Here is our first imbedded youtube video. Our two Gomo videos and the Primary Reflex Dance have been chopped up and uploaded. I will be picking ones to narrate and expound upon. Hippy Sitting is one of the activities we do as a homework for Spinal Galant Reflex integration issues. Please comment if you come to watch here!

Tactility: the Ultimate Body Sense

I was reading the new Scientific American about why human developed as hairless and how being hairless led to bigger brains. Although I have not finish the long article, from the neurodevelopmental point of view I can see why this would be true. One of human's unique traits is being able to hold back from acting on the obvious when an authority or teacher is directing otherwise. What does this have to do with skin? Our skin works with our eyes and other senses to form mental rehearsal by the use of what are called mirror neurons. Mirror neurons help us to take on the situation of another and experience empathy. As an example, it is our hairless skin that allows us to feel that someone is "creepy" That feeling would be like something creeping over our skin. Think of how different you feel in early summer wearing shorts and sleeveless shirt after wearing sweaters and heavy pants all winter. You feel a bit self conscious. Self conscoiusness is an awareness of how others see you. Bear skin increases this. Our skin allows us to "feel" more and be more conscious. Imagine being covered with hair and how muffled your skin would feel. And that is the "naked" truth.

HANDLE Principles 2: There is no silver bullet

As the year mark of the passing of Judith Bluestone comes around, I will continue the principles that she articulated and developed as a part of the HANDLE Approach.

There is no silver bullet. There is no "cure" for neurodevelopmental issues. Only through gentle challenges of weak systems can we harness the developmental power that each of us has within our body-brain system. This can move us forward in our functioning.

There are many snake oil salesmen offering the "answer" to autism, ADHD, dyslexia and so on, but although many approaches can help individual systems, no one approach can "fix" these issues. The truth is that we should reframe our search into helping people with their own personal goals that are evading them. A goal might be to talk, to walk or to play a musical instrument.

Nutrition, cranial sacral therapy, speech, OT, PT and many more approaches can give a piece. The HANDLE approach works on the sensory-motor and body senses better than any therapy that I have seen. When I added the reflex motor resources to the mix, I find a powerful tool to help most people make their goals. And this is powerful indeed. Thanks, Judith.

Marietta, GA-Postural Reflex Course Notes

Even with icy weather, a very enthusiastic group it was last weekend! We were very lucky to have in attendence, Max, 18, who has Asperger's Syndrome. He was our very excellent model for most of the activity explanations. During the Parachute Reflex explanation (see below), Max's mom noted that Max had to cognitively learn social space and often overestimates (is too far away) as an overcompensation for coming too close as a young child.
On the second day, many people were feeling changes in their reactions to stress. Many felt peace. Sharron says:
Personally I sense a greater freedom to laugh and relax. I gave a 20 min presentation Monday night on brain integration therapy to a home school group and was not as conscious of apprehension as in other days and enjoyed myself.

The Abdominal Sleep Reflex continued the relaxation and the Trunk Extension Reflex brought everyone back together. We are excited to be offering the HANDLE Intro course on this unique sensory-motor approach. March 19, 20, and 21 is the Big 8: Primary Reflexes and Development on March 26, 27 and 28th.

A special thanks to Rhea Brashear and the gang at Morning Star Montessori for sponsoring these courses.

Viruses have Been Changing Our DNA

This article on viruses is only reiterating what many in the sensory-motor-reflex field have been saying for years. http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-01/8-percent-human-dna-comes-virus-causes-schizophrenia. Many of my aquaintances know that my mother had mental illness and it was labeled as schizophrenia, although other labels were used as well. In one of her letters to her dad, she outlined her hypothesis, truly radical at the time, that her mental issues were from a virus.

Reflexes and Development of Social Relationships

It is widely understood that primary and postural reflexes are a built-in protection to us. They helps us move away from stimulus that may be harmful and protect us from falling. But fewer people consider the developmental benefits that reflexes offer.

Very clearly our sensory systems are functionally refined by our reflexes. Vision, audition, proprioception, and even tactility are drivers of reflexive reactions, as well as being developed through the reflexive movements.

Fewer experts yet see language and social development as an outcome of typical reflex development. Since language and much of social relationship are rooted in spatial concepts, our development of spatial understanding is key to mastering them. When we say, "We get along well.", we do not consciously remember that being "a long" another is a relationship of being spatially adjacent to another. How does that spatial alignment develop?

