Wednesday, October 4, 2017

A Brain Gym® "Residency Day"

Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to do Brain Gym® “Residency Days” at various schools. It’s very rewarding work.

I developed the concept of “Residency Days” to offer schools a full day of direct student services, presentations, and/or demonstrating use of Brain Gym in classroom settings, though most are focused on direct student services – one-on-one "balance" sessions[1].

Each Residency Day begins with a quick discussion with the principal or instruction specialist about the students on my list for the day, after which I set up my materials in the space provided. Then I go the classroom of my first student, check in quickly with his teacher, and walk with him to my work area.
 

As we walk, I begin with a quick get-to-know-you conversation, eventually leading into a discussion of what the child wishes was easier about school. I explain a bit about the Brain Gym balance process, and support the child in selecting one specific area to focus on. Together we go through PACE, the four-step Brain Gym warm-up.

I notice that many students on my list for services have significant challenges with the Cross Crawl portion of PACE. They’re much more inclined to bring their elbow down to their “same side” knee, rather than the opposite knee. This indicates lack of coordination between the two hemispheres of the brain. No wonder they’re having academic problems! It takes fluid coordination between both brain hemispheres in order to be what I call “academically agile.” 


Therefore, it’s also no wonder that balances with these students often call for Brain Gym activities from the “Midline Movements” category, such as the Double Doodle, Lazy 8s, and the Cross Crawl itself. Of greatest notice is the fact that Dennison Laterality Repatterning (DLR) is frequently called on. DLR is a specific Brain Gym process that supports development of effective communication between the two hemispheres of the brain. (This DLR process is learned in the Brain Gym® 101 course.)

Important note: I may not always take the time to express it this way in these brief descriptions of my student sessions, but each movement activity we do is something chosen by the student, from a “learning menu.” The child may either select it himself from a printed or illustrated page of options, or I’ll facilitate a “muscle check” (a kinesiology technique) to elicit a response from their mind-body system.

Whatever the process, we move quickly but effectively through the balance session. My goal is to focus fully on each student and his balance, while holding the awareness that there are many students to see that day. I’ve found that it’s possible to see wonderful results with students, even though their sessions are relatively quick.[1]

The following are brief descriptions of sessions I did with seven children in a single Residency Day.

Mariella is a sixth grader who has been having significant difficulties with reversals in writing, and was reading two years below her grade level. When I asked her to write her name she used small, cramped printing. When I asked for a reading sample she chose a simple story book, and mechanically read one word at a time, hardly pausing at punctuation. When doing the Cross Crawl during PACE she had great difficulty getting her elbow to the opposite knee – she kept bringing it down to the “same side” knee. Mariella’s learning menu called for the Dennison Laterality Repatterning (DLR) process after which I asked her to read again, and this time her reading was quite fluent. She was so pleased with herself! Now she effortlessly and automatically connected her elbow with her opposite knee when doing the Cross Crawl, and when I asked her to write her name again, she chose to write much larger and in cursive, which is a much more whole-brain activity than printing. When asked Mariella if she had any questions, she asked, “Are you coming back tomorrow?”


Ernesto is in eighth grade and I was surprised to learn that he was reading on only a 2.8 grade level. His oral reading from a very simple Dr. Seuss book confirmed this. He stumbled and stumbled, miscalling several very basic words and ignoring the punctuation. After his learning menu (DLR plus Lazy 8s) Ernesto’s reading improved significantly. He read much more fluently, and when he made mistakes, he self-corrected. He often backed up to re-read sentences with feeling once he figured out the context, and commented on the rhyme of the lines: “That’s funny!” The humor had completely eluded him in his first reading, when he was just calling one word at a time. He was very pleased and said he’d like to come again. His reading teacher tells me that Ernesto now loves reading quiz questions out loud to his classmates – something very new for him.

Curtis is a first grader who was not yet reading, despite much loving and careful attention from his teacher. The morning of his Brain Gym session he had been able to read only two of his eleven “practice words” for the week. We talked a bit about reading, and then went directly to his choice of the DLR process, after which his Cross Crawl was smooth and even. At this point he had to quickly leave, as it was lunch time. I learned later that when Curtis returned to his classroom he proudly and excitedly read nine of his eleven words!

