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163 of 163 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Learning never stops - a must-read!, 15 Jan 2002
Carla Hannaford is a neurophysiologist and educator, so she combines strong scientific research back-up for her ideas with practical experience of how they work in the real world. The main perspective informing her work is that the development of nerve networks which constitutes learning never stops - contrary to the idea that "you can't teach an old dog new tricks". The book gives a radical perspective on 'disorders' such as ADHD (which didn't seem to exist when I was at school). Hannaford suggests that kids who move around a lot in class are just doing what is natural to them, and trying to keep themselves awake! For some children the movement is necessary to stimulate the Reticular Activating System, the part of the brainstem that wakes us up. When we are stressed, the higher functions shut down, and we revert to 'reptilian' survival oriented functioning. Expecting children to learn when under stress (e.g. when told to be quiet and not allowed to move) is counterproductive. The book sets out a programme of advice on raising children so that their learning systems don't have to operate under this stress impairment - no TV until age 8 is probably the most radical (TV moves too fast for the developing child's brain to take in, plus, as is well documented, it features thousands of acts of violence which affects the child's mindset and physiology). She also gives advice on diet (drink plenty of water) and an exercise programme, the 'Brain Gym' developed by Paul Dennison, which relieves stress, promotes integration of left and right brains, and enhances emotional self-management and seeing others' point of view. I have used these exercises with students on my NLP Practitioner courses and they proved very popular. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in learning (most of the advice about learning in children is also relevant to adults) or in practical ways to enhance emotional intelligence. All of its recommendations are backed up by scientific research and by practical experience as an educator. A must-read!
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