Now that we’re offering the At-Home Cognitive Intensive Program, which targets the Symbol Relations function, you may be wondering about this cognitive capacity and the exercise we use to make it stronger. Many of our students say this exercise, more commonly known as “Clocks”, is one of their favorites and almost everyone has a story about how it improved life in some way. That’s because Clocks is a masterpiece in terms of brain training.

Why Clocks?

Photo by Black ice

Reading an analog clock was one of the many things Barbara Arrowsmith-Young struggled with as a young woman. We now know that being able to tell the time is an important indicator skill. As Howard Eaton, founder of the Eaton Arrowsmith schools, noted, if a child can’t read a clock face, “it often means they will also struggle with reading comprehension and math problem solving, as these achievement abilities also require the ability to analyze and synthesize many concepts simultaneously.”  Barbara experienced those problems, plus many of the classic signs of a weak Symbol Relations function, including:

• difficulty keeping up with the speed of lectures or following conversations
• an inability to understand anything that isn’t literal: jokes, sarcasm, and riddles 
• needing extra time and repetition to complete tasks
• an overwhelming sense of uncertainty 

During her graduate research, Barbara read about the work of Aleksandr Luria, a Russian neuropsychologist. She was struck by his work with Lyova Zazetsky, a soldier with a brain injury that left him with severe gaps in his ability to make sense of the world. To Barbara, those gaps felt eerily familiar. Zazetsky had been wounded by a bullet to the head. It damaged the left occipito-parietal region of his brain, an area that operates as an intersection, connecting and processing information coming from the outside world and other parts of the brain. Like Barbara, post-injury Zazetsky struggled to tell time on an analog clock. She began to suspect that her own left occipito-parietal region, what we now call the Symbol Relations area, wasn’t functioning well either. 

 

 

 

“Diagram showing the lobes of the brain CRUK 308.svg” by Cancer Research UK is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

 

 

 

Then Barbara found the work of Mark Rosenzweig, an American psychologist whose research showed that rats could physically rewire their brains in response to stimulation. With this revelation Barbara wondered if she could devise an exercise that could stimulate and rewire the occipito-parietal region of a human brain. If rats could do it, why couldn’t humans? Cue the first version of Clocks, a series of hand-written clock-face flashcard exercises. Barbara experimented on herself. 

The Fog Lifted

In her memoir, she recalls, “I would do the exercise every day for up to twelve hours a day, and as I got better, I made

the flashcards more complex. I cannot describe my exhilaration when I began to feel the result of all this work. Points of logic became clear to me, and elements of grammar now made sense, as did math. Conversations that I had always had to replay to comprehend now unfolded in real-time. The fog dissipated then lifted. It was gone for good.” 

 

Those hand-written flashcards evolved into a computer program that’s helped thousands of students live better lives. You can read some of their stories on our blog.

A Confident Brains student works on “Colcks” with his family cheering him on silently

By all accounts, Alessandro Marchi has a great life. The 50 year-old Italian runs his own successful music production company, has a lovely family, and has lived as an expat, most recently in Singapore and Thailand, for over 20 years. But Alessandro knew things could be better. “For me, the worst thing you could ask me to do is read out loud. I had an undiagnosed dyslexia problem. I knew that my whole life, but I never addressed it.” He also struggled with writing. As a child in Italy, he intuitively wrote with his left hand, but “when I was about to start primary school, they made me write with my right hand. When I got to grade 6 they made me go back to my left hand. My writing was horrible, of course. It was something I learned to live with.” Like many people who grew up when learning differences weren’t on the radar, Alessandro learned to cope, and cope well. 

 

When he learned about the Arrowsmith program available at United World College Thailand, the school his children attend, he was wary at first. Looking into it, he began to wonder, “If it helps people with learning challenges, what will it do to people who are in the so-called ‘normal range’? I saw many children benefiting from the program, and I thought, ‘What if I had a go? Would it help me?’ ” 

When Confident Brains opened an adult program, Alessandro thought, “Why not invest six months in myself and try this thing?” He ended up enrolling in a full year for three sessions a day. The assessment results surprised but galvanized him. “It’s shocking at first but then you think, certainly, there’s a chance to improve these things. At that moment, I didn’t know what to expect but I trusted that it would have a positive impact.” 

 

A few months in, he felt that impact. Although he was able to avoid reading out loud in public, he couldn’t say no when his kids asked for a bedtime story. Stumbling through words and misreading, he described it as, “a painful experience for me and for them.” One night, his kids asked him to read for them. “Pages into the story, I realized I WAS READING ALOUD with no difficulties! I was reading a whole story aloud… and well!” he recalls, laughing. “I was in disbelief. I didn’t say anything. Maybe this is a fluke.” It  wasn’t. It took Alessandro a few days of reading more easily to process the shift. “It was completely night and day. I realized how big this was for me, how big of a burden had lifted. I was so impressed that it was happening. That was definitely when I realized, ok, this [Arrowsmith] is really helping me.” 

