A Personal Journey into the World of the Brain: Shaping the Mind | Barbara Arrowsmith-Young | 21 Feb 2017

This event/presentation will be of particular interest to anyone who wants to understand more about how our brains shape us and how we can shape our brains. This is ideal for parents and grandparents who have a child or know of a child with a learning disorder or anyone else interested in the social and emotional development of those with learning challenges.

Barbara Arrowsmith-Young is the Director of the Arrowsmith Program and Arrowsmith School. She holds a B.A.Sc. in Child Studies from the University of Guelph, and a Master’s degree in School Psychology from the University of Toronto.

In this presentation, Barbara will talk about her journey of discovery, the lines of research she combined and the outcomes achieved over her 35 years as an educator and researcher. Principles of neuroplasticity and the factors leading to both positive and negative brain change will be discussed.

She will describe a number of learning disorders, from those that impact the learner in school to those that affect us in life. She will discuss ‘cognitive glitches’ – those areas of weakness that we are all familiar with and often explain away by saying, “I am just not good at navigating, recognizing faces…” She will discuss ‘cognitive mismatches’ – situations we find ourselves in where the demand of the task is incompatible with our cognitive functioning and the challenges this presents.

The Arrowsmith Program, her program of cognitive exercises, started in schools in Canada and the USA, and has spread to New Zealand, Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea and Australia (but not South Australia). At present, South Australian families need to travel interstate or overseas to access the program for their children with learning difficulties.

Cost: $10 – $15

Bookings are essential. To book visit the Eventbrite website here.