I simply cannot emphasise enough how important this topic is – in everything I do, I will be returning to it.
As a medical doctor and a neuroscientist, I have devoted years of my life to studying this phenomenon!
What neuroplasticity means is that the connections between nerve cells called synapses are not fixed. In brief, they can change in number, size and strength (both increasing and decreasing). This means that the structure and function of the brain continuously changes.
Intuitively, having more, larger or stronger synapses indicates that the nerve cells are better connected and vice versa.
All of these things can change and guess what – you can do it to yourself if you want to! More importantly, if you find it hard, I can help!
The process of neuroplasticity occurs throughout our lives, but is particularly efficient in children.
This self-guided change in synapses is what I facilitate when working with kids with tics – I help them “rewire” their brains to establish healthy patterns and extinguish the ones that make them tic.
