Neuroplasticity Archives - Page 5 of 5 - Move2Connect Primitive Reflex Integration

Review of Beyond the Sea Squirt: A Journey with Reflexes

In January 2019, I offered to help Moira Dempsey do a first-pass at proofreading her new book, Beyond the Sea Squirt: A Journey with Reflexes. She accepted my offer, and I spent a very interesting month reading, re-reading. and offering suggestions when I noticed errors or strange wording. It was like taking an intense training course with one of the leading experts on the subject of neurodevelopment, primitive reflex integration and bodywork.

When I first met her in November, she told our group that she was going to call the book Beyond the Sea Squirt because of the way sea squirts live their rather strange lives:

“At the most fundamental level the only reason we have a brain is because we move. To develop the ability to feel and think actually requires movement as a first step. Sea squirts illustrate this well. Sea squirt larvae have a very rudimentary brain and nervous system. However, they have no mouth or way to feed. The larvae are able to move to the sea floor where they cement themselves head first and this is where they will stay. As the sea squirt will never move from that spot it no longer needs its brain and nervous system so it starts absorbing it. This absorption gives the larvae enough nutrients to be able to build the circulatory, digestive and reproductive systems necessary to sustain its existence.”

So the entire point of the book is to demonstrate how movement influences the efficiency of our brains. If you don’t move, you simply do not need a brain.

However, in January, Moira had come to the conclusion that she was going to simply call the book A Journey With Reflexes, with a chapter entitled “Beyond the Sea Squirt”. However, the more I read the book, the more I became convinced that the original title should be merged with the new title – so I suggested Beyond the Sea Squirt – A Journey with Reflexes – and Moira liked it! I think it’s a superb title.

The essence of this book was reminiscent of the scenes in the Disney film Wall.E, depicting obese people on floating beds finding out about dance for the first time – they have evolved to no longer require movement.

I was very excited to be amongst the first to read through this book – although it has changed a bit since I first saw it! I also contributed two RMTi anecdotes to the book, and the fact that it contains a story about helping my 102 year-old grandmother to walk and function again after a stroke is particularly touching.

The book is particularly accessible to parents, and gives dozens of examples of applications of Rhythmic Movement Training, from children struggling with literacy to motor skills issues, postural improvements, mental health, people who didn’t even realise that they were compensating for retained reflexes (me), and the elderly.

Moira’s writing style is so clear and natural, and she has told her personal story so openly and bravely.

It’s a must read for anyone interested in how they can use Rhythmic Movement Training to help postural, emotional, behavioural or learning challenges in an accessible way, as well as learning the characteristics of the various primitive reflexes.

Beyond the Sea Squirt: A Journey with Reflexes is available from Amazon for £15.27.

Starting school, SEN and retained reflexes: what you need to know

SEN and retained reflexes

Is your child starting school in September? It really creeps up quickly on us, and it’s always hard to know which setting is going to be best for our SEN children due to start mainstream primary schools.

Sadly, an outstanding OFSTED report isn‘t necessarily an indication that a school is going to be a brilliant option.

Having a happy child is KEY, and whatever it takes to get them to feel safe and supported is really important. A child who feels safe and secure will be motivated to learn.

If you are concerned about your child, and they don’t have an EHCP, I would strongly recommend that you:

1) apply for one yourself using the IPSEA templates, and

2) make contact with the SENCo at your child’s new school and see if it’s possible to go in for a chat before the end of the summer term. They will more than likely really appreciate any additional information, and so will the Reception teacher. From person experience, SEN provision works really well if there’s really good two-way communication between parents and SENCos… and

3) join an EHCP support group on Facebook for advice

It may come as a bit of a surprise to know that in an average class of 30 Reception children, at least 25 will have retained reflexes. Not only this but at least 5/30 will have a reflex profile that means that they are not neurologically ready for school and will struggle with things like attention, sitting still, holding a pencil, behaving appropriately in groups and having the ability to socialise, etc.

The good news is that there are so many activities we can be getting our Reception intake (or pre-school age) children to do in order to help them make the necessary brain connections to allow them to sit still, pay attention for 10 minutes, sit on a chair at school without slouching or slumping, have the stamina to get through the school day, grip a pencil, stand in a line, wait their turn, be respectful to other classmates and play socially and cooperatively – this goes for ALL children, whether you already have a diagnosis, a suspicion of “traits” or even you have no worries at all about your child.

