•  Transform Learning Delays And Frustration into Learning with Confidence and Enjoyment

•  Individualized Programs

•  Beneficial for All Students—excellent for college prep and efficient study skills

•  Research and Clinically based efficacy

•  Effective for

•ADD/ADHD

•Dyslexia

•Writing, Reading & Math Difficulties

•Sensory Processing Disorders

•Developmental Delays

•Speech & Language Difficulties

•Test Anxiety

•Severe shyness or phobias

•Emotional Outbursts and overwhelm

•Anxiety/Depression/Lack of Motivation

“Thank you, thank you, you have given us a means of helping our son and given us hope for his future education and successful life.”

See full text of this parent letter below.

Effective Learning Depends on Neuro-Sensory-Motor Skills—Learning is as much doing as it is thinking.  (See Smart Moves, Why Learning is Not All in Your Head, by Carla Hannaford, Ph.D) 

Learning Therapy is a brain-based movement program based on research and clinical practices that have been successful for over 30 years. The movement activities in the Learning Therapy program are effective for optimizing the fundamental nervous system skills required for stress free, accessible and enjoyable learning.   

Each child or adult participating in Learning Therapy receives a program designed specifically for his or her needs.  Sessions are enjoyable and playful. The assessment portion of the session is in-depth, yet not strenuous or tedious.  Using various age-appropriate methods for assessment, we can accurately determine which movements will be the most helpful for your child. We can evaluate movement patterns by watching how children play so we introduce play into the assessment process.  Play helps children feel comfortable and happy and is a huge support to the process of learning and integration.  We weave age-appropriate play into every session, for children, teens and adults.  In addition the first session includes integration work along with the assessment so you can start experiencing the benefits right away.  See Private Session information below. 
 

Benefits of the Learning Therapy Program

Through the Learning Therapy program we develop the abilities for emotional steadiness, reading, writing, focusing, math, organization, communication and decision-making by integrating the fundamental “wiring” of the neuro-sensory-motor (NSM) system.  Other benefits of Learning Therapy include increased happiness, motivation, physical strength, flexibility, sports ability, better social skills, decreased accidents and injuries and improved health.  For research see books by Sally Goddard Blythe or visit her website at www.inpp.org.uk.

What do we do when a child is obviously intelligent, but has challenges doing schoolwork?  

Children with learning challenges are most often bright, intelligent, sensitive and imaginative.  Despite these gifts they struggle with learning.  What is the best way to remedy this?  In our culture we tend to have a “practice makes perfect” approach based on the belief that more practice leads to improvement. For example, if a child is having trouble reading, we give him more reading to do so he can get better at it. This makes sense. The problem is, it rarely works.

This is because the “practice makes perfect” method does not address the underlying reasons for the reading difficulty in the first place.  Nearly all learning difficulties have underlying causes that more practice and “trying harder” cannot remedy.  Through targeted movements and play we can help a child transform his learning challenges and reclaim his natural pleasure for learning.  Instead of practicing reading, writing or math, we allow children to practice movement.  Through movement, children thrive as they develop the fundamental neuro-sensory-motor skills for learning and emotional stability.

What Does Learning Have to Do with Movement?

Learning involves taking in information and then doing something with it.  Learning depends on how information is received, processed and then connected to an action.  Effective learning requires clear and efficient “wiring” between the nerves, senses and muscles of the body.  We can strengthen and stabilize this neuro-sensory-motor system through movement. 

The NSM system in large part gets its “training” through movement. This training begins in the womb and continues through toddlerhood with automatic, instinctual movements called reflexes. Among their many “jobs” these innate reflex movements literally “grow” the brain and nervous system and determine our ability to interact with the world.  Our reflex movements also help train the vestibular (balance) system, the visual, hearing, touch and proprioceptive systems and sensory processing abilities.  The importance of the childhood reflexes to all of our future life skills, especially learning and relationship skills, cannot be understated. (For more information see the Importance of Reflexes and Reflex Challenges).

