Project: Brain Organization

It's interesting how life changes can suddenly throw us into new learning opportunities.

I remember almost 19 years ago, finding out that I was pregnant for the first time. Immediately, I purchased "What to Expect When You're Expecting."  I read every single page of that book during those nine months. Learning about Little Peanut in my belly became my passion. I graduated from college when I was 8 months along, and boy, was I ever ready to move on to all things Mommy. My graduate schooling in Speech Therapy would have to wait.  

In the next 12 years, we had four more beautiful, healthy babies that developed right on track.

Then, in 2010, we we suddenly jumped into two new worlds. 

First, the world of adoption, when (long story short) we felt strongly that we had a little girl or maybe even two, who lived somewhere else in the world, and it was our job to find them and bring them home.  I read every book and website I could find on adopting hurt children so that we could be prepared in every way possible.

Secondly, we jumped into the world of Down syndrome, when we decided that the little girl we would adopt, would have it.  As we waited ten long months to bring her home, I researched. I bought Down syndrome-related books, read Down syndrome blogs, and  I involved our family in the local Down syndrome Foundation. We were excited for this new world. 

In the Spring of 2011, after three trips to Russia, we finally brought beautiful Anya home.

And on Christmas Eve 2012, Hazel joined us from a different part of Russia.

Both girlies jumped into our lives with both feet; brimming with love, life, hugs and snuggles.

Unfortunately, though, underneath all that cuteness, we had two girls who were very uncomfortable in their own skin. I'm not going to list all their sensory and behavior issues. Just know that there were a lot of them. :) 

In my preparation for these adoptions, I had read how important the first months of life are in a person's brain development and knew that our girls would have challenges because of their lack of stimulation as babies. But somehow I thought that if we smothered them with enough love and acceptance, it would magically fix all that.

I was partly right...it did make things a lot better. They progressed and learned, their skin improved, their health improved, their ability to connect with people improved. Good nutrition and love can heal.

But here's the bummer: Love cannot create highways in a disorganized brain. 

New connections are made, but when the lower brain is acting as the boss, the cortex, which is the higher part of the brain that matures our sensory system and controls our ability to think more concretely, act more appropriately for our age, pay attention, sit still, eat well, etc. etc. etc.... can't do it's job.

An Awesome Ah-Ha

About six months ago, I received a link in an e-mail to a phone interview with a Neurodevelopmental Movement Specialist named Sonia Story. I was intrigued, so I decided to listen to it during my morning walk. In this podcast, Sonia introduced Primitive Reflexes and their roll in our brain development. She talked about how, as humans, we develop many reflexes in the womb and soon after birth.

The Moro Reflex

 Each of these reflexes are innately wired in our brains and each serves an important purpose in our development. As a baby goes through certain movements over and over again, those primitive reflexes are integrated into the brain, creating connections to other parts of the brain. Connections that are vital to maturity.

The Grasp Reflex

As they become integrated, they are replaced by more controlled movements that mature the brain more and more, eventually linking up the lower part of the brain (that dominates as babies) and the cortex (that controls the more complex functions.) As primitive reflexes are replaced, pathways, or "highways"  in the brain are created, linking up the parts. Millions of new highways are constructed during the first year of life.

But here's the thing. Over the years, the way we parent babies in developed countries has changed. Babies are put to sleep on their backs instead of their tummies (I know, that's what we're told to do. That's a whole 'nother story.) Instead of being worn, rocked or held much of the day, they are put in contraptions like car seats, bouncy seats and Bumbo's. Instead of being allowed to spend time on the floor on their tummies, exploring their environments, they are put in these convenient devices so that Mom and Dad can get other things done.

There are other factors that can inhibit primitive reflexes from being integrated, as well. Things like C-sections and birth trauma (the birth process itself integrates reflexes,) genes, exposure to toxins and too much electromagnetic energy, or stress during pregnancy. Many factors can contribute to the problem.  Autism Spectrum Disorders and  Attention Deficit Disorder have become much, much more common the past few years. Hmmmm makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Anyway, as I listened to this, a light turned on in my head. It all started coming together. Of course our girls are going to have difficulties. For one, they both have Down syndrome, which meant that, as babies, they were probably content to just lie around most of their waking hours, without being held or rocked. (I'm sure this was great for the orphanage staff, who had 11 other babies in their groupas to take care of.) And for another, they were most likely left in their cribs much of their waking hours. Not much room to crawl around and explore in a crib.

The wheels started turning in my mind. What about our 5 other, loved-from-day-one, typically developing kids, and what about my husband and I? The thing is, I can think of something that each one of us struggles with in some way. Namely anxiety, difficulty sleeping, emotional outbursts, wetting the bed until age 8, or troubles with math, reading and spelling (all of these are cortex activities.) All of our biological children are at grade level and well-adjusted socially. But they have things that hinder their progress and make life more challenging.

