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Oct. 28, 2011
Success with brain training
School offers a program rooted in the concept of neuroplasticity.
OLGA LIVSHIN
Eaton Cognitive Improvement Centre (ECIC) for young adults in Vancouver is only three years old, but it belongs to a distinguished family of private schools. These schools use the Arrowsmith Program, designed to help people with learning disabilities to better integrate into society and fulfil their individual academic and employment goals.
The Arrowsmith Program was founded by Barbara Arrowsmith Young in Toronto in 1978. The program is based on principles of neuroplasticity. In layman’s terms, this refers to the brain’s ability to physically change and to develop new neurons in response to changes in input, environment or repetitive exercise.
Arrowsmith Young herself was born with severe learning disabilities. She was also extraordinarily gifted and determined to overcome her difficulties. She graduated from high school and completed postsecondary education, but was plagued with recurring self-doubt. Life for Arrowsmith Young changed when she discovered psychologist Mark Rosenzweig’s research on neuroplasticity, a revolutionary concept at the time.
Before the concept of neuroplasticity was posited, learning disabilities were routinely handled through compensation, i.e. working around the problem. People who had trouble reading were advised to listen to recordings.
Those who couldn’t write were told to type. Neuroplasticity showed that the brain’s wiring could be modified through repetitive exercising of weak areas. A revolutionary approach: no compensation, but training.
Putting neuroplasticity into practice, Arrowsmith Young trained herself to overcome her disabilities and she succeeded beyond expectations. After conditioning her brain to function differently, she set out to help others with similar difficulties. She developed exercises for 19 different types of learning disabilities and, in 1980, opened a private school for children in Toronto.
Two decades later, the program expanded to other cities across North America and, in 2005, Howard Eaton, impressed by the results at the Toronto school, established Eaton Arrowsmith School in Vancouver. In 2008, he also opened Eaton Cognitive Improvement Centre, which has become the first site to offer the Arrowsmith Program exclusively to adults and young adults, typically ages 18-30.
The program, however, is the same for any age group. It is based on a series of exercises incremental in their skill level. The exercises, many of which are computer-based, help students advance their cognitive capacity in various areas: math and reading, memory, symbol recognition and even emotional understanding.
Alexandra Dunnison, the centre’s manager, demonstrated what’s called the clock exercise during an interview with the Independent. She explained that, at the start of the centre’s three-year full-time program, the students learn to quickly read the program’s six-handed clock (much faster than this reporter with a university degree could manage on a first try).
“Reading our clock is more than ‘finding out’ the time,” Dunnison said. “It teaches reasoning…. It’s like piano exercises; the more you practise, the faster and better you are. You can sculpt your brain.”
Dunnison is passionate about her work and the students. “This place is unlike anything else I’ve ever done,” she said, citing her varied experiences in education and publishing. “I think that everyone can learn. It was always frustrating for me to witness parents and teachers giving up on their children. When I heard about this program in 2006, I was fascinated.”
There are ups and there are downs, but Dunnison is quick to point out the students’ accomplishments. “The best thing about this job is that I help change the young students’ lives. A boy once told me that he read a newspaper for the first time in his life. It was a major victory – he had never read a newspaper before. But sometimes it can be extremely tiring and emotionally draining. I’m not only a teacher here, I’m a counselor and a therapist and a cheerleader. These kids need our help to build their self-esteem. They need positive feelings about a school environment, and a friendly atmosphere is very important.”
Recently, the program has been getting international attention and recognition. Among the current students are young adults from around British Columbia and also those from the United States, Australia, Singapore and Kuwait.
Unfortunately, not every learning disability can be improved through this program. “We can’t accept everyone,” Dunnison admitted. “We are not equipped to deal with, for example, severe cases of developmental delay…. The students who could benefit most are usually bright, with above-average intelligence, but they have some weak areas. They have struggled through regular high school, sometimes hiding their disabilities. One mother told me that her son had been ‘vomited’ through the system. When they come here, they’re often skeptical at first. But they want to succeed so they work very hard.”
Hard work is a requirement for success at the centre. Determination and sheer stubbornness also help. Nick Burrows, an ECIC student who spoke to the Independent, possesses these qualities in spades. He has been in the program for about six months. “I always needed learning assistance in high school,” he said. “I couldn’t take notes, couldn’t do math. When I came here, I wasn’t sure at first.”
Today, Burrows is sure. In six months, he has proceeded through several levels of language and math exercises. His spelling has improved, his reaction time is faster and his auditory memory is improving. Finally, he said, he can plan for university, although he has two more years to go in the program. “We start slow and build on,” he said. But, no matter how hard he has to work, he is not going to give up. “Never, ever, ever give up” seems to be the program’s motto – it’s written on the notice board outside Dunnison’s office.
For information on ECIC programs, visit eatoncognitive.com.
Olga Livshin is a Vancouver freelance writer. She can be reached at [email protected].
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