Patent ID: 7063535
Filing Date: 2006-06-20
Classification: G09B

Abstract:
1. A method for facilitating early brain development, said method comprising: analyzing a plurality of activity items to determine how said pluralirv of activity items stimulates a predetermined stage of brain development to create a brain link, wherein said brain link includes a specific area of the brain that is stimulated by a subset of said plurality of activity items, wherein said predetermined stage of brain development includes at least one of security and emotional attachment, touch and sensory integration, vision and visual discrimination, play and playfulness, and sound and auditory discrimination and wherein said plurality of activity items includes a hand game, book, activity mat, musical toy, song, nursery rhyme, rattle, ball, blocks, scoop, water, beads, puzzles, treasure, scissors, writing instrument, clothes, puzzle, toy animal, numbers, alphabet letters, and puppet; determining how said predetermined stage of brain development promotes early development of future school skills in a child to create a school link, wherein said school skills include emotional stability, self-esteem, love of books, new vocabulary, dexterity, eve-hand coordination, spatial reasoning, pattern matching, word matching, social skills, spatial-temporal skills, emotional attachment, self-esteem, conscience, identity, language development, organization, mathematics, reading recognition, reading comprehension, spelling, habituation, orientation, eye/hand coordination, phonemic awareness, phonics, conventions of print, motor skill, sensor integration, attending skills, dexterity, writing skills, cognitive skills, perceptual skills, connecting words with actions and objects, self-regulation, bonding skills, visual awareness, spatial reasoning, communication skills, receptive and expressive vocabulary skills, comparing and contrast skills, and attention skills; creating an activity card related to said subset of said pluralirv of activity items, said activity card providing instructions to promote said predetermined stage of brain development in a predetermined manner, said activity card having a first area that identifies said brain link, a second area that identifies said school link, and a third area that identifies the activity, materials needed, directions to implement the activity and extensions and variations on said directions; including said subset of said plurality of activity items in a housing specifically related to said predetermined stage, such that said housing includes at least one activity item related to each of said predetermined stage of brain development; providing instructions for selecting said activity card which include an explanation of; the appropriate stage targeted by said activity card, the age for which said activity card is suggested, the importance of said selected activity card to said predetermined stage of brain development, background information about said activity items included on said activity card, the importance of said selected activity card to said early development of future school skills, materials needed for said selected activity card, directions on how to specifically perform said activity items, suggestions about what to say to said child, general remarks, indications of where and when for said child to pay attention, and extensions and variations of activity items, wherein said activity card comprises caregiver directions for facilitating an interactive play session with said child to achieve said school link and said brain link, said activity card instructing said caregiver to engage a child's attention using a visual stimulus, an auditory stimulus, a kinesthetic stimulus, and an emotional stimulus, wherein said visual stimulus comprises at least one of varied facial expressions and use of an object and wherein said auditory stimulus comprising use of a sound-generating object and varied voice intonations wherein said varied voice intonations comprise at least one of volume, pitch, intensity, and inflection; providing at least one of an alternate activity item and a list of activity variations, wherein each of said alternate activity items and said activity variations promotes at least one of said predetermined stage of brain development and a predetermined concept that promotes early brain development; and, providing said plurality of activity items to said caregiver to facilitate stimulating said predetermined stage of brain development by promoting early brain development comprising attention, bonding, and communication, said brain link and said school link by engaging said child's attention to facilitate said interactive play session with said caregiver, modeling said selected activity for said child using said item from said housing, following said directions on said activity card to instruct said child how to perform said selected activity, and prompting said child to perform said selected activity by providing instructions to said child in a predetermined manner, wherein said predetermined manner comprises of speaking slowly, speaking quietly, speaking simply, speaking excitedly, and giving minimal verbal cues.