The Arrowsmith School is a

private school Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, for children in Grades 1 to 12 with

learning disabilities Learning disability, learning disorder, or learning difficulty (British English) is a condition in the brain that causes difficulties comprehending or processing information and can be caused by several different factors. Given the "difficult ...

(also referred to as "specific learning difficulties"). The original Arrowsmith School was founded in Toronto in 1980 by

Barbara Arrowsmith Young Barbara Arrowsmith Young (born November 28, 1951) is a Canadian author, entrepreneur and lecturer. She is the founder of the Arrowsmith School in Toronto and the controversial Arrowsmith Program which forms the basis of the school's teaching meth ...

. A second location was opened in May 2005 in

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

, Ontario. The Eaton Arrowsmith School, which is modelled on the Toronto school and founded by Howard Eaton, was opened in 2005 in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

with two further branches established in Canada and one in the United States between 2009 and 2014. The school's methodology, known as the Arrowsmith Program, was founded by Arrowsmith Young in 1978 from exercises that she had begun devising for herself in 1977 and which she has said enabled her to overcome her own severe learning difficulties. Her own struggle with learning disability and the rationale for her program are described in her 2012 book ''The Woman Who Changed Her Brain''. According to Arrowsmith Young, her methodology is based on research into the principle of

neuroplasticity Neuroplasticity, also known as neural plasticity, or brain plasticity, is the ability of Neural circuit, neural networks in the brain to change through growth and reorganization. It is when the brain is rewired to function in some way that diffe ...

, which suggests that the brain is dynamic and constantly rewiring itself. The program has been incorporated into other public and private schools in Canada, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, but has drawn skepticism and criticism from several

cognitive psychologist Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of mental processes such as attention, language use, memory, perception, problem solving, creativity, and reasoning. Cognitive psychology originated in the 1960s in a break from behaviorism, which he ...

s and

neuroscientists A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist who has specialised knowledge in neuroscience, a branch of biology that deals with the physiology, biochemistry, psychology, anatomy and molecular biology of neurons, neural circuits, and glial c ...

.Barmak, Sarah (25 January 2013)
"Can a controversial learning program transform brains?"
''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

''. Retrieved 4 June 2015.

History

and her then-husband, Joshua Cohen founded the original Toronto school in 1980 to teach learning disabled children using the program and exercises that Arrowsmith Young had begun devising for herself in 1978 and which she claimed enabled her to overcome her own severe learning difficulties. Doidge, Norman (2008)
Chapter 2: "Building Herself a Better Brain"
''The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science''. Penguin. The original school was housed in a rented building on Yorkville Ave. According to Arrowsmith Young's autobiographical account in her 2012 book, ''The Woman Who Changed Her Brain'', she used her middle name for the school in honor of her paternal grandmother (born Louie May Arrowsmith in 1883), who as a young girl had been one of the pioneer settlers of

Creston, British Columbia Creston is a town in the Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia, Canada. By road, Creston is roughly equidistant between Cranbrook ( to the east) and Castlegar ( to the west) along the Crowsnest Highway. The town is approximately nort ...

. The Toronto school gradually expanded, and in 1991 she and Cohen decided to open a second school in Brooklyn, New York and wind down the Toronto school. However, by 1994 the New York school had folded, and the marriage of Arrowsmith Young and Cohen had ended. She returned to Toronto and re-opened the school there, this time in a rented building on Yonge St.Arrowsmith Young, Barbara (2012)
''The Woman Who Changed Her Brain''
pp. 7, 16, 139, 161–162, 187–188. Simon and Schuster. The school eventually moved to its present location, a converted house on St. Clair Avenue in the Forest Hill neighborhood of Toronto. Barbara Arrowsmith Young remains its Director and owner as she does of a second, smaller branch in

Peterborough, Ontario Peterborough ( ) is a city on the Otonabee River in Ontario, Canada, about 125 kilometres (78 miles) northeast of Toronto. According to the 2021 Census, the population of the City of Peterborough was 83,651. The population of the Peterborough ...

which opened in 2005.ArrowsmithSchool.org
Participating Schools: Arrowsmith School Peterborough
Retrieved 6 June 2015. Both branches saw increasing numbers of students from outside Canada following Arrowsmith Young's 2012 speaking tour to New Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom to promote her book ''The Woman Who Changed Her Brain''. In October 2012, international students made up about a third of the student population of the Peterborough branch (seven from Australia, one student from the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

, and one from the United States). In 2005 Howard Eaton opened the Eaton Arrowsmith School in

which is modelled on the Arrowsmith School in Toronto. The Eaton Arrowmith School subsequently established further branches in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

in 2009 and White Rock in 2012. Eaton then established a branch in the United States at

Redmond, Washington Redmond is a city in King County, Washington, United States, located east of Seattle. The population was 73,256 at the 2020 census, up from 54,144 in 2010. Redmond is best known as the home of Microsoft and Nintendo of America. With an an ...

