Written in Partnership with Mark Hoffman 
Many people want to solve contemporary medical and social problems through innovative approaches or scientific methods. However, they cannot make a difference due to lacking novel ideas, resources, and innovations that create an impact. Researchers and scientists work tirelessly and constantly to develop new approaches and mechanisms for treating or preventing particular disorders. Scientific progress paved the way for treating and alleviating diseases previously perceived as uncurable. However, many disorders and conditions remain untreatable despite scientific and medical progress. For example, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia affect billions globally and adversely affect their ability to function adequately due to memory and cognition issues. However, researchers have no cure for the disorders or approaches to prevent and treat the condition and help people cope with memory loss. Patricia Derrick’s Brainpaths device is a breakthrough apparatus helping people prevent and cope with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease by firing and wiring the neurons in the brain.
Patricia Claire Derrick is a lifelong educator passionate about helping others through her innovative Brianpaths device and unique books for helping children learn how to read. Born on May 14, 1947, in Van Nuys, CA, to Swedish parents, Derrick completed her early education at Granite High School in Utah and graduated at 16. She graduated high school earlier than her peers, skipping half of the sixth and eighth grades. Derrick was passionate about teaching from an early age and assisted teachers in teaching her peers while enabling her to skip half the two grades. She completed her four years in college and got a teaching position to teach the sixth grade before graduation. Derrick started teaching and continued her teaching career for several years before eventually building six of her own private schools, each covering an area of over 10,000 square feet. She also worked as a stockbroker and real estate broker while running private schools.
Working in a particular industry for several years enables people to gain unique insights and experiences. Derrick also accumulated substantial experience running and operating private schools and came across various challenges students faced during learning. She also experienced and determined how various methods and approaches helped students overcome reading and learning disabilities. She came across and learned about a phenomenon while developing playground equipment in one of the school playgrounds. Derrick saw children running their fingers across the grooves and textures on the blocks that went into the fences and appeared to derive relaxation and enjoyment from the activity. She studied the phenomenon and found that tracing fingertips on patterns repeatedly fired and wired the neurons in the brain to strengthen synapse connections. The idea led Derrick to develop her innovative Brainpaths devices that could potentially help people strengthen their cognition and memory.
Patricia Derrick is passionate about helping others, especially children and others struggling with cognition and memory. She did not initially perceive the significance of the apparatus before coming across studies that showed how such devices, like Braille, could potentially help people with dementia and Alzheimer’s. The innovator filed for a patent through John Hopkins Krieger Brain Institute and patented her Brainpaths device. She also received FDA 510K exemption for clinical trials because her apparatus used the same technology as the centuries-old Braille technology. Patricia Derrick developed a device that helped people with memory and cognition by rewiring their brains through thousands of mechanoreceptors at their fingertips. She also evaluated the device’s relaxing characteristic that could help people alleviate stress and anxiety by tracing their fingers on the unique patterns. Her passion for helping people with memory and cognition issues and realizing the effect of finger-tracing activity on the brain motivated her to develop the Brainpaths device.
The Brainpaths device reflects Patricia Derrick’s commitment to helping people with cognition and memory. The Brainpaths apparatus benefits all age groups regardless of their medical conditions or health because it strengthens the synapse connections in the somatosensory cortex. Derrick also wrote several books under her Animalations brand to help children read and overcome reading challenges. The books help young readers read by accompanying each book with a song that syncs with the text and helps readers understand the words and sentences. Animalations is also a unique concept like the Brainpaths device because it uses a novel combination of songs and text to help children read. Derrick got the idea for the books after observing hundreds of children struggle with reading during her teaching career and in her school. She devised the animalations song-and-book concept after evaluating the positive effect of music on children and their learning capabilities. Derrick is pursuing a passion for helping people through the Brainpaths devices and Animalations books.
Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.