Barbara Arrowsmith-Young was born with severe
learning disabilities that caused teachers to label her slow,
stubborn-or worse. As a child, she read and wrote everything
backward, struggled to process concepts in language, continually
got lost, and was physically uncoordinated. She could make no sense
of an analogue clock. But by relying on her formidable memory and
iron will, she made her way to graduate school, where she chanced
upon research that inspired her to invent cognitive exercises to
"fix" her own brain.
The Woman Who Changed Her Brain
interweaves her personal tale with riveting case histories from her
more than thirty years of working with both children and adults.
Recent discoveries in neuroscience have conclusively
demonstrated that, by engaging in certain mental tasks or
activities, we actually change the structure of our brains-from the
cells themselves to the connections between cells. The capability
of nerve cells to change is known as neuroplasticity, and
Arrowsmith-Young has been putting it into practice for decades.
With great inventiveness, after combining two lines of research,
Barbara developed unusual cognitive calisthenics that radically
increased the functioning of her weakened brain areas to normal
and, in some areas, even above-normal levels. She drew on her
intellectual strengths to determine what types of drills were
required to target the specific nature of her learning problems,
and she managed to conquer her cognitive deficits. Starting in the
late 1970s, she has continued to expand and refine these exercises,
which have benefited thousands of individuals. Barbara founded
Arrowsmith School in Toronto in 1980 and then the Arrowsmith
Program to train teachers and to implement this highly effective
methodology in schools all over North America. Her work is revealed
as one of the first examples of neuroplasticity's extensive and
practical application. The idea that self-improvement can happen in
the brain has now caught fire.
The Woman Who Changed Her Brain powerfully and
poignantly illustrates how the lives of children and adults
struggling with learning disorders can be dramatically transformed.
This remarkable book by a brilliant pathbreaker deepens our
understanding of how the brain works and of the brain's profound
impact on how we participate in the world. Our brains shape us, but
this book offers clear and hopeful evidence of the corollary: we
can shape our brains.
Young began life severely learning disabled, and built herself a better brain and a brain training program that has helped thousands of others do the same. In the past five years, the idea that self-improvement can happen in the brain has caught hold and inspired hope.
