Hockenbury Discovering Psychology 5th txtbk

80 CHAPTER 2 Neuroscience and BehaviorAsha’s Recovery After leaving the hospital,Asha began retraining her brain withspeech therapy. Asha’s husband, Paul, andher mother, Nalini, helped her with thespeech drills. Day after day, Asha repeatedlypaired words with objects or identifiednumbers, weekdays, or months. AsAsha recalls, “My mom was a Montessoriteacher for many years and she was incrediblypatient with me, like she was withher own students and with us as children.”As Asha gradually made progress, Nalinibegan taking her to stores. “She’d tell theclerk I was from India and that my Englishwasn’t very good and ask them to pleasebe patient with me. She basically forcedme to talk to the sales clerks.” Today,more than five years after the stroke, Ashahas completely recovered and resumedteaching.Today, more than five years after her stroke, the average person would neverknow that Asha had sustained significant brain damage. Other than an occasionaltendency to “block” on familiar words—especially when she’s very tired—Ashaseems to have made a complete recovery.Thus, Asha’s story illustrates the final theme—the brain’s remarkable plasticity.Next, we take a closer look at how the brain responds to different types of environments.You will also learn how you can use the research to enhance your owndendritic potential!