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The Woman Who Changed Her Brain: And Other Inspiring Stories of Pioneering Brain Transformation
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288 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 2012
207 people are currently reading
3213 people want to read
About the author
Barbara Arrowsmith-Young
2 books14 followersDiagnosed in grade one as having a "mental block", which today would have been identified as multiple learning disabilities, Barbara Arrowsmith-Young read and wrote everything backwards, had trouble processing concepts in language, continuously got lost and was physically uncoordinated.
Barbara eventually learnt to read and write from left to right and mask a number of the symptoms of her learning disabilities through heroic effort, however she continued throughout her educational career to have difficulty with specific aspects of learning.
Barbara Arrowsmith Young holds both a B.A.Sc. in Child Studies from the University of Guelph, and a Master’s degree in School Psychology from the University of Toronto (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education). After her undergraduate studies were completed Barbara worked as the Head Teacher in the lab preschool at the University of Guelph for two years where she began to observe learning differences in preschool children.
Her Master’s thesis, entitled, A Follow Up Study of a Clinic Sample (1982), followed 62 students who had been assessed at the O.I.S.E. psycho-educational clinic nine months to five years prior to the start of the study.
Children who were achieving below their age expected grade level on academic tests administered during their initial assessment continued to perform poorly in the same subject areas. Further it was found that the amount of intervening educational remedial intervention was not related to change in the children’s academic problems or performance. Interestingly, it was found that students who received more than the median intensity of intervention were achieving even more poorly at follow up than those receiving less intervention.
These results confirmed Barbara Arrowsmith Young’s own experience with the limitations of academic remedial work in addressing a range of specific learning disabilities.
In graduate school she came across two lines of research that intrigued her. Luria’s description of specific brain function lead her to a clearer understanding of her own learning problem and the work of Rosenzweig suggested the possibility of improving brain function through specific stimulation, at least in animals. This lead to the creation of the first brain exercise designed to improve the learning capacity involved in logical reasoning.
The results were positive with gains in verbal reasoning, mathematical reasoning and conceptual understanding. This lead to a further exploration of the nature of specific learning capacities and to creating exercises to strengthen them. This is the ongoing work of Arrowsmith School. The program originated in Toronto in 1978 and today is implemented in 38 schools in Canada, the U.S. and Australia.
The genesis of the Arrowsmith Program of cognitive exercises lies in Barbara Arrowsmith Young’s own journey of discovery and innovation to overcome her own severe learning disabilities, a description of which appears in Chapter 2 of the book, The Brain That Changes Itself by Dr. Norman Doidge.
As the Director of Arrowsmith School and Arrowsmith Program, she continues to develop programs for students with learning disabilities. It is her vision that this program be available to all students struggling with learning disabilities so they may know the ease and joy of learning and to realize their dreams.
- excerpted from her website
Barbara eventually learnt to read and write from left to right and mask a number of the symptoms of her learning disabilities through heroic effort, however she continued throughout her educational career to have difficulty with specific aspects of learning.
Barbara Arrowsmith Young holds both a B.A.Sc. in Child Studies from the University of Guelph, and a Master’s degree in School Psychology from the University of Toronto (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education). After her undergraduate studies were completed Barbara worked as the Head Teacher in the lab preschool at the University of Guelph for two years where she began to observe learning differences in preschool children.
Her Master’s thesis, entitled, A Follow Up Study of a Clinic Sample (1982), followed 62 students who had been assessed at the O.I.S.E. psycho-educational clinic nine months to five years prior to the start of the study.
Children who were achieving below their age expected grade level on academic tests administered during their initial assessment continued to perform poorly in the same subject areas. Further it was found that the amount of intervening educational remedial intervention was not related to change in the children’s academic problems or performance. Interestingly, it was found that students who received more than the median intensity of intervention were achieving even more poorly at follow up than those receiving less intervention.
These results confirmed Barbara Arrowsmith Young’s own experience with the limitations of academic remedial work in addressing a range of specific learning disabilities.
In graduate school she came across two lines of research that intrigued her. Luria’s description of specific brain function lead her to a clearer understanding of her own learning problem and the work of Rosenzweig suggested the possibility of improving brain function through specific stimulation, at least in animals. This lead to the creation of the first brain exercise designed to improve the learning capacity involved in logical reasoning.
The results were positive with gains in verbal reasoning, mathematical reasoning and conceptual understanding. This lead to a further exploration of the nature of specific learning capacities and to creating exercises to strengthen them. This is the ongoing work of Arrowsmith School. The program originated in Toronto in 1978 and today is implemented in 38 schools in Canada, the U.S. and Australia.
The genesis of the Arrowsmith Program of cognitive exercises lies in Barbara Arrowsmith Young’s own journey of discovery and innovation to overcome her own severe learning disabilities, a description of which appears in Chapter 2 of the book, The Brain That Changes Itself by Dr. Norman Doidge.
As the Director of Arrowsmith School and Arrowsmith Program, she continues to develop programs for students with learning disabilities. It is her vision that this program be available to all students struggling with learning disabilities so they may know the ease and joy of learning and to realize their dreams.
- excerpted from her website
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 181 reviews
September 3, 2013
There is a lot to recommend about this book. In particular, the idea that you can change your brain. All to often, clients worry that they can't change or their partners can't change. This book and the idea of brain plasticity ends that fear for once and for all. The other plus is that Barbara's story is really inspiring. However... and it's a big however. She gives little or no insight into how she changed her own brain and nothing away about the programme that she puts other people through. It means the book is full of impressive before and after stories but no insight into the journey itself.
