The Woman Who Changed Her Brain
Barbara Arrowsmith-Young
Barbara Arrowsmith-Young was born with severe learning disabilities that caused teachers to label her as slow, stubborn - or worse. As a child, she read and wrote everything backwards, was physically uncoordinated and she continually got lost. 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, which we now now as neuroplasticity.
The Woman Who Changed Her Brain interweaves Barbara's personal story with riveting case histories from over thirty years of working with both children and adults at what became the Arrowsmith School in Toronto. This remarkable book by a brilliant pioneer deepens our understanding of how the brain works. Our brains may shape us, but this book offers clear and hopeful evidence of the corollary: that we can shape our brains.
Foreword by Norman Doidge, M. D., author of The Brain that Changes Itself
Product Details
About Barbara Arrowsmith-Young
Reviews for The Woman Who Changed Her Brain
Andrew Solomon, author of THE NOONDAY DEMON and FAR FROM THE TREE Groundbreaking and enthralling
Guardian
A pioneer in the treatment of learning disabilities... An inspiring, instructive life story
Kirkus
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., the author of The Wisdom Paradox and The New Executive Brain