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If your son/daughter is struggling in school, this is for you. If you have tried therapies, this is for you. If you pay for extra tutoring/Rebbi, this is for you. If your child has any issues at all with memorization, focus, attention, comprehension, this is for you. If your child “just seems lost” and is “not getting it” in math, Chumash, Gemorah, whether it’s serious or even just some of the time, this is for you. If you want to sharpen your child brain, this is for you. If PTA is your biggest nightmare, this is for you.
Let me explain: Arrowsmith is a program that was developed in Toronto, Canada over 30 years ago. It was developed by a woman (Barbara Arrowsmith) who struggled her entire childhood to keep up with her peers. When she went to college she learned that there is a way to strenghten the muscles of your brain, being that the brain has plasticity. She worked with specialists to develop a program which can strenghten 19 different muscles/areas of the brain. The program consists of mostly computer, visual, and audio session which are 40 minutes a piece, usually 3 to 6 sessions a day, 5 to 6 times per week. It’s an exciting and stimulating program for boys and girls of all ages (high school included). Last year, a few frustrated parents got together and brought the programs into New York. The program was instituted into Bais Yaakov of Boro Park for girls, Yeshiva Tiferes Yisroel (Chofetz Chaim) for boys in Flatbush, and Yeshiva Degel Hatorah for boys in Monsey. Each student, Bli Ayin Hora, showed tremendous improvements, Boruch Hashem. The children gained confidence, too. If you want to help your sons and daughters from years of struggling and low self-esteem, this program is for you!!!
Contact me through the Yeshiva World Coffee Room or by contacting one of these schools immediately to have your child evaluated before the school year begins. Contact me with any questions, I will try to answer them to the best of my knowledge.
Help your child today!!
Wow! This program sounds amazing!! How is it better than any other program, like Ichud or the resource room?
Wow!! This program seems unbelievable!! It sounds fantastic…where can I get more information? And is there still room available in the schools that have this program? and how can we get this program up and running in other neighborhoods/states?
Is there any way to bering this program to London? It sounds amazing!
One more question…if the students are in the arrowsmith program 3 or six times a day, then what happens to the classwork that they are missing?
this program really does sound interesting! hatzlacha with it this coming school year!
This is a wonderful program and more schools should be offering this to their students!
My son is in the program and he has made significant strides. Any parent that has a child with learning issues should be looking into what Arrowsmith offers and determining if it is for them.
There are so many of our children who are struggling, nebach!
Parents: If this sounds like something that would benefit your child, inquire further. You won’t be sorry you did.
Who could help bring this program to London?
If you go to the Arrowsmith website http://www.arrowsmithschool.org, you can get more information. If you click on the “media” link there is a long list of article links there many of them are from jewish news sources.
One article is called HOW I OVERCAME MY LD AND LEARNED TO LOVE SCHOOL. At the end of the article it says, “For more information on how to bring this program to your child’s school e-mail [email protected]”.
This could be a first step in bringing it to a yeshiva near you.
Thank you first timer for this post. Would you or anyone else know where I could find this in Israel? I have an 11 year old daughter who could really benefit from this and I live in Jerusalem.
Are they going to get this in Los Angeles? It sounds great!
1st Timer, do you have any references for this program?
Googling it I did find this from the Toronto catholic school board:
In this report on the effectiveness of the Arrowsmith Program in achieving the above goals with learning disabled
students in the TCDSB the following was found:
Comprehension, Reading Speed) of between 1.5 to 3 times;
learning such as the ability to focus, understanding instructions, listening skills, organizational skills,
remembering factual information, understanding ideas, and in skill acquisition such as reading comprehension,
legibility of written work, telling time and in areas of confidence, self-esteem and frustration level;
spelling, mathematics, mental math, reasoning, writing, grammar, understanding concepts, improved grades in
academic classes, doing work independently, and self-organization;
concentration and focus, visual memory, non-verbal problem solving, mental arithmetic, number sense, thinking
and problem solving;
The above findings, combined with previous research of the program, strongly support the effectiveness of the
Arrowsmith Program for a wide range of learning disabilities.
I was just following the thread…and this program really sounds amazing. It is obviously an excellent program to help one overcome their difficulties in the English subjects. However,can it help for Hebrew subjects also? (chumash, kriah, etc.)
I would also like to add that the students gain a self-confidence that they never had before. A child’s self-worth and self-perception is really damaged when they experience failure after failure.
I have heard my son wonder why he is so “dumb”. And when I encouraged him to try again, he told me straight out “I just can’t do it! Nothing helps me!”. I can’t tell you what a boost it is for him when he comes home and tells me he reached a new level in his Arrowsmith exercises. He knows it is difficult and he is doing it!
The Arrowsmith program teaches children how to dream on and not get jaded. They no longer have to be living on the edge.
Well, on a practical level, it gives the children tangible exercises to do to strengthen them in their areas of weakness, so they can finally learn and understand the school material on par with their intelligence.
But it can give HOPE to a child and to the parents that their child can be successful in school and also in life. They can now feel that their future doesn’t have to be something bleak. It can be something exciting to look forward to.
1st timer you make it sound like this program is the ONLY program that can work. As with everything else each child may have different results. Also who are you to say that Ichud and resource room is just a “band-aid”. You sound like a quick scheme door salesman when you put down the “competition”. Folks out there please do your homework before going into such a program. There is no magic potion out there.
