Why I Need $100,000.00

I have just finished reading Barbara Arrowsmith-Young's novel, "The Woman Who Changed Her Brain" and it was was totally inspiring and has made me realise that I need $100,000.00, minimum which is a very big sum of money and a pretty depressing thought.

Arrowsmith-Young's novel tells of her own story, a young clumsy woman with poor brain function, she describes herself as almost doltish in all areas except for a photographic memory, which was the only thing that got her through high school and into college. Her grade One teacher told her mother that Barbara had a mental block and would never learn.

At college she began to study the work of a Russian psychologist named Luria, a believer in the concept of neuroplastcity, the idea that the brain has plasicity and can change. From her studies of Luria she developed a set of cognitive exercises for her brain and she found that they worked, she changed her brain and overcame the many learning difficulties she had.

She was so successful in changing her own brain, that she formalised these cognitive activities and set up a school in Toronto for children with learning difficulties, The Arrowsmith School. Her program is now employed in 35 schools in Canada and the US, sadly not in Australia though.

The case studies in her book are truely inspiring, with children moving from more than two years below their peers academically, to on par, or above their peers. She has successfully improved working memory, handwriting issues, reading issues, visual memory, auditory processing, concentration and many other areas for over 4,000 children.

I want Riley to be one of these children. Until his many learning difficulties are addressed it is going to get harder and harder for him to keep pace with his peers (he's already two years behind so we found out at a parent/teacher meeting yesterday). The gap is only going to grow and his self esteem will plummet. This breaks my heart, because there is an intelligent little boy in there.

I figured I need around $100,000.00 dollars to take Riley to Toronto, pay the expensive annual fees and manage a basic life there for two years. I have bought a Lotto ticket for tonight's draw, I don't want the 13 million, just enough to get Riley the help he needs. I'm going to read "The Secret", maybe there is something in it. I am also really hoping that you guys will talk about this blog post with any philanthropic people, or organisations you know.

I have a dream, it is not a selfish dream and if this dream comes true I think there will be a brighter future for the the most important and special person in my world.

Riley spelling 'cash' wrong again after studying this on his spelling list for 8 days.