Alzheimer’s and my Dad

Last time I wrote about Ken Kosik’s talk The Adult Brain and Memory: How Learning Protects Against Alzheimer’s, given at the Learning & the Brain conference this past April. This morning my Mom sent me a link to a New York Times article about the University of Colorado, politics, and political chairs. While at the NYT site I started to read today’s paper, which brought me to Zen and the Art of Coping With Alzheimer’s.

I began Neuron’s Firing a little over a year ago, in April of 2007. One of my early posts, Brain Stats, covered not only statistics about the size and contents of our brains, but also noted one reason why the brain was of such interest to me. My Dad has Alzheimer’s. He is 82 and a half years of age and lives in a nursing home fifteen minutes from my home. His sister, who was seven years older than he, was operated on for a brain tumor in her 70s and somewhere in her 70s or 80s developed Alzheimer’s. She died of complications, perhaps from a stroke, in her 80s. And there is some question as to whether their mother, who lived into her early 90s, had Alzheimer’s, as well, though there isn’t anyone around who is able to clarify this for certain.

It is particularly interesting to watch the two videos on the Zen and the Art of Coping With Alzheimer’s page: Alzheimer’s: Quest for Understanding, and Alzheimer’s: The Rarest Gene. Both videos tell personal stories but also include research, interviews with researchers, and images that help give a picture of what is happening to Alzheimer inflicted brains.

There is no easy way to watch my Dad degenerate, but I discovered a way to keep him close; I started a blog on his behalf. The entries are packed with pictures and even some short video clips, and I write about what we do during my visits. Somehow, this makes me feel like he still has his voice, and meanwhile I am building a memory bank for him/of him, that everyone in the family can read. And on those visits that turn out to be tough, knowing I’ll be writing about it later has, so far, made those visits a little bit easier.

Learning & the Brain – Ken Kosik (Alzheimer’s, MCI)

Ken Kosik is co-Director of the Neuroscience Research Institute at the University of California Santa Barbara. His research focuses on “both the mechanisms of neuronal plasticity and its impairment in neurodegeneration.” At April’s Brain conference Kosik talked about The Adult Brain and Memory: How Learning Protects Against Alzheimer’s.

Did you know that 10 to 15 percent of people over 65 years of age suffer from some form of neurodegenerative disease, and the ratio becomes one in two for people over 85 years of age. Many of us tend to think of dementia as one of those diseases, yet Kosik says that dementia “is a symptom, like a fever” and it simply “means that cognition is not normal.” It is necessary and important to ask “What kind of dementia?” He went on to note that “forgetting is part of what the brain does”, though there is a “gray zone between a normal and abnormal range of forgetting, and this gray zone is what worries people.”

In Alzheimer’s the brain shrinks, and in the shrinking process certain areas are impacted more than others. The limbic system, which handles emotions, is targeted, specifically the hippocampus (memories) and especially the amygdala (emotions). The cerebral cortex is also impacted, though the cerebellum and primary motor and sensory strip tend to be left alone. As the brain shrinks, the sulci (grooves between the folds) widen, and neurons become “swollen, twisted and distorted”. The American Health Assistance Foundation provides a clear explanation and graphic of what happens to the brain with Alzheimer’s. For a hands-on experience, take the Alzheimer’s Association’s Inside the Brain: An Interactive Tour.

Kosik also mentioned mild cognitive impairment (MCI). People with MCI function fine in daily life but have memory issues that go beyond what is considered normal for their particular age. Usually this is obvious to those around the individual, though the individual may not be aware that there is anything out of kilter. Kosik likened a line from John Updike’s Free in the January 8, 2000 issue of The New Yorker to MCI: “…one’s own ability to improvise could no longer be trusted.”

In the progression to Alzheimer’s, Kosik noted that

• the ability to think on the spot diminishes
• there is a move to regression
• the mind is “emptying out”

While none of this is pleasant to ponder, studies have provided some conclusive data about Alzheimer’s that can be put to use in attempting to combat the onset of the disease.

• Education is a plus
• Sustained long-term stress is a negative
• Challenging your brain with something you do not normally do is a plus

The most fascinating study Kosik mentioned is that of transgenic mice, i.e. genetically engineered mice. These particular mice were genetically engineered to get Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s consists of neurofibrillary tangles inside the neurons and amyloid plaques between the neurons. It turns out that if the mice are placed in enriched environments, the growth of the amyloid plaques is slowed. (Slides 10 through 13 in the Interactive Brain Tour provide an excellent description of plaques and tangles.)

