Building Better Brains - Learning Clinic

Moms tell me ALL the time that they wish they had acted sooner, hadn’t listened to a professional or even a family member.
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Anyone who tells you it is too early to tell if your child has a reading or writing issue, isn’t informed enough to be consulting with you about your child’s learning or education.
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Early intervention is the best way to get on top of reading issues and to avoid the decline in self-esteem and disinterest in school and learning.
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The wait-and-see approach almost always backfires. Kids don’t grow out of these issues.
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They often worsen or they develop coping mechanisms that don’t serve them as they progress into high school.
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Now that being said - there is no need to stress if your child is past grade 1.
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I also see a lot of people thinking it’s too late and doing nothing.
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Does it take a grade 4 longer to catch up than a grade 1 child? Of course.
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But the brain is plastic at all ages.
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I have helped 17-year-olds read fluently within 1-2 years.
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The way to catch up is NOT to rely solely on practice and tutoring.
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Educational Therapy that addresses weak connections through sensory-motor exercises, neural retraining and cognitive therapies is critical to address the underlying factors that have caused your child to stay stuck while their peers are speeding ahead.
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Educational therapy coupled with neuro-technologies helps to accelerate connectivity in the brain and results in faster, more efficient results.
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If you’re looking for an integrative approach to help your child overcome rather than manage their learning issues - comment OVERCOME to get a DM link to book a free Clarity Call to learn more about our services.

Want to help your child improve the following?
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👉 Reading
👉 Handwriting
👉 Eye-tracking
👉 Eye stability
👉 Getting ideas on paper
👉 Coordination
👉 Speech
👉 Balance
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Then have your child do:
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👉 Rock Climbing
👉 Climbing Walls
👉 Army or Ninja Crawl
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These movements help to activate the left and right side of the brain and body which is exactly what the ATNR is all about.
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Climbing and army type crawling movements helps to strengthen the muscles involved with this reflex.
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The motion of the arms and legs working in a coordinated effort and working in sync further assists with optimizing timing in the brain.
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These movements engage the left and right side of the body and brain both homolaterally and cross-laterally - another component of the ATNR and hemispheric integration.
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While retained reflexes usually require targeted and strategic exercises on a consistent basis for proper integration (and even better when combined with neuro-technologies) - getting your child to do more climbing and creeping this summer will assist with the integration of this reflex as well as overall development.
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Book a Clarity Call to learn more about our programs. Comment LEARN for a DM link.

This reflex is what I call the, 'I thought they were lazy' reflex.

These are the kids who are constantly accused of being lazy, sloppy and inactive.

They often have poor posture, slouch at their desk or hold their head up with their hand.

When they are told to sit up straight, they lose focus because now their energy is being devoted to the task of focusing on sitting up straight and sitting still so their cortex is no longer free to focus on mental tasks.

School can be a tough place for these kids because if the TLR is retained enough, ​ both sports and academics can be hard and it can feel like they just aren't good at anything.

Their teachers think they are just lazy and they don't know why everything is so hard and awkward.

So how does this reflex affect reading, learning and so much more?

The TLR is all about balance and head movement that comes from the neck.

The TLR has two planes - front and back (where the ATNR divides the body right to left down the midline and the STNR divides the body top to bottom at the waist).

When the TLR is retained it will cause the vestibular system to become overactive. This will in turn impact the other sensory systems.

In order for your child to have good balance their vestibular system must respond correctly to head movement.

… and for good balance, the vestibular system also has to work seamlessly with proprioception.

When the TLR is retained, then various head movements affect the muscle tone in the neck and throws off the vestibular system.

This impacts skills that are essential for academic tasks.

Eye tracking, teaming, hand-eye coordination, sequencing and timing are so important for good reading and writing.

When retained, it can also impact auditory processing because it impacts integration of the vestibular and proprioceptive areas of the body.
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Suspect your child has a retained TLR? Book an Advanced Brain Screening to get a full functional assessment of the weak and underdeveloped areas of the brain as well as the role that nutrition, toxicity and gut health may be playing.
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Comment TLR below to get a direct DM link.

