Traumatic Brain Injury Centers

If the title seems like science fiction, listen to this. Beka Solomon, a professor at Tel Aviv University, has found in mouse trials that filamentous phages, a harmless bacterial virus found almost everywhere from the depths of the ocean to the lining of the stomach, can be an effective treatment against Alzheimer’s disease when carried to the brain through the nose. Link here.

Solomon, working in this field for13 years after years of research in immunotherapy, figured if it isn’t possible to send drugs to the brain to treat Alzheimer’s disease the normal way because the blood-brain barrier prevents drugs from moving into the brain, then send them through the nose.

In mouse trials she found that filamentous phages, a harmless bacterial virus found almost everywhere from the depths of the ocean to the lining of the stomach, can be an effective treatment against Alzheimer’s disease when carried to the brain through the nose.

The cause of Alzheimer’s is believed to be plaque formation, which causes inflammation in the brain. Professor Solomon administered small doses of these phages through the nasal passages, which have a direct and rapid route to the brain. “There they lock onto the plaques associated with Alzheimer’s and dissolve them, reducing inflammation in the brain without any side effects. The body then gets rid of the waste naturally.”

Professor Solomon and her research team treated 150 mice with the phage for 12 months and “found the mice that had exhibited the symptoms of Alzheimer’s regained their sense of smell and also showed memory and cognitive improvement. After one year of treatment, they had 80 percent fewer plaques than untreated mice. The phages were eliminated from the brain and secreted from the body in urine and feces. The researchers saw no adverse effects in the peripheral organs – the kidneys, liver, lungs, and spleen biology were all normal. The mice showed very nice recovery of their cognitive function.”

The researcher presented her findings at a meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in Canada and believes further research is necessary but there is potential for a breakthrough.

A commercial department of Tel Aviv University is planning to commercialize this research and has licensed the technology to a startup company.

Just thought you’d like to know.
–Dr. Rohn Kessler

Students of African American and Hispanic background were recently part of a pilot project using a novel system of cognitive assessment to assess children’s learning potential. It was developed by Professor Reuven Feuerstein.

http://www.israel21c.org/bin/en.jsp?enDispWho=Articles%5El1777&enPage=BlankPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enVersion=0&enZone=Democracy&

The assessment consists of a battery of six to eight tests which measure abstract thinking, analogies, and qualitative thinking and are not culturally-biased.

“Nationally, African American students are identified as educationally mentally retarded twice as often as their white peers; and African Americans are identified as emotionally/behaviorally disordered one and a half times as often as their white peers. The actual number of these “BD” (Behavioral Disorder) diagnoses has increased by 500% between 1974 and 1998.”

Dr. Eric Cooper, President of the National Urban Alliance notes how unfortunate it is that “misdiagnosis of special education status has been used to place a significant number of children of color into programs that doom them to a life of low expectations and low achievement.”

Professor Feuerstein agrees and writes that “Too often we give up on children who are labeled with learning disabilities, but my work has found that using more creative techniques to teach these children will lead them to the same successes that life offers the other children in the classroom. Poverty is not destiny and we can reverse major depression in a child’s cognitive development and realize impressive results.”

Feuerstein’s theory of Structural Cognitive Modifiability “views the human organism as open, adaptive and amenable for change. The aim of this approach is to modify the individual, emphasizing autonomous and self-regulated change. Intelligence is viewed as a propensity of the organism to modify itself when confronted with the need to do so. Intelligence is defined as a changeable state rather than an immutable trait.”

Feuerstein’s claim that “poverty is not destiny” and that we can improve a child’s cognitive development and realize impressive results is profoundly important. He asserts that the benefits to all of society cannot be overstated.

Let me give one example. It has been proposed by Dr. Paul Nussbaum that learning may act as a potential vaccine again Alzheimer’s Disease and other age-related neurodegenerative diseases of the brain.

If we begin to think of learning as a process that improves health, like nutrition and exercise, then all students need to maximize their cognitive development. If tens and hundreds of thousands of poor children are placed in programs that doom them to a life of low expectations and low achievement and learning does act as a vaccine against age-related neurodegenerative diseases of the brain, we are accelerating the rate of dementias.

