Why The Learning Gym Works

- excerpted from Carla Hannaford's book,
"Smart Moves, Why Learning is Not All in Your Head"

Learning, thought, creativity and intelligence are not processes of the brain alone, but the whole body. Our body senses feed the brain environmental information, in this fashion, movement initiates and supports mental processes. Physical movement plays an important role in the creation of nerve cell networks which creates the pathways for learning, movement actually activates the neural wiring throughout the body.

The Vestibular System The Balance System

The vestibular system is the first sensory system to develop, by two months the vestibular system of an embryo is visible, by five months it is fully developed. All learning in the first fifteen months of life is centered around the vestibular system development.

The vestibular system controls the sense of movement, balance, and coordination of vision, it sends signals to the neural structures that control our eye and body movements to keep us upright. The vestibular system's receptors are located in the inner ear and are responsible for maintaining the responses of equilibrium and balance. Messages of movement are sent from the inner ear to the brain which then reacts and sends messages to your muscles to counterbalance these movements and keep you balanced. This is an instantaneous process so that your body maintains balance and equilibrium without you having to think about it. The vestibular system functions like a traffic cop, telling each sensation where and when it should go or stop.

Vision is an important component of the vestibular system. About twenty percent of visual neurons respond to vestibular stimulation (e.g. when spinning, head shaking, or rocking). Adults who have suffered damage to the vestibular organs of the inner ear can learn to depend on visual information to maintain their balance. However, If that visual information is removed or distorted (e.g. in the dark), the individual will feel as if they are drifting or falling.

The Auditory System is also highly involved in vestibular functions. The vestibular and auditory nerves join in the auditory canal and become the eighth cranial nerve of the brain. Anything that disrupts auditory information can also affect vestibular functioning. Blocked eustachian tubes in the inner ear, for example, create mild balance problems.

Disturbances in the vestibular system cause major learning difficulties. 94% of children with dyslexia and learning disabilities showed trauma to the cerebral/vestibular system in the form of ear infections, allergies, etc. When children move, damaged tissue in the vestibular system can be reproduced as new nerve nets develop. Consistent, frequent activation of the motor cortex through Brain Gym movements helps to strengthen the signal pathways. Some children may be hypersensitive to vestibular stimulation and have fearful reactions to ordinary movement activities (e.g., swings, slides, ramps, inclines). They may also have trouble learning to climb or descend stairs or hills; and they may be apprehensive walking or crawling on uneven or unstable surfaces. As a result, they seem fearful in space. In general, these children appear clumsy. On the other extreme, the child may actively seek very intense sensory experiences such as excessive body whirling, jumping, and/or spinning. This type of child demonstrates signs of a hypo-reactive vestibular system; that is, they are trying continuously to stimulate their vestibular systems.

Proprioception - The Equilibrium Sense

Proprioception is the body's sense of itself in space. Every muscle has a proprioceptive receptor to sense the degree of stretch in the muscle. These receptors constantly let us know about our physical position and provide feedback necessary for us to move and maintain our balance without falling down. Proprioceptors are located in the inner ear.

The Proprioceptive system is intrinsically tied to the vestibular system. There is constant feedback from the proprioceptors to the motor cortex of the brain which is constantly expanding from new experiences and movements. Proprioception is unconscious initially, but can be enhanced with training, this is why babies can go from crawling to sitting up to standing up and finally walking. The proprioceptive system is constantly aligning every part of the body. Proprioception gives the feedback necessary to maintain optimal muscle contraction and relaxation for balance in our environment.

This is why in certain sports, say martial arts or yoga, they mention, being strong "in your center," these are your core muscles that provide balance. When stress interferes with this system, then we become "uncentered" and lose our balance. Growth spurts for example affect this system and many kids have awkward balance during this phase. Successful movement requires balance, which depends on a sophisticated proprioceptive system constantly aligning every part of the body. Standing on a wobble board or balance board is often used to retrain or increase proprioception abilities. Our ability to stand on one leg with our eyes closed is the power of proprioception. Some common signs of proprioceptive dysfunction are clumsiness, a tendency to fall, a lack of awareness of body position in space, odd body posturing, minimal crawling when young, difficulty manipulating small objects (buttons, snaps), eating in a sloppy manner, and resistance to new motor movement activities.