The STNR reflex works in response to the position of the head. If the head is tilted back for example then then muscles in the arms, elbows, hips and knees may tense up.

Think of it like this. When this reflex is active - the three sections of the body from top down: neck, arms and legs are tied together.

Movement in one area of the body results in subtle but involuntary movements of other areas of the body.

All movements that the child makes must involve conscious control from the cortex - therefore making it difficult for the cortex to free to do other academic and higher order processes.

The STNR is known as the crawling reflex and if you didn't get the memo - crawling is critical to proper brain development.

Where the ATNR divides the body down the midline or 'in half' the SNTR works the opposite way and divides the body from top to bottom at the waist. However, when these two processes don't work together, the child also does not have good top to bottom processing in their brain.

These are the kids that often write their letters bottom up instead of top down.

It should therefore come as no surprise that around 70% of children with learning difficulties have a retained STNR. This impacts everything from reading fluently to spelling.

Some kids are okay with spelling if they can do it orally but the minute they have to engage their sensory-motor system and use their cortex for literacy skills - the STNR and other reflexes cause breakdown in the process.

Because reading and writing is such an exhausting process, these kids will start an assignment but won't finish it because they simply can’t. Half way through their brain is 'spent'.

Does your child have signs of a retained STNR reflex?

Book a virtual or in-person Advanced Brain Screening today to find out what underlying factors are impacting your child. Comment STNR to get a DM link.

Miranda’s son had been struggling with reading, writing and chronic, unexplained illness for 4 years.
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He was so exhausted he would come home from school and sleep for hours. He could hardly keep his head up in class.
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He was uninterested in just about everything and to make matters worse - he’d been struggling with dyslexia since he was in grade 1.
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Now 12-years-old, he is an energetic boy full of vitality and enthusiasm.
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What did we do? Instead of driving ourselves crazy with more testing - which Miranda had done for years - we focused on the foundations.
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We nourished his body with much needed minerals, healed his gut with herbs and beneficial bacteria and used GENTLE detoxes.
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Within weeks of doing the detoxes, his energy came back, his focus improved and even his reading was showing improvement.
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Once we added in brain work and neuro-technologies to address the weak areas that were causing reading breakdown - Miranda’s son was finally able to make progress with reading and writing.
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He’d increased 11 reading levels after years of being stuck at the same reading level.
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That’s the power of an integrative approach and it’s exactly what we do in our program the Full Potential Academy.
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Book a Clarity Call to learn more about enrollment. Comment LEARN to get a DM link.

90% of kids with reading difficulties have a retained ATNR reflex.

A 2005 study found the ATNR was linked to much higher challenges with reading, spelling and math.
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Kids with a retained ATNR had a 13% difference in their reading scores. (Jordan-Black)

One of the main areas that are affected by the ATNR is eye control.

Connected to that is the vestibular system. A strong vestibular system is essential for smooth eye-tracking.

If the ATNR is retained the vestibular system is often poorly developed as well which results in eye strain, difficulty tracking and poor comprehension and overall reading exhaustion.

This reflex also impacts attention - 80% of children with ADHD have a retained ATNR reflex which is not surprising given that children with ADHD can be fluent decoders but struggle with reading comprehension due to poor focus.

Another 2004 study by McPhillips and Sheehy in which there were 3 reading groups found a direct correlation between the lowest reading group having a significantly higher level of a retained ATNR reflex.

The study also uncovered a significant difference in motor ability between the lowest reading group and the highest level reading group.

A 2007 study by McPhillips and Black confirmed a retained ATNR was linked to lower core literacy skills in children.

These studies along with the 2019 study by Dr. Robert Melillo demonstrates the role of the sensory-motor system and its direct connection to reading and writing challenges.

When the brain has not chosen a dominant side (ie. Might use right hand to write but left foot to kick) and when there are eye tracking and motor issues, it's no wonder that kids have a hard time reading, writing and learning.

The good news is that reflexes can be integrated with the right exercises being layered in with eye exercises, vision therapy and neuro-technologies.

Find out if your child has retained reflexes and other areas of weakness in the brain by booking a virtual or in-person Advanced Brain Screening.
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Comment REFLEX for a DM link.

