Barbara Arrowsmith Young: Overcoming Learning Disabilities [Encore Episode]

Inclusive Education Project (IEP) Podcast

Barbara Arrowsmith Young joins Amanda and Vickie on today’s podcast. Brain plasticity, how brains learn and how they develop, and how we can be better at providing learning environments and programs for not only kids who are differently-abled, but all kids, are the highlights they’ll be covering. Don’t miss this fascinating, cutting-edge insight!

Barbara Arrowsmith Young is the Founder of Arrowsmith School and the Arrowsmith Program. She is the author of the international bestseller, The Woman Who Changed Her Brain: How I Left My Learning Disability Behind and Other Stories of Cognitive Transformation. She has dedicated her life to helping individuals overcome learning difficulties, first starting with herself, many years ago, and now working with educators and children all around the world to transform their lives through cognitive programs.

Show Highlights:

• Someone gave Barbara the book, The Man with a Shattered World: The History of a Brain Wound, by Aleksandr R. Luria, and this was life-changing for her. The book tells the story of a Russian soldier from WWII who had a localized head wound, as the result of an injury. This soldier had kept a journal for a number of years. Luria was a brilliant Russian neuropsychologist, and studied his case prior to writing the book. Barbara was stunned to discover that the soldier was describing his problems exactly as Barbara had been describing hers, in her own journal.
• “Learning disability” is a term used in North America. In the southern hemisphere, the term used is “learning difficulty.”
• Barbara explains that when she was young, she used her photographic memory to compensate for her learning difficulty. She also relates that she was “five hours behind” everybody else in understanding things.
• Barbara shares some fascinating discoveries regarding researchers at a number of universities around the world who are looking at the brains of the students that are going through the Arrowsmith Program.
• The 3rd Edition of Barbara’s book will be published in the middle of December, and there will be a new chapter concerning this research.
• The Arrowsmith Program is in 100 schools in 10 countries, and their mission is to train teachers all over the world in this methodology.
• The earlier this program is started for all students, the less stigma there will be, and everybody benefits.

Links/Resources:

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