Dr Leaf contradicts Dr Leaf
Not only is Dr Leaf's teaching contrary to science and scripture, but even her own teaching contradicts itself. Dr Leaf also makes claims about her research and achievements that aren't backed up by her published papers.
To gift or not to gift ...
In her 2009 book, "The gift in you" [1], Dr Leaf teaches about the gifts that we have, specifically, our gifts are something uniquely hardwired into our brain, something that we cannot change even if we wanted to, and that it's our brain structure gives rise to the way in which we think, the actions that we take, and the gifts we are given from God.
On page 47, Dr Leaf said,
“The mind is what the brain does, and we see the uniqueness of each mind through our gifts. This, in itself is delightful and, intriguing because, as you work out your gift and find out who you are, you will be developing your soul and spirit.” (Emphasis added)
This quote in and of itself isn’t actually that significant until we compare it to a quote from the first chapter of Dr Leaf’s 2013 book, “Switch on your brain.” [2]
“The first argument proposes that thoughts come from your brain as though your brain is generating all aspects of your mental experience. People who hold this view are called materialists. They believe that it is the chemicals and neurons that create the mind and that relationships between your thoughts and what you do can just be ignored.
So essentially, their perspective is that the brain creates what you are doing and what you are thinking. The mind is what the brain does, they believe, and the ramifications are significant. Take for example, the treatment of depression. In this reductionist view, depression is a chemical imbalance problem of a machinelike brain; therefore, the treatment is to add in the missing chemicals.
This view is biblically and scientifically incorrect.” [2: p31-32] (Emphasis added)
So ... our gifts are hardwired into our brain and can't be changed because our mind is what our brain does OR our brain is what our mind does, so our gifts aren’t uniquely hardwired into our brain, and we should be able to change our gifting if we want to, based on our choices. Which is it? It can't be both. Dr Leaf's fundamental philosophies are mutually exclusive.
Now, we all make innocent mistakes. No one is perfectly congruent in everything they say. But this isn’t just getting some minor facts wrong. These statements form the foundation for Dr Leaf’s major works, and are in print in two best selling books, from which she has used to present countless sermons and seminars around the globe.
To summarise, Dr Leaf has directly called her own beliefs and teaching "biblically and scientifically incorrect", and not noticed. The confusion and embarrassment are palpable.
But wait, there's more.
(Not) Making a Difference
From the pulpit, in her books, and in her promotional material, Dr Leaf refers to her ground-breaking research - how her "Switch On Your Brain 5 Step Learning Process" and the Geodesic Information Processing model (which underpins her program), have helped thousands of children to increase their learning and improve their academic results.
For example, Dr Leaf claims that, "The Switch On Your Brain with the 5-Step Learning Process® was assessed in a group of charter schools in the Dallas [sic]. The results showed that the students' thinking, understanding and knowledge improved across the board. It was concluded that The Switch On Your Brain with the 5-Step Learning Process® positively changed the way the students and teachers thought and approached learning." (http://drleaf.com/about/dr-leafs-research/ - Original emphasis)
In her TEDx talk, Dr Leaf stated, "I wasn’t sure if this was going to have the same impact cause until this point I’d been working one on one. Well I’m happy to tell you that we had the same kind of results ... The minute that the teachers actually started applying the techniques, we altered the trend significantly." and,
"I stand up here saying this with conviction because I have seen this over and over and over in so many different circumstances ... in this country I worked in Dallas for three years in charter schools, and we found the same thing happening." [3]
Though there is the minor problem of her research results not demonstrating any actual change.
In Dr Leaf's first case, Dr Leaf herself admitted that the demonstrated improvement of her single patient was just as likely to be related to spontaneous improvement, and not Dr Leaf's intervention. In Dr Leaf's PhD thesis, the students improved almost as much in the year without Dr Leafs intervention as they did with her program. In the Dallas charter schools study, Dr Leaf's intervention either disadvantaged the students or showed no significant difference. In academic circles, Dr Leaf's research hasn't so much as generated a stale whimper [4].
So while Dr Leaf may claim that her research has changed the learning and lives of thousands of students all over the world, but her own published research disputes her claims.
References
[1] Leaf CM. The gift in you - discover new life through gifts hidden in your mind. Texas, USA: Inprov, Inc, 2009.
[2] Leaf CM. Switch On Your Brain : The Key to Peak Happiness, Thinking, and Health. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2013.
[3] Leaf CM. Ridiculous | TEDx Oaks Christian School | 4 Feb 2015. YouTube: TEDx, 2015;20:03.
[4] Pitt CE, The TEDx Users Guide to Dr Caroline Leaf, cedwardpittcom; 2015 Mar 26, http://cedwardpitt.com/2015/03/26/the-tedx-users-guide-to-dr-caroline-leaf/