Can you think of things that your kids struggle with at all? Maybe they have a hard time sitting still, even as teens. Maybe they are anxious in social situations. Maybe they walk on their toes. Maybe, no matter how much you go over their spelling lists, they get half of them wrong in the test. Maybe they have a hard time controlling their emotions. Maybe they are a little obsessive about some things. Or maybe you have some of these symptoms yourself.

Building Highways

The good news is that the brain is able to change, at any age. You can create highways in your brain, whether you are 2 or 92 years old. All you have to do is go back and replicate those movements that were missed or not done enough, as infants.

I'm sure you've heard how important it is for babies to crawl. Well, did you know how important it is that, before that they also creep on their bellies for a good while? How many of our "amazing" babies missed this step all together? Well, you can go back and make many of these movements over and over, causing the connections to be made. And the good news is that once we create those connections, they are there for good!

So...I'm on a brain organization mission right now. I took an 8-week online course from Sonia Story about Primitive Reflexes and Rhythmic Movement. I also read a book called Movements that Heal, as well as lots of websites and I even taught an introductory course to our local special needs community through the United Angels Foundation. The more I learn, the more I want to know and the more inclined I feel to share this information with other parents. I just feel like this is an important missing puzzle piece that hardly anyone knows how to find!

For those who live in the Salt Lake City area, or would like to take a little trip, I'm  hosting a 3-day Rhythmic Movement Training in Salt Lake City on November 6-8. It will be taught by Maxine Haller, who is a seasoned Occupational Therapist and has directed her practice to work mostly with Primitive Reflex integration. Here is the flyer that describes the workshop and you can register online here.)

Project: Brain Organization 

So far, this is what we have done to work on primitive reflex integration in our family:

First, as I was taking the online course over the summer, I did a little bit of testing with some of my kids and found that they indeed have a few reflexes present. I haven't been focusing on the specific reflexes yet, but we started Rhythmic Movement Training, which works on a lot of them at once. We do the 4 movements that I learned from Sonia, whenever we remember, for 5-10 minutes with some of the kids, usually before bedtime. (The goal is to work up to a total of  20 minutes per day.)

All of the kids LOVE doing rhythmic movements because they are so relaxing. The problem has been that I have no one to which I have to report, so we forget about it most days, and this is something that needs to be done very consistently. (I'm one of those people who needs to be accountable to stick with something. That's why I'm starting to blog about this.) :)  I have noticed that it helps them calm down and sleep better and, more than anything, it has really helped us bond. Touch is so powerful.

Now, with Anya (our nine year old who was adopted from Russia at almost 6) I have been more consistent. This is one time that her obsessive compulsiveness has worked in our favor. :) She won't willingly go to bed at night unless I do the movements with her first. She loves them. Because I have been more consistent with her than the others, it's making more of a difference. We have seen improvements lately in her ability to sit still and focus, her speech, and her willingness to make transitions when she's doing something she enjoys. These are changes that encourage me and keep me going. Yay for improvement!

And what about Miss Hazel (our six year old Russian who joined us at age 4) Well, she is quite the puzzle. She is so hypersensitive that she won't let me "do" anything to her. It has to be on her own terms. I tried doing the movements with her while she slept and even that was too much input for her brain. It made her really hyper.  I was told that it needs to be her doing the movements on her own, so output instead of input. I'm trying a different approach by slowly teaching her some patterning exercises that she will eventually be able to do without my help. She needs to have complete control over her movements, so we're doing what we can to make that happen.

In addition to the patterning, we will do a lot of activities that will develop her proprioceptive system. Along with this, we are going to have her spend as much time as possible on the floor creeping on her belly. Any of the other kids that I can have do this with her, will. Since food and the iPad motivate her more than anything else, that is what we will use to get her to do this. :)

One important component in helping to organize our childrens' brains, is making sure that ours are organized as well. Why? Because it is just too overwhelming to do if you're stressed and anxious. So I'm planning to spend just as much time on the floor doing these exercises as the kids! Should be fun.

Noggin Connections Blog

If you are interested to see how this all goes and get some ideas for your own brain work, I am planning to document our journey with reflex integration on a new blog. My hope is that the blog will not only keep me accountable, but it will help encourage others and give them ideas. I have to be careful not to share more than what the programs allow, but I hope to be able to share enough to get you started.

Friends, I just have to tell you that there is hope for our struggling kids! God created our bodies and our brains in a marvelous way.

Obviously, some people have underlying issues like abuse or neglect or trauma that need to be addressed, and of course you're going to help them most by addressing those things.

But the fact is that our bodies were designed to work in sync! I love it that mere humans have discovered how to make this happen when it's not happening on it's own. It's really awesome to me.

Next post, we'll see you on the floor!