The movement patterns of a child or adult provide a window into the brain and nervous system.  A trained movement specialist can look at specific movement patterns in a group of children and without any prior background information, can easily determine which children are having difficulty learning.  Children with learning delays invariably have neuro-sensory-motor delays or dysfunctions. The more dysfunction or “glitches” in the NSM system, the more difficulties there are with learning. 

What is most important to understand is that at any age we can provide specific movements to transform neuro-sensory-motor delays or dysfunctions.

What Causes “Glitches” or Delays in the Neuro-Sensory-Motor System?  

The basic premise of Learning Therapy is that human beings require a mature, integrated NSM system for developing learning skills and emotional stability.  Neuro-sensory-motor delays are common throughout our society and range from very mild to very severe.  Many children and adults do not have a fully integrated NSM system for a variety of reasons. 

•  Not enough proper movement in infancy and toddlerhood

The use of plastic carriers, walkers, jumpers, swings, propping devices, etc., even for short periods, causes unnatural movement patterns and interferes with proper development.

•  Early walking. 

With early walking there is not enough time spent crawling.  Skipping the crawling stage or having minimal crawling prevents neural networks from forming adequately. Ideally a baby should have plenty of unrestricted movement, “tummy time” and 6 months of crawling.  “Helping” babies to sit up or walk early deprives them of going through all the movement patterns of childhood on their own.  Babies require opportunities to develop stability and proper NSM system function through repeated movement practice on their own.

•  Stress of mother during pregnancy

    As soon as we experience stress our bodies produce cortisol and adrenaline.  During pregnancy this can interfere with a baby’s proper development.  In addition stress is often accompanied by an incoherent heart rhythm.  When babies are exposed to chronically incoherent heart rhythms they are not as able to create their own coherency in the heart and nervous system.  They are less healthy and less able to learn.

•  Mother confined to bed rest during pregnancy

    Movement is stimulating to the brain.  A pregnant mother confined to bed rest is not able to provide her baby with regular movement to stimulate optimal brain growth and neural connections.  There is more likelihood of learning challenges later on.

•  Stressful, Traumatic or C-section birth, exposure to drugs and alcohol in the womb and childhood.

•  Illness, Trauma or injury

•  Exposure to electromagnetic pollution—cordless phones, cell phones, sonagrams (Ultrasound), computers, TVs, electronic games

•  Exposure to plastics, food additives, toxins, complications from vaccines

•  Unknown causes. 

    Sometimes it is not clear what the causes are behind neuro-sensory-motor delays.  A mother of twin boys had one child who learned with ease and the other who had severe neuromotor delays and learning challenges.

How Does Neuro-Sensory-Motor Delay Affect Learning Ability?

  An NSM system that is underdeveloped is like a block tower with a weak foundation.  The higher you build, the shakier the whole structure is.  In other words when we increase the learning and emotional requirements for children with NSM delays, it is sometimes more than their “wobbly” neural foundation can cope with.  For optimal learning we need the NSM foundation in place.  Once the foundation is steady, learning is effective and enjoyable. 

When basic neuro-sensory-motor skills are not fully developed, learning is tedious because skills that would otherwise be automatic and effortless are tedious and difficult.  For a child with NSM delay, basic learning skills require constant, conscious effort to do.  The work is effortful because there is a demand on the brain and body to compensate for the underlying inefficient neuro-sensory-motor foundation.  The brain soon equates learning with stress and often the “fight or flight” response is triggered at the mere mention of school work.  We can strengthen the NSM system through specific movements that stabilize the brainstem and increase our abilities to focus, pay attention, and take in new information. We also use movement to create new neural patterns for learning itself so that learning no longer triggers the fight or flight response.  As we do this learning becomes easier and more enjoyable.  

