Testimonials | Arrowsmith School

Bradley has an auditory processing disability. When I used to give him directions to do something, he would then look at me and say- "wait...What?" It was very hard for him to process the directions, especially for multi- tasks. Since he started Arrowsmith for this year, I have not heard him ask for repetition of task directions at all. He seems much more confident that he heard the directions and he is ready to follow through on them without further clarification. In school, he didn't have the ability to ask the teacher each time to clarify the directions so he just wouldn't start the task at all. This could lead to a "meltdown" with Bradley unable to do the task at all. A teacher who has worked with Bradley for the past three years reports no "meltdowns" this year and Bradley's willingness to start and mostly complete the tasks asked of him.

Arrowsmith has given Bradley a confidence that he can do what is asked of him. He is very proud when he "masters" a task in Arrowsmith and can bring in a special treat for the class. His self esteem has improved significantly since he began Arrowsmith.

Bradley posesses above average intelligence but his learning disability keeps him from achieving what he is capable of achieving. We hope that by strengthening the weak areas of his brain, Bradley will be able to reach his potential and most importantly be confident that "he can do it".

At home, when Bradley works on a school assignment, he now asks for help when he needs it and finishes the task without any frustrated behavior. He used to not even want to attempt his homework and would shutdown and be unwilling to do it. He approaches the task with a calmness that wasn't there before. Family members have remarked that Bradley is more affectionate. He seems to have knocked down some of the walls he had put up around himself. Seeing Bradley happier with himself has been a tremendous thing for our family.

When a child is frustrated in school, he might exhibit behaviors to protect himself from being hurt by the disapproval of others- teachers, parent classmates. In Arrowsmith, Bradley has achieved a degree of success which helps him shed these behaviors and be able to learn more effectively.

Jacob

Participant

Participant Age: Young Adult

When I went for testing at Arrowsmith, I spent the lunches and breaks and whatnot in what was at the time, Division one. And everyone was really kind and everyone was really, really lovely. And that was sort of the first instance where I didn't feel out of place, like I felt at home. And to go into this community where everyone's struggling with similar issues, similar difficulties and working through them. One of my biggest struggles was getting or reading people's. Not emotions but reading their tone or understanding what they mean in various contexts. So, like someone would be frustrated with me and I would not understand. I think it was a joke and I think they'd be laughing, and they'd get more frustrated because obviously it's not a joke, but was sort of taking it as builds a different character within like myself. But it also helps with the existing relationships that I had that were strained or tense or anything like that because things just sort of they almost leveled out, if that makes sense. And it's because I started to understand those tonal differences, the meaning behind different things, the just understanding, you know, social cues and social interactions more, and that would not have been possible.

If I hadn't gone to Arrowsmith, I mean, also from a social standpoint, it builds your confidence to be able to make friends, especially after having not been able to do that and to be able to interact with people in a in a way that where they don't kind of like give you a second sort of look and mean. Now I'm in England teaching, which is not I mean, a year ago, not where I thought I'd be, but because the social aspect was so detrimental to me being able to have friends and being able to just go to school happy and talk to everyone in the class because we all know we're going through something similar and just the social interactions and, and, you know, being invited to, I guess at that age, being invited to birthday parties was not something I was too used to. And then suddenly it was like everyone was having a birthday party. Uh, and so it, it, it was, it was really the social aspect from, at the time, it was the social aspect where that I really, really valued and I still very much do in hindsight. Also the academics, the social, the processing, the cognitive, all of that combined. But at the time it was really, really and when I look back on my time there, um, it was really the social interactions that helped me build confidence and gave me friendship that I didn't have before, that that really left the lasting impression on me.

