Body to Brain Learning

Body to Brian Learning @ School... a bespoke workshop for an Aboriginal school in Bunbury, WA.

Love my job. 😄

Tropical Christmas flowers in the garden always bring me joy!

I'm looking forward to new adventures next year. (And hopefully, the successful implementation of my resolution to be more present and consistent in posting here...🤞)

From my family and team to yours, have a great Christmas and festive season.

I love this cartoon from .

In her Instagram post of October 20, 2021, talks about the origin of the cartoon and how it is now one of her most shared cartoons not because of its original intent, but because of how people like me have used it to describe how and why children do sit in these unusual positions.

It serves such a great purpose for explaining postural challenges that can be caused by neuromotor immaturity. Pictures really do help and this cartoon nails it.

So, thanks for your permission to use it to spark more conversation and awareness. It really works well for that. 😊

*Remember, if you do use it in your practice, please honour the request to cite the creator and don't crop, filter or forget to mention the artist.

I’m going out on a limb here to say that teachers have a good understanding of social, emotional & psychological aspects of learning, BUT there is still a gap in their understanding of HOW the body supports learning through neurodevelopmental processes. AND, that is KEY for supporting better student learning outcomes.

What do I mean?
Our curriculum & system assume that children coming to school are ready to learn.

For instance, we assume that:
👉a student's body movements are under their conscious control.
🤞focusing and concentrating on tasks will improve their function.
👉students chose to move & behave in the ways that they do.
🤞they can listen & hold several instructions in their head & they can ignore extra stimuli from inside & outside the room to focus on what the teacher is saying.
👉they can hold & manipulate objects like pencils quite easily to write well & draw.

I believe most teachers don't understand when there is a neurodevelopmental reason why the child in front of them is:
🦘 constantly squirming,
😵‍ always looking around, 👀
👨‍🚀 can't sit upright,
📖 can't read the same word on the next page in their reader,
✏️can't write at an 'age-appropriate' level,
😆is constantly chattering,
🗒✏️ can't copy things from the board accurately,
👉not trying to learn,
👉NOT engaging in learning activities.

Sometimes students have a diagnosis & that helps teachers understand a little more about the learning differences for that child. There are strategies. But sometimes those strategies don't address the real & underlying issue & are "band-aids" to help them get through the day.

There is a gap in teachers' understanding of neuromotor immaturity (the persistence of non-integrated primitive reflexes & under-developed postural responses) & the implications it has for their student's learning & how they should be teaching that student.

There’s a gap in understanding what neuromotor immaturity looks like & how to address it to support better learning. AND, they CAN address it. They just need to know a bit more about how to do that.

I talk about that in my blog.

Link in bio

These are the colours and environment that inspired our branding.

We live in tropical Far North Queensland where the rainforest meets the coral sea and the Great Barrier Reef. It's a beautiful part of the world and we are blessed.

On a beautiful sun shiny, clear day the colours are vibrant, diverse and clear. This is the view from my office window.

"Body to Brain Learning" is about natural neurodevelopmental processes and how these impact our capacity to function and learn in our world from an early age. It's about growth. Connections with nature are an important part of healthy sensory and motor development that help mould our intricate learning and developmental processes.

"Body to Brain Learning" is about exploring ways to enhance our learning and function, particularly if there are learning and functional challenges. It uses natural movement processes and natural neuroplasticity to revisit, strengthen and rebuild neural pathways to support better learning and function.

The body helps grow and train the brain and supports learning functions.

My work spot for the next few days nutting out delivery strategies and options for "Body to Brain Learning @ School" in Western Australia. It's exciting.

👉 The time for this approach is NOW. So many students are in school with immature body systems that are interfering with their learning success. "Body to Brain Learning @ School" helps teachers understand what they see in the behaviours, posture and movement of children that impacts students' ability to learn, and, it helps teachers address those issues. It's an approach that empowers teachers to identify, assess, and address these limiting body functions and improve student learning and well-being. Once you see what "Body to Brain Learning @ School" teaches you, you can't miss it and you understand your students and how they learn something better.

If you follow my insta site, you may have seen this post already, but in colour! 😆

The point is, I'm planning some new course delivery dates etc.... let me know if you're interested in these, or anything else neurodevelopment and learning

Helping educators and those who help children with learning challenges understand those connections is our thing.

More info and links in our bio...

Bodytobrainlearning.com

#

Movement fires and wires the brain. 🧠

We are born ready to move and, we don't grow out of the need for movement.

Early childhood movement experiences provide the foundations for function and learning later in life.

Nature provides babies with automatic reflex movements to establish learning connections in their first year of life ( ). It's up to us as their caregivers to give them opportunities and room to move so that nature can do its thing. (Yes, even a newborn needs opportunity and room to move!)

As they grow up, we then need to continue to expand on those movement opportunities to help our children gain postural control that lasts a lifetime and impacts learning and function during that lifetime.

Movement opportunities and experiences matter for learning. It doesn't take much, just a few minutes of varied activity throughout the day can make lasting differences. They don't need to be fast movements. They don't need to be hard. They do need to happen regularly and it's great when they are varied. They don't need technology -- our bodies are our best moving and learning devices when we are young. Outdoors is great for sensory development and coordination. Movement, in itself, can be great fun.

What movement activities do you provide for the children in your life?

We deliver the INPP schools program in our "Body to Brain Learning @ School" approach which has been adapted to fit the Australian Educational context (think links to the Australian Curriculum, AITSL standards, NCCD reporting etc).

This research provides an overview of how effective it is in addressing neuromotor readiness for learning in international contexts.

If you want to know more about the Australian approach... link is in the comments.

School Programme Reports | INPP UK This page contains excerpts from reports provided by some schools and local authorities where the INPP Developmental Screening Test and School Intervention Programme has been used.  It does not include all schools where the programme has been used as only some have provided written feedback. 

Some of the training we've been providing in January included Module 2 of the INPP Practitioner's Course. It was a great week.

These students are learning how to assess primitive reflexes using a battery of standardised neurophysiological tests. They also assess balance and coordination, ocular motor skills, laterality, visual perception and visual motor integration. This gives them a neurodevelopmental profile for their clients which they then use to customise a non-invasive neurodevelopmental movement program to address the maturities they discover in their assessments.

It's hard. It's full on. There's lots to learn.

Module 3 is about designing the movement programmes for clients. Can't wait to teach them that, but they've got a fair bit of homework to do practicing assessments first.