April 2, 2018
This book should be read by *ALL* teachers! And anyone with an interest in learning disabilities. It is the biography of Barbara Arrowsmith-Young, a brilliant Ontario girl with severe learning disabilities who through sheer dogged persistence acquires a university education and in the process comes across what appears to be the key to "learning problems" -- using the brain's natural "neural plasticity". The traditional way to remediate learning disabilities is to find ways of coping with them, working around the problem instead of fixing it. Up until recently it was believed that a brain is set and unable to change. Now, with the pioneering work of Arrowsmith-Young, we know which problems occur in which part of the brain and that damaged, weak or under performing areas of the brain can be exercised or strengthened using very specific exercises! This is wonderful news for those with learning disabilities and their loved ones. Arrowsmith-Young's methods have been used at her school in Toronto for almost thirty years and there is now 35 (and counting) schools employing her techniques across Canada and the U.S. Most students need only two or three years in an Arrowsmith school during which time their brain is adequately strengthened to enable the student to reintegrate into a regular classroom setting and succeed. Arrowsmith dreams of the day when children are screened for any neurological deficits early on so that they can be remedied before bad habits and self-esteem issues are deeply entrenched. I *SO* hope that this technique is the answer although who knows how long it will take for the education system to embrace it. But in the mean time there is something that appears to work for those who are searching.
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June 17, 2012Never have I read a book that makes me both so hopeful and so sad. The author describes her experience as an individual with severe learning/cognitive disabilities and how she was able to not only overcome them, but actually retrain her brain to free herself. She then applied these exercises to others and developed additional ones to focus on other cognitive deficits. The basic premise is that these cognitive deficits are what is preventing children with a variety of learning disabilities and diagnoses cannot learn. Once the deficit is addressed, through a series of exercises (think weightlifting with the brain) these children are able to learn and perform tasks that were once beyond them. The book discusses many case studies of both children and adults who have found success going through the program in the The Arrowsmith Schools. It describes individuals moving from the 4th to 80th percentile on various sub-tests of standardized intelligence tests.
It kind of boggles my mind that there is so much resistance to neural plasticity (most of which was described in the Norman Doidge book). It fits patterns that have been long observed - the stair step pattern of improvements following a traumatic brain injury [building a neural pathway represents the flat/no progress part of the stairs, and the sudden jump to the next step once the pathway has been formed is an almost perfect illustration...]. I do recognize the difference between seeing changes in a damaged, and healing brain than from someone who was "born that way."
I don't want to mislead anything. This book is both an autobiography and (almost) an extended advertisement for the Arrowsmith Program. It doesn't cover any strategies for any remediation of the different cognitive deficits described in the book (there are 14 that can interact in any number and at various severity in individuals). I think actual candidacy for the program was discussed more in the Doidge book than in this one, but the program does not seem to be appropriate for all who apply and that seems to be sorted out in the assessment process.
Going back to my first sentence about the book. I am hopeful that this is a start of a change in what we view as special education. The long term outcomes for the kids and adults who completed the programs in the case studies is dramatically different from anything they would have otherwise achieved. I hope that the kids I work with eventually do have access to this or something similar. The word eventually makes me sad. I work in a poor area for a district with no money. My heart breaks that my kids (not to mention all the other sped kids in the building....) will not have access to this kind of help. I see almost mirror reflections of some of my students in the case studies. I can almost label specific kids with some of the deficits described in the book. The program is beyond the resources of my school district and of the families.
I wish there was some more information about specific things that those of us working with these kids could do now. As the research improves, I hope that these ideas will spread into the mainstream for special education. Unfortunately, my kids, and millions of others are suffering now. It's a stretch for many schools to be able to adopt an Arrowsmith program (all the ones in the US appear to be private schools) but I would love something to use with kids now.
It kind of boggles my mind that there is so much resistance to neural plasticity (most of which was described in the Norman Doidge book). It fits patterns that have been long observed - the stair step pattern of improvements following a traumatic brain injury [building a neural pathway represents the flat/no progress part of the stairs, and the sudden jump to the next step once the pathway has been formed is an almost perfect illustration...]. I do recognize the difference between seeing changes in a damaged, and healing brain than from someone who was "born that way."
I don't want to mislead anything. This book is both an autobiography and (almost) an extended advertisement for the Arrowsmith Program. It doesn't cover any strategies for any remediation of the different cognitive deficits described in the book (there are 14 that can interact in any number and at various severity in individuals). I think actual candidacy for the program was discussed more in the Doidge book than in this one, but the program does not seem to be appropriate for all who apply and that seems to be sorted out in the assessment process.
Going back to my first sentence about the book. I am hopeful that this is a start of a change in what we view as special education. The long term outcomes for the kids and adults who completed the programs in the case studies is dramatically different from anything they would have otherwise achieved. I hope that the kids I work with eventually do have access to this or something similar. The word eventually makes me sad. I work in a poor area for a district with no money. My heart breaks that my kids (not to mention all the other sped kids in the building....) will not have access to this kind of help. I see almost mirror reflections of some of my students in the case studies. I can almost label specific kids with some of the deficits described in the book. The program is beyond the resources of my school district and of the families.
I wish there was some more information about specific things that those of us working with these kids could do now. As the research improves, I hope that these ideas will spread into the mainstream for special education. Unfortunately, my kids, and millions of others are suffering now. It's a stretch for many schools to be able to adopt an Arrowsmith program (all the ones in the US appear to be private schools) but I would love something to use with kids now.
April 13, 2013
I really wanted to like this book but I found it very frustrating. It's partly Barbara Arrowsmith's biography, partly 'brain science' but mostly it's an extended advert for her program, which I'd be okay with if she gave anything more than a hint of what the program is about. Instead it's a series of case studies which invariably end with how the person's life was dramatically improved after the program - which gets a little boring after a while, a bit like watching an extended infomercial for a miracle; after a while you just want to know the details.
I also found some of the examples very puzzling: how do you qualify as a doctor if you can't distinguish between 8, 80 and 800? Or a lawyer if you can understand the principles behind legal cases and judgments. It left me wondering if she'd exaggerated the disabilities ...