Yeah, it can be really scary to go into this program that that I guess on the outside could seem like, well, I don't know, is it really going to, uh, is it really going to work? Am I just putting in three years of time for nothing as it's so worth it even just to, you know, get an assessment done? It's so worth it. Because I, speaking from my experience, I came home from my first day of testing and my mom and was like ecstatic because I had this like, social interaction of friends at the time per say. But these social interactions that I had never had before and it's such a fantastic community and it's so supportive and it's, it's so worth it. Like I keep going back to saying worth it, but it is so worth it. And, and if you do have any reservations or little on the fence or anything, I promise you it is worth it.

Wayne Stagg

Education Professional, Arrowsmith Administrator

Program: Full-time

Participant Age: School-Age

Wayne: I’ve been involved since 2016 and it has been a fantastic journey and I look forward to many more years in this amazing program. Barbara Arrowsmith Young is the founder of the Arrowsmith Program and Assessment Process, and a suite of cognitive exercises designed to stimulate and strengthen weak areas of cognitive functioning that underlie a range of learning difficulties, which has been delivered for 40 plus years throughout the world. The Arrowsmith Program is offered in educational organizations in ten countries. Ongoing research with neuroscientists, neuropsychologists and psychologists is demonstrating that the program not only changes the brain cognitive functioning and academic achievement, but also leads to social emotional well-being. For more information, please visit the Arrowsmith Program website. Barbara's work, begun in 1978, has been recognized as one of the first examples of the practical application of neuroplasticity, which, simply put, is the ability of the brain to change and rewire itself over one's lifetime. As a director of Arrowsmith School and the Arrowsmith Program, she continues to develop and refine programs for students with learning difficulties. The Arrowsmith Program has been recognized by Sharp Brains as the most innovative special education program of its kind.

Identifying and strengthening the weak cognitive functions that underlie specific learning difficulties. Barbara was recently awarded the 2019 Leaders and Legends Innovation Award from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto for her contributions to education. Barbara's vision is that all students struggling with learning will have the opportunity to benefit from cognitive programs utilizing the principles of neuroplasticity. Programs that change the brain's capacity to learn and open to these learners a world of possibilities. The genesis of the Arrowsmith Program cognitive exercises lies in Barbara Arrowsmith Young's journey of discovery and innovation to overcome her severe learning disabilities. Her inspirational book, The Woman Who Changed Her Brain, has become an international bestseller, and a third edition, updated with new research and new case studies of cognitive transformation, has just been published in December 2019. Barbara Arrowsmith Young is a director of the school and the Arrowsmith Program. She holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Child Studies from the University of Guelph, and a master's degree in School psychology from the University of Toronto.

Shannon

Parent/Guardian

Program: Cognitive Intensive Program

Participant Age: School-Age

My heart really wants to do justice to what this program has meant already to my family. My daughter has a chromosomal abnormality called Turner Syndrome, which is maybe somewhat unknown. And as research develops, we knew that nonverbal learning and spatial were going to be her learning disabilities. In order to get any sort of educational support, you kind of have to fit into a category. And those categories typically are A.D.D., Asperger's or autism. A nonverbal learning and spatial is other. But they try and treat it the same way or fix or offer support the same way they would. And it it's just doesn't quite work. Now we're entering into middle school and Covid hits and so we went virtual. Well one of the things we noticed with virtual was that her rote memory was so strong, she's completely able to learn because she can memorize everything. But as things changed, uh, concepts became a little bit more nuanced. She struggled. And then middle school, the social challenges increased, which increased her anxiety, which therefore decreased her ability to learn. So, when I found out about the Symbol Relations program and not knowing anything about summer camp, I'm not going to lie, I just we kind of threw her in thinking, whatever, this can't hurt. Well, the truth is, is in that eight weeks, it was such a huge improvement and it was a really gave us hope.