The common thread here is that moms are being told their situation is permanent or hopeless.
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I promise that it’s not.
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We are far more powerful and our body has a much greater capacity to heal than we’ve ever been led to believe.
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Brains can create new connections and form mature neurons right into our 80’s.
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Genetics load the gun but the environment pulls the trigger.
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… and we can alter gene expressions with so many different therapies.
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Suffering and struggling does not have to be your child’s fate.
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Don’t let the naysayers limit you or your child.
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Seek out practitioners who truly understand the body’s unlimited ability to heal.
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Learn more about our program, The Full Potential Academy, where we use an integrative approach to help kids overcome learning and behaviour issues.
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Comment POTENTIAL to get a DM link to book a free Clarity Call.

If you want your child to be calmer, have better focus, and improve learning, development, health, and detoxification, stimulating the vagus nerve is key.
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Too often, I see people jumping into intense brain work, heavy detox, and parasite protocols while their child’s body is stuck in fight or flight.
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This nerve is crucial for mood regulation and helping your child return to calm after stress. It regulates rest and repair (the opposite of fight or flight). If it doesn’t function properly due to chronic stress, toxicity, or illness, it can lead to dysregulation, affecting learning, memory, focus, anxiety, emotional regulation, and sleep.
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When the vagus nerve isn't working well, it can impair immunity, digestion, and detoxification. Stimulating this nerve is essential.
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Increasing vagal tone can help kids exit fight-or-flight mode, feel more focused and calm, and be healthier.
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The vagus nerve impacts:
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👉🏻Digestion
👉🏻Immunity
👉🏻Detoxification
👉🏻Speech
👉🏻Immune response
👉🏻Taste
👉🏻Heart rate
👉🏻Breathing
… and much more
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If kids can’t relax, their bodies get stuck in fight or flight, leading to ADHD behaviors, aggression, anxiety, poor focus, and compromised learning.
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To increase vagal tone, have your child try these daily exercises:
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👉🏻Singing
👉🏻Laughing
👉🏻Gargling
👉🏻Humming or vibration sounds
👉🏻Deep breathing
👉🏻Cold water exposure with hose, sprinklers, and showers
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When kids stay stuck in learning and health issues or keep regressing, it's often because they lack a solid foundation. Starting with the basics and working from the bottom up is essential.
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I now offer a Foundational Protocol that includes basic nervous system exercises, HTMA (Hair Mineral Analysis Testing), and other tools and practices to regulate the nervous system. This ensures kids have strong, resilient systems, making them receptive to interventions like detoxes, brain work, cognitive and learning therapies, and more.
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Book your 1:1 session today. Comment FOUNDATION to get a DM link.

Hypermobility makes it hard for reflexes to integrate and makes it more likely that integrated reflexes won’t ‘stick’ until this is addressed.
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This is why the first pillar of our program is addressing the biology of learning and behaviour via nutrition, targeted supplements and gut healing to ensure these toxins and pathogens are not constantly setting back your child’s successes.
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Other factors that can cause reflexes to not fully integrate AKA ‘come back’ are concussions or trauma.
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Reflexes are a protective mechanism so even individuals who have all their reflexes integrated can get into a car accident or have a head injury and then present with retained reflexes.
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Fun Fact: Primitive reflexes were actually discovered when two doctors were working with middle-aged men who had serious head injuries and realised some of their movements post-injury were the same reflexes that babies made.
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In recent years since C 0 V*d, I have seen more kids who needed further reflex work since this illness can cause an inflammatory response that impacts the nervous system and therefore reflexes.

Integrating reflexes requires consistent daily commitment AND often requires addressing the toxins and pathogens that could be at play as well.
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Uncover what factors could be at play with your child by scheduling a virtual or in-person Advanced Brain Screening.
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Comment UNCOVER to get a direct DM link.

