Adam is an 8 year-old boy who has had trouble with impulsivity and stealing.  He has also struggled to focus on challenging tasks and he has had trouble regulating his emotions. 

From this [Brain and Sensory Foundations] course, I decided to focus mainly on the rhythmic movements to help engage and stimulate his brain to develop more maturity in the brainstem and cerebellum.  With the brain more mature, I was hoping to help him feel more grounded, regulated and able to focus.  

When I first tried doing the rhythmic movements with him, he would not allow me to do them.  He would squirm and flop around every time we started. I decided to start out doing movements with him while he was sleeping.  After a few months of this, we moved back to doing it before bedtime and he is handling it much better. We have now been doing the movements consistently for about 6 months.  We have also been doing lots of floor games and original play. I did this to help support his brain development as well as his physical and emotional growth.  

After six months of this work, Adam has not stolen anything in the several months.  He is better able to control his impulses and his emotional state is much more regulated. He is using his words more to state how he is feeling or what he needs. He still struggles some with focus but that too is better than is was. It has been a challenge for him learning to read but he has had more success with this in the past few months and I think this work with the rhythmic movements has had a big part in that growth.  

I have learned the importance of listening to the needs of Adam as I am doing the exercises with him.  Beyond switching to doing the movements at night for a period of time, Adam would tell us when he wanted to do movements faster or slower. Adam and I could tell a difference in the nights I did the rocking with full heart connection compared to nights I was tired and just wanted to be done.  Also, on days he wasn’t able to handle doing the movements, I would do them next to him and this seemed to be soothing and beneficial for him as well. Adam loves the original play and asks for it often. 

This has been a nice way for us to connect in a different way physically that feels good to both of us.  Before he would often tackle, pull or grab me but now he often approaches me with a softer touch.  I plan to continue for now with the rhythmic movements and I will add in some more specific work on reflexes to further support his development and ability to focus. 

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