Warner is a seventh grader with many parent/home issues that have caused a lot of disruption in his life. He told me he was very good at reading words and sentences, but had a hard remembering what he’d read. He chose to read from the hardest book I had with me, an “adapted classics” collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, modified for middle school students. He read fluently, but remembered few details from the paragraphs he’d read. His learning menu called for the DLR process, after which he read again. This time his reading was even more fluent; he said he’d understood much better than the first time, and recalled every detail of those paragraphs. He said he was looking forward to his next reading comprehension test.


Sanford is a fourth grader who’s having challenges with many aspects of school curriculum. He said he’d like most to improve in math. A pre-check showed that he knew few of his multiplication facts. As we did the PACE warm-up, it was clear that Sanford had significant issues calling on both sides of his brain at the same time, because even with repeated guidance he kept going back to a pattern of bringing his elbow to his “same-side” knee, rather than reaching for the opposite one. His balance called for DLR, plus The Double Doodle and Positive Points, after which he was still extremely awkward in doing Cross Crawl, consistently reaching for his same-side knee. He was happier about doing multiplication facts, and did a bit better, but I can see that Sanford will require more Brain Gym balances in order to improve significantly.

Clara is struggling through first grade. She read to me from a very simple book for beginning readers and she did very poorly, consistently using picture clues to guess at the right word. I led her through the steps of DLR after which she read again. This time she looked only at the words as she read, sounding out many of words correctly, a few with a bit of help. Her teacher joined us at the end of the session and Clara read for her. The teacher said that she had never heard Clara really sound out words before, that she’d always guessed using clues from the pictures. By the time Clara finished reading for her teacher, she was easily reading or sounding out every word, reading with voice inflection and meaning.


Martin is a third-grader who really wanted to improve his reading. He read aloud from a simple second-grade level book and basically read adequately, but not well. He didn’t stumble, but read slowly and carefully, without much expression. His learning menu called for DLR, followed by two of the many advanced Brain Gym processes: “Core Activation,” which activates the core muscles of the torso, and “Vision Re-Education,” a process that supports coordinated teaming and smooth tracking of eyes. When we completed this he read again – fluently, and with great ease and inflection. What a lovely, resonant voice! I suggested that he go right back to class and read for his teacher. At the end of the day I checked in with the teacher, who said the class had been working in such a focused way on math that she didn’t take time to hear Martin read. But she did notice that when she gave him a page of division problems that normally would have taken him an hour (with much resistance) that he was finished in ten minutes, with all correct but one. When she pointed out his one error, he nodded and said he saw exactly what he’d done wrong. Then she observed Martin happily reading to himself during the rest of math time.

When I complete a balance with a student I typically ask, “Was it worth the time?” and students answer “YES!” My Residency Days at schools are very rewarding. It’s great to see students make such quick progress in academics and attitude! While you can see that not every Brain Gym balance does everything we’re looking for, the results often affect much more than the “target” issue, especially considering how much a student’s attitude improves when his or her academic abilities improve.

My vision for our education system is to have a fully trained Brain Gym consultant on every school campus so he or she can do ongoing work just like this with students every day. Interested? The first step is taking Brain Gym® 101, where you learn to facilitate many kinds of Brain Gym balance processes, including Dennison Laterality Repatterning. 


If you'd like to take Brain Gym® 101, and live in Phoenix or want to visit, I have an upcoming course on November 10-11-12. Click here for course details! 

And if you'd like to read related articles, some of which may help to explain why such dynamic changes can occur in so little time, here are some links for you:
Henry and Reading - Revisited
Ready for Reading
"Thank you for teaching me."
Brain Gym for a "Brand New Brain"

With warm regards,
Kathy 
Kathy Brown, M.Ed.
Educational Kinesiologist
Licensed Brain Gym® Instructor/Consultant
Author of Educate Your Brain
WEB: www.CenterEdge.com
BLOG: www:WholeBrainLiving.com
BOOK: www.EducateYourBrain.com
 

[1] The Brain Gym session process, known as the "balance" process, consists of five specific steps. I previously described this process in a blog article, which you can read by clicking here. I also describe the balance process in Chapter 12 of my book, Educate Your Brain. You can learn how to facilitate Brain Gym balances, and the Dennison Laterality Repatterning process, by taking the Brain Gym® 101 class.

