The Arrowsmith Program is based on two strands of research, one of which demonstrated that reading, writing, and processing are complex mental activities that require cooperation between multiple regions of the brain and that a deficit in one region can have far-reaching consequences for a student's ability to learn in other areas.
Research into the physical mechanism of learning has also been conducted, with scientists looking into the concept of neuroplasticity. This is the brain's capacity to undergo physical changes in response to stimuli and activity, leading to the formation of new synapses and neurones. Neuroplasticity is the capacity of the brain to undergo both structural and functional changes as a result of learning and experience.
If you are looking for a grammar school that provides excellent services, look no further than our institution. Our experienced and dedicated staff will help your child grow into a successful adult.
New studies in neuroscience show that the brain is constantly evolving throughout one's life. Success with Arrowsmith Program participants in primary, secondary, and postsecondary settings, as well as in adults, demonstrates that neuroplasticity may be realised at any age.
Individuals with learning disabilities have historically been treated using programmes that aim to compensate for their challenges by making adaptations and accommodations due to the widespread belief that a person's neurological make-up cannot be changed. In contrast, the Arrowsmith Program utilises the current understanding of neuroscience to assist each student in improving the weak cognitive areas ("rewiring") that underlie his or her learning dysfunctions. As a result, the bolstered area's potential to aid in educational pursuits is enhanced. So, Arrowsmith is addressing the underlying issues that contribute to the child's learning difficulty.
The Arrowsmith Program takes into account the malleability of the brain by first conducting individualised evaluations of nineteen distinct cognitive domains and then adopting a targeted regimen of intensive, targeted workouts designed to improve those domains. By stimulating the formation of new synapses between neurones, mental activities like these improve one's ability to think and learn. Reading, writing, processing information, and speaking are all become easier as a person's cognitive capacity grows in response to these exercises. Each individual need individualised instruction in order to acquire the knowledge and abilities they lacked as a result of their unique learning disabilities. Instead of becoming a better learner over time as a result of picking up compensatory tactics that don't address the underlying issue, the person's brain really changes, making them a more successful learner for the rest of their lives.
The Arrowsmith Program has been shown to significantly improve a wide range of learning issues, including but not limited to: reading, writing, math, comprehension, logical reasoning, problem solving, visual and auditory memory, non-verbal learning, attention, processing speed, and dyslexia. One of the most fascinating aspects of the approach is that it helps participants keep the weight off.
Introducing the Arrowsmith Symbol Relations Cognitive Enhancement Program
We are all always looking for new ways to improve ourselves as lifelong learners. You could be an employee who wants to improve their reasoning and progress up the corporate ladder, or a student who wants to get better scores. You may be a retiree who is interested in ways to keep your brain healthy and sharp.
Applying findings from brain studies, the Arrowsmith Program demonstrates that cognitive performance can be modified and improved. Participants in the Cognitive Enhancement Program engage in a series of systematically designed mental exercises with the express goal of improving their ability to recognise and interpret symbols. Concepts in all fields of study require this function, which is an integral aspect of higher-order reasoning and processing. Intelligence, insight, logical reasoning, finding connections between concepts, processing causes and effects, and mathematical reasoning are all required.
Framework and Outcomes
The framework for success includes:
- Four hours of work per week with flexible scheduling
- Specialised Symbol Relations cognitive exercise
- A positive, supportive, and structured learning environment
- Administered by a trained Arrowsmith Program facilitator
Individuals in this program may see enhancement in their ability to:
- Process concepts across all academic disciplines
- Comprehend and quickly grasp what is read and heard
- Gain insight
- Reason logically
- See connections between ideas
- Process complex relationships such as cause and effect
- Reason mathematically
The Cognitive Intensive Program
Key learning skills can be improved in just six weeks with the help of the Cognitive Intensive Program. It is aimed at the Symbol Relations part of the brain, which is responsible for processing and interpreting concepts in many facets of life, including reading, listening, understanding, insight, logic, and cause and effect.
With Arrowsmith's cutting-edge neuroplasticity-based methodology, students in this programme can rewire their brains for improved learning.
The Cognitive Intensive Program at Arrowsmith School will focus on strengthening students' ability to absorb and comprehend concepts through the use of Symbol Relations. The ability to reason logically and find connections between ideas is crucial for many other cognitive processes as well, including reading comprehension, listening comprehension, understanding arguments, understanding scientific proofs, and solving mathematical problems.
This mental process is crucial to both formal education and general knowledge. Anyone's functioning in this area can improve by participating in this programme. In our practise, we have found that focusing on this particular cognitive process has a noticeable effect on a person's overall level of perceptual comprehension. The film includes testimonies from parents and students who participated in past Cognitive Intensive Programs.
The benefits of the Symbol Relations programme have been praised by renowned neuroscientist and author Norman Doidge (The Brain That Changes Itself, The Brain's Way of Healing):
"Higher-order reasoning and processing abilities are important in any field of study, and the Symbol Relations functions are ones that may be used to instruct people of any language background in this important talent. Having spent time in Toronto, working closely with the school, and recommending instruction in this cognitive function to a large number of students and adults, I can attest to the fact that it improves general performance and is a shrewd option among the many available. In a global sense, this would have a significant impact on making schools better."
