Secret Power of Sudoku
January 12, 2026
Just like physical exercise, your mind needs some exercise too. Playing sudoku actually exercises your brain extensively. This is why we incorporate these number puzzles into our brain intervention training at Keeping Pace!
Sudoku is a logic puzzle played on a 9×9 grid where the goal is to fill in the missing numbers so that each row, each column, and each 3×3 box contains the numbers 1 through 9 exactly once. The puzzle starts with some numbers already filled in, and players use reasoning and logic, rather than guessing, to determine where the remaining numbers belong.
Playing sudoku with the guidance of a trainer or parent that understands the techniques to make sudoku an aid in cognitive intervention can be a fun way to improve so many important skills for your student.
Below are some profound benefits of playing sudoku:
Improves your memory
Memory and logic work side-by-side when you are playing sudoku. We use our memory to memorize numbers and use logic to figure out the next blank. Working memory is built as well when you use the note taking method. Taking notes in the corners of each box on possible numbers for that blank, allows you to go back and easily update your notes, figuring out the answer to the blank through a process of elimination. Having to go back to old information using new information is an example of working memory being targeted.
Stimulates multiple areas of the brain
Sudoku keeps you practicing your logical thinking process with visual information
when you are solving a puzzle, but it can also be turned into an auditory exercise
with the help of a parent or trainer. A parent can ask questions along the way such as, “Can a 1 go here? Why or why not?” Allowing sudoku to become an auditory exercise as well as visual and forcing these two systems to work simultaneously. This practice of auditory and visual systems working together is crucial for improving how we learn.
Improve executive function
Does your student constantly forget to write down the agenda, is unable to follow multi-step directions, or always has a disorganized backpack? Maybe you find it hard to multitask yourself or accurately time manage. These are signs of poor executive functioning skills. Sudoku helps improve mental organization and sense of time. When completing the puzzle, make sure to always verbalize all thoughts and steps you are taking. This improves your mental monologue which is needed for good organization, memory, and time management skills.
Increases concentration
Sudoku requires players to think strategically and solve problems creatively. Once you fill in one blank or area of the puzzle, you have to start again with a new blank or section. This means you are starting the whole thinking process over again, which helps develop concentration power and re-focus skills. Both of these skills are needed for learning, especially in a classroom setting.
Improves skills needed for math
When completing a sudoku puzzle by putting notes in certain boxes, as mentioned before, the student is forced to do things in sequential order, no matter what. Long multiplication and long division are just a couple examples of following strict sequential order. Practice following steps in sequential order and applying logic and reasoning is exactly what is needed in a multitude of math concepts and problems.
Feel Happy
Solving a sudoku puzzle gives you a sense of accomplishment, especially if the puzzle is a difficult one. When a student figures out an answer to a blank, that equates to success, confidence, and ultimately increased happiness and self-esteem!
Sudoku is for everyone, not just struggling students. It sharpens the mind and gives everyone
the much needed exercise our brains crave each day. You can purchase sudoku books through amazon, a dollar store, or pharmacy. Try giving them to your student during a car ride to pass the time or as a refocusing activity before starting homework. Try out a sudoku puzzle for yourself as a morning mind-sharpening activity or while listening to music/watching television.
It is important to note that there are many online avenues for sudoku or IOS apps to download which may seem easier or more accessible. However, completing a digital sudoku fails to incorporate a kinesthetic aspect that only writing with pen or pencil can train. Practicing fine motor skills in unison with the other skills previously mentioned is crucial.
Try a sudoku puzzle with your student today and see the sense of accomplishment puzzle solving can bring! In a few weeks, watch them grow and start to apply these skills to their academics and daily life.