©Copyright 2017 Kathy Brown.All rights reserved.

Original article ©Copyright Kathy Brown 2002. All rights reserved.
Brain Gym® is a registered trademark of the Educational Kinesiology Foundation • www.braingym.org


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Monday, August 14, 2017

Brain Plasticity - Supporting Recovery from Brain Injury


One of the wonderful things about Brain Gym®is that there are ways to use it creatively, in any setting, with all kinds of people, no matter what their “challenge” or “diagnosis” might be.

Some time ago, while visiting friends on holiday, I had the opportunity to work with a man I’ll call “Robert,” who was recovering from brain tumor surgery. A very intelligent and capable business manager before his surgery, he now had significant challenges with simple tasks. He said, “Sometimes I need to lock the door. I can see the lock in the door, and the key in my hand, but it takes real effort to get the key lined up right with the lock. And getting my coat onto a hanger takes a lot of figuring out.”

Current books and articles on brain function are filled with the term “brain plasticity,” the capacity of regions of the brain to take on new roles. Brain plasticity may account for how recovery occurs following damage to the brain from accidents or stroke. I was interested to see what kinds of shifts Robert’s mind-body system would manifest following a Brain Gym balance.

 
Robert and his wife arrived for the session, and we began with PACE, the Brain Gym warm-up. One element of PACE is to do the Cross Crawl[1]. Robert did not have sufficient balance to accomplish the Cross Crawl while standing, so he learned and practiced this movement pattern while sitting on a chair. He had great difficulty bringing a hand to the opposite knee, indicating that his two brain hemispheres were not fluidly communicating with each other. 

I asked Robert which issue was the most important to address today, and he selected his “coat” issue. I had Robert act out the situation, to illustrate just how his challenge manifested. Standing at the coat rack, he held his coat in one hand and the hanger in the other, and looked at them. He easily put the hanger into one shoulder of the coat, but it took some processing to figure out how to get the other shoulder onto the hanger. 

Then he pointed to the coat rack rod and said, “Now, this is where I really have to think. See how the hanger tops are all lined up one way over the rod? I have to look at this hanger and be sure the top is curved the same direction as the others, so I can get it onto the rod.” I could only imagine how exhausting it would be to live each day with this kind of challenge. 

An important part of the Brain Gym® "balance" process is supporting the learner in creating his own goal. However, I’ve learned that in situations such as Robert’s, it’s sometimes helpful to offer a suggestion, especially one that simplifies the issue down to its essence. I offered this goal: “I understand left and right.” His eyes lit up with excitement and anticipation, and he said, “That will help!” 

Robert's learning menu[2] called for Dennison Laterality Repatterning (DLR), a process that supports the two brain hemispheres in communicating more fully with each other. At the end of this process, although he was still doing Cross Crawl sitting down, it was much more fluid – Robert's hand moved without hesitation to the opposite knee. 
 
When we returned to the coat rack, I handed Robert his coat and hanger. He slipped the coat onto the hanger and hung the hanger on the rod in the blink of an eye! You can imagine the surprised look on his face, and that of his wife!
 
My next opportunity to work with Robert came the next day. Robert arrived with his face beaming with pleasure and then he showed me -- he could Cross Crawl standing up! He said, “It just kind of happened -- and I practiced all last evening!” We celebrated with an enthusiastic “high-five!”

This time he asked to work on the “key in the lock” goal. In acting out this goal, he took his keys and went to the door, saying, “I always have to look at the key, and be sure I’m really lined up with the middle of the lock, and that the key is pointing straight in.” I suggested a simplified goal that followed from the previous one: “I know where the middle is.”