Childhood poverty has already been linked to dementia http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/618356.stm. Author of the research, Dr Moceri, said that “a poor quality childhood environment could prevent the brain from reaching a complete level of maturation.” The areas of the brain that show the earliest signs of Alzheimer’s are the one that take the longest time to mature during childhood and adolescence.

There are more than 5 million people in the United States living with Alzheimer’s. This means that every 72 seconds, someone develops Alzheimer’s. The indirect costs of Alzheimer’s and other dementias amount to more than $148 billion annually. http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_alzheimer_statistics.asp

Feuerstein’s International Center for the Enhancement of Learning works with children throughout the world. Plans are underway to start implementing the partnership in 20 U.S. cities. Educators, policy makers and journalists should follow the story carefully.

–Dr. Rohn Kessler

There’s a great story about a child with Down’s Syndrome who by the age of three was walking, running down ramps, climbing up slides, saying about 1,000 words, a bunch of short sentences, and following three-step requests.

His mother was pleased with his progress, but not the director of his program, who said “Sure, he’s a cute little guy and he’s doing nicely, but he could be doing so much better. You need to push him beyond his comfort level.”

http://www.aish.com/spirituality/growth/Going_the_Extra_Mile.asp

The director was referring a very intensive brain development program to improve vestibular function. Vestibular function includes coordination and balance skills to jump, hop, skip, and run. The child is put in an anti-gravity device with a harness and swung, flipped, cart-wheeled, rotated in all directions.

It seems the child loved this activity, but the director said “He shouldn’t be laughing and enjoying himself while being flung about like that.”Think about it. You and I would be throwing up after three minutes of those acrobatics. The fact that he’s enjoying it means his brain isn’t getting it. His cerebellum is not yet growing and developing enough to reach the kind of coordination and balance he’s going to need to function normally. You need to intensify the swinging, up the ante to the point where he’s a little uncomfortable and apprehensive. That would be a good sign.”

The mother said “I don’t know much about brain development, but as a parent trying to maximize her child’s potential, it made sense. Just as your muscles don’t develop if you don’t work up a sweat, lift weights and push yourself, a child’s brain needs to be pushed beyond its comfort level in order to create new circuits and neuro-connections.”

A few weeks later her son disliked the intensified version of the swinging routine and started complaining. The mother called the director and asked if she should stop it or slow it down.

“Stop it? No! That’s wonderful news!” the director said. “Keep the swinging at that level — that’s perfect.” He explained that her son was starting to grow new vestibular connections in his brain.

“You guys are doing a great job. And you know what,” he added, as if to impart a wonderful secret, “the more effort you put in, the more your son will develop and function as a regular kid. There’s nothing stopping him. It’s all up to you.”

The mother ends the story by bringing up an important point: to help their children develop their full potential, parents must stretch and flex their spiritual muscles as well as physical muscles.

In doing so they become much more humble, patient, grateful and wise.

We see this often at Sparks of Genius (www.sparksofgenius.com). Personal Trainers at our brain fitness center teach children and adults to overcome labels and move beyond limitations decided by others.

Just as the director was raising the bar higher and breaking the child’s comfort barrier, he was pushing both parents to go beyond their own self-imposed limitations.

Many are taught that if you can’t go over, you go under. We teach that if you can’t go over- you go over.

–Dr. Rohn Kessler

On September 9 AOL posted an AP article, Brain Damage Plagues Thousands of GIs, drawing attention to the “silent epidemic” of brain damaged soldiers. Not only have thousands of soldiers been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury (TBI), but these kinds of blast- related injuries are different than those caused by falls or car crashes. Further complicating matters, they often have PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) as well.

Symptoms of TBI included headaches, dizziness, lack of concentration and sleep disturbance. There can be depression, irritability and confusion. They can be easily provoked or distracted. It’s different than losing an arm or a leg (although many with TBI also have these injuries as well.) It is called a silent epidemic because there can be no outward wounds. Even those with TBI can think that they are OK. But the wounding is profound. They not only forget to get bread and eggs when they go to the store, they forget to go to the store period. They could forget what they spoke of 5 minutes ago or blow up at their spouse for no reason. They need highly specialized care which often isn’t available.

