Relationship of Hand and Mouth in Development

Movement in the hand and mouth are connected developmentally.
Below are just a couple of the ways:

Many primitive reflexes help a baby use hands to
feed and later learn to talk. One of these early reflexes is Babkin Palmomental where when the babies palm is touched or stretched and the baby’s mouth opens. You will see this in elementary
classes when children are raising an open hand and some mouths are usually hanging open. Hand to Mouth is another developmental reflex related to the one above. If something is pressed into the palm of a toddler, it is raised to the opened mouth.

In our course you may remember that the motor
areas of the mouth and hand are very close together in the Upper Brain. Some people have trouble speaking if they can’t move their hands. Also movement of the hands activates the speech centers of the brain in the parietal lobes. Research that uncovered this relationship was explored by Shigeru Obayashi and his team in 2001.
If anyone doubts the above have them open their mouths and
hands widely and after 5 seconds tightly fist the hands and tightly purse the mouth for 5 seconds. Repeat 3 or 4 times. Now have them reverse the action. Open the mouth and clench the fist and open the hand and purse the mouth. This second pattern goes against the pattern and is usually harder to accomplish.
Of course later in life, most people can use the upper brain
of the cortex to override the lower automatic systems used in development. One
will still see the hand mouth relationship when showing an emotional reaction,
such as, surprise where both hands and mouth are open and anger where hands and mouths are clenched.
The relationship between the mouth and hand is very important in early development. So in atypical development the motor relationship between hand and mouth can be used to restore disrupted or traumatized development.

Birth Trauma and Stress Management

We are seeing more and more adults coming into our office due to traumatic birth issues. Traumatic births include breech, very long, very short, C-Section, forceps or suction deliveries. Problems can happen in any birth and, obviously, it is most important that both mother and child come through alive, even if traumatized. So it is without judgment that we look at this issue.

The infant developmental reflexes appear in utero, transform during birth and continue their work through the first year of life. Trauma at any of these times can affect an individual’s ability to regulate muscles, emotions and even thoughts. Most people who have had a traumatic birth have a vague understanding that it has left its mark on them. Deep stress, anxiety, exhaustion, overdrive, sustained learning issues, sensitivities and a lack of peace are only a few of these remnants.

Our work with adults of traumatic birth usually gives voice to this deeper knowledge by measuring and drawing attention to often seemingly inexplicable issues. A Plan for Learning reflex session starts with a short assessment of reflexes preselected by goals and a history. Throughout a session, the checks, integration techniques and home program activities are woven together to aid resolution. A 75 minute session cost $150 and includes a written chart of reflexes checked and measured, home activity suggestions, a DVD of the session and a CD of the activities suggested. The ideal number of visits varies from between two and eight. Reflex integration sessions booked between now and Sept 1, 2011 will receive a 10% discount with the mention of this announcement. A more peaceful future awaits.

April is Autism Awareness Month Part 1

Mind sharing develops in a sequence and in relationship to verbal and nonverbal language. Most people on the autism spectrum have delay in these areas. Both developments depend on a well functioning sensory-motor-reflex system.

Mind sharing for a newborn is undifferentiated. All is one mind and being: the baby, the parents, the environment.

As a baby develops into toddlerhood, the self-mind develops. The toddler learns to understand her own mind and responses with "Me!" and "Mine!" All others are considered part of the toddler mind and therefore should always know its needs and wants.

As time goes on the young preschooler now knows that you have a different mind and that she must ask endless questions to find out what is in your seemingly Olympian mind. The preschooler doesn't know your mind, but still believes that you know hers. She believes that mother knows what she did even if she wasn't there.

Then one big day, the child realizes that minds are separate and that others can't see into her mind. Now she realizes that she can tell an untruth and others will not know. As she grows older, she realizes that when she plays and share minds with others, she sees all new visas, making social interactions irresistable. She finds that each person is a surprise treasure box ready to be opened.

