When Brian and Kim met me about their son Josh they had very different opinions about why Josh was struggling in school. Brian thought his son was just lazy. The teachers did too. Mom knew Josh was trying his best and that he didn’t want to be what Josh called ‘the dumb kid’. But all…
Continue Reading“He barely crawled.” “She was an early walker.” “He didn’t crawl.” “Her crawl was more of a shuffle.” I hear this all the time when it comes to kids with learning and behaviour difficulties. It’s the reason why retained primitive reflexes can wreak so much havoc on a child’s ability to read, learn, write and…
Continue ReadingI get really excited when I do a screening on a child who is struggling and find that there are clear areas of underdevelopment in the brain or areas of disconnection. Parents kind of think I’m crazy because for them this is really scary. I get it. Nobody’s debating whether the brain is an important…
Continue ReadingYou know what drives me bananas about how we address reading struggles? We have kids read more to try and fix it. We think that the problem and cause of reading struggles are related to reading itself. I am here to tell you – they are not. Reading struggles don’t even start with things like…
Continue ReadingSeven years ago, I never would have imagined that my daughter’s sensory processing issues, anxiety, general hypersensitivity, emotional immaturity, shyness, allergies and immune problems could all be linked to an infant reflex that was preventing her brain from functioning optimally. The Moro Reflex is one of the most commonly retained reflexes that causes all kinds…
Continue ReadingWant to know if your child has poor vestibular function? Like right now? Read on to learn how you can tell if your child’s brain is disorganized and their cortex is doing the job of the lower brain levels. The lower brain levels are the survival functions, they allow us to be able to navigate…
Continue ReadingWhen a child is shy, withdrawn, has high anxiety or is even aggressive, we assume it is their inherent nature. Other times, if it is serious enough and affects a child’s ability to function, our first response is to enrol them in therapy. While therapy can have countless benefits, paralyzing fear can be neurological in…
Continue ReadingFrom the time that Alana’s son, Reid was in school the teachers would comment that Reid always ‘had his head in the clouds’. By grade 4, Reid had a diagnosis of dyslexia as well as ADD. Alana had tried medication to get Reid more focused, but the side effects left Reid with no appetite and…
Continue ReadingEveryone thought Alicia was a drama queen and a ‘princess’. Not only did she avoid running, jumping and playing with the other kids, but she struggled with learning. “She cries over the simplest things,” her mother remarked.” Alicia hated being picked up, was afraid of the escalator and the stairs and avoided movement whenever she…
Continue ReadingDid you know that when astronauts spend time in space, they can develop ‘space dyslexia’ upon returning to Earth? Until their body adjusts to gravity and they re-train their vestibular and proprioceptive system, reading can suddenly become the same laborious or even impossible task that it is for so many kids with reading disorders. When…
Continue Reading