For this session, Robert’s learning menu called for an element from the Edu-K In-Depth material, a free movement/dance experience. We imagined gentle music playing, and his wife and I had a great time joining Robert in freely flowing around the room, moving in any way we would like. Then Robert was drawn to doing some simple Brain Gym movements.

Following this, he took his keys and approached the door again. He slipped his key into the lock smoothly and easily. He said, “I didn’t have to think about it at all – I just did it!” 

Because of my travel plans, I was unable to do more work with Robert. But he had made two huge shifts: understanding left and right, and knowing where the middle is. I left Robert and his wife with instructions on a variety of Brain Gym movements, and contact information for their nearest Brain Gym consultants.

Robert’s wife later commented that these simple shifts and accompanying sense of ability had rippled out through all his daily activities, and brought him a long-awaited sense of accomplishment and peace. 

In my years as a Brain Gym consultant, I’ve dealt with many “firsts” with clients: all kinds of cognitive or academic issues, test or performance anxiety, fears and phobias, job or relationship challenges, and physical coordination issues (from tying shoes to piano or golf/skateboard/soccer performance). Every “first” shows me that, indeed, the balance process is a tool for every- one. The common denominator is that we all can create an intention for specific change and call on the intelligence of our mind-body system to choose a path to integration. 

For another article on this topic, you can refer to this link:
Brain Gym® for Traumatic Brain Injury

With warmest regards,


Kathy 
Kathy Brown, M.Ed.
Educational Kinesiologist
Licensed Brain Gym® Instructor/Consultant
Author of Educate Your Brain
WEB: www.CenterEdge.com
BLOG: www:WholeBrainLiving.com
BOOK: www.EducateYourBrain.com
 
[1] The Cross Crawl is one of the Brain Gym “Midline Movements,” done by lifting one knee and then the other, alternating back and forth, each time bringing the opposite arm or elbow over to it. 
[2] Learning Menu: The list of movements and processes from which the learner may choose, to facilitate their own learning.

©Copyright 2017 Kathy Brown. Sketches ©Copyright Kathy Brown. All rights reserved.

Original article ©Copyright Kathy Brown 2007-2012. All rights reserved.
This story is also told in Educate Your Brain, pages 133-134
Brain Gym® is a registered trademark of the Educational Kinesiology Foundation • Ventura, CA • www.braingym.org


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Sunday, August 6, 2017

Integrated Low Gear: The Missing Piece in Learning

This is a piece I initially wrote for my newsletter; this version appeared in my book Educate Your Brain, as part of Chapter 9, "Theory In Action." [1]

The concept of "integrated low gear" is one of the most significant aspects of the learning process. I truly wish I'd understood more about it during my years as a classroom teacher.   

  
Do you remember your first attempts at something that required a lot of focus or coordination? Perhaps it was riding a bike: your first wobbly trials at simultaneous pedaling, steering, and balancing. Then, one day you found yourself simply riding down the road, thinking about something else entirely. You had mastered the skill of bike-riding and it didn’t require your focused attention anymore. 

Anything we do easily, we do automatically, without having to think about it. The Brain Gym program identifies this state as “integrated high gear,” which means that we can move and think about something else at the same time. Into this category fall all kinds of effortless actions, like signing our name, brushing our teeth, or driving the route home from work. We could think of this as “cruising on autopilot.”


When we learn something new, however, we must slow down, so we can take time to explore the details of it at our own pace. The Brain Gym program calls this state “integrated low gear,” where we can stop and think when we need to. Into this category fall all kinds of learning, from figuring out how to multiply fractions, to operating a complex computer program, to making your first soufflé. We could think of this as “safely slowing down to explore.”
A gear for slowing down
I like to illustrate the ability to shift between integrated high gear and integrated low gear by thinking about traveling on holiday. Imagine you are driving through a part of the world you’ve always wanted to explore. You’re on the freeway (cruising) and you spot a little village in the distance, which you decide to visit. You certainly can’t cruise through it at freeway speed, so you exit on the appropriate off-ramp and find your way into town. You drive slowly, exploring all the charming buildings and shops. Perhaps you even park the car so you can get out and walk about on foot, to find that lovely café for lunch or afternoon tea, and purchase a remembrance or two. When you’re all finished with your exploration, you get back into your car and return to cruising on the freeway again, taking with you all that you learned about that picturesque place.