I think that, um, Miss Barbara stated that behavior seen through a cognitive lens leads to compassion. Um, but for me, as a parent and my husband, it finally gave us hope because what we want to do is, yes, she can learn, but can she be a fully functioning human? We can teach her the concept to open the front door, but she cannot take that and apply it to a different door. So, when we noticed the improvement in the eight-week cognitive program, we did our assessment. We had a beautiful meeting with the Arrowsmith team. There were 3 or 4 possible or 5 or 6 possible functions, and we all agreed to the four functions that we're going to work with my daughter on. If we feel that we've made a mistake, Arrowsmith is going to work with us. So, there was no worry for my husband and I as parents. We are taking my daughter out of full-time school and this, we feel, will do the best possible, you know, prepare her for life. But I can't sign off without saying to Arrowsmith and to Miss Barbara specifically, your work makes a direct impact, and I share your dream that this could become a part of curriculum because it's truly a part of life. So, thank you, everybody. I really appreciate you letting me speak about the success of Arrowsmith.

Jen, Maya's Parent

Parent/Guardian

Participant Age: School-Age

I knew when Maya was little, something was different. I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was. And I know that difference now is actually, um, something quite wonderful and a skill which will play out in lots of different ways as she grows older. But it was very difficult once she hit normal school life. I became aware that normal school wasn't going to work for Maya, and Maya was quite good at articulating what she couldn't, so she'd talk about things like, my mind just goes blank or my mind just stops, for example, right back into kindergarten. But we knew there was an underlying something not right. And I think Brad and I, being both medical backgrounds too, we knew we had to go around it. There must be something that we could find that would help. Um, and we didn't want to, I guess we just didn't want to take no for an answer either. So, Maya moved schools. We got it into an environment that was more supportive for her because in an academic environment was shocking. Um, and she had no sense of achievement in that setting. And I think I actually was Googling. Is there anything for kids with learning difficulty that works? And Arrowsmith came up in Toronto and I started looking at a few anecdotes and bits and pieces and stories and it started to resonate, you know, what the children and the parents had written? And I thought, this sounds a little bit like mine, sounds like something that might work.

So, we decided to take a risk and take Maya to the intensive program in Canada, which was six weeks, just to give it a whirl, just to kind of put our toes in and go, Well, what is this program and what does it look and feel like and is it going to work or are we mad? So, Maya did these clocks, which is intensive. It is an intensive program. So, for six weeks, Maya is doing those clocks every day. But what we saw happen during that time and to me, the best way to explain it is I do parkrun. So, I do a little bit of running. Not much, but if you do a bit of, say, weight training for exercise, it makes running easier. So, they're not they're not the same thing, but they kind of support each other. And to me, these exercises actually just allowed Maya to be able to access different parts of learning ability, and Maya would explain it as it's a different way of learning. But we started to see the changes, simple things like that we never saw her do. She'd run across a park, get on a swing and swing high, and we'd be like, Wow. Because she did not do that before. She was quite reserved. She didn't feel confident to do that. I can't really explain it. She wouldn't make a lot of eye contact. Um, she didn't feel confident to order when we went out for dinner, those sorts of things. And they weren't to do with her personality. They were to do with communication, I guess. And so, to see her start to become more and more confident was wonderful.
Long story short, we she said to us, so what are we doing from here? We need to pick a school. We need to go to Arrowsmith. So, we researched, we talked to them, we visited them, and we decided on Silkwood for a couple of reasons. And obviously it was a very good choice for us, a very scary choice. After living in Canberra for 20 years, having a son in Canberra, having friends, having a routine, we uprooted and came for Maya, thinking it was definitely the right thing to do for her for a big financial commitment as well. We have never looked back. It's the best decision we've made, even though I think I cried for the first six months we were here adapting to that big change.

The program for Maya has been life changing in big and little ways, and it still is something where Maya does need support and she gets great support through Tracy. I think the delivery of the program is key. I think these educators and Silkwood for us, like the individual learning plans and the big picture also sits well with that holistic learning for kids. So we're not you know, we're not wanting Maya to get a master's degree if that's not where she wants to go, you know. But we know now that Maya could probably tackle anything. She's a very mature young lady who's grown into herself. And look, I was a mum who never would have thought that I wouldn't worry about this kid. I thought it was going to be an ongoing battle and now I only have normal teenage battles, which aren't too bad. I'm very grateful for this program. I think the proof is in the pudding. And thank you for all the work that's been done to allow this program to be available. It's something there's nothing else out there. And don't worry, we've tried to find it, but yeah, I hope it becomes more mainstream.