, the Eaton Arrowsmith Academy, which opened in September 2014.Shen, Molly (25 November 2014)
"New take on learning disabilities: change the brain"

KOMO News KOMO-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Seattle, Washington, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside Bellevue-licensed Univision affiliate KUNS-TV (channel 51). Both stations share studios wit ...

. Retrieved 6 June 2015. Eaton is the owner and Director of all four Eaton Arrowsmith schools.

Curriculum and tuition fees

Full-time day students, who form the core of the Toronto school's student body, follow a curriculum which devotes two periods of the school day to mathematics and English, the only two academic subjects taught at the school. The remainder of their time (six periods per day) is taken up with carrying out the cognitive remediation exercises known as the Arrowsmith Program. The school had 75 students (in Grades 1 to 12) enrolled in the full-time day program in 2009. It also runs part-time programs for both children and adults. The school's annual tuition fees for full-time day students is $30,000.

Arrowsmith Program

The Arrowsmith Program (a

registered trademark The registered trademark symbol, , is a typographic symbol that provides notice that the preceding word or symbol is a trademark or service mark that has been registered with a national trademark office. A trademark is a symbol, word, or word ...

) refers to the Arrowsmith School's methodology which is also available under license to students in some public and

private schools An independent school is independent in its finances and governance. Also known as private schools, non-governmental, privately funded, or non-state schools, they are not administered by local, state or national governments. In British Eng ...

in Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand. Collectively more than 65 schools in these four countries use the program. According to the Arrowsmith School's official website, the program can be used by children and adults with learning disabilities such as

dyslexia Dyslexia, also known until the 1960s as word blindness, is a disorder characterized by reading below the expected level for one's age. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, r ...

dyscalculia Dyscalculia () is a disability resulting in difficulty learning or comprehending arithmetic, such as difficulty in understanding numbers, learning how to manipulate numbers, performing mathematical calculations, and learning facts in mathematics. ...

and

dysgraphia Dysgraphia is a learning disability of written expression, which affects the ability to write, primarily handwriting, but also coherence. It is a specific learning disability (SLD) as well as a transcription disability, meaning that it is a wri ...

who have at least average

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can b ...

, but it is not suitable for people who have an

autism spectrum disorder The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental disorder, neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) ...

or an acquired brain injury.

History and methodology

The program was founded by Barbara Arrowsmith Young while she was a graduate student at the

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto (OISE/UT) is Canada's only all-graduate institute of teaching, learning and research, located in Toronto, Ontario. It is located directly above the St. George subway sta ...

. As a child she had exceptional

visual The visual system comprises the sensory organ (the eye) and parts of the central nervous system (the retina containing photoreceptor cells, the optic nerve, the optic tract and the visual cortex) which gives organisms the sense of sight (the ...

and

auditory memory Echoic memory is the sensory memory that registers specific to auditory information (sounds). Once an auditory stimulus is heard, it is stored in memory so that it can be processed and understood. Unlike most visual memory, where a person can choo ...

, but it was coupled with several severe deficits in other areas, including

, and problems with

spatial reasoning Spatial may refer to: *Dimension *Space *Three-dimensional space Three-dimensional space (also: 3D space, 3-space or, rarely, tri-dimensional space) is a geometric setting in which three values (called ''parameters'') are required to determ ...

logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premises ...

, and kinesthetic perception. In 1977–1978 she developed a series of remedial exercises which she says helped her to overcome her own disabilities rather than merely compensate for them. According to Arrowsmith Young, she based the program on

Mark Rosenzweig Mark Rosenzweig may refer to: * Mark Rosenzweig (economist), development economist at Yale University * Mark Rosenzweig (psychologist) Mark Richard Rosenzweig (September 12, 1922 – July 20, 2009) was an American research psychologist whose ...

