IMPROVING FOCUS, ATTENTION, EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING

A person writing notes

It’s that time of year where many of our older children are finishing up their semester. Some recently completed their final exams, projects and papers. Others will begin the process in the coming weeks. Parents watch as their kids take on the demands of cumulative study: creating an organizational plan, prioritizing what to complete first, being forced to focus for long periods of concentrated work, and figuring out how to manage the stress of it all. 

Parents get an intense glimpse at their child’s ability to focus, attend, memorize, perform, complete executive functioning skills… I often hear conversations of concern with parents in various social groups during this time. And I receive emails and phone calls asking if RMTi work would be beneficial for high school or college aged students.

My mission is to share the benefits of reflex integration and how movement is essential for all aspects of development: Safety and Security, Regulation and Bonding, Social and Emotional Skills, Speech and Language Abilities, Gross and Fine Motor Skills, Focus and Attention, Memory and Learning and Executive Functioning. 

I’m grateful for this feedback from a family about the benefits of reflex integration and RMTi work with their high school son:

Before our son began working with Elizabeth, he was involved in other therapies aimed at relieving his ADHD symptoms, mainly his inattentiveness, constant feelings for movement, and poor Executive Functioning skills. 

Many of the other therapies did help, but each one would also seem to have sort of “plateaued” before the full effects of the therapy could be felt.  Many providers would sort of scratch their heads and not fully understand why he was not getting more relief from his symptoms, when it seemed like he should have been. 

As I started to dig a little more on the internet, I started hearing and reading more and more about Retained Primitive Reflexes, and the issues that they cause when they do not properly integrate when they should.  The more I read, the more I started to realize this was what we needed! 

I began my search for a provider who could help us with it, and stumbled across Elizabeth Hickman’s name.  I gave her a call, and immediately knew after our first phone conversation, that I had to get her involved. Her command of not only the reflexes, but also how the body and brain all connect, has been instrumental in not only our son understanding himself, but also in our understanding of him!  It has helped both us and him advocate better for him!

Elizabeth has also helped us to squelch the negative non-verbal messages that he used to receive at school. (As his challenging behaviors, which once elicited eye rolling and heavy sighing, from those around him; are no longer plaguing him.)

Elizabeth has also helped us smash the negative non-verbal messages that he gets from those around him, in particular school.  Not only am I thrilled in the progress he has made since he started working with her last year, but I have now gotten my other two kids working with her.  They all enjoy her work with them, and I enjoy the new perspective I have developed as their Mom, that has helped me become a better parent…