Results of Doing the Learning Therapy Program

There are thousands of children and adults benefitting from the methods used in the Learning Therapy program. The following letter highlights the results one mother and son experienced from doing the Learning Therapy program.  While everyone is different, you can expect to see significant improvements in learning abilities and life skills within 3 to 9 months doing consistent movement at home for 10 to 30 minutes as day, 3 to 5 times a week.  Learning Therapy is one of the best gifts you can give your child for optimizing their strengths and promoting enjoyment in all their future endeavors.

Three Ways to Do the Learning Therapy Program

 1.  Private Sessions

      For Children: During private sessions, we take an in-depth look at your child’s movement patterns, the level of vestibular integration, and the level of reflex integration present.  Based on this and the intake questionnaire, we develop a movement program specifically for your child that you do at home for 5 to 15 minutes a day, 5 days a week on a consistent basis.  After 3 to 5 weeks, we do another session and we go from there until your goals are met.  Though we regularly start to see beneficial changes in the first session, this is not a quick fix, but rather a deep fix.  I recommend that parents of children with learning challenges commit to doing the Learning Therapy program for 6 months.  Everyone is different and may require more or less than a 6-month program.  But by the end of 4 to 6 months we most often see greatly significant improvement in all learning and life skills.  Doing the movement program together is a valuable time for connection and enjoyment for parent and child.

For children who are not having learning difficulties but want to hone their study and test taking skills, or eliminate test anxiety, the Learning Therapy program is much shorter as specific goals can often be fulfilled in 1 to 3 sessions.  As well we give children movement tools they can use for life to create more ease with any challenge whether in academics, sports, performing arts, business, communications or leadership roles.

Do children enjoy the sessions?

Yes! With young children we do a lot of playing on the floor. In the contex of this play we look for very specific movement patterns that show us what reflexes we need to address.  It's a great way to do an assessment because children do not feel the pressure of being tested.  Play creates feelings of safety and joy that are critical to the process.  When children feel safe and happy, they unconsciously know they can release the "holding patterns" in the nervous system.

For older children and teens we do some play, usually standing up and tossing balls or bean bags among other activities.  For reflex integration, we concentrate on activities that help children feel the movements working.  Usually by the end of the first session, older children and teens are able to experience noticeable results. 

For all children and adults these reflex movement patterns are innate and there is an inner drive to complete and mature the reflexes.  Even though children cannot always articulate how they feel, they have a good sense that the movements are beneficial.

For Adults:  By adulthood most of us have unconsciously compensated for underlying NSM glitches so they are not as obvious, but still detectable.  Once these glitches are eliminated through proper movement, there is nearly always a boost in energy and enthusiasm for life’s possibilities.  Instead of spending energy compensating for active reflexes, the brain, heart and body can unite to move toward what is meaningful to you.

Adult sessions are most often framed around a specific personal intention, goal or requirement.  Doing integrative movement in the context of a goal or intention alerts the brain, heart and body to harmonize for a specific purpose.  Most adults can recognize profound changes after the first session, though continued use of the tools over several weeks or months may be required for integrating the reflexes and developing long-term relaxation and ease in the nervous system.  Effects of doing the movements are cumulative, deep and lasting unless there is severe trauma, injury or illness later on. 

2.  Attend a Course

Attending a course is an ideal way to experience first hand the profound benefits of these movements and receive the background knowledge of why they are critically important.  After participating in a two day Move, Play, Thrive course, you will be able to design a movement program for you and your children and any member of your family.  This is the most economical way to learn and apply this material, and the tools are applicable for your entire life.

It is ideal when the whole family does these movements together.  Children do what they see their parents doing and parents benefit just as much as children.

3.  Do Private Sessions and Course

     Doing both private sessions and taking a course gives you a great start in the Learning Therapy program because you get in-depth knowledge plus assistance with your family's particular challenges.  In addition, during private sessions we have access to many tools from many in-depth movement training programs that are not taught in the two day Move, Play, Thrive course.  Except in very challenging situations, it is likely that you would only do 1 or 2 private sessions since the Move, Play, Thrive course will provide a treasure trove of tools for you to continue with at home.