 

With this boost, he worked even harder. “I had a very gung-ho approach. It was like going to the gym for me. I enjoyed it very much. I was competing with myself, my own limitations. Trying to do as much as possible every day. It’s a time and financial commitment so I wanted to see the most coming from it.”

 

As a Formula One fan, he really enjoyed the Symbol Relations exercise. “You feel like you’re a fighter pilot or formula one driver. You need to make a perfect lap in order to master. You make one single mistake, and you spoil the whole lap.” Alessandro began to notice more changes. “It’s as if you’ve received a boost. If you’re running, you can run faster. It’s easier. The organization of my thought and speech is much more fluid. It’s easier to find the words. I am more strategic. I think before I act. My learning is faster. I’m much more precise in my music playing. There is more clarity.” His wife, Sonia, noticed subtle differences too. “He’s less frustrated overall. A bit nicer to be around. Less frustrated about little things.” 

 

He occasionally thinks about how life would have been different if he’d had access to something like Arrowsmith as a child. “Oh my goodness. It’s the big what if. I would be a completely different person.” Still, Alessandro is happy he found it later in life. “I’m grateful for doing something for myself, for giving myself this opportunity. That’s the thing about Arrowsmith. Once you discover there is incredible potential, the question you ask immediately is, ‘why are people not going crazy for this thing?’ It really can straighten up your thought process. It’s for everyone. It’s a very effective brain gym.”

 

Asked if he would try reading out loud in public now, Alessandro recalls a memory of going to a seminar and being asked to read in front of the audience. “I knew it was over my limits. I said, ‘Sorry, I’m dyslexic, I would never do that.’” Today he feels differently. “I would give it a shot. I would be nervous speaking in front of an audience. It would scare the s— out of me but I would give it a shot.”

 

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1583826750614{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]Like many schools in Asia, and now around the world, we’re keeping a close eye on COVID-19 updates. With the Thai Ministry of Education mandating quarantines for people coming into the country from affected areas, three students and one teacher from the Arrowsmith classroom had to study from home for two weeks. While it was initially daunting, teachers, students and parents have not just survived but thrived. One of the students even returned and promptly mastered a higher level of the Symbol Relations exercise!

A simple set-up made it possible: laptop, Google hangouts, a webcam and headphones.

Kru LJ Cheng, working from home, was in frequent contact with the quarantined students. He gave feedback and instruction through Google slides, hangouts, text messages, voice calls, and video streaming. Kru Joel Fisher has been taking care of the classroom students and checking in with the quarantined families a few times a day.

For the students in quarantine, it’s taking more discipline and commitment to overcome the distractions of home and workspaces with stunning views! Bravo to their parents who were supervising and trying to manage their own work as well.

A few of the Arrowsmith students at UWC Thailand got a classroom view upgrade recently.

Andrea Edwards: “It was a seamless transition! It’s never going to be smooth sailing having your children at home in this scenario, but the @uwcthailand Arrowsmith teachers have been amazing. We’re really impressed with the boys. They got on with the work that needed doing without too much moaning!”

Another parent was impressed with how quickly the teachers responded to this learning challenge. “They were efficient with setting up not only the [Arrowsmith] program but taking the lead and working my child’s mainstream classes too. The timetable and expectations were set out clearly with regular contact time, including emotional support [because] they knew it could be hard to achieve without being in the classroom.”

Well done, everyone! Great to have you all healthy and back at school.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]We recently celebrated a big student milestone. A few weeks ago, Tenzin Hebben completed the highest level – Level 10 – of the Symbol Relations exercise! Fewer than 50 students in the history of the Arrowsmith Program have completed this level of cognitive training because it requires not only motivation, but unwavering commitment and fierce determination.

When Tenzin completed level 10 it represented far more than finishing a level of brain training. It took him hundreds of hours of dedicated work. When he first started Arrowsmith, he found the most basic levels challenging, and he feigned low motivation as a solution to feelings of hopelessness.

For Tenzin, getting to this proud moment in the photo you see here meant harnessing the perseverance to acquire strengths that he had never been able to unlock before. AND it involved doing this repeatedly! Completing this level also requires a deep sense of faith in yourself, and/or deep trust in those (teachers and family members) who are saying it will be possible. Achieving this level means you have have surpassed “impossible” goals to the point where doing so has become a matter of habit — the Arrowsmith M.O., and an extremely valuable life lesson.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

There is a lot of buzz in neuroeducation circles these days. In October 2019 the most recent study regarding the Arrowsmith cognitive training program was published in the peer reviewed journal: Learning.

The study is the first publication of fMRI-based studies that have been taking place over the past several years. There are many more studies that are still awaiting publication, but we now have our first official observations of why the Arrowsmith Program has been so effective since its development in the late 1970’s.

The results are very positive and they demonstrate that the Arrowsmith Program can have a profound positive impact on the ability to learn. It confirms what practitioners have known for decades—the Arrowsmith Program can fundamentally improve the ability to learn.