One of the most promising advances for a world with such complicated problems is the fact that they are training the brain processors that make reasoning and rationality.
A significant barrier to success in adulthood for people with mild, moderate, or severe learning disabilities or executive functioning deficits is the absence of effective interventions to strengthen these skills.
The goal of the adult education programme is to provide a caring environment in which students can make lasting changes to their cognitive abilities that will improve their daily lives, their ability to learn new material quickly and efficiently, and their access to higher education and professional opportunities.
The Arrowsmith Program, based on the principles of neuroplasticity, provides a nurturing environment where students can learn without fear of reprisal. Cognitive activities are effective for strengthening the brain at any age.
Neuroscientific findings are the foundation of the Arrowsmith Program. For over 35 years, we have been researching and developing strategies to help students bolster the lagging cognitive abilities that contribute to a wide variety of learning challenges. We want to encourage pupils to develop their own learning strategies and become independent thinkers.
Research and Implications for Special Education: 6-Week Arrowsmith Cognitive Intensive Program
After assisting Barbara Arrowsmith-Young for ten years, the Arrowsmith Program's creator began to wonder if there was a way to make the Arrowsmith Method accessible to a wider range of people. What if we could shorten the intervention period without sacrificing efficacy?
Ms. Arrowsmith-Young investigated the Symbol Relations programme because it was thought that doing so would activate a part of the brain responsible for making associations. This mental process is what neuroscientists call a "association area of association areas," a region of the brain that processes several external and internal stimuli at once in order to gain insight into one's environment, oneself, and others. It's necessary for logical reasoning, creative problem solving, fast concept processing, and mastery of all academic standards.
Ms. Arrowsmith-Young acknowledged that this option would be viable if the intervention could have the same amount of hours as a 10-month intervention during the school year. The level of involvement being forced on youngsters was a source of concern. How likely is it that they'd be able to pull off such a drastic rescue attempt? Equally crucial would be locating academics willing to investigate the results of this concept.
Finding the researchers, recruiting the youngsters, and coordinating the study all happened during the summer of 2017. Pre- and post-Symbol Relations intervention brain imaging of the kids will be performed. Cognitive measurements of behaviour were also taken both before and after the experiment. More kids who don't have access to the year-round school-based programmes would be able to benefit from the intervention if studies show that this mode of intensive delivery is effective.
Dr. Greg Rose and his team presented their findings in September 2018 and March 2019. It was presented as poster sessions at two North American conferences, and it is widely considered to be one of the most significant pilot studies ever conducted on the topic of learning disabilities.
To begin with, the provided research shows that kids with learning difficulties often have trouble with brain network connectivity. Research at numerous universities around the world has already established that people with learning impairments and/or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have network abnormalities in the brain, therefore this is not a new result. Meaning, there were hyper-connectivity worries in the primary brain networks responsible for executive functioning or attention control regulation. In other words, a hyperconnected brain may have trouble communicating effectively among its networks, which could lead to a lack of learning. This issue was also displayed by students about to participate in the 6-week intensive Arrowsmith Program, further confirming these neuroscientific findings.
Research presented by Dr. Jagger-Rickels of Southern Illinois University in a poster session in September 2018 was remarkable because it showed that the Arrowsmith Program was reversing this connectivity dysfunction and transforming the brain network activity to improved functional connectivity, which in turn improved the cognitive abilities associated with these brain networks, such as processing speed and cognitive efficiency. The salience, default-mode, and frontoparietal networks were the three large-scale brain networks whose connection improved after the 6-week intense intervention.
It's worth repeating why this study has the potential to revolutionise how we approach the study of learning disabilities:
- According to the accepted definition, people with learning disabilities have them for life because the brain cannot physically adapt.
- The definition of learning disabilities emphasises the importance of compensating for, or using technology to overcome, neurological dysfunctions when making recommendations for remediation.
- The standard method of helping students who struggle academically is to encourage them to concentrate on their accomplishments rather than dwell on their deficiencies.
Dr. Greg Rose's and his team's research calls these suggestions and assumptions into question.
It's also worth noting that the brain networks with increased connection have an effect on one's emotional well-being. Thus, secondary diagnoses of social anxiety and depression after a kid has struggled with learning difficulties for some time often include different large-scale brain networks. Research into the connection between ADHD and brain network connectivity is also ongoing. As before, research has linked ADHD to disruptions in connectivity between the brain's salience and default mode networks. Finally, evidence from TBI-related brain injuries suggests that hyper-connectivity in brain networks results from higher-order cognitive dysfunctions in this population after the acute phase has passed. The Arrowsmith Program and other forms of intense cognitive therapy have demonstrated that they can alter this hyper-connectivity after TBI.
