This blog is my place to vent and share resources with other parents of children of trauma. I try to be open and honest about my feelings in order to help others know they are not alone. Therapeutic parenting of adopted teenagers with RAD and other severe mental illnesses and issues (plus "neurotypical" teens) , is not easy, and there are time when I say what I feel... at the moment. We're all human!

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Books and Methods Review - Methods - Brain Gym


According to Wikipedia:  The Brain Gym program is based on the claim that learners carrying out specific Brain Gym movements prior to a learning activity can improve stability, mobility, and/or sensorimotor coordination. In turn, these motor skills support ease of learning. The 26 Brain Gym activities are said to foster eye teaming, hand-eye coordination, and whole-body flexibility, and so activate the brain for optimal storage and retrieval of information.
The Brain Gym website refers to more than a hundred pilot studies, case studies, and anecdotal reports, done with people of all ages and abilities, that explore the effects of the 26 Brain Gym activities in such areas as reading, writing, memory, self-reported anxiety, and computer-related eye-and-muscle strain. Numerous books have been written describing research and case studies in which use of the Brain Gym activities has benefited specific populations, including children recovering from burn injuries and those diagnosed with autism.[1]
The program has previously been criticised as pseudoscience for the lack of references for some of the theories in its 1994 book, Brain Gym: Teacher's Edition and the absence of peer review research that performing the activities has a direct effect on academics.[2][3][4][5] A new edition of the book was published in 2010, with updated references to educational and neuroscientific theories.[6]

A YouTube Brain Gym 5 minute "workout"  - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VL4an7UC3wA
Free Brain Gym Exercises:  http://sspw.dpi.wi.gov/files/sspw/pdf/sascevanshandouts.pdf


Marythemom:  We've tried this with Kitty.  It helps her get unstuck and changes up her mood, but she finds it very embarrassing and will only do it with her therapist leading her, or if we're in total privacy and she's not so far triggered that she can be compliant.  The theory is similar to EMDR in that crossing the midbrain helps her get unstuck.

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