 

fMRI research confirms the Arrowsmith Program can effectively strengthen weak neurological functions that are thought to underlie diagnosis such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, processing disorders and ADHD. The brain scan studies allow researchers to observe why students who complete the Arrowsmith have such profound life changing experiences.

Decades of Independent Studies

This is the first fMRI-based study to be peer reviewed and published. However, the Arrowsmith Program has a long history of research and independent studies spanning 3 decades. Studies have shown that completing the Arrowsmith Program can increase cognitive abilities by more than 30%. Studies also show that students in the Arrowsmith Program experience a reduction in depression and anxiety, increases in academic and social abilities, and they require little or no learning support after the program is complete.

New Phase of Research

The Arrowsmith Program, based in Canada, has recently announced a global research initiative aimed at taking a deeper look into the program that is available in 100+ schools in 10 countries. This research initiative includes projects in Canada, USA, Spain and Eastern Europe. It is truly an exciting time in the field of neuro-education. Long-held notions that learning disabilities are untreatable are beginning to unravel. As we deepen our understanding of the brain and ideas about neuroscience become more accepted, options for people who suffer from learning disabilities will become even more effective and widely available. A future where specific learning difficulties, such as dyslexia and ADHD, are fully treatable is now on the horizon.

More information on research related to the Arrowsmith Program, including original studies is available at https://arrowsmithschool.org/research/

The Arrowsmith Program is available in Asia through Confident Brains Pte Ltd. confidentbrains.com  INFO@CONFIDENTBRAINS.COM

 

 

 

Athletics’ last great barrier has been broken

Eliud Kipchoge, Kenyan athlete, ran the marathon distance of 42.2km in under 2 hours. Until recently, the idea that a human being could break the 2-hour mark was labeled impossible, or that it would not be accomplished for generations. Kipchobe’s time was 1:59:40.

The accomplishment ranks among the greatest achievements in sports history. It completes a list of amazing human accomplishments in line with Roger Bannister’s 4-minute mile, and Jim Hines’ first 100m sprint in under 10 seconds.  To put it in perspective, Kipchobe’s time is nearly an hour faster than the first gold metal marathon time in the modern Olympics. The achievement cements Kipchobe’s place as the greatest marathon runner of all time.

Photo credit: Herbert Neubauer

The latest of a string of recent achievements

The accomplishment is part of a flood of incredible advancements in the running world.  The recent generation of marathon runners have loped nearly 4 minutes off the world marathon record. The 5 fastest marathons in history have been run in the last 13 months, and Brigid Kosgei obliterated the 16-year-old women’s record just one day after Kipchoge’s sub 2-hour feat.

 

Why is this happening?

Is it the shoes? Nike has created a shoe called the Vapourfly, complete with highly refined technology and carbon fiber plates that are claimed to improve running efficiency by at least 4%.  Kipchoge and the rest of the runners who have established the five fastest marathon times, as well as new world record holder Brigid Kosgei were all wearing some version of the new shoes from Nike during their runs.

 

There is certainly much discussion as to whether the shoes constitute an unfair advantage. However, most human accomplishments involve some level of technology and application of scientific understanding.

 

What 1:59:40 means for people with Learning Challenges

Running the marathon distance in under 2 hours has ignited the running world and put a spotlight on a sport that has not been in vogue in decades. When someone achieves something that was previously thought impossible, it sparks an awakening of sorts. It gives people permission to broaden their view and rethink what else may be possible. This idea of breaking new barriers and expanding the realm of what is possible will trickle out far beyond the running world. It will forge a place in our collective consciousness that will allow us understand that things can always get better.

The world of learning disabilities can often appear very bleak, especially to those who suffer directly. It can be a world of damning labels, frustrating diagnosis, and no sense of hope for the future. Being diagnosed with a learning disability can feel like a “death sentence”. They can appear as a barrier that cannot be overcome.

Fortunately, impossible barriers can be redefined and broken. People are often told that learning disabilities are permanent and there are few solutions. We now know there is technology and specific teaching methods that can be used to fully address learning disabilities such as dyslexia. A learning disability no longer has to be a “death sentence”.

Eliud Kipchoge as demonstrated that under the right conditions (and with help from technology) impossible barriers can be broken. His accomplishment serves as a reminder that the impossible can be made possible, and it is worth perusing goals that are currently beyond the horizon.  For people with learning challenges, it is a reminder that we should question perceived barriers, keep searching for solutions, and demand that the existing technology is available to everyone.

The goal of a world where learning disabilities can be fully treated, and people can unleash the full potential of their brain is now on the horizon.

[Confident Brains School providing the Arrowsmith Program serves children and adults with learning challenges. The Arrowsmith Program has been used to fully and permanently address the underlying cause of learning difficulties for more than 40 years. Arrowsmith Program originated in Canada and is now available in South East Asia through Confident Brains Pte Ltd. Contact: INFO@CONFIDENTBRAINS.COM]