What happens if families start thinking about cognitive fitness much earlier?
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For years, conversations about cognitive training largely belonged to one category of health reporting: aging.
Stories often focused on whether certain exercises or digital interventions could help maintain brain function later in life or potentially delay cognitive decline. Interest in the category grew after findings such as a National Institutes of Health study, which found that cognitive speed training may delay dementia diagnoses over time.
But another conversation has quietly been developing.
What happens if families start thinking about cognitive fitness much earlier?
As summer approaches, many parents are preparing for a familiar concern sometimes referred to as the “summer slide,” a period where students may lose academic momentum while away from classroom structure and routine. Research reviewed through the National Library of Medicine suggests that seasonal learning loss can affect some students differently depending on access to enrichment opportunities and educational support.
At the same time, families are thinking beyond grades. Questions around attention, focus, screen habits, confidence, and learning readiness are becoming increasingly common.
That interest has fueled attention around cognitive training and digital brain exercises for children and teenagers. Supporters see potential for strengthening foundational cognitive skills. Researchers urge caution and precision. Parents are trying to determine what is evidence-based and what deserves skepticism.
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According to Dominick Fedele, CEO and Founder of Mastermind Cognitive Training, family concerns look different today than they did even a few years ago.
“Historically, many families focused primarily on academic performance in a traditional sense: grades, test scores, homework completion, or tutoring support,” Fedele said.
Now, he says, conversations are becoming more foundational.
“Parents are increasingly asking why their child struggles to stay focused, manage distractions, retain information, follow multi-step directions, or perform consistently even when they understand the material.”
Fedele believes families are becoming more aware that academic success is connected to how students process information and sustain attention.
“I think families are beginning to realize that learning is not only about content exposure or effort. It is also about cognitive readiness,” he said. “A student can have strong instruction, supportive parents, and a great school environment, but if attention, processing speed, working memory, or executive function are under strain, learning becomes much harder than it needs to be.”
He also sees screen habits changing the conversation.
“Parents are not just concerned about the amount of time children spend on devices,” Fedele said. “They are worried about how constant stimulation may be affecting focus, patience, frustration tolerance, and the ability to sustain effort.”
His view is not that technology should disappear.
“The reality is that technology, AI, and digital environments are not going away. They are only becoming more deeply integrated in education and daily life,” he said.
Instead, Mastermind positions cognitive training as structured engagement.
“Our goal is to create experiences that actively challenge attention, processing, memory, reaction time, and executive function in a meaningful and measurable way.”
The term “brain training” can trigger strong reactions.
For some families, it sounds hopeful. For researchers, it often raises questions about evidence and transferability.
According to Dr. Joaquin Anguera, Associate Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry at UCSF, skepticism around the category is reasonable.
From a neuroscience perspective, he says the starting point is straightforward.
“The brain is adaptive, regardless of one’s age.”
That adaptability reflects what researchers know about neuroplasticity.
“Cognitive abilities, including attention and working memory, are not fixed traits,” Anguera said. “They are constructs that can be shaped through targeted, repeated practice.”
At the same time, he cautions families to stay realistic.
“The strongest evidence tends to be for improvements in the specific cognitive skills being trained, especially when the intervention is adaptive, engaging, and built around a clear mechanism.”
He added that broad claims deserve scrutiny.
“We must be careful and especially skeptical about claims that any one program will broadly improve multiple areas of academic or life performance.”
Research in this area continues to develop. Findings published in PubMed suggest that certain adaptive digital cognitive interventions may yield encouraging outcomes, particularly when they target specific attention and executive function processes.
Anguera sees that distinction as important.
“The brain training criticism that spans more than 20 years at this point is more than fair,” he said. “The critiques are especially important because they push the field to be better.”
Where he sees promise is in focused interventions.
“Targeted, adaptive interventions designed to improve specific cognitive control abilities such as attention show encouraging signals.”
For families considering these tools, Anguera recommends viewing them as one piece of a larger support system that includes sleep, emotional support, physical activity, and educational supports.
For many parents of neurodivergent children, summer presents a complicated balancing act.
There is often a desire to preserve routine and maintain skills while also allowing space for rest.
Anguera says there may be room for cognitive interventions in that conversation, particularly for certain children.
“There is evidence suggesting that children with specific phenotypes, including children with attention challenges, may benefit from targeted cognitive interventions.”
His language remains measured.
“That said, cognitive training should be framed as a complementary support, not a cure or replacement for individualized education plans, therapy, or medication when appropriate.”
Program structure matters.
“For neurodivergent learners, the design needs to be structured, motivating, and adaptive.”
When implemented thoughtfully, Anguera believes cognitive training may support foundational skills.
“The most realistic promise is that some children may become better able to sustain attention, manage cognitive load, respond more flexibly, or regulate performance under challenge.”
Fedele sees schools and families becoming more interested in these foundational abilities.
“Children and teenagers today are growing up in an environment that places unprecedented demands on their cognitive systems,” he said.
As a result, he believes many adults are recognizing that stronger instruction alone may not always solve the challenge.
“Students need stronger underlying cognitive skills to absorb, process, retain, and apply instruction effectively.”
He emphasized that Mastermind is intended to complement existing supports.
“Our goal is not to replace teachers, tutors, therapists, or coaches,” Fedele said. “Our goal is to strengthen the cognitive foundation that helps students get more value from the instruction, guidance, and opportunities already around them.”
For one Illinois family, interest in cognitive training started with a simple observation.
Damon watched his son, Liam, work hard but struggle to translate effort into consistency.
“In school, that showed up with focus, follow-through, and staying locked in when tasks became more demanding,” Damon said.
Sports revealed something similar.
“In football and baseball, it showed up in reaction time, decision-making, and confidence in game-speed situations.”
The family decided to try Mastermind.
“What attracted us was that it felt different from adding more tutoring or more practice reps,” Damon said. “It was focused on the underlying brain skills that support both learning and performance.”
Liam approached it from another angle.
“I wanted to try it because it felt more like a challenge than schoolwork,” he said. “It was fun, but it also made me focus.”
Over time, Damon says the changes appeared in more than one place.
“We were hoping to see improvement with focus, but we also noticed more confidence and better carryover into football and baseball.”
Academically, he noticed shifts in how Liam approached tasks.
“He seemed more prepared to start work, stay with it, and manage frustration.”
Liam described his own experience similarly.
“I noticed I was reacting quicker in football and baseball and feeling more confident,” he said. “In school, I felt like I could focus better and not get as frustrated as fast.”
He also felt his memory improved.
“It made me feel like I was improving at things that used to be harder for me.”
For families considering programs like this, Damon encourages patience.
“It is training,” he said. “Just like sports or physical exercise, the value comes from doing it consistently and giving the process time.”
Liam’s advice was simpler.
“It is actually fun,” he said. “You can tell when you are getting better.”
For families thinking ahead to summer, that may be the larger takeaway. Cognitive training is unlikely to be a shortcut or universal solution. But for some students, particularly those who respond well to structured and engaging experiences, it may become one more tool in a larger effort to support confidence, focus, and continued growth long after the school year ends.
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