Jarek’s Parent

Parent/Guardian

Program: Full-time

Participant Age: School-Age

My son, Jarek, has just completed his first year at Arrowsmith School and I write to express my immense gratitude for offering not just hope for children with learning disabilities academically, but the opportunity to prove to themselves they are invaluable members of their families, schools and communities. Jarek was diagnosed with a non-verbal learning disability at the end of grade one. By the end of grade three in the public school system, one look at Jarek’s eyes told me he had been completely defeated. In class he sat quietly observing those around him, never participating, never smiling and falling further and further behind. We tried tutoring to no avail. At home, he went from being a sweet, talkative boy with a great sense of humour to a sullen, angry, aggressive boy withdrawing from everyone around him. Our concern for Jarek quickly grew to gut-wrenching worry for his future; academically, socially and psychologically. I first heard about Arrowsmith from a co-worker, and immediately called to see if Jarek could be assessed. Jarek was accepted to Division 1 in September 2009. Within a month, Jarek started to smile at home and by Christmas told me that he loved me (which I hadn’t heard him say for almost two years!). Though both the cognitive and academic work was clearly challenging for him, month by month, we noticed him become more engaging not only with us, but with family and friends. He was looking happier than he had been in years. By the second term, his teacher told me that in class Jarek was beginning to offer answers, take initiative and even help others. Now, at the end of his first year, Jarek has taken the unprecedented social leap of teaching our neighbour’s three year old son soccer and reading to him, as well as talking his friends into letting their younger siblings play with them. While most parents likely take this kind of play for granted in their child, Jarek’s fear of failure was so intense he preferred to just watch his friends play from the sidelines and had never shown any interest in playing with children younger than him. Not only has Jarek developed confidence, self-esteem and leadership skills at Arrowsmith; academically he has gone from printing at a kindergarten level to writing legibly in cursive! It is truly remarkable how one small leap of faith can reap such incredible rewards. And this is only the beginning! Words simply can not express how thrilled I am with Jarek’s progress at Arrowsmith. Thank you for offering such an innovative, progressive program which has brought Jarek from the brink of despair to confidently showing the world his charismatic, fun-loving, affectionate personality. He has found his childhood and it is a beautiful thing. I so look forward to celebrating with Jarek the cognitive and academic gains I know he will make in his second year at Arrowsmith. Thank you again. Jarek’s mother

Connor

Participant

Program: Full-time

Participant Age: School-Age

I essentially did Arrowsmith from grade 6 to grade 8. Some of the issues I struggled with going in - I think my reading was really bad at a young age. It was starting to get better by the time I was going into Arrowsmith, however, it was like reading comprehension was still something that was like was pretty difficult. I think Cause and Effect was something I definitely had some problems with. Math was very difficult and auditory processing. I think Barbara said it really wonderfully. “You know, school is just like real life at the end of the day. You need auditory processing.” I'd be like 12 years old and I'd be in hockey practice and the coach gives me, you know, okay, guys, we're gonna run this drill, okay? Like. And, you know, I'm trying to, like, process this. I'm like, okay, what's going on here? So, you know, as a result, I just stand at the back of the line and I watch everybody else do it. So when I go, I don't go the wrong way or, you know, go around the wrong pylon like these, like talking from firsthand experience, like these kids are being asked to do so much, but you're doing so much so that when you sit so that at the end of the day when you come out, you have you do a ton of work. So, you have a like a big result at the end of it. You know, like I said, like my reading comprehension was really, really different. And it's gotten a lot better. Um, like, yeah, I can open any science textbook. And I'm not saying I'll have to read it over a little bit, but like, the fact was that, like, I would never have thought I could do that to begin with.

