Train the Brain, Transform the Child

You love your child. You have tried being patient, being firm, changing routines, and finding just the right words. Yet the same struggles keep returning. Where do you go from here?

Train the Brain, Transform the Child begins with the uncertainty many parents know well: wanting to help, but not knowing what their child needs. Bryan Hixson invites families to look more closely at the brain behind the behavior and consider a different starting point for understanding their child.

Looking beyond the behavior

An unfinished assignment, an explosive reaction, or another difficult bedtime can leave the whole family worn out. It can also leave parents wondering whether they are doing something wrong.

This book offers a more compassionate question: what might be making this moment so difficult for this particular child?

Its central idea is that understanding a child’s struggles can change how a family responds. The goal is to move toward curiosity, clearer information, and a more individual approach to support.

A parent’s search for answers

Through the story of Lexi, a mother searching for answers, the book gives its ideas a human setting. Her story brings the discussion back to the daily realities of parenting and the desire to reconnect with a struggling child.

That perspective matters. Families want to understand the science, but they also want to know how a new understanding might change the next homework session, bedtime, or conversation.

The book connects its discussion of the brain with those everyday concerns, keeping the parent-child relationship at the center.

An introduction to brain mapping and neurofeedback

Bryan introduces quantitative EEG brain mapping and neurofeedback in language intended for families. The book explores how reviewing brain activity can inform conversations about a child’s struggles and how neurofeedback uses feedback as part of a training process.

Rather than expecting parents to arrive with a background in neuroscience, it offers a way into the subject through familiar experiences: focus, sleep, anxiety, and emotional reactions.

Reading the book is an opportunity to understand the approach and develop questions to bring to a professional who knows your child’s history.

Bringing the conversation back to connection

The subtitle describes a movement from chaos toward calm, struggle toward strength, and conflict toward connection. Those themes reflect what many parents are seeking: a family life with more understanding and room to enjoy one another.

This is a book for parents who want to learn about the brain alongside the behavior they see. It is also for anyone who wants a more compassionate way to think about a child who is having a hard time.

Your child is more than a difficult moment. Understanding that moment can be a place to begin.

About the author

Bryan Hixson is a neuroscientist and the founder and director of Brain Performance Center. His books bring his interest in brain function into the conversations parents have about behavior, relationships, and childhood.