PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 16, 2006

Contact: Lauri Gross

Phone: 440-834-0656

lgross5458@aol.com

Optimize Any Child’s Intellectual Potential

-- MindExpanse researcher bases new book on latest brain-development data --

By playing the “Color Game” as described in the MindExpanse Baby: Discovering Colors handbook while using the companion teaching aides, caregivers of toddlers and pre-verbal infants can help the youngsters build new neural connections and minimize the negative impact of brain pruning that occurs at about age 12 in all of us, according to researcher Nancy Heleno who wrote the book which she is introducing this spring.

Heleno said, “It may shock you to learn that at about age 12, 80 percent of our brain mass disappears when a brain chemical dissolves unproductive and unused cells.” This pruning eliminates any chance of ever using information not properly stored. Regularly used neural pathways, however, are protected during pruning and remain intact.

As a mother I was initially panicked by this information, but after researching further, I realized this news is exciting and empowering. We should celebrate our ability to harness its potential for future generations.”

By combining the latest research in child psychology, cognition, parenting, and the science of education, Heleno developed a method of teaching colors to pre-verbal children that she calls TICL (“tickle”), or Technique for Interactive Color Learning. This forms the basis of her handbook aimed at parents, grandparents, daycare providers and preschool teachers.

In the thoroughly footnoted MindExpanse Baby: Discovering Colors, Heleno explains how a person’s brain acquires and processes new information and suggests that TICL can help ensure that a maximum amount of a person’s ability to think and reason are maintained throughout life, particularly beyond the first “pruning” phase.

Heleno said, “Why is it desirable to teach a child colors at an early age? After all, children eventually learn their colors anyway. Early learning sets the stage for future brain development. Each piece of information that is learned builds on previous knowledge. This, coupled with the fact that brain pruning begins at about the first decade of life, suggests that the earlier learning occurs the better. Will the children you care about have a brain made up of small-town byways, or a massive infrastructure of roads and railways to draw upon?”

In addition to sharing these and other insights from leading brain researchers, Heleno describes how to put the research to work in a simple game. Heleno describes each step of the game and offers dos and don’ts, pointing out that, “The beauty of this method is its simplicity and the way it lends itself not only to brain development, but also bonding and creativity. It should be experienced as joyful and playful A young child’s brain development relies on play. Keep it fun.”

According to Heleno’s research, three-dimensional learning is innate to our brains. Television, on the other hand eliminates crucial brain reaction and limits the development of the neural networks.

Malcolm W. Wilson, Ph.D., Senior Vice President Emeritus, California Polytechnic State University, asserts, “Ms. Heleno has written an important document for anyone who works with young children. The changes in our society over the last half century have robbed several generations of our youth of much of their potential. Television and computers dominate our perceptions of our world and supplant much of our imagination with the perceptions of others. Ms. Heleno has given us a way to take back what has been lost by delineating a process that will optimize the potential of each child. She makes a persuasive argument based on well-affirmed learning theories and current scientific investigations of the physiology of the human mind.”

This is the first in a series of four handbooks from Heleno that will focus on infant and toddler brain development. The other three will use shapes, numbers and letters respectively to explore more ways of fun learning to reach cognitive potential, and each will explore new brain research.

MindExpanse, Inc.

Dedicated to helping people reach their lifelong intellectual potential, MindExpanse caters to the very young with books, toys and other products to engage parents and caregivers in igniting intellectual power in infants and toddlers. Founded in 2005 by Colorado-based author and researcher Nancy Heleno, MindExpanse products incorporate the latest brain-development research for maximum impact and maximum fun. For more information, please visit MindExpanse.com. For a galley copy please see contact information on page one.