This is the way true learning works: the learner moves seamlessly between integrated high gear and integrated low gear as needed. When reading, he can pause to figure out the meaning of a word and then return fluidly to the story. When learning a new mathematical algorithm, she can instantly call on the math facts she knows while taking time to figure out which numbers go where. This kind of processing calls on many different parts of the brain, which need to be ready to communicate with each other. 

What happens when a child (or an adult) is not operating in an integrated state? He may end up moving compulsively: “Help! I can’t slow down!” This learner may miss details and produce poor or incomplete work, acting thoughtlessly and creating havoc in her surroundings. 

Or the learner may end up sitting listlessly: “Help! I can’t get moving!” He may start late and need prodding to finish; he may blend into the background or stare off into space.
When these behaviors occur to a mild degree, they simply get in our way a bit, and we learn to manage them with compensations. But in the extreme, these are the very behaviors that could end up being labeled as ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder) or ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder). 

It’s very important to be able to move effortlessly between integrated high gear and integrated low gear. Yes, it’s lovely to do things quickly—but integrated low gear is the only state where we can learn something new. 

Hitting the pause button in order to learn
How often do we give children time to thoroughly play with a newly acquired skill before we ask them to use it in a more complex way? Okay, you’ve learned your numbers; quick—time for addition! Ah, you can write words! Oops—you’ve spelled them wrong. Too much of this prevents children from experiencing the satisfaction of accomplishment, since they’re forced to hurry to the next skill level before they’ve rested in this one. As adults who have taken on this pattern, we may pressure ourselves for instant achievement. (Oh, I’m learning guitar chords—Why can’t I play a real song yet?)


Without integrated low gear, we may careen anxiously through life “trying” to do things. In this state, we can’t slow down enough to do them thoroughly or accurately; we never have the satisfaction derived from small moments of accomplishment. 


An emerging state of balance
Integrated low gear is a state that ideally emerges in childhood through the joy of discovery at our own pace. This kind of exploration occurs only in the absence of stress. It feels playful, emerges from curiosity, and is internally directed. Through it, we develop the qualities required for focus and sustained concentration. 


However, I believe that, when our initial exposure to a concept is stressful, we develop a fear-based reaction to it, leaving us unable to access our most integrated brain organization patterns. The Edu-K balance process offers us myriad possibilities for taking on new patterns of thought and movement. You may be relieved to know (as I was) that we can develop this internal pattern for integrated low gear (and its companion, integrated high gear) at any age, through Brain Gym balancing.

Elsewhere in this book are stories of clients who were able to take on an entirely new pattern of thought or behavior as the result of a balance session. For example, there’s the story of Alexa, who couldn’t focus on the details of English grammar enough to study for a crucial exam. Once she had balanced to “easily understand and study English grammar,” she could focus on those details—and even found them interesting!   
 
Of all the elements of the Brain Gym program, I find that Dennison Laterality Repatterning (DLR) and Three Dimension Repatterning (3DR) are the most effective at supporting learners in developing both an integrated low gear and integrated high gear. These balance processes, developed by Paul Dennison, are what I call “the crown jewels of Brain Gym.” They can open the door to new possibilities in a most profound way. 

A hurricane in tennis shoes
Meet Parker, a young client who was simply a small hurricane in tennis shoes. He was five years old and developmentally delayed, having missed a number of important neurological milestones. His mother, a physical therapist, had described to me some of his behavior and processing challenges, but nothing had quite prepared me for the way Parker hurtled into my office and set about seeing and touching everything. I began working very quickly and intuitively, and said, “Hey, Parker! Come lie down here on the carpet!” Parker’s mother, Cristy, had just taken the Brain Gym® 101 course, and I found myself saying, “Cristy, I think it’s time for a DLR with Parker!” She sat down with me to help with this process.