And I think too, like, it has a total, um, transformation on your, like, even like your physical output. Um, I mean, like, my reflexes got really, really good. It was really weird. I'm like, I'm not Spider-Man, but this is pretty cool. And I was starting to be able to handle more. So, we fast tracked. Now I was going to, uh, Toronto District Christian High School in Vaughan, and my parents had picked that school because I still need some educational help. And as I started to mature throughout high school, I was doing some things that I wanted to do because I had the aspiration of going into astronomy and astrophysics. Now, that's not ultimately where I ended. But the nice thing was that I was just like I was. I took chemistry all throughout high school. It's like, what the heck? Like, I could never have seen myself doing that. Um, and now I am like 20 years old and I'm attending Humber College in Toronto and I'm taking sport management, which is essentially it's a three-year program that works on the study of business and sports. So long story short, I ended up getting into a program that only takes like 150 people. I just did my first year and I absolutely killed it. Like, yeah, I would have liked to have, you know, applied myself a little bit more. I took a gap year, so I still kind of getting back into it, but I was like, this is amazing. I just went in, and I just did this online with very, very, very little help from anybody else. It's a pretty cool experience.

Tanya

Participant

Program: Full-time

Participant Age: Young Adult

I am writing this 2 Years after Arrowsmith School. I am naturally inquisitive and have always been intrigued by the learning process and the pursuit of knowledge. As a student I loved to learn and yet I found aspects of my schooling very challenging. In the later part of my high school career I was diagnosed as being both Learning Disabled and having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. One of the learning disabilities that was diagnosed was one which affects the expression of thought through speech, and more significantly in my case, in writing. At that time I felt frustrated because I knew that I understood the material, but because I had difficulty expressing my thoughts on paper I was unable to keep up with the required written assignments. I also had great difficulty completing tests and exams in the allotted time. The few accommodations made by the school and the suggestion of doing remedial work did not feel encouraging. I struggled but managed to complete high school. When I thought about what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, I was confronted with the importance of a university or college education. The thought of trying to get a university education was overwhelming. My love of knowledge led me to Arrowsmith School, where I was a student for a year in 1996 to 1997 in anticipation of pursuing a university education. One of the primary reasons for my decision to attend Arrowsmith was the knowledge that the work done there on remedying learning disabilities would enable me to get the most out of the university experience and assist me in reaching my full potential. I have been pleased that not only do I notice improvements and a greater ease in performing tasks that had previously been challenging, but also these improvements can be felt and seen in day to day activities. The test results were dramatically different from September to the re-testing in June. I find that I now am able to write in a more concise manner and am able to write much more quickly than in the past. My reasoning skills have also benefited and are a strength. I am more comfortable with and better skilled at performing mathematical problems mentally. After finishing at Arrowsmith School and beginning my first year at York University, I had some experiences which confirmed the benefits that I felt I had received from the program. My most exciting result from my first year was the midterm for the Introduction to Psychology course. In a class of 112 students my grade placed me within the top 10 students in the class. This year I passed Statistics on my first try, which amazed me because previously I always had to repeat math classes, even in grade nine. The benefits that I feel that I have received because of Barbara Arrowsmith-Young’s research and my own hard work are almost too numerous to mention. A few major areas that have been improved include writing, reading, mathematics, reasoning, and auditory memory. Before the program I was a very slow writer, and now I am able to take down notes during a lecture. I am able to retain the auditory information long enough to get it down on paper. When I am writing essays, I am able to remember what I want to say long enough that I am able to write it down. I am also able to complete tests and assignments within the allotted period of time. While at Arrowsmith I worked on exercises which improved my reasoning skills, helping me to better understand the main point when reading. My problem-solving skills have improved and I find that I am often able to find solutions more quickly than others are in my work place. My confidence in my academic abilities has grown. I learned a lot about myself, while at Arrowsmith and had some wonderful experiences with my fellow students who ranged in age and had varying levels of ability. It is an experience that I will always remember as having the greatest impact on me both educationally and socially. That experience also made me want to learn more about the functions of the brain and how we learn. I am currently working on a Specialized Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology at York University. I have applied to the York Concurrent Teacher Education Program with the hopes of completing my degree and Teacher’s Certificate. I feel that these are realistic goals because of the work done in the Arrowsmith Program. Barbara Arrowsmith-Young’s research and the work done at Arrowsmith School provides hope for students and adults with learning difficulties.