's work on

and on the work of

Alexander Luria Alexander Romanovich Luria (russian: Алекса́ндр Рома́нович Лу́рия, p=ˈlurʲɪjə; 16 July 1902 – 14 August 1977) was a Soviet neuropsychologist, often credited as a father of modern neuropsychology. He develope ...

and his theories about the relationship between the neurodynamic processes in different functional systems of the brain. In their 2015 audit of 15 remedial programs for specific learning difficulties for the New Zealand organization SPELD, George Dawson and Stephanie D'Souza gave basic descriptions of the nineteen areas of cognitive processing which the Arrowsmith Program is intended to improve as well as descriptions of some of its remediation exercises. In their introduction Dawson and D'Souza stated that the Arrowsmith Program is licensed on a for-profit payment basis with detailed descriptions of its exercises not publicly available and that their descriptions were based on Arrowsmith Young's own account in ''The Woman Who Changed Her Brain''.Dawson, George and D'Souza, Stephanie (23 March 2015)
"Behavioural Interventions to Remediate Learning Disorders: A Technical Report"
. Speld.org.nz. The deficit areas for which Dawson and D'Souza were able to provide basic descriptions of the Arrowsmith remedial exercises included: *Motor symbol sequencing The remedial exercise involves tracing using pen and paper while the student's left eye is covered. According to Arrowsmith Young's description of the program, this is intended to stimulate the left hemisphere

motor cortex The motor cortex is the region of the cerebral cortex believed to be involved in the planning, control, and execution of voluntary movements. The motor cortex is an area of the frontal lobe located in the posterior precentral gyrus immediately a ...

and thus improve tracking while reading and improve the ability to use "binocular vision cues". *Symbol relations The remedial exercise involves reading analog clocks with multiple hands displayed on a computer. The exercise has fourteen different rules. According to Arrowsmith Young, this exercise targets problems at the juncture of the

occipital The occipital bone () is a cranial dermal bone and the main bone of the occiput (back and lower part of the skull). It is trapezoidal in shape and curved on itself like a shallow dish. The occipital bone overlies the occipital lobes of the cereb ...

, parietal, and

temporal lobe The temporal lobe is one of the four Lobes of the brain, major lobes of the cerebral cortex in the brain of mammals. The temporal lobe is located beneath the lateral fissure on both cerebral hemispheres of the mammalian brain. The temporal lobe ...

s areas on the left side of the brain which can produce a tendency to reverse the sequence of letters in a word and make it difficult to parse

syntax In linguistics, syntax () is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure ( constituency) ...

and read an

analog clock A clock or a timepiece is a device used to measure and indicate time. The clock is one of the oldest human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units such as the day, the lunar month and the ...

. *Memory for information or instructions The remedial exercise involves memorizing increasingly more complicated song lyrics by listening to them as many times as it takes to be able to repeat them accurately. According to Arrowsmith Young, this exercise targets the left hemisphere temporal lobe where a deficit manifests itself in an inability to remember accurately conversations, lectures, and instructions. *Symbol recognition The remedial exercise involves remembering increasingly long strings of computer-presented letters from languages with a different

orthography An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation. Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and mos ...

from English, e.g.,

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

, etc.. According to Arrowsmith Young, this exercise targets deficits located in the occiptital-temporal area which cause difficulty in learning to read and spell. *Artifactual thinking The remedial exercise involves looking a narrative picture and then forming a reasonable hypothesis of what story is being depicted. According to Arrowsmith Young, this exercise targets a deficit located in the right prefrontal cortex which cause difficulty in interpreting the emotions of others. In their report, Dawson and D'Souza describe the remediation exercises for nine out of the nineteen areas as "vague", "not clear" or unspecified in Arrowsmith Young's book. These include: *Broca's speech pronunciation According to Arrowsmith Young, this deficit located

Broca's area Broca's area, or the Broca area (, also , ), is a region in the frontal lobe of the dominant Cerebral hemisphere, hemisphere, usually the left, of the Human brain, brain with functions linked to speech production. Language processing in the brai ...

of the brain, causes mispronunciation, restricted vocabulary, and difficulty in simultaneously speaking and thinking. *Auditory speech discrimination According to Arrowsmith Young, this deficit involving the superior temporal lobe, reduces the capacity to distinguish words that rhyme, e.g., ''fear'' and ''hear''. *Symbolic thinking According to Arrowsmith Young, this deficit involving the

prefrontal cortex In mammalian brain anatomy, the prefrontal cortex (PFC) covers the front part of the frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex. The PFC contains the Brodmann areas BA8, BA9, BA10, BA11, BA12, BA13, BA14, BA24, BA25, BA32, BA44, BA45, BA46, ...