Sometimes retained reflexes are obvious, sometimes they're not.
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It's important to have your child screened by someone skilled in reflex assessment because not everyone doing it is well-trained. Some of these well-intentioned individuals even have university degrees. So education's not a guarantee of proper training (but to be clear many are excellent and have a degree)
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Reflex retention's not always screaming at us like the pictures above
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Mildly retained reflexes can be subtle and easy to miss
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There are 2 factors with reflex retention that many people aren’t aware of
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#1 The more severe the issues in the child the more reflexes that are retained
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So a child with mild issues might only have a few reflexes that are retained
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#2 The more severe the challenges the more severely those reflexes are retained
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What this means is that reflex retention works on a spectrum
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They can be mild, moderate, or severely retained
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Mild and moderate retention can be tricky to detect if you’re not properly trained in various assessment methods
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It’s easy to notice a retained TLR if a child has obvious gait and posture issues, poor balance & posture, and all the academic issues that go with it
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But what about the child whose issues are mild?
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The child whose parents and teachers think, “he just needs to apply himself more.”
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Or, “She just needs more practice. She’s a weak reader - that’s all.”
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The kids I screened at 12 and 15 yrs old are now drowning in schoolwork because they never did catch up no matter how hard they tried.
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They often have stealth dyslexia and sure enough they have mildly retained reflexes (among other weak connections)
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This is why assessing reflexes with multiple methods is key to getting definitive answers because sometimes the obvious doesn’t apply to your child
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Just like the kid who slips through the cracks because it’s not an obvious reading disorder it’s also easy to miss mildly retained reflexes
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The Advanced Brain Screening not only does 1:1 virtual or in-person assessments for retained reflexes but it also screens for all the other brain levels as well as nutrition and gut health
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Book yours today by commenting SCREEN and we’ll send you a DM link.

For years, Kyle was in tutoring and home-reading programs - and he made progress at a snail’s pace.
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By the time he was 11 - he was convinced he was dumb and there was nothing anyone could do about it.
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That’s what happens when kids spend years on the wrong interventions or wrong action at the wrong time.
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They think they are broken and it really starts to impact their self-esteem.
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… and then they don’t even want to try. They start to shut down.
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But when I explained to Kyle and his mom that the whole problem was they were working too high up on the learning pyramid before addressing the weak connections - which are the foundation - everything started to make sense.
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Kyle had numerous retained reflexes, a severely underdeveloped left brain and had issues with neural timing.
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No wonder reading was hard and tutoring was getting him nowhere!
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All of this impacts sequencing, eye tracking, ability to blend sounds and working memory.
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Once we worked on these connections, Kyle saw results in 6 weeks and by the end of the program, he was breezing through reading levels that once seemed impossible to reach.
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Learn more about our program the Full Potential Academy by commenting POTENTIAL and we’ll send you a DM link to book a free Clarity Call.

Integrating these reflexes with the correct exercises and sequence for your child is key.
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There are additional reflexes that can also impact reading and writing which is why it is important for your child to be properly assessed.
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AND it is important to remember reflex integration is critical to overcoming learning difficulties BUT -
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Reflexes are only a piece of the puzzle when it comes to brainwork.
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Reflexes are the foundation BUT it’s not where we stop with brain work.
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Book a virtual or in-person Advanced Brain Screening to have your child assessed for retained reflexes as well as other weak areas that are causing them to stay stuck with reading and writing challenges.
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Comment REFLEX for a direct DM link.

The first step after addressing nutrition, toxicity and gut health is integrating these reflexes.

The most common ones I see with reading and writing issues are the ATNR, STNR, TLR and Palmer.

That being said there are numerous reflexes that can cause problems which is why knowing which reflexes to test for and determining what other factors are at play is key to an effective intervention.

This is exactly what I do with the Advanced Brain Screening. This comprehensive assessment, screens for reflexes, brain hemisphere imbalance and various other areas that can cause breakdown with reading and writing.
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Book your virtual or in-person session today.
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Comment SCREEN for a DM link.

When a child can read but is exhausted afterwards or can't remember the details of the text, this is a red flag they are reading laboriously or what I call 'reading on manual'.

But what does that really mean?

It means weak connections or gaps in brain development are preventing them from being able to read fluently and easily.
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Their brain (or more specifically their cortex) has to make up for those gaps and weaknesses.

