s hypothesis, this improvement can be attributed to the stimulation and linking up of different parts of the brain caused by specific movement exercises.

In fact, it is not wrong to say that from the cradle to the grave our lives are dependent on movement and a balanced brain.

When we are infants, we go from strollers to playpen and then to our little cradles surrounded by soft fluffy toys and pillows and high wooden barriers lest we fall and hurt ourselves. This is not good. This will hinder our free and natural movements and limit the exercise our limbs require. Producing a brain that is not balanced. During our growing years we are exposed to technology and the indispensable wifi. Our brains have their own frequencies and this wifi frequencies will in turn boost and eventually ‘fry’ our brains’ frequencies. Please do not laugh and brush this off. This is a very real and present danger. The food we eat sometimes contain excessive toxins. Where do these toxins go? They go into our blood streams. And where does the blood in our bodies travel to? They eventually travel up to the brain. When we are old enough to be called senior citizens, we would eventually lead a quiet and sedentary lifestyle. We do not engage in activities or movements that are too strenuous or extreme. Again, the brain loses some of its balance. In the final analysis, the Kitz Gym Program can help us balance our brains thus bringing stability to our lives and enhancing the quality of life that we are able to live.

In running abcd, Ms. Daphnie has come into contact with many children and parents who have in one way or another found balance and happiness in managing themselves. She unselfishly shares with everyone her experiences, challenges and journey in dealing with children who learn differently. Abcd’s training sessions and programmes always start with the parents as the parents’ imbalances will adversely affect their children’s mental, emotional as well as physical development and progress.

Being a consultant to SIP Academy Malaysia, Ms. Daphine also offers abacus training at abcd. Dispelling a misconception that the abacus is purely a tool for mathematical calculations, Ms. Daphine clarifies that SIP Abacus trains the child to focus and to visualise. This training also heightens as well as sharpens the child’s imagination and perception of the environment around them. In the initial stages, while using the abacus with both hands and their fingertips touching the beads, both the left and right hemispheres of the brain will be stimulated. Thus, creating the balance that is so vitally important to learning and understanding. At the intermediate level the children will do away with the physical abacus and now their visualisation is further emphasized.

Movement, stimulation and balance is at the core of all the programmes at abcd. To this end abcd has devised a very unique program which they call “2 hands drawing”. This is a special art class that utilises both hands simultaneously in drawing and touching. This is based on the understanding that using both hands will stimulate both hemispheres of the brain at the same time. There is also the Super Achievers Program (SAP) which is a short term and intensive training programme for children aged 7 – 12 to sharpen their senses and optimise them for optimal learning and functioning. And the Junior Achievers Program (JAP) is for children age 5 – 6 with the same objectives as SAP.

Ms. Daphnie also does movement training with the patients at the Alzheimer Disease Federation of Malaysia (ADFM). She trains the staff of ADFM and caregivers so that they understand the benefits of movement to patients and themselves. Abcd’s work would not have reached so many people without Ms. Daphnie’s team. Her team works tirelessly with each child as every child is different but always believing that with a loving heart nothing is impossible. They adhere to the philosophy that every child is unique, every child can learn.