Kosik left us wondering just where do memories go? Do they disappear or do they just become inaccessible. He says that if it’s just an access problem, we might be able to work on retrieval strategies.

Learning & the Brain – Jeb Schenck (teen brain, learning & memory)

Jeb Schenck’s name first crossed my path in Robert Greenleaf’s two-part Brain & Learning workshop of December 2004 and February 2005. Various studies and writings of Schenck were referenced, and I was determined to one day hear him in person. A compelling set of circumstances brought Schenck into the world of learning and the brain, as you can read in this bio.

In person, he practices what he preaches while providing brain-based tips on how to reach the sometimes befuddling world of the teenage brain. Schenck’s session Teaching to the Teen Brain followed Frances Jensen’s Paradox of the Teen Brain, and built upon the framework she introduced. What follows are some of his tips, many of which will make particular sense if you have also read the two posts about Frances Jensen’s sessions.

• Teens do not anticipate the consequences of how an action will make them or others feel.
• Particularly in the teen years, becoming an expert in one area does not automatically transfer to becoming an expert in another area.
• Emotions and memory are chemically based. A change in chemistry can change an emotion, and the chemical state can last for a long time beyond the initial change.
• In order for learning to stick, teens need to see the personal consequence that makes the lesson meaningful to them.

Schenck reminded us that long term memory is organized in a number of ways: by categories, by time of event, by powerful emotional events, and by procedures. He cited a study of tenth graders that showed students had 71 percent retrieval after 81 days when sorting, categorizing and naming were part of the initial lesson activities. Keeping that in mind, he shared additional ways to facilitate long term memory, which are applicable to anyone (not just teens!):

• remind students about the details
• have students point out details to one another
• present details in multiple ways
• provide verbal and physical cues
• engage in a post activity to refocus attention
• provide hands-on activities
• provide a choice of activities
• tell stories
• incorporate physical movement
• provide visual imagery
• ask students to describe their actions and processes
• ask questions regularly throughout a lesson rather than waiting till the end
• frame questions to focus on actions, processes and relationships to tap into emotions cueing memory

Schenck wound up his presentation by talking about the benefits of physical activity in all areas, not just phys ed classes. In particular, he noted the usefulness of activities to get student heart acceleration and respiration up prior to taking tests, thus getting them to relax.

One of the most fascinating facts I learned is that ADD/ADHD kids “self-mediate” by moving their legs or tapping their fingers. Thus, one of the worst things educators can do is to tell them to stop! If this fidgeting is irritating to other classmates, surely we can provide squeeze balls as a silent substitute.

Cerebrum is The Dana Foundation’s publication about the brain. For more about the teenage brain, read Ronald Dahl’s Summer 2003 article Beyond Raging Hormones: The Tinderbox in the Teenage Brain.

The Pajama Game

It may get a little quiet here for the next week or so. I’m having a blast being in the student~faculty musical at my school. This is a 30+ year tradition that brings together upper schoolers (grades 9–12) and faculty in the production of musical theatre. I’ve been in The Boys From Syracuse, Fiddler On the Roof, My Fair Lady, and now The Pajama Game.

We open on Friday, February 29th, and close the next evening on Saturday, March 1st. Definitely a limited engagement. Starting tomorrow night (Thursday the 21st) we have rehearsals every evening except for this Friday and Saturday.

That’s me and a student doing a “fin de leap frog” (not sure what that is, leave me a comment and I’ll get back to you) as part of the picnic scene for “Once A Year Day”. The musical is definitely a bit corny, absolutely dated, but nonetheless lots of fun.

Oh yes, and it’s also a wonderful test of visual memory, spatial memory, and kinesthetic memory as I learn lines (all two of them ), staging, and dances. Am actually rather pumped to be one of the dancers in “Hernando’s Hideaway”. By the way, the original musical was staged on Broadway the year I was born. Now go figure out how old I am!

Plasticity: The Final Four

I am NOT referring to the NCCA’s final four games of the men’s college basketball championships, the opening rounds of which begin in March and are often referred to as March Madness! I AM referring to the final four chapters of Norman Doidge’s book, The Brain That Changes Itself. These chapters are jam packed with science and philosophy.