causes a short attention span and reduces capacity for "mental initiative". *Kinaesthetic perception According to Arrowsmith Young, this deficit involves the

somatosensory In physiology, the somatosensory system is the network of neural structures in the brain and body that produce the perception of touch (haptic perception), as well as temperature (thermoception), body position (proprioception), and pain. It is ...

area of the parietal lobe which causes clumsiness (a tendency to bump into things) and may adversely affect handwriting. At the conclusion of the audit Dawson and D'Souza noted that evidence for the program's efficacy is documented via testimonials from some of the students and their parents and in several research reports, although none have been published in peer-reviewed academic journals. In the authors' opinion:

Skepticism, evaluation and criticism

Norman Doidge Norman Doidge, , is a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and author of ''The Brain that Changes Itself'' and ''The Brain's Way of Healing''. Education Doidge studied literary classics and philosophy at the University of Toronto and graduated "with hig ...

, a Canadian

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...

and

psychoanalyst PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: + . is a set of Theory, theories and Therapy, therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a bo ...

devoted one of the chapters in his 2008 book ''

The Brain That Changes Itself ''The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science'' is a book on neuroplasticity by psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Norman Doidge. Content The book is a collection of stories of doctors and patien ...

'' to Barbara Arrowsmith Young and the Arrowsmith Program. In it he recounts Arrowsmith Young's own struggle to overcome her learning disabilities and how she developed the program. The chapter also includes several brief case histories of children and adults who Doidge says were significantly helped by the program, although no quantifiable data is presented. He described her approach as "an important discovery" and one that had "major implications for education". However, as Doidge also acknowledged in the chapter, the Arrowsmith Program has been controversial. Widespread doubt and criticism has emerged from several psychologists, neuroscientists and learning experts. This has centered on the lack of scientific evidence used by the program to demonstrate its efficacy and on its underlying rationale which its critics say represents an

oversimplification The fallacy of the single cause, also known as complex cause, causal oversimplification, causal reductionism, and reduction fallacy, is an informal fallacy of questionable cause that occurs when it is assumed that there is a single, simple cause of ...

and misapplication of neuroscientific concepts. Coinciding with Barbara Arrowsmith Young's speaking tour of Australia in 2012, the Catholic Education Office in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

announced that it would begin a pilot study involving 20 learning disabled students in their last two years of high school who would be offered the Arrowsmith Program for two years beginning in 2013. If it proved successful, the program would be extended to thousands of children in Catholic schools, including those in younger grades. The cost to parents whose children had been selected for the pilot study would be A$8000 for two years, over and above the normal school fees.Han, Esther (15 May 2012)
"Proof hurdle for 'brain training'"
''

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...

.'' Retrieved 9 June 2015. Several Australian academics were critical of the move. Dr Emma Burrows, a neuroscientist at the Florey Institute in Melbourne, and cognitive scientists

Anne Castles Anne Castles is a cognitive scientist of reading and language, with a particular focus on reading development and developmental dyslexia. Early life Castles was born in Canberra, Australia and attended St Clare's College, Canberra finishing i ...

and

Max Coltheart Max Coltheart (born 16 April 1939) is an Australian cognitive scientist who specialises in cognitive neuropsychology and cognitive neuropsychiatry. Coltheart was born in Frankston, Victoria and grew up in Brisbane, Canberra and Bega. He commen ...

Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a public research university based in Sydney, Australia, in the suburb of Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of S ...

pointed out that the "evidence" supporting the program's claims of success was

anecdotal Anecdotal evidence is evidence based only on personal observation, collected in a casual or non-systematic manner. The term is sometimes used in a legal context to describe certain kinds of testimony which are uncorroborated by objective, independ ...

rather than based on studies using

randomized control trial A randomized controlled trial (or randomized control trial; RCT) is a form of scientific experiment used to control factors not under direct experimental control. Examples of RCTs are clinical trials that compare the effects of drugs, surgical te ...

s and published in peer-reviewed academic journals. Both Castles and Coltheart have also criticised the Arrowsmith Program and other "brain training" programs such the