I also found some of the examples very puzzling: how do you qualify as a doctor if you can't distinguish between 8, 80 and 800? Or a lawyer if you can understand the principles behind legal cases and judgments. It left me wondering if she'd exaggerated the disabilities ...
July 5, 2012
I read this book in a week and found it absolutely fascinating along with identifying 3 learning disabilities that I have but have grown into adulthood just thinking I was stupid because I couldn't do some things that came so easily to other people. I realized right away that she might be promoting her school but this kind of teaching and learning needs all the promotion it can get. I have told numerous people about the concepts discussed in this book and if I had Bill Gates' money I would make sure to implement at least one school that teaches this way in every state. My goal is to take my learning disabled granddaughter to be tested to see what I can do to help her out. I also would have appreciated some simple cognitive exercises included in the book that helps each brain function but maybe that would have made the book too big. All in all I am so glad I read it and if only one person I know can get help from this, it will be worth my time and effort.
June 4, 2012
I thought this was a blatant advertisement for the school run by the author - full of case studies which were very repetitive, and with no real information on what the patients actually did to improve their situation.
July 3, 2024
This book is a compilation of customer testimonials from individuals who have attended the Arrowsmith School, founded by the author. While it offers many before-and-after accounts highlighting improvements attributed to the program, it lacks essential details regarding the interventions and programming. The absence of empirical data leaves the reader without a clear understanding of the school's methodologies and their impact. After reading this book, I find myself no more inclined towards the program or convinced of its efficacy than I was before. Although I do not intend to diminish the author's personal experiences, it appears that anecdotal evidence is the core of this publication. Without control variables and more extensive research, it is challenging to determine how this school can justify the effectiveness of its costly and comprehensive programming.
April 30, 2012
The concept behind this book is really amazing. I loved how it highlighted the changing understanding of the brain. The first third of the book was really fascinating. the stories got to be a little tedious because they were all formatted the same and there were a lot of them. I was interested in finding out more about their techniques of brain change but some chapters didn't even address technique. I was looking more for information and sometime felt like I was being sold a ticket to Arrowsmith. The different types of learning disabilities addressed were fascinating but I could do without a story for every one. Overall it was interesting and glad I read it.
July 15, 2018
This is one of the best (and most inspiring) examples of the revolution that has taken place in brain science. Like a lot of scientific revolutions, it started small, was scorned and shunned for years, but is slowly growing to dominance in the field because you simply can't deny that it works.
Bottom line: most learning disabilities are due to poor function in certain brain areas. And the revolution is that you can rewire your brain--even to the point of rewriting your disability.
This book is not focused on the theory. In fact, I can recommend several other books that are better at explaining the science (that's why it's four stars, rather than five). This book is the personal story of a woman who rewrote her own, major learning disabilities. And then how she went on to found a school that has been doing the same for many, many people with a wide range of disabilities. And she's been doing it for 30+ years. (Google Arrowsmith School, if you're curious.) So it's still an amazing set of stories that will rewire what you think is possible.
We can't dismiss the facts of her history. Which means maybe we do need to dismiss the way we help people with learning disabilities. Instead of assume they're stuck and building a life around their deficit, what if we helped them rewrite their deficit? To be clear, it's really, really hard work and often takes multiple years. It's not easy. But it can be done. No, it HAS been done, as this book testifies.
Bottom line: most learning disabilities are due to poor function in certain brain areas. And the revolution is that you can rewire your brain--even to the point of rewriting your disability.
This book is not focused on the theory. In fact, I can recommend several other books that are better at explaining the science (that's why it's four stars, rather than five). This book is the personal story of a woman who rewrote her own, major learning disabilities. And then how she went on to found a school that has been doing the same for many, many people with a wide range of disabilities. And she's been doing it for 30+ years. (Google Arrowsmith School, if you're curious.) So it's still an amazing set of stories that will rewire what you think is possible.
We can't dismiss the facts of her history. Which means maybe we do need to dismiss the way we help people with learning disabilities. Instead of assume they're stuck and building a life around their deficit, what if we helped them rewrite their deficit? To be clear, it's really, really hard work and often takes multiple years. It's not easy. But it can be done. No, it HAS been done, as this book testifies.
February 16, 2013
I'm still a little bit sceptical, but intrigued enough that I am looking further into her program. The book sounds too much like an extended brochure on her program, but then it's been her life's work. It's quite likely that because I am not the target market that I am unable to appreciate this as much, finding some parts repetitive. Nevertheless, a fascinating read and quite the insight into the lives of those that are learning disabled.
Update [2013-Feb-16]: Now that I've started reading quite a few more neuroscience-y books, I'm appreciating her book more and more. While the other books I've read so far have held up case studies, news reports, and other anecdotes as examples for their points, Barbara presents an insider's view on what it feels like to be one of those examples.
Update [2013-Feb-16]: Now that I've started reading quite a few more neuroscience-y books, I'm appreciating her book more and more. While the other books I've read so far have held up case studies, news reports, and other anecdotes as examples for their points, Barbara presents an insider's view on what it feels like to be one of those examples.
September 17, 2012
As a teacher of children with disabilities, I have always been interested in brain functioning. This nonfiction book was encouraging, as it spoke of re-training the brain and forcing neurons to fire and wire together, bringing dramatic improvements to people's quality of life. It makes me want to visit an Arrowsmith school!
April 24, 2018
Interesting read about neuroplasticity but she never explains the actual exercises or lessons that help her students. I was hoping for something more practical and less of an advertorial for her school.