Of course, I could also tell everyone to book an appointment with me, but I know that people prefer to try things themselves first, so:

snow angel movements, slowly and rhythmically
use a skateboard to scoot around the floor, on tummy and on back
have a race to see how many cotton wool balls you and your child can move from one bowl to another within 30 seconds
do push ups against a wall
walk around the floor on your bottom
skip using a rope
find playgrounds with balance equipment and stepping stones (incidentally, it is a good sign when you visit a school with stepping stones and balance beams in the playground, as a clued up head knows that balance is central to learning
get your child to trace ”8”s in the air, crossing the midline
get your child to crawl – if you can get hold of a tube for them to crawl through to encourage it, even better
get your child to walk on stilts or use a pogo stick
plenty of trampolining
spend lots of time barefoot

These are all wonderful ways to help primitive reflexes to integrate, and help a child prepare for school.

Support at most (state) primary schools in the Horsham area tends to be pretty good for a wide range of needs, but there is definitely no harm in staying a few steps ahead of the local authority to ensure that your child is best supported. You might find the IPSEA website useful reading.

Most of all, I want to let you know that it’s all going to be ok.

Neuroplasticity SSP: Safe and Sound Protocol

Removing the challenges – not the diagnosis

…why this work should not be misinterpreted as a “cure”

I have just come across a Facebook advertisement asking for participants with a diagnosis of autism for clinical trials for a “treatment for autism”.

The advertisement has, unsurprisingly, been met with lots of “angry” reactions and angry comments from people who feel that autism is not a disease that needs “treating”.

I agree – it’s NOT. Autism is a neuro-developmental difference, not a disease.

However, I do believe that if the challenges of autism are causing a person to be held back, it is good to try to attempt to reduce those challenges. Not just for the autistic person, but also for parents/carers/friends/family.

I’m fairly sure that parents/carers etc would love their autistic relations to be able to cope better with transitions, sensory input and situations that make them anxious.

Removing these challenges is not a “cure”.

A well-known therapy has been heavily criticised by the ActuallyAutistic movement, because what it does is to condition an autistic person to behave in the way that society expects everyone to behave – that is really all I know about it. However, the therapy mentioned does not “cure” autism at all, and neither does it claim to, as far as I know. However, I suspect that, despite conditioning people to act “appropriately”, it may cause recipients further anxiety, and potentially mental health issues in the future.

What we do as neuro-developmental therapists is nothing to do with “cures”, and certainly nothing at all to do with conditioning behaviour. To us, the term “ASD/ASC” can sometimes be a bit of a mystery in the first place when related to the 40 year-old Polyvagal Theory (see diagram below). To therapists who work with fragile central nervous systems, “neurodiverse” means that the nervous system and brain has developed differently from that of a neurotypical person (except hardly anybody is truly neurotypical in reflex terms). What is wrong with trying to work with it, and give the system a second chance to develop?

When I had just started training, I had my Fear Paralysis Reflex triggered by one of the exercises we were carrying out with each other: I went into a sort of non-verbal shock – I could no longer focus on what was being said around me, I felt as if I had tunnel vision and felt extremely on edge. I went home that evening feeling hypervigilant and didn’t sleep well as a result – in fact, I had nightmares – I was in fight or flight mode (flight, in fact). I then spent a few weeks in that very same state – I felt as if I wanted to shrink up and hide from the world. I avoided social contact with people and hardly left the house! This is a prime example of a “freeze” reaction, if you look at Dr Stephen Porges’ Polyvagal theory.

Using a combination of the Safe and Sound Protocol and primitive reflex integration, we can bring people out of fight/flight/freeze and into the social engagement state.

The Safe and Sound Protocol is a five-day listening programme, which exercises the middle ear muscles to train them not to filter out mid-range frequencies when a person is stressed, and also stimulates the vagus nerve to help a person self regulate by regulating the autonomic nervous system. Here is an explanation by Dr Stephen Porges himself:

Summary of the SSP by Dr Stephen Porges

How the SSP works

Using Rhythmic Movement Training techniques to integrate primitive reflexes, we can make a person feel safe in the world and regulate their emotions and behaviour. I talk a lot about reflex integration in my posts, but at this point, it’s worth mentioning this wonderful book, released last week, by Moira Dempsey, which will tell you all you need to know and more, as well as incredible stories of transformation through working with Rhythmic Movement, from all around the world.

This is NOT curing autism, or indeed dyspraxia, OCD, Anxiety, ADHD etc etc – far from it. The same person is still there, with the same superpowers. However, what we have done is to remove the fear and challenges.

We are working with the person, not their medical label.