Plan for Learning Diary

Back to Blogging

2006-05-04T13:37:00.000-07:00

I have returned from Ireland and have caught up on the backlog at ye old office. Ireland is a country whose self esteem, not to mention the wealth has been trodden on and taken by Vikings, Saxons and English for 1200 years.

The free Irish seem a happy lot and I did not see the numbers of neurodevelopmental issues that is easy to see here. However, the interns in Cork do work with childrn with autism and ADHD so maybe they are hidden.

The introductory training class went well with 12 people wanting more. Next Community Information night is May 16 at Chaska Rec Center in Room 2, 7-8 pm.

Cellular Communication

2006-04-06T11:13:00.000-07:00

I have heard about intercelluar communication for a long time from energy workers. And who am I to question their thoughts? But as thoughts and feelings, they are not research. Research is only as good a the observer and the study design, but the info from Scientific American's February 2006 issue is amazing. The skinny on this article is that immune cells have synactic communication like neurons. They communicate proteins and molecules, as well as viruses. It is believed that if this system is infected or isn't working right many diseases. Not into wading through Scientific American? Get it to look at the great PICTURES of communicating cells. Go to www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006& articleID=00001587-0C36-13CC-8B1583414B7F0101 to buy to issue.

Busy, Busy

2006-04-05T16:20:00.000-07:00

Today I was writing or talking about the following: Glyconutrients, consultant communication structures, Classical education, starting a new blog, program reviews with 2 interns, a proposal for a Montessori Conference, HANDLE and future presentations with a colleague and finishing up the website. That's what I call holistic! I'll write more tomorrow.

OCD

2006-03-30T11:03:00.000-08:00

I did a consult on an interesting case of a boy with OCD today. This was a 7 year old, who has had classic symptoms since age 4. Interestingly he is gifted and was born with an enlarged cerebrum. Does being able to think increase the chance of anxiety about the unknown? It would seem in this situation we have a boy who has weak proprioception, issues with the gut (constipation and picky eating), immune issues (strep 4 times this winter) sensitivity to sound and who didn't crawl. OCD is related to dopamine in the brain. Movement increases dopamine production. Lack of body in space perception sets off alarms in the brain and can trigger anxiety that sets the stage for OCD attacks. Interesting case.

Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz wrote in Brain Lock that OCD is an addiction with no pleasure. He suggests the four step program of Relabel, Reattribute, Refocus and Revalue. First you recognize the obsessive thoughts, next you relabel that thought as OCD, not real. Then you reattribute--"It's not me--it's OCD that is giving the brain false messages. Refocusing means, although difficult, shift your thoughts and activities to something else, even for a few minutes. You reclaim you decision-making.

I think this approach along with neurodevelopmental work can make substantial differences in OCD behaviors.

Shuffling the Reflexes

2006-03-29T12:42:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Cat Burns of MamaBebe, was over yesterday. She was talking about how primitive reflexes can be grouped in different ways and with each way comes a different perspective and learning.

Reflexes can be sorted by:
Emergence time
Typical integration time
Axes
Parts of the brain involved
Parts of the body activiated
Connections in development
Label issues
Senory involvement

I bet there are many more.

Big Picture, Details

2006-03-28T13:02:00.000-08:00

O.K., O.K., I did miss a day. Monday got me off to a rough start to the week.

One of the most interesting aspects of our truly amazing brains is the "part-to-whole/ whole-to-part" functioning. In one moment you take in the big picture prospective and then life demands that you focus in on one detail of that whole. Then you switch back to the whole view. This careening back and forth across the corpus callosum of at the midline of the brain can be dizzying and is energy expensive. However, the more capable one is, the more telescoping thought must happen.

No one always uses the right brain or the left brain, so the idea of a "left brained" person is faulty. We use both sides of our brain to walk for heavens sake. However, most people do feel more comfortable processing in one or the other mode. I am a big picutre thinker. I like to think it is my strength. I can see the parts and how they fit in the big picutre. I like to synthesize ideas. I dwell in the world of connection.

The down side is that when inundated with a lot of details, I have trouble focusing on just one and finishing with it. I tend to want to "herd" the details down the trail. I do a bit on this one, a bit on that one and another bit on this one. I have dreams where I am being attacked by small nagging creatures.

I also have packing dreams. In a packing dream, I am in, say, an apartment and I am told that I must have everything out in an hour. I usually can't find enough boxes or bags. I try to get all of the little details of stuff into these small containers. I think it is a metaphor for my brain.

Later, I'll write about the issues of those gifted in primarily left-brain analytical thought.....

The Future is Now

2006-03-25T08:16:00.000-08:00

I was adding links to this blog today and it made me recall that when I started in neurodevelopment almost 9 years ago, I googled neurodevelopment and got a couple hundred sites. Today there are 314,000 sites. As a dedicated futurist, I have come to accept being ahead of the curve, but this time I'll be around to see the future become mainstream. That's satisfying.

Learning is No Place for Turf War

2006-03-24T14:43:00.000-08:00

Day three and still writing!

What do you get when you cross a teacher, a neurodevelopmentist and an occupational therapist. You get a hostage situation, where the OT takes the teacher hostage and accuses the neurodevelopmentalist of trespassing. Basically that is the discussion a friend of mine and I were having about the importance of training teachers in the science of how kid's learn. God forbid a teacher should know this kabalistic information. They may misuse it, abuse it, an OT claimed who was discussing this with a teacher friend of mine.

Not so long ago, there were no OTs or Sp. Ed. specialists in schools. Kids showed up and the teacher taught those who came. Of course the ADA changed the scope of those students, but I remember that I went to school with all kinds and the teachers needed to discover issues and help each child.

I found an old teacher's reading manuel from the 1920's at a garage sale some time back. I was shocked at the diagnostic testing included. Much of it was right in line with neurodevelopmental principles of today. They checked eye tracking and saccadic movements. They tested visualization. They tested auditory processing. They sure knew their customers.

Fast forward 2006. Child isn't learning well, he or she is handed over to specialist to test. If the child is two standard deviations from the norm (a long, long way), the child get 15-30 minutes of OT time week. If not the child is given back to the teacher so that he or she can accomodate the curriculm for them.

The teacher is only "allowed" to work on accomodations of issues not remediations. I am not saying that teachers don't need professional help. What I am saying is that if a teacher knew more about the intake, processing and output of information,they could do more in their instruction to remediate problems.

Ot's and Soec. Ed. have plenty of work and don't need to be quite so protective of their turf.

Come out, come out whereever you are......

2006-03-23T12:29:00.000-08:00

Oh the pain! We here at Plan for Learning are looking for new digs. We want it all:

a state of the art clinic with beautiful, wood floored large motor room (30-20 feet).
at least 3 offices
Evaluation room with the possibility of an attached observation room
1 or 2 rooms for cranial sacral, sound table or ion treatments
A nice waiting room and a reception area
Don't forget storage.
Affordable as an investment.
It needs to be in a house that is zoned residential/commercial and be in Hopkins or St. Louis Park. We have a DREAM team of 8-10 professionals ready to work with kids with neurodevelopmental issues. Phew!! I feel better just writing this and releasing it into the cosmos.

Diary is as Diary is

2006-03-22T14:18:00.000-08:00

I have always wanted an informal way to dialog and tell stories about the subject of neurodevelopment. I find cool research or books and I have no way to compile them for others. Blogging is a DAILY activity and I am planning on visiting daily to add new items. Most of the time it will be short, maybe even just a new site, but I plan to carry on.