Returning soldiers with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) can benefit from “working out” their brain on a home computer. One company, Braintrain, is offering high-quality cognitive training software system free to personnel who have suffered brain injuries in the line of duty while serving their country in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Sparks of Genius offers free cognitive testing to South Florida veterans of the Iraqi War. Returning veterans can fill out a free 39-Point Learning Assessment at http://sparksofgenius.com/screens.html

-Ninah Kessler, LCSW

Musical intelligence has been defined as the ability to think in sounds, rhythms, melodies and rhymes. At Sparks of Genius www.sparksofgenius.com we use a variety of musical software and experiences to optimize brain functioning in children and adults.

Nine years olds use an ear training game called “Pitch Invasion.” Teens play violins and flute. Adults sing along to old favorites like “Home on the Range” on an electronic keyboard.

We also encourage students young and old to take advantage of the brain benefits of whistling, humming, singing and dancing.

There is a study by Daniel Amen in Making a Good Brain Great about the effects of music and meditation on the brain.

Link here.

Kritan Kriya is a 12-minute meditation based on five sounds: saa, taa,naa, maa and aa. Meditators chant each sound as they consecutively touch their thumb to fingers two, three, four and five. This is repeated out loud for two minutes out loud, two minutes whispering, four minutes silently, two minutes whispering and two minutes out loud.

Afterwards, brain images called SPECT showed:
1) Marked decreases parietal lobe activity – less awareness of time and space
2) Increased pre-frontal cortex activity –facilitating inner awareness
3) Increased right temporal lobe activity – associated with spirituality.

Music is processed in the right temporal lobe – also called the “G-d spot” of the brain. No wonder it can increase spirituality. Of course it depends what music you listen to!

When faced with a difficult problem, Dr. Amen recommends playing music. He notes that music helped Thomas Jefferson write the Declaration of Independence. When his writing got stuck, Jefferson played his violin to get the right words from his brain onto the paper.

Playing the violin also helped Albert Einstein solve complex problems.

At age 60, I was given a great present- an electric violin. When my brain gets stuck from too much multitasking in this crazybusy world of ours, I play different styles of music and learn new ones. Believe me, sparking musical intelligence benefits brain fitness.

Whether you sing, dance, hum, whistle, meditate or play an instrument, we can conclude that if you want to make your good brain great, exercise your musical intelligence. There are so many ways to do it. Have fun!

–Rohn Kessler, Ed. D.

On Labor Day, National Public Radio aired “Can Exercises Help Us Hold On To Our Memories?” (Link here).

This interview with Dr. Art Kramer (professor of Science and Psychology at the University of Illinois) and Dr. Gary Small (UCLA Center on Aging) was about the efficacy of computer games like Mind Fit and Brain Age. The good news is that you can improve memory, cognitive speed, attention, visual-spatial skills and decision making capabilities. These skills can be retained but the jury is out as to whether they can translate to other skills or can be transferred to the “real world.”

While these games are promising, they do not take the place of the more comprehensive personal training programs that we have at Sparks of Genius www.sparksofgenius.com. We use a high tech/high touch approach with a specialized computerized program designed for you. In addition to this training, we use a multiple intelligence approach to identify your sparks of genius. We measure your success on the computer and we help you to transfer what you learn to the “real world.”

The games discussed on NPR work with minor to mild memory related concerns. Used in conjunction with diet, exercise and social interactions, they can enhance memory and cognitive functioning. Dr Kramer mused that one day we could go to our health club, do the memory and speed training skills recommended by our neurologist, do our physical work out and then go to our book club meeting.

In fact, brain fitness centers like Sparks of Genius are already in existence. At Brain Training Summer Boot Camp for 7-12 year olds, we recently integrated exercises which improve physical and mental strength, stamina, balance and flexibility. Computer games to improve memory and attention were a critical part of the program. Personal Trainers made sure each child had a sense of accomplishment.

