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The Brain's Ability to Change
Does your child have a learning disability or difficulties in school? Knowing about brain plasticity may be the answer to their problems.
The brain is plastic, a series of malleable pathways with the ever growing ability to be connected and refined. The once widely held idea that the brain stops growing (not in size, but in ability to learn) after a certain point in childhood has long been dismissed. Many studies and personal accounts prove that purposeful changes can be made to the brain into adulthood.
In a powerful TedTalk, Barbara Arrowsmith-Young shares her experience with being diagnosed with a learning disability, or “mental block,” in 1st grade. Arrowsmith-Young didn’t have the ability to read clocks, understand abstract concepts, or even feel the left side of her body for years. It wasn’t until 20 years later, at age 25, that Arrowsmith-Young found the cause of her “mental block”--a deficit in the left hemisphere of her brain. Barbara Arrowsmith-Young claims that she was able to stimulate this part of her brain, and cure her diagnosed learning disability, using a series of mental exercises.
While this is simply one story, science has proven how the brain is able to change. With over 100 billion neurons the brain has the ability to “reorganize pathways, create new connections, and in some cases, even create new neurons.” (Psychology.About.com) Through functional plasticity (the ability for one part of the brain to compensate for a damaged area within the brain) and structural plasticity (the ability of the brain to change its physical function through learning) the brain can withstand certain injuries and can even change throughout adulthood.
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Do you or someone you know live with cognitive weaknesses, big or small? Does your child struggle with certain subjects at school or has a difficult time paying attention? While it may be a learning disability, there is also a chance that certain parts of their brain aren’t as stimulated as others. With the knowledge of how malleable the brain is, it may be worth exploring a little more.
Watch Barbara Arrowsmith-Young’s testimony here. You can also find out more about brain plasticity and the ability to increase one’s cognitive skills here.
