3. August 2011 by Rob Soosaar.

I was watching an episode of Stan Lee’s Superhumans with my son a few weeks ago.  This is a program that showcases people that have all manner of exceptional abilities.  In this particular episode Scott Flansburg’s mathematical abilities were presented.  In a nutshell, Scott has a natural born ability to mathematical calculations pretty much as quickly as you can press the buttons on a calculator.  There are plenty of demonstrations of his abilities online, like this Discovery Channel clip.

What I found interesting about Scott’s story are the results of the FMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) analysis of his brain in action as compared to the “normal” population.  FMRI technology provides the ability to dynamically record bloodflow associated with neural activity in the brain.  In the experiment both Scott and a control (Stan Lee in this case) were run through the FMRI while performing mathematical calculations in their head.  In the case of the control, results were as expected with a large amount of activity in the area of the brain responsible for performing this type of cognitive task.  In general, Stan’s brain was highly active due to the cognitive challenge presented to him.  When Scott was run through the machine while tasked with performing complex mathematical calculations there were interesting and unexpected results revealed in the FMRI.  First off, the area of the brain that one would expect to “light up” with intense activity was surprisingly dormant.  On average Scott’s brain was less active than Stan’s even though he was performing much more complex calculations at lightning speed.  The neurologist discovered that the area of Scott’s brain responsible for basic motor planning and visual processing of motion was particularly active even though he was relatively inactive going through the FMRI machine.  The theory is that for some reason the cognitive function in Scott’s brain responsible for numerical processing has been transposed to a region normally responsible for motion/vision.

This makes sense given Scott’s description of his unnatural capabilities.  He says he does not have to “think” about the answers to the math problems - they just appear to him.  If you consider the huge amount of calculation and analysis required by your brain in order to navigate you down the sidewalk while encountering traffic, other pedestrians, cracks in the pavement, carrying on a conversation etc.  These are all very complex cognitive computations that take place without concious intention.  Applying the same capability to doing math would allow one to simply “see” the answers.

A bit more digging into unique brain function, Autism and savants flagged Daniel Tammet as an individual with unique exceptional abilities.  Daniel was diagnosed autistic at a young age, exhibiting common challenges with communication and interaction with other children at school.  Daniel’s TED Talk provides some background on his own insights into his abilities and transition through childhood.  Daniel also has very exceptional mathematical abilities, which were quickly recognized at a young age.   Daniel benefits from synesthesia which allows him to see numbers as colours, shapes and emotions.  In his talk, he relates how he was able to create entire “worlds” based on the relationships of numbers.  Numbers  were his friends and playmates providing him with a great deal of comfort and enjoyment.  He is using his unique perspective to find new ways of interpreting the world and contributing to research across many diverse fields.

I think about these exceptional individuals and the countless others with equally unique capabilities applied to the arts, music, poetry and engineering.  Then there are the individuals that have these unique abilities and interpretations of the world that are just out of reach from the rest of us.  They may be missing that thread of self-awareness which Daniel is able to grasp.  They are only able to communicate frustration because they see, hear and feel the world as something completely foreign to the rest of us.

I look forward to finding ways for all of us to communicate the unique perspective of the world in which we live.  Keeping an open mind to arts, mathematics, song, poetry, drumming, sport is our mandate as humans - continue to find ways of connecting and communicating with each other.

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28. June 2011 by Rob Soosaar.

Something is not adding up at school boards in Waterloo Region.  The announcement in today’s Kitchener Record proclaiming that the Catholic School Board is cutting 39 EA positions from Special Education programs will send shock waves out to parents whose children are already on long waiting lists for support.  Details of the article are available on the Record web site at School Board Cuts.  The jist of the article proclaims that overall student enrollments are down, while demand for special education services continues to grow.  Declining enrollments means less funds in the coffers so an obvious target are the expensive Special Education budgets, which were already $1M over their targets last year.  This is a common dilemma across many school boards in North America.

Associate Education Director, Bruce Rodrigues, claims that there are not necessarily more children with problems its just that more of them are getting diagnosed.  I don’t have the statistical data to support the incidence versus diagnosis argument, however, based on anecdotal discussion with parents, educators and administrators I am tending towards the conclusion that the actual incidence of Autism Spectrum Disorders and other cognitive/behavioural issues is on the rise. They are all seeing it and living it each day, desperately clamoring for any resources that can help.

As with any kind of spectrum disorder, there are many different degrees of manifestation from moderate to extreme. The more extreme situations are more likely to get diagnosed, with resources assigned to help.  There are many children that fall into the more moderate end of the spectrum where parents and educators both recognize that these children need some specialized attention -to ensure the success of the child in question as well as maintaining the quality of education for the rest of the class.  Today, the only way for those students and teachers to get the required assistance is to have the child formally diagnosed, yet another step in the process that is costly and has its own substantial waiting list.    The bureaucratic system is generating some of its own problems due to the strict adherence to its own policies.  I agree that professional diagnosis is still necessary to ensure stakeholders understand what issue(s) they are dealing with so that that best path to success can be identified.

In the mean time lets put some trust in the front line professionals - the teachers and principals with 10, 20 or 30+ years of experience in working with thousands of children.  Resources are scarce today and that situation will not change overnight.  I ask that school boards work with teachers and parents to maximize the effectiveness of the resources available to them right now.  We need to collectively take a different approach to listen to and act on what is being communicated at the front lines.  Every day I am amazed at small grass roots community groups that are able to have an enormous impact leveraging very limited recources to address a variety of social issues.  I’m sure we can do the same with special education if we were to slash away some of the bureaucracy in multiple levels of government and relinquish some creative control to the people on the ground.

I’m interested in hearing feedback from people out in the community about some “outside the box” thinking about how to maximize the impact to children while operating within the reality of budgetary constraints.  Please post your comments or email me directly - rob@creativeot.com!

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