September 7, 2024
I had not heard of this school or many of the ideas in this book. It may be some things that are on the slow road to being new ideas about assessment and education in Canada and the United States. It is similar to how the world had not heard anything about autism or neurological paths in the brain and how teaching is then in its infancy when encountering any atypical neurological ways of thinking. It just goes to show us that teaching can only be as good as our understanding of ourselves and how our brains work. The author keeps referring to disabilities but then just shows how our educational systems are inadequate to assess all of a person's abilities and we don't really understand what "normal" is. We do understand what the trends and fads of the world are and we often don't understand each other. Just as the Montessori method and other unconventional methods of teaching and learning prove, we are not all the same and shouldn't be schooled in a cookie cutter way. Maybe we will learn over time to be tolerant and to find out what each of us needs without punitive or mentally devastating methods. This book makes me more curious about how our minds work, grow, change, etc.
October 6, 2017
Reading The Woman Who Changed Her Brain is likely to boost your compassion and empathy for other people immediately. It will remind you of the things you take for granted, and also that you fall within a vast and diverse continuum of human experience.
While the controversy still rages around peer review of the Arrowsmith program, it's hard not to be incredibly moved by the case studies and personal testimonies in The Woman Who Changed Her Brain like this one on page 75:
"I used to feel I was living in a hurricane being buffeted by the strong winds, pulled hither and yon, and now I can stand calmly grounded in the centre of any storm and figure my way out."
Emotional reading.
While the controversy still rages around peer review of the Arrowsmith program, it's hard not to be incredibly moved by the case studies and personal testimonies in The Woman Who Changed Her Brain like this one on page 75:
"I used to feel I was living in a hurricane being buffeted by the strong winds, pulled hither and yon, and now I can stand calmly grounded in the centre of any storm and figure my way out."
Emotional reading.
September 13, 2018
We used this for our book club last spring and were amazed with the amount of personal insight and inspiration we all got from it. Reading about Barbara's incredible personal story was really moving. I was also impressed with how much I and other members learned about themselves, their children, and how to increase school and life success.
February 3, 2020
This has a lot of interesting things that I want to look into but overall, it felt like a drawn out advertisement for the Arrowsmith schools. Not enough information about the science or the actual exercises involved in retraining your brain, just a litany of all the amazing things people have achieved after retraining their brains at her schools.
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June 26, 2018– It was fascinating to meet The Woman Who Changed Her Brain –
I get lost a lot. My sense of direction is so abysmal that I find myself constantly retracing my steps. Previously, this seemed a quirk to me – something I didn’t like about myself but couldn’t help. Then, teacher and author Barbara Arrowsmith-Young blew it all wide open. Could my sense of spatial intelligence be compromised?
In The Woman Who Changed Her Brain, Arrowsmith-Young explains to the reader that she was born with several learning deficiencies, and one, in particular, that is crucial in relating to other humans called “symbolic recognition.” She says she felt like she was in a fog until she was about 25 years old when she discovered the writings of Dr. Alexander Luria (1902-1977) Soviet neuropsychologist.
Barbara discerned that the temporal lobe of her brain was responsible for symbolic recognition and devised a series of exercises. In this case, she used flashcards that would help her tell time, another temporal function she struggled with. She theorized that working indirectly on her own deficiency would “wake up” that part of her brain. And it worked.
Arrowsmith-Young launched her own research into the concept of neuroplasticity, the idea that the brain is fluid and changeable rather than static, and eventually founded the Arrowsmith School in Toronto. Now, her goal is to isolate learning deficiencies in students of all ages, and use the curriculum she designed to improve their functioning. It’s unusual. It’s direct. And it’s changing the lives of students and their families everywhere.
The Woman Who Changed her Brain got my wheels turning. Arrowsmith-Young’s extraordinary dedication to education and heart for students on the spectrum is absolutely moving. She tells her story in the first person, starting with her early struggles to function in an academic setting, and going on to describe interactions with her own students and their incredible results. It is quite absorbing, though at times the reading is a bit dry simply because of the volume of case studies included. I found myself considering it a novella-length advertisement for the Arrowsmith School, and other readers’ comments indicate a similar feeling.
Since the 1950s, educators have told students and their families with learning deficiencies that their differences cannot be helped and need to be worked around. Arrowsmith-Young has pioneered a new path in this realm, and students that were totally isolated before have been offered a chance to join the conversation. Though her program has been criticized by her peers as pseudoscience, she also has fans in the medical community. She was credited in psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Dr. Norman Doidge’s book, The Brain That Changes Itself, with spearheading an “important discovery.”
I have some experience with functional health in general. Experimental treatments and research can make anyone skeptical. But I’ve never quite been able to discount anything that brings hope. Arrowsmith-Young is committed to enriching the lives of a much-misunderstood group of people and is offering hope to students and their families. This writer is cheering her on!
----------
This review was first published on Narrative Muse, http://narrativemuse.co/books/the-wom..., and was written by A.C. O'Dell. Narrative Muse curates the best books and movies by and about women and non-binary folk on our website http://narrativemuse.co and our social media channels.
I get lost a lot. My sense of direction is so abysmal that I find myself constantly retracing my steps. Previously, this seemed a quirk to me – something I didn’t like about myself but couldn’t help. Then, teacher and author Barbara Arrowsmith-Young blew it all wide open. Could my sense of spatial intelligence be compromised?
In The Woman Who Changed Her Brain, Arrowsmith-Young explains to the reader that she was born with several learning deficiencies, and one, in particular, that is crucial in relating to other humans called “symbolic recognition.” She says she felt like she was in a fog until she was about 25 years old when she discovered the writings of Dr. Alexander Luria (1902-1977) Soviet neuropsychologist.
Barbara discerned that the temporal lobe of her brain was responsible for symbolic recognition and devised a series of exercises. In this case, she used flashcards that would help her tell time, another temporal function she struggled with. She theorized that working indirectly on her own deficiency would “wake up” that part of her brain. And it worked.