There are five main steps of DLR, which involve various combinations of arm and leg movement, eye direction, and other elements in a specific sequence. Parker was able to do the first step fairly easily: it included the Cross Crawl, which Cristy had been helping him learn to do. This part of the repatterning process develops the integrated high-gear state of automatic movement. However, when it was time for Parker to do the second step, which included raising and lowering his same-side arm and leg simultaneously, he simply could not do it. This part of the repatterning process helps develop the integrated low-gear state: the ability to stop, think, and safely explore.

Then it struck me—Parker was a whirlwind of activity, and he could not do this movement; it seemed he had no integrated low gear at all. He was incapable of slowing down! What would happen once this repatterning was complete? What would Parker be able to learn once he felt safe enough to explore at his own pace?

Cristy and I carried on by “motoring” Parker through this movement; she’d raise his left arm and left leg together and lower them, then I’d raise his right arm and right leg together and lower them, back and forth, back and forth. Finally, Parker began participating in the process and started moving his arms and legs in that pattern on his own, first awkwardly and out of sync, then more fluidly. We completed the rest of the repatterning process in this same very simplified way, taking about fifteen minutes in all.

When the process was complete, Parker rolled onto his side and curled up, very content. A feeling of serenity filled the air. My sense was that Parker’s body was absorbing this new experience of integration, and Cristy said that this was the longest she’d ever seen Parker be still when he wasn’t asleep.

In addition, some other remarkable things were occurring. I mentioned above that Parker had struggled to achieve many basic infant skills, and one of them was nursing properly. As he lay there, he spontaneously began sucking motions with his mouth (which continued off and on for the next several days). Also, his next bathroom visit, a few minutes later, produced the first authentic, complete bowel movement of his life; Cristy said he’d never used the core muscles of his lower torso in that way before. These very basic steps are huge milestones in the life of a developmentally delayed child, and indicate that Parker had made several very important shifts through that very quick and spontaneous repatterning process.

The next day, Parker went with his father to the shopping mall. Ordinarily, he would be “everywhere at once,” but on that day he stayed right by his father’s side, calmly looking at the things around him, despite the noise and distraction. This child, who had been stuck in the “Help! I can’t stop!” state, was now stopping, thinking, and choosing. After that one DLR, Parker was no longer living a life of such compulsive action, and he was finally able to process at his own pace.

Since that time, Parker has continued to grow and change, making improvements in language expression, chewing, acceptance of new foods, tolerance of noise and disruption, auditory discrimination, and the ability to dress himself. He has also returned to some earlier developmental behaviors (the “clingy” stage of two-year-olds, for example). Cristy and I agree that he is spontaneously "backing up to move forward," this time completing each step more fully. Parker
will certainly benefit from more sessions, but this beginning to his journey with Brain Gym balancing created a powerful foundation for future changes.


Honoring the time to explore
Not every child has Parker’s extreme challenge with integrated low gear, but many children (and many adults) have this challenge to different degrees. Teachers describe with dismay the increasing number of children with impulsive behaviors, for whom it takes tremendous effort to sit still or keep their hands to themselves; prescriptions for ADHD medication are at an all-time high. 


As teachers and parents, it’s our responsibility to support learners in taking time to playfully explore so they can make the elements of any new concept their own. We validate slowing down by providing time for it and resisting the need to press for mastery right away. We also validate it by allowing ourselves to slow down, to enjoy the exploration, and model this for others as well. 


Articles abound on the speed of life today, reporting that many adults feel they are “spinning out of control.” How many of us are struggling in life and wish we could feel safe enough to simply pause and think? Brain Gym balancing is a wonderful support for anyone who wants to make this kind of change. 


Once we experience integrated low gear, we begin to know the joy (and relief!) of working at our own pace. Then our world offers new richness, new possibilities, and, most of all, choice. We can actually pause when appropriate and reconsider. This allows us to freely create and recreate how we move through our day—and our life.
 


