This post references tools and resources found in The Neurodivergent Toolkit [CHECK IT OUT HERE]

Today

 I’ll show how the brain learns through neurons connecting with each other and what we can do to increase and stabilize those connections in sustainable ways.

This Post Will

• Explain the increase in survival behaviors in classrooms
• Help you design learning that “STICKS”…
  
  

What We Did The Last Time We Were Together?

 I made the case that mental health is not separate from academics. 
Chronic stress changes what the brain can access during learning.
Demand exceeds capacity, the PFC thinking brain loses access and the survival brain takes over.

🧠 If you haven’t read Part 1: Mental Health is a Learning Issue [READ PART 1 HERE]

Learning is Neurons Gettin’ Cozy 🥰

When a neuron 🧠 connects to another neuron it forms a “connection 🔗”  and over time that connection gets stronger and creates a neural pathway 👣. Neural pathways allow parts of the brain to upload information to a neural network and store that info in long term memory. 

The new information becomes “retrievable”, which means other neurons can access it, even neurons in different areas of the brain. 

The brain has now learned, internalized, or fully understood the new information. 

Their teacher gets a gold star and they go home and about their day.

What A Neuron Is

A neuron 🧠 is a brain cell that connects to other brain cells, also neurons, and form networks for different systems of the brain. 

For Example

System: Motor and Coordination

Example Networks: Spatial Awareness & Muscular System

The brain uses these neural connections to form neural pathways 👣, almost like electrical lines, to get and give info to other parts of the brain. These pathways connect and upload new information and we consider this learning.

How Pathways Are Made

The more a neural connection 🔗 is used, the easier it is for those two neurons to connect in the future. This is where use it or lose it comes from.

The more you practice, the more connections are made, and these connections begin to form reliable neural pathways 👣, and the easier the skill becomes.

It gets easier over time, because the pathways that support the new skill get “stronger”.

This strengthening makes communication quicker, more reliable, and the entire brain more energy efficient 🍃.

THE BRAIN LOVES TO BE ENERGY EFFICIENT 🍃.

Tip On Designing Instruction: Practice matters. We don’t just love to repeat ourselves 100x an hour, there are types of repetition that strengthen pathways quicker than others. Focus on diversifying the types of practice you’re offering.

If You’re Using The Toolkit:

In the Instruction Kit, use Repetition of Activities when kids are struggling—because repeating a few familiar practice structures can boost dopamine and save the brain energy. (Instruction Toolkit — Repetition of Activities, pg 10.)

Check out The Instruction Kit and Repetition of Activities in The Neurodivergent Toolkit [GET THE TOOLKIT CLICK HERE]

Teaching & Learning 

When you teach a skill—like the skills needed to cope or to move through daily routines—you’re trying to help neurons connect and build strong enough pathways that the skill can be accessed under conditions like:

• Stress
• New environments
  
• Time constraints
  
• Social stress
  
• Mental fatigue
  
• And/or frustration

But When The Brain Learns a Skill, it CAN NOT be Stressed

Stressed brains struggle, and I mean struggle, to build reliable connections 🔗 and pathways 👣. Stress causes the brain to subconsciously scan its environment for threats. This uses up A TON of energy.

And the brain doesn’t have the energy to fully engage the PFC thinking brain.

Stressed brains rely on the survival brain, so the survival brain grows connections and pathways—making it stronger, quicker, and even more energy efficient 🍃. Great for a zombie apocalypse 🧟, not so great for coping with frustration while sitting in a classroom with 30 of your peers.

In Summary: 

When neurons connect and send information back and forth, they form pathways that get stronger and more energy efficient over time.

But—and this is a big BUT—when brains are stressed, it’s harder to connect and build those pathways, and that means the brain is going need either:

Really interesting experiences with the content OR enough repetitions that the connection can stabilize and form a pathway.

The Brain Doesn’t Just Learn Because You Taught It

Here’s the part teachers should be taught, explicitly, because it makes or breaks whether any learning will happen:

The brain keeps some, but not all, neural connections “warmed up” and ready for use. 

BUT it prioritizes what stays active.
And that prioritization is basically: what gets used, gets stronger.

Two Things To Try Tomorrow (Toolkit Users)

If You’re Using The Toolkit

In the Instruction Kit, use flow charts when kids struggle with independent work—because flow charts remove the anxiety of “what’s next?” and lets them check to “make sure” while they work on their own. (Instruction Toolkit — Flow Charts, pg 14.)

In the Instruction Kit, use Predictability Strategies when you’re getting nonstop “what’s next?”—because predictability reduces wasted energy and lowers anxiety, and the kit gives you concrete ways to do it (repetition of activities, routines, checklists, flow charts). (Instruction Toolkit — Predictability, pg 20.)

1) Plan Repeated Activation ON PURPOSE 

Use the Instruction Kit and run Cue → Chunk → Chew tomorrow with one concept. The goal is not “covering.” The goal is giving the brain repeated activation it can actually hold onto without overload.

2) Don’t design full blown interventions until you know the compromised need

Use the Student Needs Checklist before you redesign your classroom. If you don’t know which need is compromised (safety, comfort, autonomy, belonging, competence), you’ll keep feeding the wrong pathways.

In the Behavior & Needs Detective, run the Student Needs Checklist on one student you’re stuck on—because if you can’t name the compromised need, you’ll keep picking strategies that don’t get to the root of the behavior. (Behavior & Needs Detective — Student Needs Checklist.)

Quick Note

The Instruction Kit, the Classroom Environment Kit, and the Behavior & Needs Detective are all inside the Neurodivergent Toolkit.

If you want the one toolkit that helps you meet psychological needs for all students in your classroom—that’s the Neurodivergent Toolkit. [GET THE TOOLKIT CLICK HERE]

Coming Next

Part 3: The Brain Isn’t A Sponge

I explain why the brain isn’t a sponge and learning isn’t automatic: neurons have to ACTIVATE, CONNECT, and REPEAT enough times for pathways to form. 

I also show you why quality repetition, attention, felt safety, and predictable structure matter so, so much if you want learning to actually stick.