Maintaining the Merry 

Feeling safe and secure in an unfamiliar environment is closely aligned to the integration of our defensive reflexes, as well as our early grasping reflexes like root suck and the palmar grasp. When these reflexes remain active, children may more easily experience overstimulation, social anxiety or emotional outbursts. With disruptions to predictable routine, the additional guests, changes in dining or sleeping arrangements, a growing feeling of discomfort may result in behavioral challenges. 

For many, the holidays are a time to navigate a gauntlet of environmental stressors in between those precious moments and memories. Recognizing this is the first step in ensuring everyone has a safe, secure and enjoyable season. 

When possible, resume routine activities and maintain a near-normal schedule, even if that means saying ‘no’ to some of the fun. Keep excursions shorter for younger children. I always say, behavior is just another form of communication and those shifts in energy or emotion may be a valuable sign from your child. Create space for sensory breaks throughout the day to avoid overstimulation during festive outings. 

With school-age children, include them in the family plans, discuss schedules and communicate when something may not be as usual or expected. Invite them to express how they feel and create a plan for finding comfort in those difficult moments. As adults, try too to be a model of calm and moderation throughout the season.

Remember, above all, the holidays are a time for family and togetherness and that in itself is our greatest gift.

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A Body in Motion

Our body’s ability to sense its position in space is a complex automatic process, essential for coordination and balance in movement. Sensors, known as proprioceptors, lay within our skin, muscles, tendons and joints. Our brain receives input from these peripheral points on the location of limbs as well the force of exertion. Exterior information from our visual and vestibular systems works with our proprioceptive system to form a comprehensive understanding of our body’s movement and positioning in space. 

Proprioception plays a critical role in our survival instinct. In its most primitive form, animals use locomotion to find food and escape predators. External and internal cues are integrated to modulate inputs and propel our motor function. Consider our Amphibian reflex, which is closely aligned to efficient gross motor movements through adulthood. The ability to coordinate the hip and knee joints in a reciprocal motion helps to complete the integration of our Spinal Galant reflex and establish a sense of postural stability for the upper and lower parts of our body.

I mentioned that our proprioceptive system is an internal awareness of where we are in space, like a GPS system guiding our movement. Kinesthesia, however, is the sensation of true movement and the ability to detect changes in speed and force. When we practice movement patterns, like riding a bicycle, nailing a move in gymnastics or even playing an instrument by heart, we are learning to control and connect with that sense of movement. Our body’s reaction time is based on well-oiled receptors that provide feedback to the brain in response to stimuli. Consider the movements of athletes as they react in to external game dynamics and in defense of the ball. Their reflexes are honed and their proprioceptive system is firing on all cylinders.

Proprioceptive processing difficulties often involve sensory-seeking behavior, like fidgeting or crashing into furniture. Challenges may also appear as weakened gross motor skills, leaning on objects constantly or struggling to maintain balance. Weight-bearing activities, and any movement that works against gravity like pushing, pulling and climbing, activates the proprioceptive system and may be used in therapeutic practice to heighten receptors.

It is important, however, to recognize the complex interplay of our body’s sensory systems. Our Amphibian reflex is the outcome of a series of reflexes that establish body awareness, postural integrity and a sense of the independent control of our head and spine, along with our upper and lower body. We cannot target specific muscles or movement patterns without calling upon the foundation of our earliest reflexes.

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Classroom Confidence

We often refer to early education as foundational. Children unlock the ability to learn through reading and the ability to express themselves through writing. Their skills continue to build year over year, as subject knowledge broadens and more complex dynamics like test taking and group project work elevate their ability to problem solve, plan and organize. Confidence in reading and writing truly paves the way for social, emotional and behavioral success into adulthood.

