|
How Neurodevelopmental Programs Can Improve Function By Marilee Nicoll Coots, BA, Neurodevelopmentalist, copyright, 1999
About 25% of school age children have problems related to learning, attention, or hyperactivity. Many of these children have received a "label" such as learning disabled, dyslexic, attention deficit disorder (ADD) , attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or simply slow learner. Some are said to have a processing problem or a problem with short or long term memory. Among this group of children, many have articulation or language problems, sloppy handwriting, or appear to be poorly coordinated.
When a child is having a problem with learning, attention, hyperactivity, or with school, there is a reason for that problem. Often the underlying problem is due to a disorganized nervous system.
Neurodevelopmentalists consider function to be reflective of neurological organization. They believe that the function or lack of function which we observe in people who have been "labeled" is rooted in the development of the brain and nervous system, neurodevelopment. When there are developmental inefficiencies we see a lack of function, a symptom. These symptoms reflect neurological disorganization. As neurological organization improves, development progresses, and we see an improvement in function. So if we can cause development to progress we will see a change in function, an improvement in the symptoms.
Neurodevelopmentalists have discovered that developmental changes can be accomplished by appropriate stimulation. To be effective that stimulation needs to be delivered with high intensity, high frequency and short duration. It also needs to be applied over a long enough period of time for the changes to occur.
Through using specific activities with many children, neurodevelopmentalists have learned which activities work best to specifically address the various developmental levels and cause neurodevelopment to progress to greater degrees of organization. Many of these specific activities have been drawn eclectically from other disciplines, tested and refined. Neurodevelopmentalists assess children to determine the inefficiencies underlying the symptoms, design a home program of specific activities to address those inefficiencies and train the parents to carry out the activities at home. This approach, properly applied, has been successful in totally eliminating many of the symptoms which have kept children from educational achievement.
|
|
|
Approach to Developmental Delays
The N eurodevelopmental Approach to Developmental Delays
By Kay Ness, 2000
Introduction
There is much hope for the child with developmental delays. This hope lies in the very nature of the brain and the central nervous system. A review of scientific literature reveals that the human brain displays plasticity, meaning that with specific stimulation, function, structure and even chemistry of the brain and central nervous system changes when impacted specifically by stimulation. This tells us that human function, which is controlled by the central nervous system and more specifically the brain, is changeable. If we can evaluate what is causing problems in development and if we are wise enough to find the specific, stimulation that can impact that development, we can accelerate the development and help improve function.
In order to explore the neurodevelopmental approach to dealing with developmental delays, we must understand the meaning of the term. To be developmentally delayed simply means that in some way, a child is functioning at least one to two years behind in areas of cognition, speech and language, gross and/ or fine motor areas. The term in no way indicates causes of delays which can be attributed to genetic anomalies, brain injury, chronic ear infections, metabolic problems or a combination of these or many other cause. A neurodevelopmentalist treats a child with developmental delays the same way that he treats any other child: find out where the child is functioning, find the specific causes of problems, and designs a specific stimulation and educational program to accelerate development to the next levels. Any sensory system can be too sensitive (hyper) or not sufficiently sensitive (hypo). Specific stimulation can normalize the sensory systems no matter the present condition.
|
|