With warmest regards,

Kathy 
Kathy Brown, M.Ed.
Educational Kinesiologist
Licensed Brain Gym® Instructor/Consultant
Author of Educate Your Brain
WEB: www.CenterEdge.com
BLOG: www:WholeBrainLiving.com
BOOK: www.EducateYourBrain.com


[1] Brown, Kathy. Educate Your Brain. Phoenix: Balance Point Publishing LLC. 2012. 83-88.
©Copyright 2017 Kathy Brown. All rights reserved.
Original article ©Copyright Kathy Brown, 2005. All rights reserved.
Brain Gym® is a registered trademark of the Educational Kinesiology Foundation  •  Ventura, CA  •  www.braingym.org

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Monday, July 24, 2017

Resolving Moro - the "Startle" Reflex


This is a refreshed version of an article I wrote previously for my newsletter, with a new Addendum. 

Christine had always been awkward at sports, and was particularly afraid of catching balls, even ones tossed gently to her. As a child, this was a tremendous hindrance in school PE classes. She said she felt awkward and was often ridiculed by her peers. Now an adult, she had a group of friends who loved to spend time at the park playing Frisbee, but she always created excuses not to participate.

As Christine and I moved toward balancing for her goal of “easily and comfortably catching things” it became clear that the “Moro reflex” was still strongly “on” in her system.

The Moro reflex develops in infants at 9 weeks in utero, and usually falls away somewhere between two and four months after birth. The Moro reflex is a series of rapid movements made in response to sudden stimuli. When young infants are surprised, both arms swing out and upwards, opening the hands, and there is a sudden intake of breath, followed by momentary freeze and gradual return of the arms across the body into a clasping posture.


If the Moro reflex does not fall away when it should, one may remain poised on the edge of “fight or flight” throughout the rest of their life. Here are a few of the possible behaviors that may result:
• low tolerance to stress
 
continuous anxiety, often unrelated to reality 
difficult to settle at bedtime; sleeping difficulties; nightmares 
may tire easily or misbehave under fluorescent lighting 
difficulty making decisions 
tend to over or under react to fears 
problems conforming to rules 
reacts badly to changes in routine 
either insecure or controlling (both a reaction to sense of fear) 
difficulties with reading because eyes become fixed in the periphery - unable to come together at visual midline for near-point tasks such as reading and writing
• difficulties with physical skills such as catching balls
 
may habitually “tune out” the more high pitched sound frequencies, leading to auditory confusion about the phonemes in some wordspoor pupillary reaction to light, photosensitivity, may want to wear sunglasses even on cloudy days. 
difficulty with black print on white paper or black marker on whiteboards  
visual disorientation - words “move around on the page” or the reader is distracted by white spaces

(See note below on “Irlen Syndrome” in regard to these last visual processing points [1])

 
I did a “cover check” of Christine’s eyes. I covered her right eye, had her look at a small object I was holding about two feet directly in front of her nose, then slowly brought the object in to a few inches from her nose. At that point I uncovered her right eye, and found that, rather than directly at the object, her right eye was pointing out to the side, quite away from the object. The left eye behaved just the same when it was checked, pointing out to the left side.

When we are in fight or flight, as those with a retained Moro reflex invariably are, the body’s eye muscles pull both eyes outward to the periphery of one’s vision, essentially looking for danger. 


Keep in mind that “danger” doesn’t have to mean a threat of physical harm in that moment. We react in the same way to threats that are psychological or emotional, often lodged in the past. For example, the child in school, or even the adult in his workplace, could be (subconsciously) fearful of who might come through the door of the room, reacting with fear-based patterns developed long ago.

The result is a hyper-vigilant state, always on guard against what might be approaching, watching out for danger everywhere. And “danger” is seldom in the space right in front of us, as in that paper with words on it that we’re supposed to be reading.

People with Moro still “on” may tend to focus first on the blank border of a page of print, for example, rather than on the print itself. (Needless to say, continually requiring the eyes to focus together on a single point makes reading very difficult, and tiring on the body.)

When I described this condition to Christine, she said, “That’s me! I have the hardest time remembering people I’ve met because I don’t really see their faces, I see just the outlines of their heads.” Of course she’d panic at an object coming right to the center of her field of vision, where her eyes had the hardest time working together.

To do a quick pre-check of her ability to catch an object, I gently tossed a small,

soft pillow to her. Even though she told me she was ready for me to do this, she almost panicked, moving backward when it came her way, caught it with only one hand, and nearly dropped it.