For questions about this blog post contact anna@keepingpacelearningcenter.com
Characteristics of Students with Learning Disabilities While most everyone experiences minor learning problems from time to time, students with learning disabilities experience them much of the time, especially during their school years. Depending on how one defines a learning disability, which can vary from state to state, estimates of the prevalence of learning disorders range from 2-10%. About 5% of students in the United States public schools are certified as having a learning disorder. There are some problems students with learning disabilities experience. Because there’s a wide range of variation among this population, no one student may experience all of these difficulties all the time. He or she may experience any combination of them at different times. Difficulty learning basic reading, writing, spelling, math, and/or language skills despite average to superior intelligence Problems pronouncing words Difficulty gripping the pencil and writing neatly Difficulty generalizing information and transferring it from one situation to the next Inflexibility and rigidity Problems learning to tell time Problems managing time Trouble finishing homework and following directions Short attention span Confusion with left and right Clumsiness Impulsivity Distractibility Disorganization Social immaturity Over-reacting, heightened sensitivity Low frustration tolerance The federal government defines a specific learning disability as: …a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations. The term includes such conditions as perceptual handicaps, brian injury, minimal brian dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. The term does not include children who have learning problems which are primarily the result of visual, hearing or motor handicaps, of mental retardation, of emotional disturbance or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage (DOE, 1995). Part of this means that, in spite of their average to above average intelligence, students with learning disabilities aren’t learning at a rate that's suggested by their intellectual potential. There’s a significant discrepancy between their potential and their actual achievement. These learning problems aren’t due to such factors as a visual or hearing impairment, mental retardation, or emotional problems. For instance, let’s say a student has an intelligence quotient, or I.Q., of 100. Since this is in the average range of intelligence, we expect her to handle grade level work fairly well. What if she doesn’t, though? What if she’s in fifth grade and reading on a third grade level and spelling on a second grade level? If she doesn’t have visual or hearing impairment, or a severe emotion, psychological or environmental problem, why isn’t she performing grade level work? What’s the reason for this discrepancy between her ability and her actual achievement? While no one is completely sure of the exact causes of learning disabilities, we do know that students with learning disabilities have trouble in one or more of these areas – interpreting what they perceive, developing receptive and expressive language, remembering what they learn, and paying attention. Learning disabilities are often called perceptual disabilities. More specifically, a perceptual difficulty is a difficulty in processing what one sees, hears, and/or feels. A student with learning disabilities may have good eyesight, acute hearing, and good use of his muscles; however, his brain doesn’t efficiently process or interpret the information received from his senses. A learning disability can include memory problems. Some people accurately perceive and interpret what they see, hear, or feel, but they don’t remember it. Determining if a student has a memory or perceptual problem can be challenging. Students who don’t accurately perceive and interpret information will obviously have problems remembering it. The information doesn’t make sense to begin with. Some students, however, accurately perceive the information. They might understand most everything their teachers tell them, but they can’t remember it. Memory problems are often specific. Some students can’t easily remember the letters and numbers they read and write, but can easily remember a room design, a person’s eye color, or a location on a map. Learning disabilities range in severity. Some students have mild disabilities where their ability to learn is only slightly impaired. Others have moderate to severe disabilities. These students, without proper treatment and support, can experience significant learning handicaps. We perceive, interpret, and remember information through our five senses – sight, hearing, touch/movement, taste, and smell. The three senses that have the greatest impact on school success are sight, hearing, and touch/movement. Our sight is our visual sense, hearing is our auditory sense, and touch and movement are our kinesthetic sense. To better understand how learning disabilities can interfere with learning, over the next few weeks, we will take a closer look at the problems some students have in perceiving, interpreting, and/or remembering information from their visual, auditory, and kinesthetic modalities, and how these problems practically impact learning.
