Barbara Arrowsmith-Young – Author Biography
Early Life
Barbara Arrowsmith-Young was born on November 28, 1951, in Toronto, Canada, to an electrical engineer father and a teacher mother. As a child she had exceptional visual and auditory memory — but also severe learning disabilities, including dyslexia and dyscalculia, and problems with spatial reasoning and logic. Told she suffered from a mental block that would permanently limit her, she struggled through school, compensating with formidable memory and willpower.
Career
Despite her difficulties, Arrowsmith-Young earned a bachelor’s degree in child studies from the University of Guelph in 1974 and a master’s in applied psychology from the University of Toronto. In graduate school she encountered research on neuroplasticity that changed her life: she began designing cognitive exercises to strengthen her own weak brain functions — and they worked. In 1980 she founded the Arrowsmith School in Toronto to apply her methods to children with learning disabilities, later creating the Arrowsmith Program to train teachers worldwide. Her memoir The Woman Who Changed Her Brain (2012) interweaves her personal story with case histories from her work. Psychiatrist Norman Doidge devoted a chapter of The Brain That Changes Itself to her, calling her approach an important discovery — though her methods remain controversial among some neuroscientists.
Major Works
Her landmark book is The Woman Who Changed Her Brain: And Other Inspiring Stories of Pioneering Brain Transformation (2012), a bestseller in Canada and Australia. Her work is also the subject of the CBC documentary Fixing My Brain (2008).
Writing Style and Themes
Arrowsmith-Young writes in clear, hopeful, autobiographical prose — the voice of someone who lived the problem she solved. Her central message is neuroplasticity in action: that learning disabilities reflect weak cognitive functions that can be strengthened through targeted mental exercise, not fixed deficits to be worked around. Her recurring themes are the brain’s capacity for change, the damage done by labels like “slow,” and the dignity of struggling learners. Her tone is that of a pioneer who proved the experts wrong on her own brain first.
Legacy
Barbara Arrowsmith-Young became one of the most famous — and debated — figures in the neuroplasticity movement. Her schools and programs have served thousands of students across North America and beyond, and her book brought the idea of a changeable brain to a mass audience. Whether or not science fully validates her methods, her personal story remains a powerful testament to refusing a diagnosis of hopelessness.
