US Airways - June 2012 - (Page 179)

that there were critical periods in childhood when the brain could more efficiently learn; once this window closed, such learning became more difficult. At best, then, the brain was seen as a fixed system with brief periods of malleability. I remember attending a lecture in the late 1980s and being told that children with learning disabilities could be likened to different animals with various strengths. The eagle could soar and see the world from on high, the squirrel could run fast and climb trees, and the duck could gracefully swim in the lake. We were then admonished: Never make the duck try to climb or the eagle to swim or the squirrel to fly. Find each child’s unique gifts, we were told, and work on developing them because children could deploy them to compensate for things they could not do. My own education had been grounded in this approach. And I knew from my own experience that the enormous expenditure of energy made in attempting to work around problems generated limited results. Norman Doidge, the author of The Brain That Changes Itself, argues that centuries of viewing the brain as a machine, rather than an organ capable of regenerating itself, gave rise to what he calls neurological fatalism: the belief that to be born with a learning disorder was to live with it until death. Presuppositions in any field (mine happens to be school psychology) determine how we carry out our investigations and what we believe is possible. Those presuppositions shape our view of reality and can become entrenched as truth, rarely to be questioned. This, too, is neuroplasticity at work: We all create a map of how the brain works — a map based on our knowledge and training. Many people have not yet formed or understood the new map of the neuroplastic brain, especially in relation to education. Doidge describes what he calls “the plastic paradox.” The property of plasticity can give rise to both flexible and rigid behaviors. Because trained neurons fire faster and clearer signals than untrained neurons, when we learn something and repeat it, we form circuits that tend to outcompete other circuits. Soon there is a tendency to follow the path most traveled. If your occupation is offering remedial programs, this means: “We’ve always done it this way; let’s continue doing it this way.” Once a way of thinking and practicing within a framework becomes habitual, it becomes ingrained, and a significant amount of energy is required to www.JRCigars.com Limited time offer $ 24 +$5.00 Standard Shipping TRAVEL DEAL TAKE ‘EM AND RUN 95 NC customers add appropriate sales tax 10 Premium Churchill Cigars Travel Humidor & Cutter GRAB THIS DEAL ONLINE: www.JRCigars.com/U1 Limit one per customer Not available to minors Offer expires 7-31-12 order by phone 800-JR-CIGAR 800-572-4427 mention offer U1 SEE MORE INCREDIBLE DEALS FROM OUR 100-PAGE CATALOG: VISIT www.JRCigars.com http://www.JRCigars.com http://www.JRCigars.com http://www.JRCigars.com/U1 http://www.JRCigars.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of US Airways - June 2012

US Airways - June 2012
Table of Contents
CEO Letter
From the Editor
Did You Know?
Making It Happen
Hot Spots
Hub Crawl
Adventure: Zip-line junkie
Adventure: Virginia’s Skyline Drive
Wine & Dine
Great Escapes
Gear Up
Behind-the-Scenes Baja
International Itinerary
Charlotte in 2012
Discover Columbia
Welcome to Philadelphia
Must Read
Puzzles
Readers Resource Index
Your US Airways Guide
Video Entertainment
Audio Entertainment
U.S. and Caribbean Service Map
International Service Map
Airport Terminal Maps
US Airways Fleet/Customs & Immigration
Passenger Info/Contact US Airways
US Airways MarketPlace™
Window or Aisle?

US Airways - June 2012