An entire chapter is devoted to imagination and its role in shaping our brains. Perhaps you are familiar with the act of visualization as a means for improving in sports. Feel free to check your knowledge of this built-in brain tool with ChannelOne’s Head Game or read this New York Times article, FITNESS; Visualization: Does It Provide an Edge? As Doidge has written, it turns out “Brain scans show that in action and imagination many of the same parts of the brain are activated. That is why visualizing can improve performance.”

The topic of memory takes up another chapter, which is infused with references to Freud. Written clearly, it provides an excellent discussion of his theories, in particular transference and dreams, which equate to a “plastic view of memory.”

Rejuvenation is a word that always conjures up a positive image. Just take in this definition of “the phenomenon of vitality and freshness being restored” and how can you go wrong! Renew, refresh, repair… A stem cell is a cell that can make exact copies of itself. The brain has neuronal stem cells, so called because they can specialize as either neurons or glial cells. Doidge describes seeing these cells through a highly detailed microscope, and what he has to say about them is refreshing: “…stem cells don’t have to specialize but can continue to divide, producing exact replicas of themselves, and they can go on doing this endlessly without any signs of aging. … This rejuvenating process is called “neurogenesis,” and it goes on until the day that we die.” The simple-sounding keys to promoting neurogenesis include novelty, physical exercise, and learning (something new). Heck, that gives license to do all sorts of interesting things as we age, possibly making the latter portion of aging more fun than the first portion

Doidge’s last chapter introduces Betty Edwards and her book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. This is near and dear because in the summer of 2005 I took the one week Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain workshop taught by her son, Brain Bommeisler, in New York City. I am rather proud of my accomplishments, and invite you to see for yourself that it is possible to (re)learn to draw, which translates to learning something new later in life, which translates to brain plasticity.

Given how many entries I have posted about Doidge’s book, it will not surprise you to know that I found the content stimulating, refreshing, and exciting. The possibilities for what there is yet to learn about our brains, and the ways in which we will uncover that information, are indeed exhilarating.

Greenleaf Presentation.1

The focus of Bob Greenleaf’s talk was on long-term memory and recall – what we can do to aid with getting information into long-term memory and also how we can increase the odds that the information will be readily available for recall. Ideally, we want to be able to access information we have in memory and apply it both within the context in which we were first exposed to it, as well as in other areas that are related or not.

Some of Greenleaf’s talk was anecdotal, some of it more lecture-based, and some involved audience participation and group activities. He used ample overheads to complement his talk, and much of the information he shared is available in his book Brain Based Teaching: Making Connections for Long-Term Memory and Recall. The book’s style is somewhat dry but the content is practical and useful. Greenleaf’s presentation to our faculty was anything but dry! He is a lively, focused, on-target presenter, who knows what he is talking about and during his presentations practices what he preaches.

In December, 2004, and February, 2005, I took a Brain & Learning workshop with Greenleaf in New York City. Participation in that two-part workshop is what fueled my interest in learning more about the brain and what we can apply to teaching and learning from current brain research.

With other colleagues (including Kim Carraway, with who I have also taken a practical and useful workshop), Greenleaf runs several annual Brain & Learning Institutes, each lasting two or three days. At last count there were institutes in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Nashville, Tennessee; Hartford, Connecticut; and coming in 2008 the Frankfort International School, the location of which I am unsure. Direct links for these institutes are on Greenleaf Learning.

It may seem like I am pushing these speakers…well, I am! I am pushing them to those of you who are teachers and want to have a better understanding of how the brains of your students function. For that matter, the sessions are useful for anyone wanting to know more about how the brain functions – be it your own or someone else’s.

Vases ~ Faces

Picture books and children. They go together like milk and cookies. Some picture books have one or two words to accompany the pictures, but it is the images that fill the pages. As toddlers, my kids loved the small colorful board books which entertained them with images and gave them something to chew on as well!

Robert Greenleaf, on page 22 of his 2005 edition of Brain Based Teaching: Making Connections for Long-Term Memory & Recall, shares research showing that when learners create illustrations they improve their recall of information by up to four times more than without the use of illustrations.

John Hopkins researchers have studied How the Brain Understands Pictures. Their conclusion is that the brain sees in wholes while at the same time allowing scrutiny of the parts.

Go ahead and try for yourself the Vase/Faces exercise that is referenced in the Hopkins article. You can use pencil and paper or do it online or even try both! At the left is my try from December 2001. My notes from then state that the chin was confusing to draw and I had difficulty determining which way (right/left, in/out) to go with the outline. Also noted was that I drew the right profile too quickly! I did the exercise from the book, The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.