Aiden

Participant

Program: Full-time

Participant Age: School-Age

My name is Aiden. I am in grade 7 and in my second year of Arrowsmith. I’m going to tell you a bit about my journey with school so far. In grade 2, half-way through the year, I was home-schooled because my mom thought I needed counseling and speech therapy. I worked with a speech therapist with my spelling, but after 6 months I could only remember one word. We all knew that this wasn’t helping me. In grade 3 I noticed that school was getting so much harder. Reading was way harder and so was writing. I could never remember how to write words and so I would just give up. During reading I always had to read little kiddie books with pictures because I had trouble reading. I would learn with all the other kids but I couldn’t remember anything. I could never get things done on time because it took me so long. Like in math – even if I did get a whole bunch of math questions done, they were all wrong because I got the steps mixed up. When I got one wrong I didn’t have the confidence to keep going so I would get all mad and I would just put my head down and quit. There was always a little group of us kids who had the same disabilities and the teacher gave us special spelling and reading help but soon even the other kids in the little group got better and faster than me. That made me feel kind of stupid because they could remember things like a sponge, but I couldn’t. People didn’t think I was trying, but I was. At the end of grade 3 I knew I could do grade 2 work, but was worried that I would be one of those kids who had to stay back a grade. When I was in grade 4 one of the kids in my special group came with me to a different school because there was a program there for kids with disabilities. The program was better because they introduced us to computer help. I had a program where I could speak into the computer and it would write words for me. I didn’t like it because I could never pronounce the words right and it was a lot like math because it was confusing and had a lot of steps and commands to remember. It wasn’t helpful at all for me. When I was in grade 5 Reading Buddies was embarrassing. I was reading with grade 3 kids and I couldn’t help the little kid with the word he was stuck on because I couldn’t read it either. In Grade 5 I heard about Arrowsmith and I heard it would help me. I didn’t want to go because I thought it would just be another school, another program, and it wouldn’t help. You see – I was only in grade 5 and I had already given up on myself. The only thing I liked about school was my friends and I didn’t even have many friends. Because nothing was helping me I felt like I had nothing to work towards because nothing was getting any better. SO – we decided that I would come to GCCS and try the Arrowsmith program. The first day here I thought everything was going to be fun. We had to do a lot of strange things but the teachers would explain how it would help us. Everything looked really easy at first, but it actually takes a lot of time to master something. The work is difficult because every exercise in Arrowsmith is working on something we are weak at. Imagine working all day doing something you are not good at. It can be frustrating and overwhelming. BUT – for the first time ever I started to remember stuff! In about 2 months I already felt like “I can do this!” and I had never felt that way before. For example, whenever I used to write stuff, my teacher would have to pretend to read it or say “Aaron can you read this to me?”, but the problem was I couldn’t even read what I had written. After one year in Arrowsmith I can write a whole page in cursive writing in about 25 minutes, which is really good for me. My spelling still need a whole lot of work, but me teacher can actually read everything I write now. My reading is a lot better and I can read faster and sound out words better. For the first time I have enough confidence to read out loud. I play the cello. In the past I would have to write down every single note because I would keep forgetting the note names and sequences. My dad is my cello teacher and he has noticed that I am able to remember my notes a lot better now. I can also play the drums now because I feel more coordinated and I can do 3 things at once instead of just one. My future is looking brighter. I am able to dream bigger about what I’ll be doing in the future. …and that’s my story so far.

