The Story of Barbara Arrowsmith-Young "The Woman Who Changed Her Brain and Left Her Learning Disability Behind"

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, EPISODE #132 with Barbara Arrowsmith Young, an incredible woman from my hometown, Toronto, Canada, who is otherwise known as “The Woman Who Changed Her Brain”[i] Watch this interview on YouTube here. In this episode, you will learn: ✔︎The heroic story of Barbara Arrowsmith-Young that Dr. Norman Doidge, the author of The Brain That Changes Itself says is “truly heroic, on par with the achievements of Helen Keller.” ✔︎ What specific learning challenges Barbara noticed by 1st grade, and how she struggled through school during the time of the “fixed” brain, before the concept of neuroplasticity. ✔︎ How her parents prepared her for the legacy she would create years after she graduated from OISE’s Faculty of Education in Toronto. ✔︎ How a Russian neuropsychologist Alexander Luria and psychologist Mark Rosenzweig would help her to find the solution she was looking for to overcome her learning challenges and change her brain. ✔︎ What is the Arrowsmith School and Program that serves schools in educational institutions in worldwide? ✔︎ How you can connect with the Arrowsmith School to learn more about their programs to change student’s brains. Welcome back, I'm Andrea Samadi, a former educator who has been fascinated with understanding the science behind high performance strategies in schools, sports, and the workplace for the past 20 years. If you have been listening to our podcast, you will know that we’ve uncovered that if we want to improve our social and emotional skills, and experience success in our work and personal lives, it all begins with an understanding of our brain. I first learned about Barbara Arrowsmith Young when researching for Brian Fact Friday and EPISODE #129 as she was a case study in Dr. Norman Doidge’s book, The Brain That Changes Itself[ii] Dr. Doidge is a Canadian scientist, medical doctor, and psychiatrist who was one of the researchers who put Neuroplasticity on the map and he dedicated a whole chapter in his book to Barbara’s story called “Building Herself a Better Brain” which is exactly what she did. You can read Barbara’s book, The Woman Who Changed Her Brain,[iii]  that’s now in its third edition, here.   I’ve heard Dr. Daniel Amen say over and over again that “you are not stuck with the brain that you have. You can be empowered to change it for the better[iv]” and Barbara Arrowsmith Young did just that, and more. Her story just below me away. Literally. It was the first time I cried while researching someone, as her story of struggling as a young girl hit a chord for me. The whole reason I do the work I’m doing now, is to help educators or those in the workplace to use the understanding of their brain to improve productivity (whether that’s in the classroom, or the workplace) and when someone is struggling in this area, like many people who have dedicated their life to the field of teaching and learning, most would want to know “why is this person struggling and what can we do to help them past this?” You can watch Barbara Arrowsmith Young’s  TEDx Talk, or read her story in Dr. Doidge’s book, to dive deeper into her story, that began when she was told she had a mental defect with her brain when she was younger, would never learn like other children, and would just have to learn to live with these limitations. For those of us who have children who need a little extra help, or who have worked with children with learning disabilities, we know that many times, even though other areas of the brain are highly functioning, and can even appear to make up for those areas of the brain that are not as strong, not addressing the areas of weakness, fixing or correcting them, can cause years of frustration for the child and will show up eventually when the brain becomes tired of working hard to compensate for the weaker areas.  This even showed up in my results with my brain scan at Amen Clinics with the X test, or the Connor’s

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The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast provides support for school leadership and the workplace with a proven approach for implementing social and emotional learning as it’s well-known in our schools today and emotional intelligence in the modern workplace, with a proven strategy to increase well-being, achievement and results, backed by the most current neuroscience research. Andrea Samadi, a teacher from Toronto, (now living in Arizona, USA) began working with success and social and emotional learning principles with students in the late 1990s. Her programs, and trainings, grounded in brain-based research and practical neuroscience, help parents, teachers, coaches and employees to optimize learning, well-being and achievement at home, school or the workplace. Learn more at https://www.achieveit360.com