Brain School

This book, written by Howard Eaton, caught my attention because of my recent interest in learning disabilities.

NEUROPLASTICITY
The basis of the Brain School is neuroplasticity, or basically the ability of the brain to adapt. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, neuroplasticity is the “capacity of neurons and neural networks in the brain to change their connections and behaviour in response to new information, sensory stimulation, development, damage, or dysfunction.” This is good news when you consider the people suffering from serious disorders and illnesses related to the brain, such as stroke, injury, autism, ADHD, learning disabilities, brain deficits, depression and addiction.

PSYCHO-EDUCATIONAL ASSESSMENT
A psycho-educational assessment measures a variety of areas with a percentile rating (25% - 75% is average range, while 50% is age-level ability) :

• Motor Coordination; Visual-Motor Integration (BEERY): fine motor skills, visual perception, hand-eye coordination
• Processing Speed; Coding-Subtest (WISC-III; WISC-IV): scan and copy visual symbols; timed
• Cognitive Efficiency (WJ-III): process information automatically
• Working Memory (WJ-III;WISC-IV): hold and manipulate information in immediate awareness
• Visual-Auditory Learning (WJ-III): long-term retrieval/memory
• Verbal Ability (WJ-R): vocabulary knowledge and word reasoning
• Auditory Processing; Phonemic Awareness (WJ-R): analyze and synthesize speech sounds; critical cognitive ability for reading and spelling development
• Verbal Comprehension IQ (Wechsler Intelligence Scale): word meanings and relationships; understand social rules and norms; mental math problem solving
• Oral Language: follow directions and recall story details
• Sound Blending (Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Ability): blend sounds into words
• Fluid Reasoning (Woodcock-Johnson): fluid intelligence; recognize patterns and/or relationships
• Nonverbal Intelligence (TONI-3): fluid intelligence; recognize visual patterns and relationships

ARROWSMITH PROGRAM (19 cognitive dysfunctions and common features)

• Motor-Symbol Sequencing: produce sequence of symbols (messy handwriting; spelling errors)
• Symbol Relations: relationships between two or more ideas (reading comprehension; math reasoning; logical reasoning; reversals of b-d, p-q)
• Memory for Information and Instructions: chunks of auditory information (trouble following instructions, lectures or conversations)
• Predicative Speech: words and numbers interconnect sequentially into fluent sentences (incomplete sentences; breakdown of steps in math; can’t put information into own words)
• Broca’s Speech Pronunciation: pronounce syllables and words (mispronounce words; monotone speech)
• Auditory-Speech Discrimination: hear difference between similar speech sounds (mishearing and misinterpreting information)
• Symbolic Thinking: maintain plans and strategies using language (not self-directed; lack attention to task; trouble with main idea; difficulty with thinking, planning, problem solving)
• Symbol Recognition: visually recognize and remember word or symbol (poor word recognition; slow reading; spelling problems; trouble with math/chemical equations)
• Lexical Memory: remember unrelated words (problem with associative memory; trouble with auditory information; trouble learning names)
• Kinesthetic Perception: know one’s body in space and recognize objects by touch (awkward body movements; bumping into objects; uneven handwriting pressure)
• Kinesthetic Speech: awareness of position of lips and tongue (lack of clear articulation; speech slurring)
• Artifactual Thinking: interpret nonverbal information and problem solve nonverbally (problem interpreting body language, facial expression, voice tone; weak social skills; own emotions)
• Narrow Visual Span: see a large number of symbols or objects in one visual fixation (slow, jerky reading with errors; eye fatigue when reading)
• Object Recognition: visually recognize and remember details of objects (trouble finding objects; problem with visual cues; difficulty remembering faces or details of pictures)
• Spatial Reasoning: imagine a series of moves inside head before execution (getting lost; losing objects; messing workspace; trouble with geometric figures)
• Mechanical Reasoning: understand how machine operate and handle tools (trouble understanding mechanical properties of objects; trouble repairing a bicycle)
• Abstract Reasoning: carry out a task in proper sequence (trouble understanding tasks like sewing, cooking or programming)
• Primary Motor: control muscle movements on both sides of body (poor muscle tone; awkwardness and slowness of body movement)
• Supplementary Motor: carry out internal sequential mental operations, such as mental math (finger counting; trouble retaining numbers in head, learning math facts; poor sense of time)

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE PSYCHO-EDUCATIONAL ASSESSMENT AND THE ARROWHEAD ASSESSMENT
The purposes of the two assessments are very different. The psycho-educational assessment seeks to diagnose a learning disability, assist in skill remediation, in-class adaptations, and assistive technology. The Arrowhead assessment is used solely to design the cognitive capacity training intervention for achievement acquisition. Psycho-ed assessments take about three to four hours, while the Arrowhead assessment can take several hours more. The psycho-ed assessments finds percentile scores on measures of intelligence, cognitive ability, and achievement in reading, writing and math. The Arrowhead assessment does not measure reading, spelling, or mathematical abilities but rather cognitive areas, and results falls on a spectrum from very severe to moderate to mild to above average.

BRAIN SCHOOL
It is unique in some ways. It goes from 8:30 to 3:00 pm, and has eight periods; six of those are cognitive classes, each 40 minutes long, and the other two are English and math. The focus of the school is cognitive remediation. There are two teachers per classroom, so the teacher-student ratio is around one-to-nine. When a student masters a cognitive exercise, a new one is started. Students keep track of their achievements and set new daily goals. In one word, students are focussed--on cognitive exercises, active engagement, and repetition. Despite the intensity of the cognitive classes, students engage in other activities, as well. Daily physical education is 40 minutes a day, and students can participate in extracurricular activities, such as field trips, plays, guest artists, track and field and a talent show.

Source: Eaton, Howard, 2011. Brain School. Vancouver, Glia Press.

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