When considering a whole child approach to learning, it is important to not only look at the academic deficits, but underlying factors as well. These include problems with sensory and motor systems such as balance, coordination, and poor fine- motor skills; problems with cognition, such as visual and auditory processing as well as memory; and physical problems connected to poor nutrition or food intolerances.
The purpose of this website is to learn about the role each of these four areas play in the proper development of children and their learning. It is meant to help parents and teachers be proactive in helping to identify strengths and weaknesses in their children so they can help strengthen them from the inside out. |
There are a myriad of reasons that the brain may not be functioning as it should. Examples are complications at birth, reactions to vaccination, food sensitivities, poor nutrition, not enough practice crawling appropriately before walking, emotional or physical trauma, or simply a bad experience. However, neuroresearchers for decades now, understand that the brain can re-wire itself and change its structure with the right input, a phenomenon called neuroplasticity. The books The Brain that Changes Itself by Norman Doidge and The Woman Who Changed Her Brain by Barbara Arrrowsmith-Young are excellent resources to understand how this is possible.
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As we can see in the visual to the right, learning develops in steps or phases, and academic knowledge is the culmination at the top. Successful learning in school is dependent upon strongly developed underlying processes. Although each of the processes, or rungs, are not learned in isolation, they do build on one another and weaknesses in the lower part of the ladder effect all the rungs above. Therefore, when trying to address issues in the higher levels, it is important to look more closely at the steps below to determine where more hidden weaknesses lie. Addressing these areas will support the development of the upper rungs, sometimes without ever directly doing interventions in those areas. This means that there should not simply be one approach when helping your child. The school's typical response, especially in this day and age of high stakes testing, is to remediate by providing more instructional opportunities.
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source: http://spinewave.co.nz/inflammation-of-the-gut-brain-axis/
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Everything starts in the brain. When the brain is not wired up correctly it becomes functionally disconnected and different parts cannot communicate efficiently and may grow or connect at different rates, such as the brainstem and pre-frontal cortex, as well as the left and right hemispheres. All disorders on the attentional-behavioral continuum seem to involve immaturities in the thalamus, basal ganglia, and cerebellum and weak connections to higher thinking parts of the brain.
What causes the poor connections in the brain? There can be many causes, but pretty much you can thank inflammation of the brain. And you can trace brain inflammation to inflammation in the gut. What causes chronic inflammation? An overreactive immune system, heavy metals, food sensitivities, viruses, exposure to electro-magnetic frequencies (such as cell phones and wifi), etc. These children are poor detoxifiers already and now they are having to interact with our very toxic world and are unable to get rid of all the toxins they encounter. This is why vaccines are so problematic. Not only do they contain aluminum and other metals and toxins, but they are designed to be given to a healthy individual, one that can eliminate toxins easily on his own. They tend to be what breaks the camels back. |
Right weak, left strong
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Balanced
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Left weak, right strong
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