The Woman Who Changed Her Brain: How I Left My Learning Disability Behind and Other Stories of Cognitive Transformation

This book is a godsend. Barbara Arrowsmith Young shares her story of discovering the reasons why some individuals despite being apparently intelligent, display difficult to teach learning behaviors. The inconsistencies between what you would expect a person to be able to do (for example after successfully doing ten questions of 2 - digit subtraction with borrowing, have a 5- minute break and she/he has forgotten how to do it despite going through this routine of 2 - digit subtraction every week ) and the actual performance (the person gets frustrated and states that they CAN'T do it can make you easily pass judgement that the person simply isn't trying hard enough or is just avoiding work. But with the insights obtained from this book, you get that 'Aha!' moment when you learn of how some people's thought process occur, and more importantly, descriptions of how the author overcame those cognitive pitfalls by doing specific brain exercises shines a light on possible solutions. The cognitive exercises are not explained in deep detail in the book due to their complexity and the need for constant tailoring to match the learner's performance in real-time as they need to be calibrated to just the right level to challenge themselves without being too overwhelming or impossible. This is where a teacher with experience and training in the method are essential in guiding the learner towards success and mastery of the various levels.

First I would like to say that I couldn't finish the book. I have a learning impaired child and very emotionally read through the first several chapters excited to find hope and inspiration. The problem I had with this book was the lack of science and the abundance of confirmation bias. They only focused on their success stories, and even from those I came away not entirely convinced they had stumbled on a sound or truly innovative method. Particularly with regards to the author herself, I expected a great deal of technical explanation of her methods and metrics. It is quite possible to overcome severe learning disabilities without intervention; people wake up from extended comas and I fail to see how she is demonstrating how her exercises specifically improved her cognitive deficits. I continued reading with hope that this would occur, but never got there. Many references to brain anatomy with no real new information. There was a great deal of redundancy and I tired midway through the book, beginning to sense this might in fact be an advertisement for the school (which did not return my calls BTW). I will keep looking. I hope this field remains explored as the author did present many compelling arguments, but we still have a very long way to go and I don't have time for inspiring stories right now.

The woman who changed her own brain is an interesting and eye opening book. It discuses many learning disabilities and how people using the arrow smith school of learning were able to overcome them. Which in turn I have to say seems like she is advertising the school through out the book. The book hints at cognitive exercises that can with practice develop new neural pathways and or help activate the parts of the brain that are having a hard time functioning. As some one that suffers from a learning disability I was very excited to learn that there might be something I could do about it. However, i do not have the kind of money it would take to go to her arrow smith academy. In short, read this book if you want to read inspiring and interesting stories about people who have overcome their disabilities, but not as a book that will give u information on what to do about those disabilities other than go to her school. Im giving this book 4 stars because she does not list any options for the low budget person to get some help.

Thank you Barbara!I have been researching the Arrowsmith School since reading Doidge's "The Brain That Changes Itself" and it has been very hard to actually find out the nuts and bolts of each exercise for each learning area. Unable to access the school for my son (in Australia), I read Eaton's Brain School with no luck as what to do and then Barbara comes along and writes a profound and ground breaking complete book that empowers the reader in first identifying weakness and what exercise to apply to strengthen that brain area. She provides exercises for each of the 19 functional areas, except: Lexical Memory, Narrow Visual Span, Mechanical Reasoning, Abstract Reasoning and Primary Motor.This is a book that empowers the reader to change their life or someone around them by being open and forthcoming with information. By the end of the book I am left with no doubt that Barbara is a courageous woman of integrity, on a mission to open options to those with cognitive weaknesses. As a mum with two boys who need additional cognitive support, this is a breath of fresh air and makes connections that have left our Occupational Therapists, Speech Therapists and Educational Staff stumped.

Barbara Arrowsmith-Young's candid and personal story of overwhelming determination and blazing hope, in conjunction with numerous dramatic life changing illustrations of people transforming their brains, comes alive through the pages of her book, 'The Woman Who Changed Her Brain' - truly inspirational. This book is for all of us. We all can grow and develop our brains. We all can and need to do our own diligent and conscientious work with ourselves to grow and develop more fully who we really can become in our lives. Systematic and comprehensive sets of exercises have been created that develop particular areas of our brains that need to grow. The Arrowsmith program and schools, based on these principles, is spreading around the world. Here is one person, Barbara Arrowsmith-Young, who out of the depths of her own suffering and struggling has persisted to create a whole new vanguard of methods for us. We can change our brain.

This was interesting…and hopeful for anyone dealing with disabilities or brain injuries. There are, however, no "how-to" directions. Yes, you can change your brain, but if you are specifically interested in Arrowsmith-Young's strategies, you may have to pay tens of thousands of dollars per year to enroll in her school in Toronto. She has an interesting web site, but the strategies are not available to the average individual. I sent an email via the web site regarding training, as I am an educator, but was told that the training is only available to those in the special schools and so I was disappointed as it appears that only the rich can change their brains with help from this book…although the tone of the book (and the email I received) were positive and welcoming.

If you don't know anything at all about brain plasticity you might be interested and feel a sense of hope. But at same time if you aren't anywhere near one of her schools or prepared to pay $5000+ for online course then I think you might quickly be bounced into despair.

A very interesting book. Lots of good information.

Mrs Arrowsmith-Young book is an impressive account of a challenging life and the power of determination and love to solve particular problems

Dommage que ce livre ne soit pas traduit en français . Heureusement je le,trouve assez facile à apprehander quand on a déjà lu sur la plasticité du cerveau et sur les troubles d apprentissage. Les différents troubles sont extremements bien décrits avec beaucoup d exemples d enfants rééduques en prenant en compte la neuropasticite. Un livre et des actions hautement documentés qui donne de l espoir.