Occupational Therapy on Tuesdays: Life With My Kids

As I travel through life with my two yahoos, I am learning more and more about the human brain and what it can do, and unfortunately what it can't do.  We have 30 some odd innate reflexes that we are born with and if they are not resolved age appropriately, then it can cause problems in every facet of our lives.

The focus today is on the Moro Reflex, which is the body's response to fight or flight reflex in an infant.  This reflex develops between nine and twelve weeks of gestation and is normally integrated so that it disappears by the age of 4-5 months.  So....we know infants can't fight or move out of the way when their environment rapidly changes, so they tend to stiffen, return to the fetal position, and then cry as a call of help.  When the baby is startled, the body sends out hormones, cortisol, and adrenaline, breathing changes and becomes for rapid, but more shallow, and there is an increase in blood pressure and the heart rate.  So what happens if the Moro Reflex is not integrated?

Unresolved Moro Reflex may cause:

• Sleep disturbances, difficulty settling down to sleep
• Easily triggered, reacts in anger or emotional outburst
• Shyness
• Poor balance and coordination
• Poor stamina
• Motion sickness
• Poor digestion, tendency towards hypoglycemia
• Weak immune system, asthma, allergies and infections
• Hypersensitivity to light, movement, sound, touch & smell
• Vision/reading/writing difficulties
• Difficulty adapting to change
• Cycles of hyperactivity and extreme fatigue
• Easily distracted, difficulty filtering out extraneous stimuli
• Difficulty catching a ball
• Difficulty with visual perception
• Tires easily or is irritable under fluorescent lighting

How does it affect students in the classroom if it is not resolved?

These students will often show characteristics of ADHD because they are constantly being stimulated by the chemicals in the brain.  These are the students that, when bored, will find things to occupy their time by fumbling around in their desks.  These students are often immature, but creative and imaginative.  These students are constantly startled by the unexpected, hate loud sounds, and flashing lights.  They usually fatigue easily, causing them to fall behind in their work, may have messy work because they are always feeling rushed, and may have trouble making friends because they are disorganized, have trouble controlling their bodies, and may actually be more withdrawn than the typical student with ADHD (the consensus is that most with ADHD are ready to find the fun and join the party!). 

How does it affect adults if it is not resolved?

Adults that have retained the Moro Affect will often be stricken with anxiety, ego problems, struggle when taking criticism because it is taken very personally, have control issues, stay tired, and tense muscles which may result in back aches or migraines.

How can the Moro Reflex be resolved?

My daughter struggles with the Moro Reflex.  She is 11 years old, but many of her reflexes have not been integrated, so our Occupational Therapist recommended this exercise.  She is now working on the Starfish exercise.   I have to tell you, I have tried it (I suspect that my Moro Reflex is alive and well, too) and it is a very calming exercise.  This is only one of the exercises that can be used.  Contact an occupational therapist near you if you suspect that you have a child with unresolved reflexes.


And, on a lighter note I am trying to find some answers....

I recently bought some books to use with the Storia App....however, do not want to give out my Scholastic password to my students.  So, I have emailed Scholastic and asked for advice.  I'll let you know as soon as I find out!

Tummy Time for 10 Year Olds?

I don't speak about it very often, or in this case 'type' about it very often, but my family is sort of special.  I know that everyone thinks there family is special, but I know mine is.  My family is an actual gift from God.  My sister nor I were able to have biological children. I watched her and my bro-in-law struggle with this for years.  My husband and I tried lots of infertility methods and eventually I miscarried. We even had 2 different private adoptions lines up.  One mom miscarried with the baby and the other mom had the baby in secret 2 week before her due date, had decided to keep the baby, and didn't let us know until the baby was 3 weeks old.

But along the way we all found children that needed us and adopted 5 children between us. Out of these children, 5 were neglected, 1 was sexually abused, 2 were physically abused, 4 are bi-polar, 4 are diagnosed with ADHD, 5 are diagnosed with anxiety, 2 are diagnosed with PTSD, 2 are diagnosed as OCD, 1 is diagnosed with Aspergers, 1 is diagnosed with schizio-affective disorder, 1 is diagnosed with Reactive Attachment Disorder, 3 are language delayed, and at least 3 have delayed and under-developed motor skills. At least one at this time is experimenting with drugs and alcohol in favor of self-medicating instead of 'following the rules' of standard medication.   If you add all of that up it sounds like we have a troop of children instead of 5, so you can guess that all of our kids have multiple diagnoses.  All of our kids walk to the beat of their own drum and we parents are left to figure out which tempo we need to oversee.

As we learned more and more about their biological families, the care they received before we became their parents, the struggles they have had at school, and have watched them develop, we have turned to several different methods of therapy, begged schools for help, and have lost several nights of sleep and shed lots of tears.  There is not a night that goes by that I don't question my thoughts and actions as a mother, wondering if I did the best job I can do for that day.

Part of the therapy that we have turned to with my children is integrating the reflexes that they were born with that were never resolved.  I don't know much about the early months of their lives, but I often wonder if they were held too much or not enough.  I don't know how much 'tummy time' they got as infants and sometimes wonder if 'tummy time' would work for a 10 year old.  I do know that the more I read about the reflexes and  neurological development, the more I think there is so much more I don't have a clue about as a mother. I hope that made sense.

Our occupational therapist happens to be a good friend of mine.  We have puzzled over my kids, prayed about my kids, tried experimental ideas on my kids, and bless her, she is always going after new training to find the best therapy for my kids.  So, when she sent me this blog article to read, I wasn't sure whether to be glad there were some theories and maybe even some answers, or cry because as I read more, the lists got more complex and there was more to digest, and there seemed to be so much more work ahead of us.  The article that I referenced her is one that I will probably return to many times because there is just so much to try to understand.  If it were a book I imagine the spine would be worn and the pages would be dog-eared.

I hope that this article will help someone out there.  Night!  I apologize if there are errors in this post.  I am too tired to reread it and check it.  I'll leave that for some other time.




reference:  http://mysweetchaos.wordpress.com/2010/01/24/neurodevelopmental-reorganization/