Arrowsmith-Young launched her own research into the concept of neuroplasticity, the idea that the brain is fluid and changeable rather than static, and eventually founded the Arrowsmith School in Toronto. Now, her goal is to isolate learning deficiencies in students of all ages, and use the curriculum she designed to improve their functioning. It’s unusual. It’s direct. And it’s changing the lives of students and their families everywhere.
The Woman Who Changed her Brain got my wheels turning. Arrowsmith-Young’s extraordinary dedication to education and heart for students on the spectrum is absolutely moving. She tells her story in the first person, starting with her early struggles to function in an academic setting, and going on to describe interactions with her own students and their incredible results. It is quite absorbing, though at times the reading is a bit dry simply because of the volume of case studies included. I found myself considering it a novella-length advertisement for the Arrowsmith School, and other readers’ comments indicate a similar feeling.
Since the 1950s, educators have told students and their families with learning deficiencies that their differences cannot be helped and need to be worked around. Arrowsmith-Young has pioneered a new path in this realm, and students that were totally isolated before have been offered a chance to join the conversation. Though her program has been criticized by her peers as pseudoscience, she also has fans in the medical community. She was credited in psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Dr. Norman Doidge’s book, The Brain That Changes Itself, with spearheading an “important discovery.”
I have some experience with functional health in general. Experimental treatments and research can make anyone skeptical. But I’ve never quite been able to discount anything that brings hope. Arrowsmith-Young is committed to enriching the lives of a much-misunderstood group of people and is offering hope to students and their families. This writer is cheering her on!
----------
This review was first published on Narrative Muse, http://narrativemuse.co/books/the-wom..., and was written by A.C. O'Dell. Narrative Muse curates the best books and movies by and about women and non-binary folk on our website http://narrativemuse.co and our social media channels.
July 6, 2016
Neuroplasticity is a theory born in the mid-1800s and heavily researched more recently. This is a very inspirational book. Reading it and having heard several other prominent neuro practitioners talk about brain plasticity and specific instances when it has been used to effect big changes makes me want to proselytize. Every child should be tested for neurological areas of strength and weakness in kindergarten or first grade. Those with weaknesses should be actively enrolled in efforts to improve or at least maximize their capacities. Ms. Arrowsmith-Young certainly does not have the final answer on how change is effected but I believe she is correct in that it can be. Although the mass of people will always fall on a normal curve of accomplishment, no one should be written off or left to struggle when remedies are at hand. This is very exciting stuff. I would also recommend the writings of Norman Doidge, Eric Kandel, Edward Taub, and many others.
NOTE: a very large percentage of the internet states that there is no cure for learning disabilities. They cannot be changed. Strengths should be emphasized and coping strategies used. None of the people who have made brain changes in LD people have publicly given away their secrets. They are all in it to make money at this point. I think it is just a matter of time until university research exposes what works and then even more time until it seeps into public education.
NOTE: a very large percentage of the internet states that there is no cure for learning disabilities. They cannot be changed. Strengths should be emphasized and coping strategies used. None of the people who have made brain changes in LD people have publicly given away their secrets. They are all in it to make money at this point. I think it is just a matter of time until university research exposes what works and then even more time until it seeps into public education.
January 26, 2014
Barbara Arrowsmith-Young suffered from multiple learning disabilities as a child. She was told to compensate for these deficiencies by relying on her strengths. Determined to overcome them, she began studying psychology and the brain, eventually discovering in the works of Aleksandr Luria a clue to her own condition. Additional research suggested to her that brains are not static, as was once believed. They can be altered. Neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain to change itself. Barbara began creating exercises to help her strengthen the weak areas of her brain. She went on to found the Arrowsmith schools and educational programs to help others with learning disabilities – catering exercises and activities to individual students, and training educators to implement these techniques. Barbara’s personal story and those of the people the Arrowsmith program have helped are truly inspiring. Identifying learning disabilities and/or brain weaknesses and working toward rectifying them should be a priority, as many kids and adults are severely affected by their bad experiences in school and if these disabilities persist, find themselves limited in options later in life. We learn much better when we learn how to learn. This will have you hunting down exercises for your own brain – whether you need them or not! Brilliant and fascinating.
September 16, 2012
Extremely interesting about the brain. Barbara Arrowsmith-Young gets very detailed about the brain but then she changed her own brain and has a school in Toronto to help others so she knows the latest findings and information. She has so many interesting case histories and personal stories which help soften the hard scientific parts. It is such interesting information and what it all boils down to is that we are all the same, some just have higher or lower functioning areas of the brain. It isn't a personality default, just the way the brain works. Amazing book. The only reason I gave it a 4 is because I got bogged down with some of the brain specifics -- but then if I could go to the school maybe that lower left hemispher would pick up the names and parts of the brain better. After reading this book, I realized my own deficiencies and how I have compensated for them over the years. I knew I'm dyslexic, but this gave me more insight into why that is happening and the other surrounding functions that stress me out. I wish our medical and scientific world could get more into this instead of just operating or giving a pill. It's hard work, but the results are lasting and beyond worth it. An extremely interesting and intellectually stimulating book.
December 8, 2014
Barbara Arrowsmith-Young is obviously a fascinating woman who is dedicated to her work helping children and adults with learning disabilities. This book is an amazing introduction to pioneering techniques of training people to overcome their brain issues. While the book was insightful, I strongly feel that that Arrowsmith-Young was providing a strong sell of her specific methods rather than providing a balanced view. Individual people are featured throughout the book but she provides mostly before and after descriptions rather than specific work that was done to help them. I also found a lack of failure-certainly in her line of work there must of been people she was unable to help. I would therefore recommend this book only with reservations.