The Tortoise:Sustainable Attention, Abilities & Powers

I once heard that the difference between a genuis and everyone else is that a genius can sustain his or her attention for a much longer time on one area of thought. Sustaining our energy is the key to many issues in people's lives:learning, attention, completion of tasks, and self mastery. As a younger person, I would hurl myself into every task, because unconsciously I thought I needed a "running start" to be able to finish it. I got through even simple tasks by brute force and speed. Partly this was my unregulated neurodevelopment and partly this was the message of my society that I must try very hard. However, through development, I have learned the truth of the tortoise and hare story for myself. Instead of "slow and steady wins the race", I think I would rephrase it: "as fast as sustainable, wins the race."

Some might argue, "Isn't the pace that is sustainable always slow? And will this turn us all into lazy louts?" I think not. Like the long distance runner, without knowing the sustainable pace, the complete race cannot be run. The conscious thinking Upper Brain (the cortex) often thinks that by not listening to the messenger in the Lower Brain, it can push through the warnings of coming overstress. And the Upper Brain can, but at a price. Using this ability to push through against all stress warnings can give us great ability to survive in times of need. The occasional use of this blocking can take a toll, but is usually survivable. It is OK to ask if it is worth the price, before a full out, unbridled plowing through life.

When we use this override functioning, day-to-day, through our life, the price is one of exhaustion and illness. This is not efficient.Using the knowledge of a sustainable energy level, more gets done in the long run. So how does one know about how to keep a sustainable pace through the activities of life? I believe that this can be best done by checking in and looking for the stress signals from your autonomic nervious system. The next blog entry will examine checking in and knowing your stress signs.

Conscious Living vs. Blocking Stressors

People sometimes fear that if they start listening to the developmental messengers of their body systems, they might become hypochondriacs. They fear that they will be compelled to listen to their body’s every complaint. Just blocking the message seems to be the most efficient day-to-day default setting. It is a surprise and a relief to find that the opposite is true. By consciously knowing and adjusting where our neural energy is being used or wasted, we become more masterful over our world.

The amount of energy that we use blocking the environmental stressors markedly increases unconscious stress. Blocking an such stressors take a lot of neural energy and the stress itself takes even more. Almost always suppressing these stresses cannot be sustained long without an emotional reaction. For example, your collar is chaffing, you block this sensory message, then the temperature rises and you block that message. Then your child asks for help and you snap. The energy needed to use your prefrontal cortex has been undermined by all the sensory blocking. If you had consciously adjusted your collar and had cracked the car window, you may have been kinder to your child.

We often block environmental stressors without consciously considering how we could easily accommodate our body systems' needs. I once sat at a meeting for 3 ½ hours facing dark window blinds cracked so that bright light shown into my eyes. I blocked the visual stress and, by the end, had a severe headache that made the meeting information unmemorable. If I had consciously realized the issue, I could have moved my seat or adjusted the blinds. Then the whole point of the meeting would have had my attention.

Many people carry labels, such as, ADHD & autism, and are being overwhelmed by environmental stresses. Attention and development take flight when there are high levels of stress.

Mercury, above, was the messenger of the gods. He carries the caduceus, a rod wrapped seven times by a serpent. This is an ancient symbol of healing. The caduceus could represent the lower "reptile" or survival brain bringing its developmental gifts to the upper brain for enlightenment, health and power. Heed the developmental messenger for health and well-being.

Developmental Resources: Dorothy's Slippers

Inner developmental resources are like Dorothy’s Slippers: you had them all along; you just didn’t know how to use them. Nature has provided us with some magnificant tools for healing and self growth. These tools are very real and physical, yet most people aren't consciously aware of them. We live in a cortex driven (upper brain) era. Many of us have lost awareness and trust in our deeper resources, such as our body senses and reflexes. We feel cut off, fragmented and somehow missing something. Our upper brain or cortex hunts for the reasons for these phantom feelings, usually in outer, complex, and unproductive ways.

Think of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. She wanted to get home. She went to the upper brain (the Wizard) and he sent her out into the world to seek her way home, only to end up back where she started with no satifaction. It was only when she listened to her inner resources, Glinda, that she found that she had always had what she needed, both in Oz and at home. Her slippers of gems (ruby in the movie and diamond in the book) where literally at her feet.

The developmental gifts in our lower brain, including our body senses and reflexes, are there waiting to be called upon to balance and sustain us through our life. Let's start using them now. So all together: click your heels together three times....