So the cortex works extra hard to fill those gaps by really devoting all of its energy to the task of decoding.

BUT that means the cortex is not free to retain or understand what it has read.

The task of decoding is therefore extremely exhausting and this means your child is tired after they read - maybe even irritable.

… and they likely have a hard time remembering what they just read.

That's why no amount of practice, reading strategies or graphic organizers are going to improve your child's reading fluency or comprehension.

Strengthening those weak areas and filling in the gaps will.

… and that starts with interventions like primitive reflex integration which is the foundation of brain development - but not where we stop.

Does your child get tired after they read or have a hard time remembering what they read?
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Book an Advanced Brain Screening to go beyond diagnoses and identify the weak areas of the brain that need strengthening.
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Comment SCREEN for a DM link.

New Mindset Therapy & Yoga Providing exceptional therapeutic services focused on healing and growth

There is a whole world beyond IEPs and tutoring.

So if you're feeling stuck with your only options being trying to find a better tutor or reading program - you are far from stuck.

In fact, you are stuck.

But only because you're working at the top of the learning pyramid and looking up.

… and there is nowhere else to climb when you're working too high up on the learning pyramid.

That's where you finish NOT where you start.

You need work from the bottom up.

This was my biggest AHA moment when I was exiting teaching and training as an Educational Therapist.

Learning challenges don't have to be permanent.

Kids can overcome difficulties with reading and writing but they need a whole body, whole brain approach.

That means building the brain from the bottom up and layering in therapies in the same way that the brain develops.

When you start with things like tutoring you've skipped all the underlying weak connections that tutoring and reading programs can’t address.

Those weak connections and cognitive skills requires neuro-exercises not more practice, strategies and reading programs.

You need to work your way up the learning pyramid.

So you see it's not that you’re stuck, out of options or there's no hope.

It's that you need to ditch traditional, archaic approaches that keep kids stuck for years.

The Full Potential Academy starts at the bottom of the learning pyramid and works its way up from the bottom.

We are now accepting applications for enrollment.
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Book a free Clarity Call to find out if our program is the right fit for your child.
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Comment ENROL to get a DM link.

Excited that homework battles are over for another year?

… now you've got the whole summer and hours of time to work on improving reading. 😏
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So you're thinking at least your child won't give you such a hard time with some extra practice if it's only 30-60 minutes out of their day.

You have all these plans to get your child up to speed for the new school year.

Phonics, reading programs, drills, fun books, a new tutor - the possibilities are endless.

But before you jump on the all-we-need-is-a-new-strategy bandwagon - know this.

When kids are struggling - they have underdeveloped lower brain levels and weak connections in areas of their brain where those important cognitive skills take place.

… and phonics, drills and extra-practice aren't going to change that.

It's this approach that can actually lead kids to shut down because no matter how hard they try - they're making progress at a snail's pace.

What these kiddos really need is to build efficient connections in the areas of their brain that need strengthening so they can bypass the months and years of extra-practice that will ultimately leave them still treading water.

You see your child might have a hard time blending sounds but it's not for lack of practice.

It's because their brain either lacks the pathway or has a weak pathway that requires targeted stimulation and consistent neuro-exercises.

If your child has letter reversals, practice won't address that.
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Poor handwriting? I’ve bet they have practised plenty.
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None of these problems start where they are appearing.
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These challenges are actually symptoms of weak and underdeveloped connections in the lower brain levels.
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Which is why your child needs sensory-motor exercises and then vision exercises.

That's exactly what we do in The Full Potential Academy.
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We bypass extra practice by addressing the ROOT of reading and writing issues.

Go beyond IEPs and endless tutoring and find out what’s causing the breakdown with your child by booking a virtual or in-person Advanced Brain Screening.
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Comment SCREEN for a DM link.

Dyslexia is synonymous with reading difficulties BUT there are lots of reasons kids struggle with reading that have nothing to do with phonological awareness ( segmenting, isolating and blending sounds).

#1 Weak Right Brain - If a child has a weak right brain, they might have a strong auditory cortex and can blend sounds with no issues but because the visual cortex is on the right side of the brain - they might have a hard time visualizing the information they are reading.