Sensory Integration

Sensory integration is the ability to take in information through the senses of touch, movement, smell, taste, vision, and hearing, and to combine the resulting perceptions with prior information, memories, and knowledge already stored in the brain, in order to derive coherent meaning from processing the stimuli. In contrast, sensory integrative dysfunction is a disorder in which sensory input is not integrated or organized appropriately in the brain and may produce varying degrees of problems in development, information processing, and behavior. Sensory integration focuses primarily on three basic senses--tactile, vestibular, and proprioceptive.

The tactile system includes nerves under the skin's surface that send information to the brain. This information includes light touch, pain, temperature, and pressure. Dysfunction in the tactile system can be seen in withdrawing when being touched, refusing to eat certain 'textured' foods and/or to wear certain types of clothing, complaining about having one's hair or face washed, avoiding getting one's hands dirty (i.e., glue, sand, mud, finger-paint), and using one's finger tips rather than whole hands to manipulate objects. A dysfunctional tactile system may lead to a misperception of touch and/or pain (hyper- or hyposensitive) and may lead to self-imposed isolation, general irritability, distractibility, and hyperactivity.

Dysfunction within these three systems manifests itself in many ways. A child may be over- or under-responsive to sensory input; activity level may be either unusually high or unusually low; a child may be in constant motion or fatigue easily. In addition, some children may fluctuate between these extremes. Gross and/or fine motor coordination problems are also common when these three systems are dysfunctional and may result in speech/language delays and in academic under-achievement. Behaviorally, the child may become impulsive, easily distractible, and show a general lack of planning. Some children may also have difficulty adjusting to new situations and may react with frustration, aggression, or withdrawal. Independent studies show that a sensory integrative dysfunction can be found in up to 70% of children who are considered learning disabled by schools.

Sensory integration provides a crucial foundation for later, more complex learning and behavior. Experiences and sensations are learning. As Einstein says, "Learning is experience. Everything else is just information." Words are understood when they provoke some kind of image in the mind of the learner. Words help us to organize our thoughts about the sensations we have experienced. Most lectures are spent just speaking, but if there are visual representations or field trips, the mind will process this information in a more complex manner. Learning first comes in through our senses. As we experience the world around us, sensory patterns are laid down through elaborate nerve networks. These patterns become the core of our information system; they give us context for all learning, thought and creativity. When you read the words on a page, you integrate them with specific remembered images, sounds, and movements in your life.

More than 90% of vision takes place in the brain from association between touch and proprioception. Vision itself only nominally occurs in the eyes. About 20% of messages from the eyes go to the areas of the brain concerned with balance mechanisms. As babies touch their environment they learn dimension, texture, line and even color. Touch is very important to vision, just as a child when seeing something for the first time reaches out to touch it. Touch is a major contributor to a full understanding of vision and thus helps to understand our balance in space. Whenever touch is combined with other senses, much more of the brain is activated, thus building more complex networks and tapping into more learning potential.

The Brain's Two Hemispheres

All feelings, sensations and emotions stem from certain parts of our brain. The largest structure of the human brain is the cerebrum and the entire brain is split into two halves connected by what is called the corpus callosum. Each side of the body communicates with the opposite hemisphere. Information coming into the left ear goes to the right side of the brain and the right hand let's say is controlled by the left side of the brain. All sensory-motor functions on the right side of the body are controlled by the left hemisphere and vice versa. Each side of the brain processes information in a different way.

