Stubborn or Cognitively Inflexible?

I spoke last night at Ben's Benefit.  If you are interested in a presentation for your PTO or Church contact me at lori.trainthebraintofocus.net

"He seems to have some insight" - mom tells of gains in metacognition through IM

I received feedback from a mom of an 8 yr old this week. History: This little boy has above average timing, but still struggles with cognitive flexibility and anxiety.  He is now on session 12  of core conditioning - specific exercises targeting his specific issues.  Here's mom's notes (my comments in blue): 

"I have definitely seen improvements - he seems to have some insight into his difficulties. 

ADHD Presentation

This presentation is a great overall view of ADD. Each point Dr. Steven Hinshaw makesis backed by research. One piece that was extremely significant was that if the parent of a child with ADHD has even mild depression, outcomes for the child are significantly less positive. We need to help our parents where by indeed we help our children.  Watch the presentation here - Jan 12th 2011 presentation by Dr. Hinshaw.  He advocates a very structured but warm school environment with some adjustments in homework requirements to meet the students needs. Children with ADHD need rewards as well. Teachers and teaching environments make a difference.

Along these lines - I believe the book The Kazdin Method for Parenting the Defiant Child  is a great resource for parents of all children, especially any child that is struggling.  It teaches specific steps in positive reinforcement of good behavior and very researched techniques to help the child succeed.

Thinking about thoughts

Rebecca Saxe, a TED Talks speaker, discusses the development of the right temporal parietal junction - the part of the mind that helps us understand what other people are thinking. Very interesting.

Time: Attending to duration triggers specific anticipatory activity

Time processing requires the estimation of events' duration per se, but also seems to trigger attentional and memory processes. (MEG) activity was recorded in fourteen healthy right-handed volunteers. We report an increase of gamma-band oscillations over right fronto-central and parietal regions when subjects are prompted to attend to duration. Our results support the hypothesis that the right fronto-parietal network observed repeatedly in time estimation imaging studies is indeed involved in attentional control rather than stimulus processing. Moreover, they underline the supramodal property of time dimension that goes beyond purely perceptive features.

Authors: Marco Sperduti^a; Catherine Tallon-Baudry^a; Laurent Hugueville^a; Viviane Pouthas<sup>a


Just cut and pasted part of an abstract about Time in the brain.</sup> 

I feel like one of those moms who brags that her baby turned over for the first time.

Just wanted to say thanks for yesterday. I am so encouraged by K----- and his behaviors lately. I don't think it has ever been this good for our family and I know it's because of YOU. Last night continued to be good. I threw my back out so B----- (adult daughter) came over and made dinner. K----- was in the kitchen wanting to read the labels. B---- is usually grouchy to him but because he was so nice she was in a good mood and she showed him how to read them. It was really fun watching them.
This morning he was playing outside and D---- (K's sister one year older) came in and said she couldn't find K----. I figured he went in the neighbors shed to help that man so I told her where to look and have K----- come home. K------- came home and I told him it was not okay to go anywhere without telling me. I am telling you Lori, normally K------ would not have been able to handle it and go right into melt down mode. This time he said, "okay mom I will next time. Sorry, can I go back over?" That never happens!! I feel like one of those moms who brags that her baby turned over for the first time. This would seem ridicules to most but its huge for us. Gains! Again, so cool and thanks so much. I really appreciate you so much, thanks for all your work because ITS WORKING!!

Reading and behavior gains - follow up six months post IM

This adorable young man (7 years old)  went through IM about 6 months ago. He completed 20 - 25 sessions this past summer. Just before he started 2nd grade this year, his reading scored at the kindergarten level! In IM, we don't teach reading, we just prepare the brain to process information so the child can learn to read. I received this note from his mom today.:

"A----- is doing good in school.  He has been able to catch up to the class average in the area of sight words and doing MUCH better with reading.  I have worked with the school to get him into a special program that gives him small group and one-on-one learning to get him caught up with his basic reading skills.  And according to my most recent parent-teacher conference it shows that what we are doing is working very well.  He still has the occassionally off day but we have far more good behavior days then bad.  He also visits with the school counselor once a week after he had an incident where a few kids in his class were bullying him. He still does not have the self confidence I'd like him to have at this point.  BUT things are so much better. 

I still believe very much in the power of IM and would still like for him to get a refresher over the summer. 

Thank you so much for what you do and sharing it with my family. 

Sincerely,
 

K--- S---"

ATNR Article

An article I just ran across on the ATNR - a retained infant reflex that many of my IM students show signs of not having fully integrated. If these lower centers of the brain (midbrain, pons, brainstem) are controlling movement, then the higher centers of the brain (cortex areas) are busy compensating for these reflexes rather than doing the learning and attending it needs to be doing.

Infant Reflexes

Another great link about retained infant reflexes - something I believe to be significant for many of the students I see. The poorer an individual scores in IM, the more likely I am to see these retained infant reflexes in their movements.  There's a relationship here.

Metacognition - thinking about one's own thinking

I see the process of metacognition come on line frequently in IM. This week, a mom of an 8 yr old going through IM a second time commented that her son was beginning to get some 'insight into himself.' I understood this comment to mean that his ability to think about his own thoughts had started to come on line more, metacognition. Dr. McGrew recently posted about metacognition and linked to an entire book about to be published about that mental process.