Special Education Teacher

Education Professional, Arrowsmith Administrator

Program: Full-time

As a high school special education teacher, I have had the opportunity to work with the following student over the past two years in the area of English. We met on a daily basis for 40 minutes of classroom instruction. In the second year of working with Marisa, she began several of the Arrowsmith cognitive exercises. These are the changes I noted.

This student worked on the cognitive program to improve her ability to think and problem solve and stay focused and on task. Some of the English assignments require thinking skills in order to write creatively. Last year and the beginning of this year were difficult for Marisa because she couldn’t focus in on the topic. Her writing was often unrelated to the topic. However, after several months of working on the Arrowsmith cognitive exercise related to improving executive functioning, Marisa began to show improvement. She now starts on task and keeps the proper focus. Marisa can remain on target for a longer time. The point is, Marisa’s written work doesn’t “wander” or appear obscure as it did prior to the cognitive work. Her ideas are better organized and more coherent with less rambling and irrelevancies. She also became more able to learn from her mistakes and start to be self-corrective and more thought goes into her compositions and essays.

Behaviorally, Marisa has also demonstrated growth. She worked on the program for Non-Verbal Thinking and social reasoning. Prior to working on this program Marisa had been inappropriate much of the time- speaking loudly, making exaggerated body gestures, flailing her arms and “bouncing about” as she spoke to either staff or students. She was rarely accurate in her interpretation of social situations. Oftentimes when being spoken to, Marisa wasn’t attending to the conversation and at times interrupting impulsively about something totally unrelated to the statements being made by others. Several months into the program my co-teacher and I noted that Marisa began demonstrating better listening skills through attentiveness and making more eye contact when being spoken to. She has become much more accurate in interpreting social situations and reading social cues. It should be noted that these behaviors are in reference to informal time rather than class teaching time. Marisa now demonstrates the ability to restrain herself and interact in a “calmer” manner and her responses are appropriate to the social situation.

Self image and good feelings of self are as much a matter to consider when describing the progress I’ve noted. Marisa is very aware of and is very pleased with her progress. She is open to this help and proud of her accomplishments. I feel the program individualized for her by Arrowsmith has been extremely positive and helpful and I certainly feel it would be advantageous for other people who experience roadblocks to learning and socialization skills.

Marisa has demonstrated dramatic improvements in handwriting. Whereas her written work was difficult to read and the uniformity of the letters were terribly inconsistent and the spacing was poor, she now writes legibly! Her ability to organize and space written work on a page has improved; sentence structure has improved; there are fewer careless spelling errors in her written work, e.g., dropping off the ends of her words such as writing “cover” when she meant “covered”; and productivity has increased.

The following sample is of the change in this student’s handwriting. The first sample is of handwriting prior to this student working on the cognitive exercise for the motor symbol sequencing problem and the second sample is during treatment. This student had a Motor Symbol Sequencing dysfunction which resulted in the initial handwriting difficulties. No practice was given in handwriting. The handwriting changed as a result of improved motor symbol sequencing functioning due to the specific Arrowsmith Program cognitive exercises.

Mindy

Parent/Guardian

Program: Full-time

Participant Age: School-Age

My daughter, Mindy, entered the program when she began the 4th grade. While Mindy is a bright girl and a B student I recognized that there were definite learning deficits. In order to obtain those Bs it was necessary for me to spend hours re-teaching her material the teachers had taught in class. Before an exam I would spend days reviewing.

Many parents are apt to except this situation, not everyone is an A student, however, as the work became more and more demanding I began to worry for the future. After all if Mindy was fighting for Bs in 3rd grade what would high school and college hold for her?

