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Get Smart!

2013-10-10 21:50:10.233628+00 by Dan Lyke 4 comments

Scientific American: You can increase your intelligence: 5 ways to maximize your cognitive potential

One of my first clients was a little boy w/ PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Delays-Not Otherwise Specified), a mild form of autism. When we began therapy, his IQ was tested and scored in the low 80s—which is considered borderline mental retardation. After I worked with him for about three years— one on one, teaching in areas such as communication, reading, math, social functioning, play skills, leisure activities—using multimodal techniques [pdf] —he was retested. His IQ score was well over 100 (with 100 considered "average", as compared to the general population). That’s a 20 point increase, more than one standard deviation improvement, by a child with an autism spectrum disorder!

Basically, it boils down to: Continue to find new challenges, and pursue them.

[ related topics: Psychology, Psychiatry and Personality Weblogs Invention and Design Journalism and Media Mathematics Education ]

comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):

#Comment Re: made: 2013-10-11 05:12:00.76423+00 by: ebradway

Writing software professionally engages the first 3 ways mentioned. But you have to have a tendancy towards #4 in order to really get into software. #5 can be the hardest for software types... but that's why we built Fido/Usenet/FaceTwitSpacePlus.

#Comment Re: made: 2013-10-11 14:09:20.759076+00 by: andylyke

Boiling it down: provide loving, intimate parenting and the kid thrives. Does that rate a "Duh!"?

#Comment Re: made: 2013-10-11 15:51:13.866451+00 by: Dan Lyke

But I think beyond "the kid thrives" is: Adults also benefit from continually seeking out new puzzles and challenges. Presumably also a "duh", but given the amount of physiological and medical information which could easily be true but isn't, nice that this one's being quantified.

And "4. Do things the hard way" explains all sorts of software engineering practices and web development frameworks...

#Comment Re: made: 2013-10-11 22:30:58.378366+00 by: Jack William Bell

** And "4. Do things the hard way" explains all sorts of software engineering practices and web development frameworks... **

SNERK