What Is A
Well-Balanced Child?
A Note
from Nina Kaufelt
Here’s
a discovery: children who struggle with learning and attention often have
vestibular trouble—trouble with balance! Isn’t it something to find that the
well-balanced child is, in fact, well-balanced? (Note to parents: In adults, trouble with balance is
associated with anxiety. Isn’t it something to discover that the composed and
poised adult is, in fact, well-balanced?)
Balance
is maintained through three systems: the visual, vestibular, and
biomechanical. The eyes tell your
brain a lot about where your body is.
(“Watch your step!”) The vestibular system uses proprioception, the body’s
way of telling the brain where the body is in space. (Close your eyes and raise your hand; proprioreception tells
you where your hand is.) The biomechanical system includes the ankles, knees,
and hips. Responding to information from the brain (both visual and vestibular),
these actors tweak your position to keep you upright.
Sally
Goddard-Blythe has explained the
connection between balance and learning and offers a treatment. Not long after conception, the healthy
baby develops a series of primitive reflexes, many of which have been
discovered and named. Those who know newborns know the Moro or “startle”
reflex. Scare the infant, and his
arms fly up in a U-shape, as if saying, “Catch me!” The sucking reflex is connected to the grasping reflex, as
any nursing mother who has felt those little kneading fingers knows. Together,
the reflexes have many purposes: turning in the womb to be born; safety;
comfort; forming a foundation for more mature movements.
In time, most reflexes are then “integrated.” They are no longer involuntary, but they
do not entirely disappear. They can now be recruited as needed for controlled,
voluntary movements directed by the brain. In this phase, the body and brain establish a new kind of
cooperation.
In
some children, however, the primitive reflexes remain, and this can cause
trouble. Consider balance. The presence of retained primitive
reflexes affects all three systems responsible for this critical skill. One also finds primitive reflexes in
children with sensory issues (aural, visual, or tactile) and those with
learning challenges.
The
treatment is movement! Trained
therapists in the UK, Australia, Asia, Mexico, and (recently) in the US take
school children through certain steps designed to integrate the primitive
reflexes. According to Steven
Dubin, who teaches this program, children who practice these moves can benefit
in all the realms where retained reflexes have caused them to stumble. The right moves can enhance
neurological development; soothe sensory distractions; and remedy
learning-related issues, such as the visual tracking necessary for reading, or the good posture necessary for
good handwriting.
For more information:
The Well-Balanced Child
by Sally Goddard-Blythe
www.SallyGoddardBlythe.co.uk
In
1996, Sally adapted and extended clinical research on reflexes to create
therapeutic exercises for schools, especially for children with learning
difficulties. Thousands of
teachers in the UK, Germany, The Netherlands, Hungary, and Poland have learned
the program, which has also been independently studied. Two practitioners of
this therapy in the New York Metro area are below.
Steven
Dubin
performancediagnostics@gmail.com
973 653 6077
performancediagnostics@gmail.com
973 653 6077
Paul
Stadler
otpt747@aol.com
347 247 6835
otpt747@aol.com
347 247 6835
© Nina Kaufelt, March 2012
