I Speak of Dreams

EdRev 2013: BrainAid's PEAT Device, or Cognitive Orthotics

I spent yesterday at the Parents Educational Network's EdRev 2013. Kudos to PEN for putting on such a dynamic and information-rich day. 

One focus was on exhibitors of technologies focusing on special education students' needs.  

I stopped by the BrainAid suite and had a lively conversation about executive function and technological supports with Brain Aid's president, Rich Levinson.  

Levinson was a robotics researcher at NASA-Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. In the early 1990s, Levinson began studying the neuropsychology of human planning -- executive function--in order to increase autonomy for NASA robots such as the Mars Rover.  

In 1995, Levinson proposed a computer model of human frontal lobe function. That computer model led to the development of  the Planning and Execution Assistant and Trainer -- PEAT™.   It is an  Android-based application that aids individuals with memory, attention and cognitive disorders.

PEAT was originally designed for brain injury rehabilitation -- specificially traumatic brain injury with the Veterans' Administration-- but has been used by many people with nearly all forms of cognitive impairment including mild cognitive impairment, early dementia, stroke, autism, ADHD, PTSD, hypoxia and others.

Right now, BrainAid is working with a Santa Clara County school district to build PEAT's capability to help students with executive function dysfunction (conditions such as autism and ADHD) be more successful academically.

I can see the PEAT device, with modifications, also being very useful for autistic adults, who often have executive function challenges that reduce quality of life.  I like the way BrainAid puts "autonomy" front and center -- "autonomy is our core value".  

Kassiane wrote a nifty article on "Autistifying My Habitat"that illustrates her low-tech way of overcoming some of the executive function challenges particular to her and her living situation.  Karla Fisher has a number of reflections on autistic executive function, but this essay is a great place to start.

PEAT training videos 

BrainAid on Twitter 

BrainAid on Facebook

BrainAid on Pinterst

 

 

 

Meditation and addiction

A worthy subject for exploration

Attention is an Emotion

This is from an interview with Dr. Donald Nathanson -- go read the whole thing

Attention Deficit Disorder is treated with medications that alter emotions, even  though everybody thinks it’s treating something cognitive. It isn’t.  What it’s doing is making more interest available to the child.

School of Prayer

What do people do when they pray?   Is it just reciting words, or is it something else?  The Carmelite Monastery of Indiana has reached out from the convent to provide assistance:

The School of Prayer.

Carmelites are a contemplative order, meaning their purpose is to pray, and pray unceasingly.

Digital Blessings

I can't tell if this is a parody or not. Tibetan Buddhists, who believe in the efficacy of mani wheels, have made it possible for computers to generate merit (there's another version of the digital prayer wheel). Buddhists also have prayer flags, which are covered in this book on flag blessings. At least one Christian church as a digital prayer chain, and there is a World Prayer Team.

Training the Mind

"What we found is that the trained mind, or brain, is physically different from the untrained one....What we found is that the longtime practitioners [of meditation] showed brain activation on a scale we have never seen before" --Richard Davidson

(thanks Ennis)

Salt on Complaining

I often find that the better things are the more comfortable people are complaining. The danger is when people don't complain directly to you.

Plenty of people complain. They don't intend for you to solve their problems. They don't want to hear themselves talk. It is, actually, a form of prayer. If anything, you should complain with them.

And lets not forget that sometimes complaining is fun. For some. Granted it is not fun to listen to, but I suggest that you are paid to listen to complaints.

I have been complaining about me to me. I have been complaining about a lot of things to a lot of people. I'm tired of my complaining, and then

SHAZAM!

Salt gives me a new way to look at complaints. He's writing for persons in the God business--clerics of all stripes--but it applies to anyone, really.

Update: while I was waiting for this to post, I called on Cobb. Well my goodness he raised complaining to a new level, but I guess he forgot his hangnails.

A Dad is Grateful

There are some folks I don't visit often enough. Duck Off and Fly does the gratitudes. Thanks for the reminder. Here's another. ; here's Ame Pema Chodron on tonglen

Wake Up! Breathe! Give Thanks!

Mindfulness Quote

We need to think of our attention as something we must train just as we train our fingers to play the piano or violin. We don't just practice when we are performing, we practice intensely in between performances.

Gregg Krech
Director, ToDo Institute "Life is a Matter of Attention"
author of Naikan: Gratitude, Grace and the Power of Self-Reflection
Japanese Art of Self-Reflection

Everything Meditation

So you are a little interested in meditation--you've heard it is good for you--but you aren't sure what to do or what it is.

Enter the Everyting Meditation Book, which is a guide to all the different forms of meditation globally--in a fairly balanced and accessible package.

It's from Adams Communications.