Physical interventions could be Brain Gym, Vision Gym, or other eye exercises. Goals involving vision required checks for tracking, looking in all directions, and far/near pursuits. At home Danny greeted his father saying, “Dad! I used to hate to read! Now I love to read.” Goals Afterwards he picked up his book again and began reading with obvious pleasure, never stopping until it was time to leave. To integrate his hearing, Danny needed “Temporal Tapping,” firm tapping on the skull all around the outline of his ears. “Oh,” said his mom, “that’s the year I was sick.” She had, in fact, been critically ill, so ill that a little boy could very well have wanted to block his ears against bad news. Pre-checks showed ease for vision, but significant stress for auditory integration, particularly for the right ear, which feeds primarily into the brain’s language hemisphere.ĭanny was able to identify his feelings when he read as “confused” and “frustrated.” To see if this might be an echo of past stress, we explored, through muscle checking, and found age three and four. He read haltingly, nearly breathless with effort. A Balance for Auditory Integrationĭanny, also age seven, experienced dramatic progress in reading through a similar process. Lisa then practiced bike riding and chose Brain Gym or other home activities to reinforce her new skills. The last step was to revisit the pre-checks, noticing the absence of stress, changes in MCs, and new ease with the goal activity. Energetic: Brain Gym (Energy Exercises).Emotional: Brain Gym (Positive Points and Hook-Ups), Integrating music, free movement, dance, resonation.Environmental: Vestibular stimulation in daily home, playground and classroom routines.Physical: Brain Gym Midline Movements and Lengthening Activities or other movement stimulation (bouncing, rolling, spinning, jumping).Lisa chose, or muscle checks could lead to a choice, among activities that would foster integration by providing physical, environmental, emotional and/or energetic support: Spinning with eyes closed, MC or notice loss of balance.Standing balance, eyes open and closed (seconds?).Prone extension posture (how many seconds?).Hold left, then right mastoid, bringing attention to the semi-circular canals – part of the vestibular system – just beneath this bone.She also performed various activities that stimulate the vestibular system, each time noticing or muscle checking to establish awareness of stress and provide a base line for measuring progress. Simply walking the bike or sitting on it would probably produce a weak muscle check (MC). Next, we identifed aspects of bike riding that cause stress in her system. Muscle testing leads us to choose vestibular integration as a priority. We made sure that her goal is appropriate and realistic. First she did some warm ups to get ready for new learning. Lisa, a seven-year-old with low muscle tone, wanted to ride her bike around corners and stop easily. She has developed balances (a process for putting interventions into the context of a specific goal) for integration of the cranial-sacral, vestibular, proprioceptive, visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory and gustatory systems. Rita acknowledged Paul and Gail Dennison, Carla Hannaford, Jean Ayres, and Carol Kranowitz as providing conceptual and practical support for her work. The course demonstrates how to combine OT, Brain Gym and sensory integration. OT, DTSE, Brain Gym Consultant, and Edu-K International Faculty member. I have often thought to myself, “occupational therapy, sensory integration occupational therapy and Brain Gym are totally compatible and complimentary.” I took a workshop called “In Sync: Integrating the Senses through Movement” that was taught by Rita Edwards, Dip. Mary Rentschler, MEd, Brain Gym consultant and instructor, discusses how Brain Gym can be helpful for sensory integration.
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