ANTs - Automatic Negative Thoughts

Dr. Amen talks about ANTs in this video.  This is the seventh video of his speech, you need to go about 1:07 seconds into video to get to the ANTs part. Great video series! Watch it!

Dealing with finicky eaters

I found this slide show today... pretty good I think, for all finicky eaters, not just Aspies.

Living On Thin Air: How to Get Your Asperger Kid to Eat a Healthy Diet

View more presentations from Nancy Mucklow.

Brain Balance

Dr. Melillo has recently published an excellent book called Disconnected Kids.  His website  has a couple of wonderful videos on the right side of his website. I strongly encourage parents to make an effort to watch the second one, Dr. Melillo on Everyday with Marcus and Lisa.  Dr. Melillo covers key aspects of brain imbalance on this video.  As you watch the first video, KCAL9 Features Brain Balance,  you will notice that part of the brain balance program seems to implement Interactive Metronome.  At IM Focused, brain balance has for years been a focus of  IM training in addition to connecting various pathways and improving the timing and synchrony of the neuronal activity in each pathway.

Mental Impairments Linked to Toxins

Yesterday I found this very informative sight, Institute for Children's Environmental Health . I am of the opinion that our children are 'the canary in the cave' so to speak for our environment today. The rise in neurodevelopmental issues is unprecedented. One in six children today have a neurodevelopmental disorder! Most of the children I see probably have recieved some environmental insult to their neurological system at some time in their short past. IM helps with the recovery of these affected neuropathways, but are there ways to prevent the issues in the first place!

With a grandchild on the way, I've been reading the latest in environmental safety and health. This up to date site covers almost all of the topics of concern. Parents, especially expectant parents and parents of young children, should check it out. We all should since these toxins are implicated in Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, asthma, and cancer. As a society, we removed lead from gasoline years ago when we discovered how harmful it was. Today we can change the world again.

B Vitamins may be Important for Spatial Learning and Memory

I have recently become an avid viewer of a huge resource of professionals talking about diet and wellness for children with neurological issues, particularly autism, on the Dan Website. This recent article, published in August 2008, supports many of the concepts the Dan speakers address. Quote, "..a diet deficient in folate and vitamins B12 and B6 demonstrated significant deficits in spatial learning and memory..." I am not in the medical profession, and IM is my personal passion, but I think parents interested in helping their children should also look at diet and exercise and (to be politically correct!) discuss this with your doctor.

IM is a movement oriented program. Through exercise, we change the brain. It seems strange to the newbie that clapping your hands and tapping your feet can actually increase your ability to read by grade levels! But it can! There is undeniably a connection between the physical and the mental!

In terms of diet, I can frequently tell when a young person has skipped a meal by their inability to replicate their previous best performance no matter how hard they try. With a nutritious snack in house, their scores can almost immediately improve. It's a great opportunity for them to see clearly that diet impacts mental processing. Don't skip breakfast before the big test!