Learning to read and learning to write both require an understanding of the body’s two hemispheres, unlocked through the integration of several early reflexes. As the two sides of the body learn to work in tandem, binocular vision develops into the ability to track objects like words on a page. As reflexes fine-tune neural pathways, grasping movements solidify the fine motor skills required to hold instruments and draw letters. The ability for children to remain attentive, focused and cooperative in a classroom setting is closely connected to the integration of our primitive reflexes. 

This fall I’m pleased to offer Level 3 RMTi: Reading and Writing, an advanced two-day workshop where we’ll focus on how reflex integration impacts our visual and auditory systems. We’ll examine more deeply how these systems contribute to success in the classroom and how rhythmic movement therapy may support challenges with reading and writing.

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Your Brain’s CEO

Imagine for a moment a busy day at work. Emails and direct messages are flying across the screen while a colleague chatters away about frustrations with a client. Suddenly, your phone vibrates with a message from school. Your child is sick and needs to be taken home. In this familiar scenario, there are multiple forces demanding attention. Some are loaded with emotion, some need to be dismissed or prioritized. What happens next, and how someone balances a typical day of multi-tasking, requires executive functioning every step of the way.

Cognitive flexibility is a large part of our executive functioning skill set. This is essentially the power to swivel between tasks, focus attention on one and selectively redirect attention as needed to another. This helps us with planning, problem solving and time management. From an emotional intelligence standpoint, cognitive flexibility helps us to consider different perspectives, which is the main driver behind empathy.

Our frontal lobe also allows us to navigate daily activities with control and awareness. It supports our working memory, which assimilates new information into what we already know and understand. Inhibition control is another executive function that helps us to manage our responses and suppress emotionally driven behavior. If we think of the emotional load in our scenario: a coworker sharing their problems, a child in need, several digital pings at once, it’s clear there are a host of responses to manage and stabilize. Small children, particularly between the ages of 3 and 5, are still experiencing massive growth in their frontal lobe. New information and new feelings may be both confusing and overwhelming for them and they may act out with impulsivity. Weakened executive functions may also manifest in disorders like ADHD, autism and dementia.

As we age, several reflexes must emerge and integrate to establish the foundation for the highest level of executive functioning. The integration of reflexes like STNR play a role in modulating our nervous system to perform these key functions. By applying RMTi exercises targeting blood flow to our frontal lobe, we’re helping to support those executive functions that drive successful relationships at school, at work and in our daily lives.

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Cherish Your Memories

For loved ones, perhaps one of the earliest signs of dementia is memory loss and disorientation. Medically speaking, dementia means cognitive function loss to the extent that it interferes with daily life. Memory, especially short-term, helps us navigate our place in the world and associate important people, things and places with relative meaning. 

Our memories are broken down into details, encoded to be filed away in our brain. Retention and consolidation of memories requires strengthening our neural networks overtime. Connections form between several key areas associated with memory, including the hippocampus, the amygdala, cerebellum and the prefrontal cortex. The latter, an area responsible for emotional regulation and daily executive functioning, is especially important for short-term memory storage. Retrieval cues, be it an emotion, person, object or event, sends neurons firing to recall memory in seconds.

More than half of dementia cases are associated with Alzheimer’s and while it may manifest in various moments and degrees of severity, the memory loss associated with this disease involves a breakdown of those neuron pathways that enable the brain to literally ‘fire on all cylinders.’ A buildup of abnormal proteins attacks nerve cells, eventually killing them off, and preventing the smooth reception of memory, not to mention coordination, communication and reason. While several factors, including genetic predisposition, contribute to the likelihood of having Alzheimer’s, studies have shown that stimulating neural pathways and increasing blood flow to the brain may strengthen the ability to combat substantive cognitive function loss.

By practicing RMTi, we strengthen our neural networks and reiterate the functional foundations within our brain that support our interactions in the world. Several reflexes involve movement originating from a head or neck tilt, like TLR and Landau, which in turn increase blood flow to the prefrontal cortex. A strong correlation between rhythmic movement therapy and cognitive retention is a promising avenue to explore if you or someone you love is predisposed to dementia.