Dore Programme The Dore program, named after its creator, businessman Wynford Dore, is a method for improving skills such as reading and writing, attention and focus, social skills and sports performance through targeted physical exercises. The validity of the ...

and

Brain Gym Brain Gym is a proprietary brain training and body movement programme. It is widely considered to be pseudoscience. Organization "Brain Gym International" is the trade name of the Educational Kinesiology Foundation, a California nonprofit cor ...

as based on an oversimplification of

and other neuroscientific concepts. According to a January 2015 announcement from the Archdiocese of Sydney, the two-year school trial in Sydney had "outstanding results". The Arrowsmith Program was incorporated into the Sydney Catholic School system in 2015 and expanded to include both

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works * ...

and

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

students. The data on which the evaluation was based were not provided in the announcement. The trial itself was strongly criticized by neuroscientists as misguiding. They contend the Arrowsmith school's claims of being research-based are unfounded. Dr Burrows was further reported to have expressed concern after directly inquiring with Barbara Arrowsmith for evidence and learning that neuroscientists were not involved with the Arrowsmith Program. In Canada, neuroscientist

Adele Diamond Adele Dorothy Diamond is a professor of neuroscience at the University of British Columbia, where she is currently a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. One of the pioneers in the field of Developmental Cognitiv ...

and cognitive psychologist

Linda Siegel Linda S. Siegel (born 1942) is an American-born psychologist and academic known for her research into the cognitive aspects of learning disabilities. She is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Spec ...

—both based at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

in Vancouver—have expressed concerns similar to those of Castles and Coltheart. Both appeared in the 2008 a CBC documentary about the Arrowsmith program. ''Fixing My Brain'' which was filmed at the Arrowsmith School in Toronto. A portion of Siegel's highly critical commentary was removed by the documentary's producers prior to broadcast after Arrowsmith Young's lawyers threatened the CBC with a lawsuit for libel.Hill, M. F. (29 December 2008)
"Education expert calling her lawyer"
''

Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network. Published s ...

''. Retrieved 31 May 2015. Siegel was also the author of a 2003 report to the

Vancouver School Board The Vancouver School Board (VSB; officially School District 39 Vancouver) is a school district based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. A board of nine trustees normally manages this district that serves the city of Vancouver and the Uni ...

(VSB) on the efficacy of The Arrowsmith program. At the time, VSB was running a three-year trial of the program, funded in part by the

Vancouver Foundation The Vancouver Foundation is an organization based in Vancouver, British Columbia. It administers over 1,600 funds and assets totalling $930 million, on behalf of individuals, families, corporations and charities. History Vancouver Foundation wa ...

. According to Howard Eaton, the owner and Director of the Eaton Arrowsmith schools, Siegel's report had been influential in the VSB's decision to discontinue the pilot program.Eaton, Howard (2013)
"Siegel's Study: Points For Comment"
EatonArrowsmithSchool.com. Retrieved 9 June 2015. Siegel's study compared the outcomes after eight months for children with learning disabilities at two Vancouver elementary schools. In one school the children received the Arrowsmith Program. In the other, the children were enrolled in an Extended Learning Assistance Class (ELAC) which focused on reading and writing. Siegel found that the superior performance of the Arrowsmith children on the comprehension and spelling measures was

statistically significant In statistical hypothesis testing, a result has statistical significance when it is very unlikely to have occurred given the null hypothesis (simply by chance alone). More precisely, a study's defined significance level, denoted by \alpha, is the p ...

. However, she found no statistically significant differences on the other measures, although she stated that on those measures "ELAC performed at higher levels than Arrowsmith, often by a relatively large amount". Howard Eaton has stated that there were multiple problems with the design, sampling, and statistical analysis in Siegel's study, something which Siegel has also conceded.Manning, Rob (15 January 2014)
"Oregon Charter School Considers 'Arrowsmith Program'

Oregon Public Broadcasting Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) is the primary television and radio public broadcasting network for most of the U.S. state of Oregon as well as southern Washington. OPB consists of five full-power television stations, dozens of VHF or UHF tra ...

. Retrieved 9 June 2015. In 2013 Eaton co-authored a re-analysis of Siegel's data with professors William Lancee and Darren Irwin. Their conclusion was that the higher performance of the ELAC students in Siegel's study was not statistically significant.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Brain training programs Private schools in Toronto Special schools in Canada Brain training programs Educational institutions established in 1980 1980 establishments in Canada