March 31, 2017
Wow. This book was on a bedside table of somewhere I was staying and I went out and bought a copy that day so I would be able to read the rest of it. Stories of people with amazing disabilities and how an ingenuous teacher developed exercises to help them train themselves out of it. It didn't feel like non-fiction to me, I stayed up till 2am reading. And each chapter reminded me of myself, my spouse, or a close friend! We are all flawed in some aspect I guess, but most of us manage to compensate via the undamaged parts. This shows you how extremely it can affect people's lives if they have too many gaps to cover for, and yet they still try and somehow manage to some extent. Has greatly increased my empathy for people struggling with this kind of thing, especially children.
June 30, 2012
Because I identify with the Arrowsmith's story,
I came to appreciate how my brain (and every one's) is so different and unique.
For example, I now have a deeper appreciation for my love of music, having seen a documentary showing how some may not 'hear' anything at all (a condition known as amusia)..
Even our "personality" and eccentricities may have roots in brain structure.
And, of course, her story shows how careful self observation and strong intention can change who we are in terms of actual brain function.
I came to appreciate how my brain (and every one's) is so different and unique.
For example, I now have a deeper appreciation for my love of music, having seen a documentary showing how some may not 'hear' anything at all (a condition known as amusia)..
Even our "personality" and eccentricities may have roots in brain structure.
And, of course, her story shows how careful self observation and strong intention can change who we are in terms of actual brain function.
June 8, 2016
2.5 stars if I could , as I don't think it is particularly well written. I read this book for educational purposes ...the author has founded a school in Canada ( The Arrowsmith School ) where the program is reportedly achieving amazing result. The whole subject of neuroplasticity and 'retraining ' the brain is fascinating.
October 26, 2021
I'm giving this book 5 stars because I think it contains one important idea I've not seen put so emphatically anywhere else: the idea that most learning disabilities should be addressed with cognitive exercises. But I have reservations which I'll explain.
The author seems to be on a mission to convince the reader that neuroplasticity is real. But one can accept neuroplasticity and still not agree that the remedy for learning disabilities is cognitive exercises. In fact, I think most proponents of the standard "drugs, accommodations, and modifications" approach believe there is some level of neuroplasticity. My understanding is that it hasn't been controversial for quite a while. But to these people, neuroplasticity is irrelevant. In my view, the horrifying standard approach to learning disabilities is not fundamentally caused by some mistake about whether the brain can be changed, but by a corrupt school system with bad incentives, not geared towards helping individuals thrive, but towards getting them through the system with "good grades." All the diagnoses, IEPs, and bureaucracy is geared towards one thing - schools getting funding. Parents seem to think this is the way to get their kids into college, as if that is the holy grail of life. Unfortunately, this system is so huge that it has swallowed even private practitioners and private schools, and everybody seems to be on the same train: the thing to do with children with "learning differences" is to take away whatever obstacles are in the way of them passing their classes. But passing their classes has nothing to do with whether or not they are able to think or have gained any knowledge or skills. Lowering the bar does not serve these kids. And, in fact, it is counterproductive, because what we are doing is taking away the need for them to use those parts of their brains that are weakest, so that they atrophy. It has never made any sense to me.
I've been trying to claw my way out of that system for years, begging doctors for help for my daughter. They all seem to think my goal for her is to get her into college by manipulating the school system into passing her through with decent grades. No! I want to address the root of the problem and help her learn to think at the highest level possible to her. I know, in principle, that letting her avoid the things that are hard for her is not the way to help her. The accommodations only allow her to postpone her eventual collision with the reality that she does not understand the world. Barbara's book is the first I've seen that seems philosophically compatible with my views, and I wanted to cheer so many times while reading it!
That said, it's not a great book. The whole book reads like it is trying to prove neuroplasticity via case studies and that neuroplasticity necessitates this particular course of action for learning disabilities. It's also just one big advertisement for her program - the Arrowsmith School. And I don't see anything compelling in the book to show that the particular program she has developed is effective. There is some research on the Arrowsmith web site which I will look into. And intuitively, I think she's onto something. But this book definitely falls short of convincing me. There are other approaches that are philosophically compatible with my views that might be more effective - maybe isolated cognitive exercises are not the most helpful thing because they don't transfer to real-world thinking problems. Maybe it would be better for these kids to get out of the artificial world of school and work on a farm, where they would encounter real-world challenges that require a fuller and more holistic use of their minds, and leave academic learning for when they are mature enough for it. Maybe they'd reach their potential with much the same type of education as every other kid, but allowing for bad grades and all the other stigma that used to come along with not being the brightest in the class. (I doubt that last one, but really, it's not an outrageous hypothesis and has it ever been studied?) There are so many exciting things that we could explore if we didn't have this massive state-run school system in our way, poisoning everything it touches.
So, it's a flawed book, yet I want every parent and teacher to read it. I would love to see this approach contrasted with the standard special ed approach, with the focus on the philosophical differences, rather than a weak scientific justification for one specific program. That could be revolutionary!
The author seems to be on a mission to convince the reader that neuroplasticity is real. But one can accept neuroplasticity and still not agree that the remedy for learning disabilities is cognitive exercises. In fact, I think most proponents of the standard "drugs, accommodations, and modifications" approach believe there is some level of neuroplasticity. My understanding is that it hasn't been controversial for quite a while. But to these people, neuroplasticity is irrelevant. In my view, the horrifying standard approach to learning disabilities is not fundamentally caused by some mistake about whether the brain can be changed, but by a corrupt school system with bad incentives, not geared towards helping individuals thrive, but towards getting them through the system with "good grades." All the diagnoses, IEPs, and bureaucracy is geared towards one thing - schools getting funding. Parents seem to think this is the way to get their kids into college, as if that is the holy grail of life. Unfortunately, this system is so huge that it has swallowed even private practitioners and private schools, and everybody seems to be on the same train: the thing to do with children with "learning differences" is to take away whatever obstacles are in the way of them passing their classes. But passing their classes has nothing to do with whether or not they are able to think or have gained any knowledge or skills. Lowering the bar does not serve these kids. And, in fact, it is counterproductive, because what we are doing is taking away the need for them to use those parts of their brains that are weakest, so that they atrophy. It has never made any sense to me.