Contact Thrive Therapy if you have questions about dementia, emotional or behavioral challenges that emerge at any time in life. 

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The Detriment of Delay

For many, the classic delay associated with procrastination involves a decision to wait for the arrival of stronger motivation and inspiration. Whether it’s the investment in time, level of difficulty or even firmness of deadline, procrastination is the product of cognitive distortion. We talk ourselves out of taking the initiative.

Passive procrastinators feel overwhelmed, anxious and oftentimes frozen in place. They avoid digging into the work as long as possible. When someone actively procrastinates, they choose to accept the negative consequences of delay in exchange for the choice to work under pressure. Both forms of procrastination result in anxiety, stress and potentially strained relationships.

Neurologically speaking, there are two primary forces in play here. Our limbic system is the center of the brain that regulates emotional response, including motivation. Dopamine release within its pathways leads us to associate pleasure with specific actions or stimuli. Procrastinating may be a means of seeking immediate reward by delaying something less gratifying.

This may beg the question, why wouldn’t we be motivated to cross an item off our to-do list? The counterpart in this battle is the logical prefrontal cortex, responsible for focus, planning and the core executive functions that successfully help us navigate our daily lives. Notably, this area of the brain receives stimulating blood flow and develops alongside the integration of key reflexes, like Landau. When our reflexes remain immature, those connections to the brain fail to strengthen and mature as well.

Reflex integration exercises that support our neurological connections may help us manage those stressful situations that we resist through procrastination. By supporting the integration of our defensive reflexes, we can learn to find calm in chaos. Rhythmic movement exercises also send blood flow to and strengthen the areas in our brain (like our prefrontal cortex) that help us prioritize and prepare. By supporting our fear response and developing our brain’s ability to navigate tasks with focus and purpose, our reflexes work to power the successful pursuit of our goals. 

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Cracking the Code

Dyslexia impacts how letters arrange on a page to form words, often leading to letter shapes interpreted as inverted, backwards or even with missing identifiers. Decoding, or the process of breaking down letters and sounds to arrive at meaningful words and sentences, is a complex and often rapid-fire conversation between the eyes and the brain. When we read, our eyes track along the linear path of text, stopping briefly along each word. We scan and assess phonetic components and bring that puzzle back together to create a word. As you might imagine, the pace enables students to read quickly and respond to classroom tasks as they mature and grow in their learning.

Neurologically speaking, dyslexia represents a disconnect between our brain’s right and left hemispheres. As a disorder, it manifests on a spectrum and not everyone with dyslexia experiences reading challenges in the same way. If someone is struggling, they may also have headaches or rub their eyes repeatedly when trying to focus. Emotionally, this may manifest as anxiety or frustration in the classroom, maybe even a refusal to participate. When dyslexia is present, it can be challenging to track a line of text, hold a place on a page or read aloud.  All of these experiences slow reading fluency as the brain is overwhelmed with processing the task. 

Visual tracking and the coordination of the eyes and surrounding muscles is part of early childhood development, underpinned by our primitive reflexes. The cross-lateral coordination of ATNR extends to our eyes and the integration of that reflex supports muscle development for visual tracking and processing. Our eye movement, in connection to our brain’s occipital lobe, helps us with that important decoding task of reading. 

Awareness and accommodation for dyslexia has become standard in most educational settings, and it’s important to emphasize that this disorder has no bearing on an individual’s overall IQ. Genetics play a huge role in this brain-based disorder, which has to do with much more than reading fluency in the classroom. The way the brain processes language may also vary person to person. Cross-lateral exercises that support the ATNR reflex integration are a valuable compliment to therapeutic work on those impacted by dyslexia. 

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The Importance of Crawling

There are several types prone positioning referred to as crawling. Army crawling may occur earlier, before baby has the strength to push up and off the ground. Bear crawling moves with the feet rather than the knees. Typically, crawling occurs after six months and within the first year of life.

