Learning Disabilities

Have you ever noticed that if you look at a problem in a completely different way, your understanding of the problem broadens and your eyes are opened, so to speak? And, along those same lines, if you ask different questions, innovative solutions begin to present themselves.

Consider these recent findings about brain development and children with learning disabilities:

• Of 4000 learning disabled kids, 94.1% of them had balance and co-ordination dysfunction.
• Many researchers have noted that children with learning disabilities also have poor muscle tone, poor balance, bad posture, clumsiness and are uncoordinated.

Also consider that before higher brain centers can develop, the lesser supportive structures (primarily the cerebellum and thalamus) must develop. In children with learning disabilities, specific parts of the brain, typically the prefrontal cortex, basal ganglia, thalamus and cerebellum, are smaller than normal.

All of this suggests that:

• Balance, coordination and posture are linked to your ability to learn and think.
• All of the varied learning disabilities are not separate conditions but the same problem just at a different point on the continuum.

Realizing this then, begs the question of what would happen if we approached helping these children in a completely different way. That is, what effect would improving posture, balance and coordination have on learning?

It is being done and early results are promising.

Dr. Ryan Lees, 214 Main Street N.E., Airdrie, Alberta | (403) 948-4440