I've been trying to claw my way out of that system for years, begging doctors for help for my daughter. They all seem to think my goal for her is to get her into college by manipulating the school system into passing her through with decent grades. No! I want to address the root of the problem and help her learn to think at the highest level possible to her. I know, in principle, that letting her avoid the things that are hard for her is not the way to help her. The accommodations only allow her to postpone her eventual collision with the reality that she does not understand the world. Barbara's book is the first I've seen that seems philosophically compatible with my views, and I wanted to cheer so many times while reading it!
That said, it's not a great book. The whole book reads like it is trying to prove neuroplasticity via case studies and that neuroplasticity necessitates this particular course of action for learning disabilities. It's also just one big advertisement for her program - the Arrowsmith School. And I don't see anything compelling in the book to show that the particular program she has developed is effective. There is some research on the Arrowsmith web site which I will look into. And intuitively, I think she's onto something. But this book definitely falls short of convincing me. There are other approaches that are philosophically compatible with my views that might be more effective - maybe isolated cognitive exercises are not the most helpful thing because they don't transfer to real-world thinking problems. Maybe it would be better for these kids to get out of the artificial world of school and work on a farm, where they would encounter real-world challenges that require a fuller and more holistic use of their minds, and leave academic learning for when they are mature enough for it. Maybe they'd reach their potential with much the same type of education as every other kid, but allowing for bad grades and all the other stigma that used to come along with not being the brightest in the class. (I doubt that last one, but really, it's not an outrageous hypothesis and has it ever been studied?) There are so many exciting things that we could explore if we didn't have this massive state-run school system in our way, poisoning everything it touches.
So, it's a flawed book, yet I want every parent and teacher to read it. I would love to see this approach contrasted with the standard special ed approach, with the focus on the philosophical differences, rather than a weak scientific justification for one specific program. That could be revolutionary!
June 3, 2017
If you have a child with learning differences, you're suddenly plunged into a confusing world. Your child is given IQ tests, but all of a sudden the subtests -- with names like "word attack" and "visual memory" matter. Some LD children are at 90th %tile for some cognitive skills -- and 10th %tile in others.
It turns out that cognitive challenges very rarely fit neatly into the categories we're told about. Dyslexia, for example, can be just one cognitive challenge, or it can be about 10. Your child may have poor fine motor skills, or he or she might have dysgraphia, which is *also* trouble handwriting, but can include problems with symbol recognition, working memory, processing speed, and so forth.
But what do those terms mean? That's harder. It's really nobody's job to explain these things to parents. Traditionally, the cognitive sub-tests have been just too complex for parents to worry about. But in today's world, where we're learning new things about neurodevelopment and neuroplasticity pretty much every month, parents are starting to look into what their children's cognitive challenges are, and whether or not traditional therapies, such as occupational therapy, can help develop those weaknesses.
Enter Barbara Arrwsmith-Young. She's started a series of schools in Canada called the Arrowsmith Schools, and her story is really remarkable. An intelligent woman, with a drastically immature, unevenly-developed brain, she set off to research cognitive deficits (often caused by head injuries), and the therapies used to help people recover from them. Then she used those same techniques on her brain, to help it develop.
This is the story of what she did and how she did it. As part of this book, you will get a full description of things like symbol recognition, and what it REALLY MEANS. Not just what it means if your child scores low in the symbol recognition test, but how having low symbol recognition capability can affect someone's life.
I really cannot recommend this book enough. The foreward is by Norm Doidge, who wrote the brilliant neuroplasticity book "The Brain That Changes Itself."
It turns out that cognitive challenges very rarely fit neatly into the categories we're told about. Dyslexia, for example, can be just one cognitive challenge, or it can be about 10. Your child may have poor fine motor skills, or he or she might have dysgraphia, which is *also* trouble handwriting, but can include problems with symbol recognition, working memory, processing speed, and so forth.
But what do those terms mean? That's harder. It's really nobody's job to explain these things to parents. Traditionally, the cognitive sub-tests have been just too complex for parents to worry about. But in today's world, where we're learning new things about neurodevelopment and neuroplasticity pretty much every month, parents are starting to look into what their children's cognitive challenges are, and whether or not traditional therapies, such as occupational therapy, can help develop those weaknesses.
Enter Barbara Arrwsmith-Young. She's started a series of schools in Canada called the Arrowsmith Schools, and her story is really remarkable. An intelligent woman, with a drastically immature, unevenly-developed brain, she set off to research cognitive deficits (often caused by head injuries), and the therapies used to help people recover from them. Then she used those same techniques on her brain, to help it develop.
This is the story of what she did and how she did it. As part of this book, you will get a full description of things like symbol recognition, and what it REALLY MEANS. Not just what it means if your child scores low in the symbol recognition test, but how having low symbol recognition capability can affect someone's life.
I really cannot recommend this book enough. The foreward is by Norm Doidge, who wrote the brilliant neuroplasticity book "The Brain That Changes Itself."
January 6, 2022
Got this rec from the Biology of Desire and boy am I glad I took it out. So very interesting. Barbara Arrowsmith-Young was born with multiple learning disabilities that made her day to day life very difficult, "she read and wrote everything backwards, struggled to process concepts in language, continually got lost, and could make no sense of an analog clock." She had a photographic memory which buoyed her through school and graduate school where she was introduced to some research that inspired to create cognitive exercises to strengthen her brain's many areas of weakness.