We moved on with the “learning menu” for her balance, which included Dennison Laterality Repatterning, and some additional movements that specifically support the resolution of Moro reflex.


At the conclusion of her balance we repeated the “cover check” of her eyes, which showed considerable improvement. We also rechecked her ability to catch an object. When I gently tossed the pillow this time, Christine playfully moved toward it and easily brought both hands together to catch it, with a big smile on her face. She said, "That was actually fun!"


That night I got a call from Christine. She said, “I’ve been having the most amazing time seeing people’s faces all day. And I can’t wait to play Frisbee with my friends!”

A Moro Addendum:

Claire Hocking, Brain Gym® instructor/consultant in Australia, developed the system I use most often for resolving retained infant reflexes. She tells this story of how she became inspired to create it.

She was working in a middle school, doing sessions all day with students who had specific learning challenges. One day, she was walking through the corridor looking for "Marty," who was said to constantly start fights, although he always denied it. 

She saw him standing with a group of students when a nearby window slammed shut with a loud bang. Marty's arms instantly flew open, bumping his nearby companions, a look of alarm on his face. Claire, who had raised children of her own, said to herself, "I know that movement — it's Moro! But Marty is a teenager — what is HE doing with it?" And then she realized, "This must be why the other kids think he's striking out at them - and why he says he's not intentionally starting fights!"

From this impetus, Claire wondered: Could infant reflexes stay retained in the mind-body system, and cause havoc? Could I adapt the Brain Gym balance process to address reflexes? If I could figure out how to pre-check the status of an infant reflex, and develop a learning menu of activities for resolving it, would it be possible to support learners in releasing these old reflexive impulses and moving on in a more coordinated, capable way?

She worked with Marty, specifically addressing Moro reflex. Once it was fully resolved, he never got in "fights" again. 

That was twenty years ago. And Claire has been refining and expanding this Reflexes work ever since.

I took one of the first Reflexes courses Claire ever taught, at the Brain Gym® International Conference in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, in 1999. I knew immediately that this was the "developmental ground floor" for many learners. I've used these tools ever since, whenever they come up as priority "learning menu" when working with clients of all ages.

I've now taken Claire's Level 1 class four times, and finally had a chance to take her Level 2 class. I've sponsored her here in Phoenix twice recently to teach this work. And - Claire has now authorized me to teach her Level 1 course, and I have it on my calendar about twice a year. I also travel to teach it in other locations.

Would taking this course interest you? Follow this link to my Reflexes Course page, and find out about the next opportunity to participate.

For other articles I've written on using the Brain Gym® system to resolve retained infant reflexes, you can refer to these links:
Overview
 
Fear Paralysis Reflex 
Fear Paralysis Reflex - 2
Symmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex (STNR)
Asymmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex (ATNR)

With warmest regards,

Kathy 
Kathy Brown, M.Ed.
Educational Kinesiologist
Licensed Brain Gym® Instructor/Consultant
Author of Educate Your Brain
WEB: www.CenterEdge.com
BLOG: www:WholeBrainLiving.com
BOOK: www.EducateYourBrain.com

[1] Note: Irlen Syndrome (also called “scotopic sensitivity”) is a visual processing disorder, which may be alleviated when looking through lenses of a specific color, or by placing a colored plastic sheet over what one is reading, to change the relative colors of the paper and print to ones that are more easily perceived and processed. Specialists in this system are trained in how to assess clients’ needs and supply the exact color of lenses or plastic overlay the individual requires to resolve the visual disorientation. Is it easier for you to read text when it’s on colored paper, or easier to read colored print on white? A mild version of condition may affect you, too! This kind of visual disorientation is a potential sign of a retained Moro reflex, and may be considerably relieved or actually resolved when the Moro reflex is integrated. 
©Copyright 2017 Kathy Brown. Sketches ©Copyright Kathy Brown. All rights reserved.
Brain Gym® is a registered trademark of the Educational Kinesiology Foundation  •  Ventura, CA  •  www.braingym.org
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