This discussion is an important one – don’t get me wrong. But we need to put things in perspective. Just because you and I both wear size 8 C shoes doesn’t mean that the same style will be comfortable for both of us. It’s the same with learning. One size fits all just doesn’t work. The diehards who sing the praises of Orton-Gillingham don’t want to listen to the way in which other programs (Wilson’s, TouchPhonics, etc.) can make a difference. In order to see success with any child we need to address his unique needs (as per the definition of Special Education in IDEIA). That means finding the pieces of each program that work for that particular child and using those elements to develop a unique program.
The Cognitive areas that are developed through Arrowsmith will undoubtedly help a child move along in his learning. But that alone, especially when we are talking about several years, is not enough. Yes, it is true that some children who have gone through special education programs have not found high schools, but let’s ask ourselves a question. When did these students begin to receive the intense remediation found in a self-contained program? Did they start in first grade or in fifth? Was the program appropriate to begin with? Maybe the child isn’t functioning at a level that would allow him to master academic material. Why not look into vision therapy? It helps hundreds of children with severe learning issues. That is another alternative. I hate to say it, but First Timer isn’t giving us an objective look at this program. It behooves every parent to reading the information for himself and then look into the program – taking into consideration the expense and the time investment. And while the child is learning these skills – what is happening to academics? Don’t write off self-contained programs. They are not band-aids. Just make sure that the program has developed a unique plan for your child, and then make them stick to it.
Tzippy323- It sounds to me like you’re really familiar with the programs that you mentioned, but not at all familiar with the Arrowsmith program. If you were familiar you would know that there is nothing one-size-fits-all about it. As 1st timer says, “each child’s needs is assessed individually” so that child’s specific weaknesses are targeted. And then an individualized program is set up for that child and specifically at his/her level. It is also designed in a way that fosters success by making the exercises incremental. As soon as a the child attains one level, they begin to work on the next level of difficulty, and their progress is constantly being monitored.
Also, I think a better analogy of resource room methods would be to that of a crutch for an injured leg, while the Arrowsmith methodology would then be likened to physical therapy or rehabilitation so that the person need not always depend on the crutches. (For instance: one would teach the child mnemonic devices to help memorize, while the other actually improves the child’s memory)
I believe any parent who has a child with learning issues would be grateful to be informed about a different program which could potentially work to help their child. Especially, if you have already tried the tutors, resource room, etc. and you feel the frustration of knowing that it has fallen far short of your expectations.
Some of this is starting to sound like propaganda instead of sincere presentation of information.
Arrowsmith may be a great program, but it doesn’t need you to belittle other approaches in order to toot its horn.
Most approaches are certainly *not* bandaid approaches, and to present them as such is deceptive. Properly provided therapy works with the brain to change how the brain processes, interprets, and stores information. Vision, reading, and language therapy, among others, have changed children for life. Experienced LD specialists have changed the course of childrens’ academic and social future. Terming them as “bandaid” makes you sound gimmicky and silly, and compromises the integrity of your presentation.
From what I understand, Arrowsmith is a wonderful program, and deserves mention in the array of choices available to help children.
Bemused- I think 1st timer sounds like a parent who has tried many ways to help his/her child and has finally found something that works! And wants to let other parents know about it as an option for their children.
It might be easy to be dispassionate for someone who hasn’t been through the heartache and frustration that is entailed in having a child with a learning disablity. But when something is working to help your child…!
Please don’t discourage others from looking into this program for their child. No one has claimed that Arrowsmith is magic or that it is for everyone. It is not for everyone.
And parents should not place their child in a program unless they do their due diligence in finding out all there is to know and are convinced that it is what’s best for their child.
NYMom,
I wrote, “From what I understand, Arrowsmith is a wonderful program, and deserves mention in the array of choices available to help children.”
And you wrote, “Please don’t discourage others from looking into this program for their child. No one has claimed that Arrowsmith is magic or that it is for everyone. It is not for everyone.”
I assume you were addressing someone else.
To NY Mom who thinks I am not familiar with Arrowsmith – nothing could be further from the truth. There is an Arrowsmith program in my neighborhood and several students in a local school are receiving training in the program. Unfortunately, the children that are being serviced have not shown dramatic improvement. The program requires a large investment of time and while the child is doing the training they are missing classroom academics (these children receive their training during school time – they leave the school twice a day). I’m not saying that the program isn’t worthy – I am saying that there has to be a balance between this type of training and academic intervention. And if you truly believe that we only teach mnemonics to compensate for memory, you could not be more wrong. We use many methods to train memory and improve it. If you haven’t had that experience, then the resource room or special ed program has not been doing its job.
“b) the “proof is in the pudding” because about 98% of the students that began last year are continuing this year. It’s not cheap so it must’ve shown good enough results to do it again.”
No, all that means is the school won’t allow them back into the regular class once the parent admitted the child needs additional help.
Tzippy – I did not say that the resource room only teaches mnemonics. I only gave that as a pithy example.
And I do have experience with LD children, therapists and their methods. I have seen all kinds of therapists – some who have helped and some who have tried their best, but made little difference to the child’s overall academic situation. And any progress with resource room methods, in my experience, has always been slow. In fact, I have never seen dramatic progress with resource room methods.
I am not trying to put you or anyone else down. I am sure that you have helped many children. But what I am saying is that I have been impressed with Arrowsmith and their well-structured, scientifically based exercises and I have seen progress. And I am trying to help inform other parents as to another option for their struggling children, which in my opinion and my experience, has helped where other options have failed.
Artchill – Wrong! You are completely wrong in this case. I don’t what your child’s school is like or even if you have a child, but your post has no basis of fact in this case.
i always thought uses the kids’ strengths to help his/her weaknesses
i didnt reaaly understand what he was saying but this kids mother does it in HALB and he told me something like that
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