The left side of the brain deals with details, the parts and processes of language and linear patterns. The right side of the brain deals whole images, rhythm, emotion and intuition. The corpus callosum acts as a super highway between the two hemispheres, transporting information back and forth at a speed of 4 billion messages per second. This integration of both sides of the brain, leads to full operational thinking. It has been shown that some people with ADHD have a smaller portion of the corpus callosum than those without ADHD.

Although there are two sides of our brain that processes differently, it is necessary to use both hemispheres at the same time for maximum proficiency. Cross lateral movements, like a baby's crawling, activates both hemispheres in a balanced way. These activities work both sides of the body evenly and involved coordinated movements of both eyes, both ears, both hand and both feet as well as balanced core muscles. When everything is being used equally, the corpus callosum becomes more fully developed. Because both hemispheres are being activated, cognitive function is heightened and ease of learning increases. This is why in The Learning Gym, cross crawls, hand to heels and other exercises help to increase cognitive functioning.

Why is Movement Necessary?

Movement is essential to learning. Movement awakens and activates many of our mental capacities and anchors new information and experiences into our neural networks. Movement in the womb gives us our first sense of the world and beginning knowledge and experience of the laws of gravity. We continue to build upon this basis through childhood. Every movement is a sensory motor event, and movement reinforces our learning capacity - to truly store something mentally, some type of movement activity is required - either speaking out loud, writing or other physical action such as gesticulation. By putting it into 'muscular memory' it is more likely to be remembered than something simply thought about and not 'acted out'. Through movement, we can put thoughts and emotions into words and actions. Every time we move in an organized manner, full brain activation and integration occurs and the door to learning open naturally. Learning involves the building of skills, and skills of every manner are built through the movement of muscles.

To "pin down" a thought, there must be movement. Most people find that talking anchors their thought. Talking is a sensory-motor skill, when we talk about what we've learned; the physical movements internalize and solidify it in nerve networks. Many people find that they think well when they are moving like, walking, pacing, swimming laps, chewing, etc. It is essential to the learning process to allow children to explore movement and balance in their environment to help them learn. It has been shown that students who spent an extra hour each day in gym class performed better on exams than less active children. Exercise stimulates growth in the brain.

Why the Learning Gym Works

The Learning gym activities contribute to minor adjustments necessary to enable the system to proceed with the learning process. The Learning Gym and Brain gym training facilitates sensory input, integration and assimilation and action by waking up the mind/body system, and bringing it to learning readiness. It activates full mind/body function through simple integrative movements which focus on specific aspects of the sensory activation and facilitate integration of function across the body midline. Movements that cross the body's midline use both sides of the brain and help to build full sensory access (auditory, visual, proprioceptive). Since these specific movements are activating nerve networks throughout the brain, they help build the hardware needed to assure success for life-long learning.

What Does This Have to Do with ADD?

Most people with ADD/ADHD have issues with hyperactivity, maintaining focus and attention, disruptive behavior, learning difficulties, poor communication skills, and unbalanced coordination. All of these behaviors fall within the realm of the frontal lobe functioning of the brain. The frontal lobe controls fine motor movement, inner speech, self control, and reasoning. It takes all the information from the rest of the brain and synthesizes it into thought and action. Most ADD/ADHD people have a smaller frontal lobe, which can lead to slower communication between the two hemispheres of the brain.

Also, damage to the vestibular system can create behavior of needing to move and inability to sit still. In order for these people to stay alert, they must wiggle and be constantly moving. Brain gym activities specifically stimulate and develop the vestibular system. Cross crawl for example, requires balance, thus activating the vestibular system. Brain gym, with its cross-lateral and balanced fine motor movements, activates large areas of the motor cortex and frontal lobes. Consistent, frequent activation of the motor cortex and frontal lobe though Brain Gym movements, affects the nerve-net elaboration into the rest of the brain.

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REFERENCES:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vestibular_system
http://www.braintraining.com/vestibular.htm
http://www.autism.org/si.html
http://home.iprimus.com.au/rboon/SensoryIntegration.htm

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