The Woman Who Changed Her Brain: And Other Inspiring Stories of Pioneering Brain Transformation PDF
Preview The Woman Who Changed Her Brain: And Other Inspiring Stories of Pioneering Brain Transformation
Praise for The Woman Who Changed Her Brain “Arrowsmith-Young’s poignant and uplifting book about her transformation from a child born with severe learning disabilities to a dynamic pioneer in cognitive education offers hope to anyone who has ever struggled with a learning disorder, brain trauma, ADD, or stroke. By her own fierce determination and passionate desire to learn, this remarkable woman changed her own brain and has since helped countless others to change theirs. This is an important book.” —Mira Bartók, New York Times bestselling author of The Memory Palace “This is a poignant book about two people who connected across continents and generations—a Canadian woman with an unusual cognitive makeup and the great Russian neuropsychologist Alexander Luria, whose writings gave Barbara Arrowsmith the tools to change her own life and the lives of her many students. Moving, insightful, and empowering!” —Elkhonon Goldberg, Ph.D., author of The Wisdom Paradox and The New Executive Brain “If you have a son, a daughter, a parent, a spouse, or a brain, this is a must-read book. It will open your mind to new possibilities on how to deal with ‘traffic jams in the brain.’” —Alvaro Fernandez, CEO and cofounder, SharpBrains.com 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. Barbara ArrowsmithYoung is the director of Arrowsmith School and Arrowsmith Program. She holds both a B.A.Sc. in Child Studies from the University of Guelph and an M.A. in School Psychology from the University of Toronto (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education). Visit the author at www.barbaraarrowsmithyoung.com MEET THE AUTHORS, WATCH VIDEOS AND MORE AT SimonandSchuster.com • THE SOURCE FOR READING GROUPS • JACKET DESIGN BY ERIC FUENTECILLA JACKET ILLUSTRATION © IMAGEZOO/CORBIS COPYRIGHT © 2012 SIMON & SCHUSTER Thank you for purchasing this Free Press eBook. Sign up for our newsletter and receive special offers, access to bonus content, and info on the latest new releases and other great eBooks from Free Press and Simon & Schuster. or visit us online to sign up at eBookNews.SimonandSchuster.com FREE PRESS A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. 1230 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020 www.SimonandSchuster.com Copyright © 2012 by Barbara Arrowsmith-Young Foreword © 2012 by Norman Doidge, M.D. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Free Press Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020 First Free Press hardcover edition May 2012 FREE PRESS and colophon are trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc. The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com. Designed by Mspace/Maura Fadden Rosenthal Excerpt by Denise Levertov, from BREATHING THE WATER, copyright © 1987 by Denise Levertov. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp. Illustrations in Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure 7, Figure 8, Figure 9, and Figure 10 copyright Marta Scythes Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Arrowsmith-Young, Barbara The woman who changed her brain: and other inspiring stories of pioneering brain transformation / Barbara Arrowsmith-Young. p. cm. 1. Arrowsmith-Young, Barbara. 2. Neuroplasticity—Popular works. 3. Learning disabled—United States—Biography. I. Title. QP360.5.A77 2012 362.3092—dc23 [B] 2011051961 ISBN 978-1-4516-0793-2 ISBN 978-1-4516-0795-6 (ebook)
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