Some animals imprint on their mother and this establishes their "position" and "relationship" with her. As humans we use much more complex bonding in relationship development. However, some of our humble reflexes work to develop being in sync with those around us. As an example, on of our postural reflexes, the Parachute Reflex, is obviously for protecting us in case of a fall. Our arms reach out reflexively

when we trip. This safey mechanism is also a measuring stick of "closeness" in other social ways. When we "bring someone into our sphere" we are allowing one to come into our proscribed safety zone, and not "keeping one at arm's length". The handshake is the original safety device: dominant hand out (no weapon) and at arm's length.

Different cultures use the arm measuring stick in differing ways, but in the U.S. the preferable social distance is still at arm's length. This is just one of the many ways that original reflexive responses of our brainstem advise socially learned behavior and emotional responses.

8 Postural Reflexes Plus One in GA

I will be giving the 8 Plus 1 Course on this Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Marietta, GA. How is this course different from the Big 8 Primary Reflexes? Well, postural reflexes are lifelong reflexes that we have for equilibrium, righting and safety in movement. An example is the Parachute Reflex. Hopefully, when you trip and fall, your arms go forward to protect you. You do not think, "I am going to put my arms out so that I don't hit my head." This is no time for cognitive decision making, the brain stem leaps to the task. If the Parachute Reflex in hypo active and the arms do not raise high enough, ouch, the face plant will be the end. If hyperactive and the arms raise too high in front, ouch, face plant again is the result. Whether you are conscious of this dilemma or not, the brain is aware that if you fall, the results could be serious. This underlying anxiety can change the way we move.

If you can come join us.

HANDLE Principles Part 1

As a new year and decade commence, I will be laying out the Principles of HANDLE as often articulated by Judith Bluestone.

#1 All behavior is communication.

This principle may at first seem obvious, but in everyday life many of us seek to end behaviors before trying to understand what is being communicated. In the case of dangerous behavior, obviously, the first priority must be to safety. But many behaviors of others activate our own behaviors and filters, interfering with us seeing what a behavior could really mean. We assume the meaning is to activate us and this may be true. However, before merely activating a predictable response, the behavior had its genesis in some need to communicate. Always ask, "In the universe of behavior choices, why this one?"

Once in my past life as an elementary school administrator, a second grade teacher reported a student as having disrespectful behavior. I asked (as I always ask), "What did the behavior look like?" She showed me by placing her hands on her hips and head turned to one side. This is a non-verbal that reads, "Oh yeah? Try and make me." However, I was not satified I understood the behavior totally. After reading the school file I realized the the student was nearly blind in one eye and had stability issues. Hands on hips for stability and head turned so that the good eye is on the speaker. Be careful about assuming the interpretation of behavior at once.

Also remember that our own behavior is also communication. Watch "Dog Whisperer" if you don't believe me.

Importance of Vitamin D3 Supplements

One of last year's biggest vitamin stories was the discovery that almost all people in northern climes do not get anywhere near enough Vitamin D3. The RDA for D was doubled and some scientists think that it should be increased even more, especially for children. Vitamin D comes from exposure to the sun and is probably part of the reason one feels so good after time in the sun (sans sunburn). We need to have 40% of our skin in direct contact with the sun for at least 20 minutes a day to get the amount of D3 we need. Living in Minnesota, I can tell you that NO ONE I know can get that amount in the winter. People of African, Asian and Middle Eastern descent need more to fulfill the requirement. The ubiquitous use of sun screen has increased the problem.

Back in the old days, children would get rickets in northern cities, so D was added to milk and it is still there. However, preventing rickets, a disease of malformed bone growth , needs only minimal D for prevention. The D allows calcium to be absorbed for bone formation, but it affects what I like to call the "lesser bones" or tissues that are made of more or less the same material as bones in differing viscosity. Even a little shortage of D3 in the system can effect bones (osteoporosis?) connective tissue( fibromyalgia?), skin (eczemia?), muscle (chronic fatique?)and mood (seasonal depression?).

I know you're asking, "But eskimos live in the north and have dark skin." True, but in their traditional diet they live mainly on fish, filled with fish oil and Vitamin D!