As an adult she created the Arrowsmith-Young school/program which addresses student's LD through what looks like Physical Therapy for the brain. Targeted cognitive exercises that get harder and harder until new connections are made/strengthened allowing people to learn better.
I am now obsessed with diagnosing my friends and family with learning disabilities. Its interesting because the human brain evolved long before writing and language became a huge part of the human experience, so different areas of the brain have been co-opted for these functions, it makes sense the hugely varying abilities of strengths and weaknesses would result.
Steve definitely has a motor sequencing weakness and thats why his handwriting is trash. The exercises developed to address this issue are so heckin interesting. The motor sequencing part of the brain is in the premotor region of the left hemisphere, to target it directly an eyepatch is placed over the left eye, forcing the right eye to do all the seeing and students are given shapes to trace, first simple, graduating to complex.
"The patch is worn over the left eye, forcing the right eye to do all the work. Why is that important? Remember that the left hemisphere of the brain controls movement on the right side of the body. In the case of this deficit, we want to increase stimulation to the left premotor region of the brain. By using the right eye (and it's motor movements) in coordination with the dominant hand, we increase stimulation to this left-hemisphere motor area."
As an adult she created the Arrowsmith-Young school/program which addresses student's LD through what looks like Physical Therapy for the brain. Targeted cognitive exercises that get harder and harder until new connections are made/strengthened allowing people to learn better.
I am now obsessed with diagnosing my friends and family with learning disabilities. Its interesting because the human brain evolved long before writing and language became a huge part of the human experience, so different areas of the brain have been co-opted for these functions, it makes sense the hugely varying abilities of strengths and weaknesses would result.
Steve definitely has a motor sequencing weakness and thats why his handwriting is trash. The exercises developed to address this issue are so heckin interesting. The motor sequencing part of the brain is in the premotor region of the left hemisphere, to target it directly an eyepatch is placed over the left eye, forcing the right eye to do all the seeing and students are given shapes to trace, first simple, graduating to complex.
"The patch is worn over the left eye, forcing the right eye to do all the work. Why is that important? Remember that the left hemisphere of the brain controls movement on the right side of the body. In the case of this deficit, we want to increase stimulation to the left premotor region of the brain. By using the right eye (and it's motor movements) in coordination with the dominant hand, we increase stimulation to this left-hemisphere motor area."
October 7, 2018
This book is not as nearly as autobiographical as the title suggests. Rather, it mainly contains chapter-long explanations of each of the 17 learning disorders that the author has defined. The definition of these learning disorders emerged from a combination of her understanding of published research (especially concerning neuroplasticity and the localization of cognitive functions within the brain, with particular emphasis on the framework she derived from researcher Aleksandr Luria [1902-1977]), and the results of her apparently successful attempts to use that knowledge to develop new ways of defining and treating learning disorders. I say "apparently" because a major criticism of her work is that none of the learning disorders she has defined has undergone any significant peer-reviewed research - although studies are reported underway. Never the less, the theoretical basis and anecdotal support for her approach was convincing for me, such that I'd be very surprised if significant support isn't given to her approach once peer-reviewed research is published. This is not a book for everyone, but I think it does make good reading for a keen reader wanting to expand their knowledge of learning disorders, or for people looking for a new way to understand challenges to learning in someone they know.
April 19, 2018
This is one the best eye opening book which I have ever read. As I read the book at some points, where people have recovered within four month period of treatment from their learning disorder, I just could not believe it momentarily, because it is far ahead than being amazing as it is offering a meaningful life to people who are going to appreciate having the exact same abilities as majority of us (who had not learning disability) do, whilst we (those who do not have learning disability) are not much aware of having those abilities. Abilities such as being able to analize our thought before speaking, being able to recognize objects, streets as we walk by...
I am a psychology student, hence I have familiarized myself with basics of psychology. Thus at the process of reading the book, there were several enigmatic moments for me. Despite, the book offers myriad possible and ethically conductible investigations... Apart from that as Author suggested we should start giving a hand to those forlorn children in all over the world by bringing in Arrowsmith program into every existing, both public and private, schools.
Overall, I recommend the book to those who has a brain inside or outside of their skull :P.
I am a psychology student, hence I have familiarized myself with basics of psychology. Thus at the process of reading the book, there were several enigmatic moments for me. Despite, the book offers myriad possible and ethically conductible investigations... Apart from that as Author suggested we should start giving a hand to those forlorn children in all over the world by bringing in Arrowsmith program into every existing, both public and private, schools.
Overall, I recommend the book to those who has a brain inside or outside of their skull :P.
May 20, 2018
Two stars for "disappointing." The story of how the author managed to overcome her learning disability by designing exercises to strengthen the part of her brain that forms connections between ideas was interesting and inspiring. The rest of the book is stories of individuals with various cognitive disorders and how they were helped by her school, as in, before their life was bad in these ways, and after it was better in those ways. As an advertisement, it does a good job-- if my child had cognitive disorders, I might like to send him to this school. But none of the techniques are explained at all in the book, making it pretty useless as anything but promotional material.
The scientific basis of her methods is, I think, unproven. She understands well that different parts of the brain serve different purposes, and that neuroplasticity means that brains can change. But when she claims that these repetitive learning techniques serve to reroute specific modules in the brain in ways that other learning techniques don't, she's going beyond what she presents evidence for. The book is all anecdotal, not statistical: how do I know that at the next school over, they can't come up with a similar list of success stories with their different technique?
The scientific basis of her methods is, I think, unproven. She understands well that different parts of the brain serve different purposes, and that neuroplasticity means that brains can change. But when she claims that these repetitive learning techniques serve to reroute specific modules in the brain in ways that other learning techniques don't, she's going beyond what she presents evidence for. The book is all anecdotal, not statistical: how do I know that at the next school over, they can't come up with a similar list of success stories with their different technique?
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