Dr. Greg Rose and colleagues' first findings suggest that the Arrowsmith Program is significantly enhancing the neurological capacities of children with learning difficulties. Parents of children and adults with learning difficulties and/or ADHD, as well as psychologists, psychiatrists, medical physicians, speech pathologists, special education instructors, school administrators, and adults with learning disabilities, should all take note of this new paradigm of intervention. People with learning difficulties have the potential to undergo brain rewiring. Attention difficulties and/or learning disabilities, such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia, may have a neurological basis, and recent studies demonstrate that this basis can be altered.
FAQs About Arrowsmith Program
Since its inception 40 years ago, the Arrowsmith Program has applied the findings of neuroscientific studies to the goal of assisting students in improving their weak cognitive capacities, which are often at the root of a variety of learning difficulties. It is our intention to equip students with the tools they need to become independent, motivated, and capable of achieving their academic goals.
The Arrowsmith Program is designed to pinpoint and improve the underlying cognitive weaknesses that are at the root of learning disabilities, which in turn improves the student's ability to learn and acquire academic and social skills.
Each student's strengths and weaknesses in learning are identified through the Arrowsmith Program's comprehensive assessment; from there, a custom set of exercises is created to address those specific areas of struggle.
The capacity to learn and produce a written sequence of symbols is known as motor symbol sequencing. Children and adults with this dysfunction have trouble with basic cognitive tasks like writing the alphabet or counting in sequence, as well as more complex ones like articulating their thoughts in words.
Evidence that neuroplasticity can be realised across the lifespan is provided by the Arrowsmith Program's efficacy with students in elementary, secondary, and post-secondary schools as well as individuals into adulthood.
Conclusion
Research into the brain's plasticity formed the basis for the Arrowsmith Program for Adults. The term "neuroplasticity" refers to the brain's ability to change its structure and function in response to new information and experiences. Arrowsmith seeks to deal with the root causes of a child's academic struggles. The Symbol Relations region of the brain, which is responsible for processing and interpreting concepts in many areas of life, is the target of Arrowsmith School's Cognitive Intensive Program. In order to better recognise and interpret symbols, participants engage in a series of systematically designed mental exercises.
Adult learners can expect to improve their mental faculties by participating in the Arrowsmith programme. The lack of effective interventions is a major challenge for adults with learning disabilities or executive functioning deficits. The documentary features interviews with parents and students who have gone through Cognitive Intensive Programs in the past. When thinking about how to make the Arrowsmith Method available to a wider audience, the creator of the Arrowsmith Program came up with the idea of creating the Arrowsmith Program. The amount of time spent on an intervention in a summer session of six weeks could be equivalent to a school year's worth of sessions lasting ten months.
Content Summary
- The Arrowsmith Program is based on two strands of research, one of which demonstrated that reading, writing, and processing are complex mental activities that require cooperation between multiple regions of the brain and that a deficit in one region can have far-reaching consequences for a student's ability to learn in other areas.
- The Arrowsmith Program has been shown to significantly improve a wide range of learning issues, including but not limited to: reading, writing, math, comprehension, logical reasoning, problem solving, visual and auditory memory, non-verbal learning, attention, processing speed, and dyslexia.
- Participants in the Cognitive Enhancement Program engage in a series of systematically designed mental exercises with the express goal of improving their ability to recognise and interpret symbols.
- It is aimed at the Symbol Relations part of the brain, which is responsible for processing and interpreting concepts in many facets of life, including reading, listening, understanding, insight, logic, and cause and effect.
- The Cognitive Intensive Program at Arrowsmith School will focus on strengthening students' ability to absorb and comprehend concepts through the use of Symbol Relations.
- This mental process is crucial to both formal education and general knowledge.
- The Arrowsmith Program, based on the principles of neuroplasticity, provides a nurturing environment where students can learn without fear of reprisal.
- Neuroscientific findings are the foundation of the Arrowsmith Program.
- Arrowsmith-Young investigated the Symbol Relations programme because it was thought that doing so would activate a part of the brain responsible for making associations.
- Ms. Arrowsmith-Young acknowledged that this option would be viable if the intervention could have the same amount of hours as a 10-month intervention during the school year.
- More kids who don't have access to the year-round school-based programmes would be able to benefit from the intervention if studies show that this mode of intensive delivery is effective.
- Research at numerous universities around the world has already established that people with learning impairments and/or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have network abnormalities in the brain, therefore this is not a new result.
- In other words, a hyperconnected brain may have trouble communicating effectively among its networks, which could lead to a lack of learning.
- This issue was also displayed by students about to participate in the 6-week intensive Arrowsmith Program, further confirming these neuroscientific findings.
- Secondary diagnoses of social anxiety and depression after a kid has struggled with learning difficulties for some time often include different large-scale brain networks.
- Research into the connection between ADHD and brain network connectivity is also ongoing.
- Evidence from TBI-related brain injuries suggests that hyper-connectivity in brain networks results from higher-order cognitive dysfunctions in this population after the acute phase has passed.
- People with learning difficulties have the potential to undergo brain rewiring.
