The Ted Talk I watched is presented by Dr. Aditi Shankardass, a neuroscientist trained across three disciplines of the field: neurophysiology, neuroanatomy and neuropsychology. Much of her work has been devoted to the use of an advanced form of electroencephalography technology that records the brain's activity in real time, and then analyzes it using complex display schematics and statistical comparisons to norms, enabling more targeted diagnoses and treatments for children with development disorders. She is also actively involved in public outreach to increase understanding of brain disorders as a board member of the Global Neuroscience Initiative Foundation and a consultant for the BBC Science Line. I wanted to watch a Ted Talk about medicine, and I was shifting through them, I found this video. I instantly clicked on it because she had the same first name as me. However, after reading the description, I realized that the video was actually something I was very interested in, learning disorders in children.
Dr. Shankardass explained in the video that this new technology, the EEG, could help more accurately diagnose learning disorders in children. These better diagnoses would allow doctors to administer proper medications and treatments so that the child can lead as normal a life as possible. Currently, doctors diagnose learning disorders based on observations of a child’s physical behavior, and that leads to a bunch of misdiagnoses because these aren’t behavioral problems, they’re neurological problems. In fact, according to Dr. Shankardass, 50% of children diagnosed with a learning/mental disorder are diagnosed incorrectly. In other words, a lot of kids diagnosed with ADHD, ADD, autism, mental retardation, etc. don’t even have those disorders to begin with. A lot of those children are actually having small seizures in their brains; a condition that can easily be treated, but a condition that is also not visible by the naked eye. Because these children are misdiagnosed, they never get the proper treatment and never see an improvement in their conditions. This leads to frustrated children and frustrated families, and ultimately the children and their families give up; they just learn to accept that their child is “different”. However, with EEG scans, doctors are now able to actually find out what’s wrong with their patients. As Dr. Shankardass explains, the EEG, uses electroencephalogram recordings of the brain to help correctly diagnose mental disorders. Basically, the EEG uses scans of the brain to map out the child’s brain waves and can be used to pinpoint an abnormalities in any basic neurological functions (vision, attention, language, audition). Using these, doctors are able to determine the child’s condition based on cold, hard scientific evidence rather than irresolute observations. Dr. Shankardass then goes on to tell the story of 7 year old Justin Senigar, a boy who was diagnosed with severe autism. So severe, in fact, that doctors believed that he would never be able to interact socially or communicate properly. However, after an EEG scan, Dr. Shankardass discovered that he actually was having miniscule brain seizures and he was put on a medication meant to treat such a condition. Within 60 days, his vocabulary expanded from 2 or 3 words to 300 words. He was enrolled into a normal school and joined karate, where he made a whole ton of friends. Dr. Shankardass ended her TED talk explaining that this new technology was a win-win situation for everyone. There were no risks involved and the results of an EEG scan allow for a more targeted treatment option no matter what the condition the child has.
Dr. Aditi Shankardass was born and raised in London. She attended Kings College London for her bachelor’s degree, University College London for her doctoral (M.D.) degree, and the University of Sheffield for her PhD in Neuroscience. Currently, she is the head Neurophysiologist for the Bright Minds Institute,. Dr. Shankardass' work on dyslexia has been the subject of several publications and presentations, including her prize-winning presentation to the UK Houses of Parliament, and has also been covered by the UK and US press. Her previous work using EEG recordings of the brain to help identify the underlying neurological cause of dyslexia, was the subject of her presentation at the United Kingdom Parliament in 2001 at the Annual Reception for Britain's Top Young Scientists, Engineers and Technologists.
Dr. Shankardass serves as a board member of the Global Neuroscience Initiative Foundation, an organization devoted to raising global awareness of neurological and psychiatric disorders. She is currently writing a book on developmental dyslexia and serves as Board Member of the 'Global Neuroscience Initiative Foundation', a US organization devoted to raising global awareness of neurological and psychiatric disorders.
After high school, I’m not really sure what I want to major in, but I do know that someday, after college and medical school, I hope to be a pediatric surgeon. I’ve always loved working with kids, and the human body fascinates me. So that career seems like the perfect fit. I also really want to go into charity work, maybe Doctors Without Borders, as well as research, especially in issues like this. I feel like children with developmental disorders often have a stigma attached to them, and with the creation of technologies like this, doctors are getting closer and closer to solving the puzzle of all of these disorders. I would love to play some role in that as well. As for internships, I’m interning a pediatric surgeon this summer and in the future, I’m going to try and get involved with research or volunteer opportunities in health care.
I've taken two psychology classes in my educational experience at Saint Francis, and one of the things that interesting to me is the availability of subjectivity in social science. Although there is definite roots in observable and mutually verifiable phenomena such as the activity of the brain, the interests that psychologists seek are at discovering the functions of the mind, such as in consciousness or cognition. In this realm, many interpretations can exist that explain certain tendencies in behavior or thinking, and these multiple theories, although they conflict at times, often each hold at least some truth of the bigger picture of the mind. What this Ted talk as shown me, personally, is that these people shouldn't get too carried away as to neglect the objective; the observable actions of the brain that undeniably effect the thinking, emoting, and other processes. I wish you well in your future studies and careers, and hope that you keep the same spark for new knowledge that you have now.
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