Does your child avoid reading by stalling, taking bathroom breaks, fidgeting, or emotional breakdowns? Do they flip words like “saw/was” or maybe skip small words like “the” and “and” when reading aloud? If so, it's not because they’re lazy or don’t care. These are signs your child is struggling. When a student is struggling with literacy, they often feel like they are constantly failing as others around them succeed. Self-esteem decreases and avoidance or over-focusing becomes the only option available to them. Oftentimes these students develop ADHD-like symptoms due to the difficulty of learning and so teachers easily blame the student’s struggles on attention. The problem is, this fundamentally misses the root of the issue: the inefficiency of learning and more specifically decoding. There are 4 common areas of weakness that impact a student’s ability to learn to decode. Weak phonological skills - phonemic analysis skills that interfere with decoding Rapid naming skills - a processing speed issue Short term visual and/or auditory memory difficulties Visual perceptual weakness These areas of weakness are cognitive in nature and impact a child’s academic skill to decode. Therefore, we must take a cognitive approach when working with schoolwork and homework to target these areas and improve decoding skills. There are 3 activities struggling readers can use to improve these areas of weakness and can be applied to any reading material whether it be schoolwork, a library book, or the back of a cereal box. These are: Echo Tap, Spell Read, and Neurological Impress Read. As a disclaimer , these three procedures alone will not cure a learning disability and should be used to support intervention or classroom/homework material. If your child struggles with reading, please seek intervention now. Progress becomes harder after 3rd grade. Don’t hesitate. These activities are something you can start doing now to set them up for success.
Dear Hesitant Parent, You asked me to help explain why one should consider Keeping Pace Learning Center over the various other options available. I am going to give you some background information and then on the last pages tell you “why” Keeping Pace Learning Center is the best fit for Adam. Since you were able to watch the whole assessment, you understand that when learning, behaving and/or paying attention is difficult there is at least one underlying developmental system that has not matured or integrated enough for things to be easier. For optimal learning, these many systems must work together automatically. Weakness in any of these systems cause a learner to have to expand a great deal of energy on forcing the eyes to work the way they should, the ears to take in information as they should and body to maintain its posture and attention effortlessly. They then have no reserves for the active participation that is necessary to learn and behave. The kids with these weakness just wear out, shut down or misbehave. The three developmental systems that are the foundation for learning and behaving are: Visual system – This includes what the eyes do to see and the part of the brain that processes visual information that has been “seen.” Auditory system – this system includes what the ear receives as well as the parts of the brain that process this auditory information. Vestibular system - is the precise internal guidance system of the body for maintaining a sense of balance and organization of the body. Here are some basics about these systems that will be helpful to understand prior to making a final decision as to when and where to start interventions and when or where to consider medication. All three systems are designed to mature together and work together. When one of the systems is not working correctly, maturity and development of the other systems can be negatively impacted. In a great majority of kids, if two systems are intact and working correctly it allows for the third system to be “pulled along” and maturity of the third system can happen in time. The kid really does mature. This has not been the case with Adam and left alone, these systems will stay delayed and un-integrated. Who primarily “treats” these difficulties? Most O c cupational Therapists ( OT’s) that work in schools focus only on getting a child to write something that is read-able and not on the vestibular system. Most occupational therapist that work with children through the medical model work on children until age 3 or 4 and really just work on the things that a child must do to “survive in the world” – such as button, zip, tie shoes, use a fork and knife. They are not afforded the luxuries of fixing the system. Most Speech and Language Pathologist (SLP’s) work on the child’s ability to say the words they need to say (articulation). They sometimes work in language processing – how to talk in complete sentences using the correct grammar. School based SLP’s do not work on auditory processing. Some even believe that there is not much you can do if your child does not process information well. They consider it a permanent learning disability with no possible means of remediation. Most Developmental Optometrists work on ways to get a child’s eyes to track (saccadic movement), follow (smooth pursuit) and process near and far information. It is difficult to find a developmental optometrist and the interventions normal require multiple days per week. Most “tutoring” centers focus only on academic skills such as reading, writing and spelling and math without regard to the developmental systems that are not yet in place. They just provide a different curriculum and more targeted practice of the skills the students should have received at school if the child was ready to learn it when it was presented. Since Adam is just at the beginning of his academics, you have yet to see the difficulties that will arise if the appropriate intervention is not put in place.