Most of us reckon we've met some stupid people. Many of us feel we work with them or have to encounter them in our lives and these experiences can be stressful. But it might not be that all these people are actually as stupid as you think. Many are not stupid at all. Science now shows that human brains tend to be wired differently in different people.

Of course human brains don't have actual wires in them but it is the organ of the body that processes most all information, whether sensory or muscular, voluntary or autonomic (movements that are not consciously controlled like the heart beating and internal organs' processes).

The route by which one brain gets this information may differ from the way in which another person's body will tell its brain the same information. Recognising this fact has wide implications for learning as different people absorb different types of information in different ways.

Local educational psychologist Angela Fubler is excited by the findings and how it can help parents, teachers and the general community with not only understanding that people absorb information differently, but in actually finding new ways of effectively communicating with people labelled slow, learning disabled or in many instances even stupid.

Ms Fubler is the principal consultant of Bercon Ltd an educational intervention and consulting firm. She has worked in local education for over 20 years. She said she had an epiphany after reading 'A Mind at a Time', a book by paediatric neurologist Mel Levine. She was so inspired by his work in the area that she underwent a year of training with him at the University of North Carolina and then returned to Bermuda and started Bercon. Ms Fubler and Bercon's programme manager Andrea Cann are so passionate about developments in this area that they've organised a conference on the topic. The Neuroscience in Education Conference takes place later this month (see Health Calendar) and will feature US learning theorist David Boulton and physiotherapist Cheryl Chia from Singapore.

According to Ms Fubler, Mr. Boulton has interviewed hundreds of neuroscientists on learning and the brain, and compiled the information to show exactly how brain wiring relates to learning. In his opening address he will explain that children who struggle to read, experience the struggle as a reflection of something wrong with themselves. In his objectives he wrote: "Unintentionally parents, schools and society as a whole contribute to perpetuating this insidious learning-disabled myth.

"Children who feel shame in relation to reading are in serious danger. The shame they feel not only causes them to avoid reading, it depletes the cognitive capacity they need to learn to read in the first place. Millions of children are caught in this dangerous downward spiral and it's causing them to suffer serious mental and emotional harm."

Paediatric physiotherapist Cheryl Chia said the relationship between sensory-motor development and learning in children has long been established in physiotherapy and occupational therapy. She's looked at research on the relationship of physical activity and learning and from that has developed programmes to improve motor skills in children. She said this has a positive impact on their ability to learn and their academic performance.

Ms Chia and Mr. Boulton will not only give a general talk on their areas but each will also give seminars so that conference participants will have an opportunity to delve deeper into their specifics of their cases.

Ms Chia will give a workshop on her module for assessing children with sensory-motor and learning disabilities while Mr. Boulton will do a seminar on what is at stake and what is involved in learning how to read. In his other seminar he will feature clips from his documentary, 'Children of the Code', and explain the challenge of learning to read.