We like and agree with what Jeffrey W. Elias, Ph. D. at the UC Davis School of Medicine and the Editor of Experimental Aging Research had to say on the NPR blog of Can Exercises Help Us Hold On To Our Memories?

“I believe, and research supports the notion, that activity fostering social or cognitive engagement, while at the same time providing a sense of reward and accomplishment, is good for the soul and the brain. It is not just the activity itself that is important, but the sense of accomplishment and reward often leading to greater willingness to engage in the activities of life. This feeling of increased “self-efficacy” can occur even when the specific effects of training are minimal.”

So can exercises help us to hold on to our memories? Our answer is yes. And yes, a sense of accomplishment is essential to ongoing success. That’s what Sparks of Genius is all about.

–Ninah Kessler, LCSW and Rohn Kessler, Ed. D.

Is it really time for parents to get their kids back to school again? Let’s address the challenge head-on of how to optimize learning achievements and academic success.

My experience shows that the most important thing parents can do to maximize their children’s love of learning is to expose them to wide variety of learning experiences. Notice and nurture the ones they love.

To maximize their love of life and increase the probability that they will lead a successful and fulfilling life, teach your child to be a mensch—a really good person of noble character and deeds.

Guy Kawasaki writes in Art of the Start that a mensch 1) helps lots of people, 2) does what’s right, and 3) pays back society. On a scale of 1-10, ten being the highest and one the lowest, where do you rate yourself in these three areas?

Our in-house research shows that an increasing number of students are bored, frustrated, off-task and underachieving in school. Furthermore, most students with good and even great grades bored, frustrated and not optimizing their talents.

Many parents today are “CrazyBusy” schlepping their kids all over the place (http://sparkmygenius.com/?p=176).

Look at all this running around and then look at yourself from your child’s position. What does he see, hear, think, and feel? Most of us think we know; many of us do not.

Is there enthusiasm, confidence and motivation to start school? My personal and professional experience says “Probably not much.”

In fact, many students equate school with learning and believe when not in school they don’t have to learn anything. Worse, many children get turned off to learning completely.

That’s where Sparks of Genius can help, for we identify, ignite and nurture the many ways students are smart—often very smart. Students learn to set and accomplish goals they thought were unattainable. We aim to take them “over the top.”

It is my experience that by the age of eight (end second grade), most children with learning challenges know they are “different.” By the age of ten (end of forth grade), most have internalized the idea and the feeling that this difference is not good and they are to some degree slow, incompetent, bad or dumb.

By middle school, well, you get the idea.

Many parents ask “How can I be the change I want to see in my child?”

Here’s an example, more and more students “hate” to write. When was the last time your child saw you writing? What were you writing?

What do you say or do to encourage your child to write?

Have you taught your child that it is polite to return a letter or message he received? Try this. Sit down and write your child a letter. Put it in an envelope and mail it. When it arrives in the mailbox, give it to him. Any response? Tell him nicely and unemotionally to write a response, put it an envelope and mail it to you. Anything happen?

The goal is, of course, for your child to write anything, write a correct address on the envelope, and mail it you.

Of course, in today’s world, it’s more likely your child will respond to an email or instant message. If your child “hates” to write so much, it’s OK to start with emails or instant messaging. “Writing” does not have to be handwriting in the beginning.

Please let me know what works, what doesn’t work, and how you solved the problem.

Lastly, in-house research shows that many parents wait at least 2-3 months into the new school year before taking action to help their child. Some wait a year or more hoping “the problem will go away.”

Sparks of Genius is a computerized brain fitness center where students work to:
• improve attention, memory, organization and attitude
• ignite the many ways they are smart
• take more responsibility for their own learning
• use computer technology to reduce frustration and impulsivity

Don’t wait 2-3 or six months into the new school year before taking action to help your child. See if “working out” in our “electronic playground” with a personal trainer can increase your child’s grades, motivation and self-esteem.

If you live in South Florida call 561-859-4060 now to schedule a
FREE 30 minute workout in the Electronic Playground.

Curious and live outside the South Florida area? Take the free learning assessment at http://www.sparksofgenius.com/screens.html

-Dr. Rohn Kessler