In 2021, the CDC made several adjustments to their official milestone checklist. This resource relies on age data for key leaps in development.  The guidance suggests when parents and providers might explore early intervention. Without clear data pointing to a majority (75%) age range for crawling, and with the information that some children skip over crawling entirely before learning to walk, the CDC decided to remove the milestone. 

Crawling, in fact, is critical as a stepping stone in navigation, strengthening muscle tone and coordination that impacts walking, running, skipping and other gross motor activities. The prone positioning of crawling encourages core strength which supports postural control. The movement is bilateral, requiring an interplay between right and left sides of the body, and calls upon early reflex movements like ATNR. This reflex supports laterality with crossing midline movements, and reinforces the connection to the right and left sides of bodies and brain. 

Early exploration with crawling also encourages a child’s understanding of their body’s position in space, as the vestibular system is stimulated and further developed. As a child crawls, they gain a stronger understanding of visual motion, speed and direction. The ATNR reflex supports visual processing and the binocular development of our eyes, and crawling reinforces this important period where visual tracking and eye movement strengthen as well.

For parents and caregivers, taking the time to encourage crawling sets the tone for developmental leaps later in childhood. Even if a child bypasses this milestone to walking, floorwork and cross-lateral exercises provide a meaningful impact on brain development and muscle strength. 

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Red, White and Boom

Our ears work together with our auditory nerves to send signals to our brain, helping us become aware of sound in space. For individuals with Auditory Processing Disorder, while the body’s capability to hear sounds remains normal, the brain’s ability to recognize, differentiate and place sound is challenged. Loud environments in particular become overwhelming, causing anxiety, discomfort and sometimes fear. On a sensory level, events like fireworks on the Fourth of July can easily feel overstimulating. 

When we examine how our auditory processing develops, we must also look at our Spinal Galant reflex. Babies in utero experience sound through vibrations in their spine, and as reflexes along the spine emerge and integrate, the way we experience sound matures as well. When the reflex remains active, auditory processing disorder and sensory challenges related to noise may occur. Children may express this by retreating or resisting participation in activities, acting out with aggression or showing signs of increasing irritability.

Families don’t have to avoid holiday celebrations or even fireworks displays for that matter. A number of coping strategies, from noise cancelling headphones and earplugs to a bit of distance from the crowd can go a long way. For children that routinely feel overstimulated in loud environments, rhythmic movement therapy works to address active reflexes, supporting their ability to cope in unavoidable circumstances with more confidence and success.

It warms my heart to see families return from vacations each year, sharing with me that their son or daughter was able to enjoy fireworks for the very first time. It’s with that thought in mind that I wish you a very happy Fourth of July week!

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The Power of Self- Exploration

Many teaching professionals may be familiar with Piaget, a Swiss scientist and developmental psychologist whose theories on play have influenced the field of early education. He asserts that the process of active discovery broadens the aperture from which children learn and understand their world. In a sense, this is emphasizing the power of procedural learning. The more you see and do, and the more times you do it, the more you know and the more it sticks.

This type of implicit learning takes place within the basal ganglia and is thought to develop before cognitive learning. Children, through their efforts to name, know and categorize the world around them, are building the first layers of intelligence through play. They may begin to identify patterns, cause and effect, and similarities that improve with exposure. 

Consider the multitude of sensations that come from building blocks. What happens when we stack them, what if they are different shapes, and what happens when the tower gets too high or too fragile and falls. What a child is creating is a memory of events that are meaningful, tangible and lasting. 

Working with clients hands-on is my way of challenging their own understanding of movements and outcomes, and in a sense, elevating their experience of RMTi. Our certification programs require in-person learning to experience rhythmic movement firsthand. Feeling both an effective movement, as well as the body’s resistance to movement, is a distinction that therapists must know deeply in order to be effective in their work. 

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