The Brain and the Brainstem

The Brain: Your brain, located inside your
skull, is made up of billions of tiny nerve fibers that connect with each other
in many different ways. The brain is so complicated in its "wiring" that
it should not be surprsing that no two brains are exactly the same. This
means that there can be a great number of different learning strengths and
learning disorders among people, including kids in school. Sometimes it's
hard to be sure what's normal and what's abnormal.

The Brainstem: The brainstem is just above the
spinal cord. It gets information and sends out signals to the skin and
muscles of your head and neck. The brainstem also works like an extension
cord for some of your senses, including hearing and touching. For example,
if you touch something with your left thumb, the feeling that you get has to
pass through nerves that go through the brainstem to get to parts of your brain
that can think about what you've touched. Incidentally, smelling and
hearing do not have to go through the brainstem. They are allowed to
connect directly with the thinking parts of the brain (without an "extension
cord"). Your brainstem also has other responsibilities. It controls
swallowing, breathing, talking, heartrate, the flow of your blood and your
ability to see. By the way, the brainstem does not have only pleasant
chores; it's the part of the brain that makes you vomit!

Keeping A Head in School
Dr. Mel Levine