This will create reading comprehension issues because we need to be able to visualize to sequence a story and remember facts or events.

#2 Memory - If a child has poor working or short-term memory, they might also have a hard time remembering information, facts or the story they are reading.
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Kids can have memory deficits for various reasons like weak connections, nutritional deficiencies or toxicity.

#3 Visual Processing - Kids can have visual processing issues for 2 reasons.
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They might have poor eye tracking, eye teaming and saccadic eye movements because of retained reflexes.

OR

They might have poor visual processing because their visual cortex which is on the right side of the brain is not well developed.

Either of these two situations can cause a child to experience letter reversals, words moving or cause them to easily lose their place or skip over letters or words.

#4 Focus - Some kids have no issues with blending sounds or visual processing issues but they can’t remember what they just read because they have such poor focus.

It's also possible - and common - for a child to have more than one of the above challenges.
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This is why an integrative approach is so important.

Does your child have any of these reading issues? Comment below.
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… and book a virtual or in-person Advanced Brain Screening to go beyond a diagnosis and start identifying what’s causing the breakdown for your child.
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Comment SCREEN for a DM link.

Reading and writing challenges are complex.

And the reason your child is struggling vs another child may be different.

But one thing I know from experience is it almost always requires addressing multiple layers.

It's never just reflexes or just auditory processing issues or just toxicity or nutritional deficiencies.

It's almost always multiple factors and layers that need to be addressed.

And that's why every approach sounds good because they all have a piece of the puzzle.

But if you start chasing puzzle pieces - you're liable to miss something or do the wrong action at the wrong time.

What you need is an INTEGRATIVE approach. One that doesn't leave out critical steps or therapies.

That's why in the Full Potential Academy, we address the various areas of breakdown when it comes to reading, learning and writing.

We look at:

#1 The Biology of Learning: Nutrition, toxicity, gut health, deficiencies etc.

AND

#2 The Neurology of Learning: Reflexes that create brain blocks, poor timing in the brain, brain hemisphere imbalance, cognitive skill development and we layer in cognitive therapies.

We take the complex layers that contribute to learning breakdown and layer in the right therapy at the right time according to how the brain develops and what it needs first before going onto the next step.

We are now taking applications for our 6 & 9 month programs. Book a free Clarity Call to learn more. Comment INTEGRATE to get a DM link.

The key to addressing spring and fall allergies is to stabilize the cells that release histamine.⁣
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Diet can certainly help with addressing the root cause of excess histamine and creating better behaviour all year but going the extra step to stabilizing the mast cells during allergy season to prevent excess histamine release is often necessary.⁣
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Certain supplements can help to do this and they can be life saver while you are trying to tackle histamine levels.⁣
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My favourite supplements to stabilize mast cells are quercetin, DAO, nettle and L-theanine. ⁣
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These supplements are also great because they help to curb the problem if it’s connected to a genetic predisposition like low production of DAO. ⁣
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Other favourite supplements that break down histamine, reduce inflammation and detoxify are curcumin from turmeric, holy basil, green tea extract, digestive enzymes and 1000mg of vitamin C a day.⁣
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To learn more about our 6 and 9-month programs book a free Clarity Call. Comment CLARITY to get a DM link.

worsening in behaviour and emotional regulation are:⁣
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1) Undiagnosed Food Sensitivities & Allergies - This can drive up histamine levels. Add in spring allergens and your child's histamine issues go through the roof. In my 6 month program the Full Potential Formula, one of the ways we address this is with an elimination diet. ⁣
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Try this to see how your child responds after you start slowly adding certain foods back into their diet.⁣
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2) Address Mold Toxicity - This can be one of the biggest reasons why a child has ongoing histamine issues in the spring (as well as learning or behaviour issues) that you just can't seem to kick the curb no matter what you do! ⁣
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If nothing else is working, investigate if your child has mold toxicity. This can happen in brand new homes, old homes and is more common than you think in schools. Mold is insidious and will not affect all family members the same. ⁣
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To learn more about our 6 and 9-month programs book a free Clarity Call. Comment CLARITY to get a DM link.