Description
Why is the physical basis for learning important? How does immaturity in aspects of physical development affect learning, emotional wellbeing and behaviour? How can this be identified? How can it be assessed and what forms of remediation are available?
Reflexes, Movement, Learning & Behaviour covers an area of education and emotional wellbeing that is often overlooked or falls between professional domains. It provides information that can help parents, teachers and other professionals to understand what lies behind the underachieving child and adults who suffer from balance-related anxiety disorders. The method fills a yawning gap in ‘the system’, which often fails to recognise underlying physical factors in underachievement, behavioural and emotional problems. Identifying some of the mechanics involved is the first step in moving from victimhood to being able to live with a problem and in many cases, overcome it. It helps parents and teachers to understand children better, to introduce more effective coping strategies where needed and, ideally, to correct some of the underlying problems enabling children and adults to become more resilient and flexible in response to stress and to realise their potential.
Educators, learning professionals, child psychologists, doctors, movement specialists and parents will find this an essential and unique resource.
Author
Sally Goddard Blythe is Director of the Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology. She researches the relationship between physical development and learning. Her remedial programmes help transform children’s learning through movement. Her widely translated books include The Well Balanced Child, The Genius of Natural Childhood, Raising Happy Healthy Children and Movement: Your Child’s First Language from Hawthorn Press, and Attention Balance and Coordination, The ABC of Learning Success.Contents
- Introduction: Why physical development matters and its relationship to school readiness and learning success.
- Primitive reflexes – their influence on life and learning
- From primitive reflex to postural control
- Brain development: Establishing a hierarchy
- The senses: Interreceptor and exteroceptor systems
- Examples of reflex testing.
- What can be done? Levels of intervention from individualized programmes to how parents can help; awareness in schools; signs and symptoms of listening problems; music as a primary teacher; visual processing; simple changes in the classroom; nature and nurture; use of electronic media.
- History of the INPP method and selected papers by Lawrence Beuret MD and Sally Goddard Blythe
- Appendix 1: Case Studies
- Appendix 2: A short history of reflexes and the INPP method
- References and Glossary
- Index
‘Provides a readable yet comprehensive overview of primitive and neonatal reflexes and postural control. These are holistically integrated into descriptions of human senses, neural structures and systems, along with their relevance for learning delays, disorders, and psychological conditions. Her expositions and recommendations draw on empirical-scientific analysis, many years of therapeutic experience, and a phenomenological-symptomology, offering readers from wide ranging backgrounds her unique theoretical and therapeutic insights into reflexes and learning.’ Associate Professor Sebastian Suggate, University of York
‘If you view a learner as just a brain carried around by a body, it is rather like servicing a car engine without checking the brakes and tyres. That might be fine, but often you will waste fuel and occasionally you will crash. Sally is one of the leading experts in understanding how the body and mind work together, how to spot where there is a problem and then what to do about it. These issues are not simple, but they are important for thousands of children. Reflexes, Movement, Learning and Behaviour will give you a comprehensive resource to work with.’ David Morgan, creator of the Easyread System and All Aboard Phonics
‘At a time when parents and professionals emphasise and analyse school readiness and learning yet children are the most sedentary in history, Sally Goddard Blythe has put the horse back before the cart. Physical literacy and movement have always been the poor cousin to proper cerebral learning, until now. This book provides an excellent comprehensive overview of this emerging area.’ Dr Aric Sigman, child health education lecturer, author of Getting Physical, winner of The Times Educational Supplement’s Information Book Award
- How neuro-motor immaturity influences physical, behavioural, learning and emotional blockages in children and adults
- Pioneering, up-to-date research into how primitive and postural reflexes affect learning and emotional wellbeing
- Why physical development matters for school readiness and learning success
- Recognising neuromotor immaturity — signs, symptoms and behaviours
- What can be done? Case studies, screening, neuromotor training, sensory programmes, action songs and movement.