On artist Charley Parker’s blog, lines and colors, he has an article about Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, which describes the class process quite accurately. I know first hand, having been a student in Brian Bomeisler’s week-long workshop in August, 2005, and then again in his Saturday sketching session in February of this year. If taking a class is not in your plans, but you are interested in the exercises, try the New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain Workbook: Guided Practice in the Five Basic Skills of Drawing.

The sketching session, in particular, reminded me that taking time to look and see absolutely enhances perception and understanding.

p.s. Posted from Paris, city of lights – yes – but also city of art where there is so much to see!

Arithmetic

Keith Devlin is a highly entertaining mathematician and may be known to some of you as The Math Guy on NPR’s Weekend Edition. He is also the Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Language and Information at Stanford University, has written several books, and writes Devlin’s Angle for the MAA Online.

I was quite taken with his article, What does “DOING MATH” mean?. It is well worth reading both as an entertaining and informative piece, and particularly for the “nine mental capacities” Devlin identifies.

1 - number sense
2 - numerical ability
3- spatial-reasoning ability
4 - sense of cause and effect
5 - ability to construct and follow a causal chain of facts or events
6 - algorithmic ability
7 - ability to handle abstraction
8 - logical-reasoning ability
9 - relational-reasoning ability

I surely don’t go around thinking about what capacities my ancestors developed thousands of years ago that are still highly relevant today! I do know that more complex mathematics eludes me, that I often will use my fingers to assist with counting certain items such as how much time between one hour and another, and that I prefer paper and pencil to doing mental math. And had Devlin’s NPR interviews been around when I was a high school student, listening to them might have provided me with that important mental hook into math.

Though I hope faculty choose to do them all, this is one of three optional simulations, all on the Misunderstood Minds/PBS site. These activities may remind faculty that math involves much more than just calculating; it also entails writing, reading, memorizing, and being able to follow multistep directions. Sheesh, not that simple for anyone with a learning difference! You can see the full size Arithmetic screen here.

Additional Resources
• Tools for life – Learning Disabilities and Assistive Technologies – Math
• Key Curriculum Press – math and science tools, of which I have seen first hand the benefits of using The Geometer’s Sketchpad

This is the fifteenth of about twenty or fewer posts, and for further information about this series please read Closings and Openings. As you follow the development of this activity, please feel free to chime in with suggestions or questions.

Writing

Terry Lankutis, on the LD Resources community site, details the process of writing in her article The Hundred Steps to Writing. Just reading her task analysis of the steps involved, beginning with choosing and locating a writing implement, and I cannot but help appreciate the range (from easy delight to anxious panic) that folks could go through each time they try to engage with the writing process. It’s definitely not at all a simple task for someone with a learning difference.

Though I hope faculty choose to do them all, this is one of three optional simulations, all on the Misunderstood Minds/PBS site. These activities may remind faculty of what it is like to have to combine the physical act of writing while balancing at the same time having to think about their content and also the rules of writing. You can see the full size Writing screen here.

Additional Resources
• National Center for Learning Disabilities – Dysgraphia
• Tools for Life – Learning Disabilities and Assistive Technologies – Writing
• ViaVoice – voice recognition software for Macs and Windows
• Dragon Naturally Speaking – voice recognition for Windows only

This is the fourteenth of about twenty or fewer posts, and for further information about this series please read Closings and Openings. As you follow the development of this activity, please feel free to chime in with suggestions or questions.

Reading

Towards the end of third grade, at the age of nine, our younger son became a reader. Prior to that, he struggled with reading because his brain was not able to match the sounds of letters to the actual letters of the alphabet. On top of that, when writing he reversed a slew of letters, a common place activity among those who are described as dyslexic.

Though I hope faculty choose to do them all, this is one of three optional simulations, all on the Misunderstood Minds/PBS site. These activities may remind faculty that reading consists of multiple processes, from recognizing words, to understanding their meaning, to being able to remember what has been read. You can “read” the full size Reading screen here.

Additional Resources
• The International Dyslexia Association
• dyslexics.org.uk
• A News-Medical.Net 2006 article: Dyslexic children exhibit a different pattern of brain activity while reading
• Kurzweil – assistive technology software for those with vision disabilities
• Tools for Life – Learning Disabilities and Assistive Technologies – Reading

This is the thirteenth of about twenty or fewer posts, and for further information about this series please read Closings and Openings. As you follow the development of this activity, please feel free to chime in with suggestions or questions