After 2 years in the Arrowsmith Program I no longer worry. Last year Mindy was in 5th grade. In my opinion, this is the hardest year of elementary school. Much more is expected of the students. The teachers put a great deal of emphasis on independence in order to ready the students for middle school. I decided to follow the teachers’ lead. I did not monitor Mindy’s homework as I had done in the past.

I am proud to say that Mindy’s homework was done independently and correctly. I also, did not re- teach Mindy material for her tests. I reviewed with her the night before, at her request. During these review sessions I was amazed at her retention and understanding. She knew the answers to all questions asked; she had absorbed and understood the information in class. In truth the review was a formality. Mindy received high marks last year (except in writing which is still being addressed by Arrowsmith).

Not one major test score fell below the 90% mark. In addition, she received a 93% and a 91% on the Tara Nova Tests in math and listening, respectively and average to above average marks in the other categories (except spelling). There is no doubt in my mind that the majority of Mindy’s success is attributable to the Arrowsmith Program. As a result of this program I have every confidence that not only will Mindy pass high school, but also that she will succeed in college and will not be limited by learning difficulties. It is for this reason that I wish to extend my praise to HALB for being innovative and the first Jewish Day School to implement the Arrowsmith Program.

Participant

Program: Full-time

Participant Age: Adult

2 Years after Arrowsmith School

I am naturally inquisitive and have always been intrigued by the learning process and the pursuit of knowledge. As a student I loved to learn and yet I found aspects of my schooling very challenging. In the later part of my high school career I was diagnosed as being both Learning Disabled and having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

One of the learning disabilities that was diagnosed was one which affects the expression of thought through speech, and more significantly in my case, in writing. At that time I felt frustrated because I knew that I understood the material, but because I had difficulty expressing my thoughts on paper I was unable to keep up with the required written assignments. I also had great difficulty completing tests and exams in the allotted time. The few accommodations made by the school and the suggestion of doing remedial work did not feel encouraging. I struggled, but managed to complete high school.

When I thought about what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, I was confronted with the importance of a university or college education. The thought of trying to get a university education was overwhelming.

My love of knowledge led me to Arrowsmith School, where I was a student for a year in 1996 to 1997 in anticipation of pursuing a university education.

One of the primary reasons for my decision to attend Arrowsmith was the knowledge that the work done there on remedying learning disabilities would enable me to get the most out of the university experience, and assist me in reaching my full potential. I have been pleased that not only do I notice improvements and a greater ease in performing tasks that had previously been challenging, but also these improvements can be felt and seen in day to day activities. The test results were dramatically different from September to the re-testing in June.

I find that I now am able to write in a more concise manner, and am able to write much more quickly than in the past. My reasoning skills have also benefited and are a strength. I am more comfortable with and better skilled at performing mathematical problems mentally.

Alex

Dare to Dream Student

Dani

Kaled

Arlene

Sean

Taner’s Parent

Dare to Dream Student

Dr. Rachel Webber

Mark

Cognitive Intensive Program Families

Jonathan

Jordon

Thomas

Chasper and his Mother

Robert

Michael

Megan

Marika

Banks Family

Dr. William Lancee

Dr. Norman Doidge, MD

Brian

Dr. Lara Boyd

Braden

Adrian

Lara

Colby

Vicki

Mark

Rachel

Abra

Shannon

Corelle

Dare to Dream Student

Tam

Meghan

Amy

Deidre

Dare to Dream Student

Chris

Kathy

Amy

Dr. Greg Rose

Emma

Robert

Michael

Dr. Norman Doidge

Jenna

Jordon

Daniel

Devorah

Laura Delves

Dare to Dream Parent

Aidan

Rachel

Cognitive Intensive Program Families

Dr. Greg Rose

Matthew

Jacob

Shannon

Katie

Shannon

Community Stories

Ben

Jarek’s Parent

Tanya

William’s Parent

Rachel

John

Mary

Michael

Braden

Alex

Nina & Andrew

Tom

Jenni

Dare to Dream Student

Rachel