Safe

I think most of us most likely take for granted that (generally) we feel safe. Right? I mean it was probably pretty obvious when the pandemic hit and suddenly we had reasons to not feel safe. 

Suddenly, we were thrown into a situation where even going to the grocery store could jeopardize our safety, or the safety of those close to us. This seemed especially apparent at the beginning of the pandemic, since the scientific community was still trying to even figure out how the virus spread, how long it lasted on surfaces and all that.

This post however, isn't about the pandemic. It's about safety.

In the post titled "The Baby Brain", I talked about the Triune Brain Theory that we use at Brain Fit Academy. Triune- the three parts of the brain that we refer to as the "baby brain", the "emotional brain", and the "thinking brain". In that post, I focused more on the role of the emotional brain. When thinking about safety, we're talking more about the "baby brain".

You see, the baby brain (brain stem) is in charge of our sense of safety. It has this continuous communication with the emotional brain (the limbic midbrain) to help us know whether we are safe, or whether we need to fight, flight or freeze.

It's like the baby brain and the emotional brain have a cool walkie-talkie system between them. 

BZZZ..."Hello? Baby brain? Are you there?"

BZZZ..."Yeah, I'm here. What's going on up there?" 

BZZZ..."I've got some incoming sensory input that I'm sending down to you. I don't don't know how to respond, so I need you to react. You ready?"

BZZZ..."Yup- all systems go. I'm ready to kick up those stress hormones, tighten up the back of the body, send the blood to the big muscles, and move the eyes to the periphery. Just send it on down!"

So imagine that for a minute. Incoming information comes into the brain, the emotional brain decides if it's safe or a threat and sends the information along- up to the thinking brain (neocortex) if it's deemed safe, and down to the baby brain (brain stem) if deemed a threat. 

That walkie-talkie system continuously on, continuously communicating. But what if the baby brain is getting too much action? Too much information being sent down there and the body is in a constant state of stress? A constant state of not feeling safe?  

Let's go back to the pandemic analogy for a minute. 

Think about the first time you went into the grocery store after the lockdown started. If you were anything like me, you were probably nervous about touching anything and wiped down the cart with multiple sanitizing wipes. You wore your mask and made sure that it fit well so that you weren't breathing in any one else's germs. As you walked around the store, your eyes darted around the aisles- making sure you were keeping the appropriate amount of distance from those around you and that you were following the "one-way" system of walking through the store.

Now imagine, that as you were in the middle of that trip, the store manager came on the loud speaker and said that there was a mandatory meeting for all shoppers and you needed to meet him by the milk section- it was time for the first lesson of the day- how to read the labels on milk bottles. 

Being the diligent shopper that you are, and not wanting to cause any trouble, you make your way over to the milk aisle- still on guard, alert and nervous about the virus. 

When you arrive to the gathering, the manager proceeds to give all the customers the lesson about reading labels. You're thinking- what is happening? Why is this person trying to teach me some (seemingly) unimportant thing when I'm just trying to make sure I survive this shopping trip?!?

Now, some of you may have guessed by now where I am going with this. 

And if not, let me tell you.

Replace "grocery store" with "classroom". And replace "you" with "a student".

Every day, kids in schools are expected to learn when their body is in a state of just trying to survive. It may be an actual, physical, survival feeling- such as that of extreme hunger. Or- it could be a perceived threat to the system due to what we call a "disorganized brain" caused by unintegrated primitive reflexes. It doesn't matter. In both instances, the brain and body feel the same. 

The physiological reactions are the same. 

The behavioral reactions are the same. 

Either way- do you think in that state the child is going to learn? I mean really learn? 

Would you? Would you learn how to read those labels on the milk bottles in the grocery store? Think about it- would you really?!?

I would like to say emphatically that the answer would be NO! You wouldn't learn in that state, and a child wouldn't learn in that state either.

So, all that being said, what do we do about this? How can we help kids feel safe so that they can learn? 

Well, one way is with movement. At Brain Fit Academy, we use movements that help calm the nervous system. We use movements that address the physiological responses to stress and bring the body back to a calmer state.

We can use movement activities to (literally) move from that survival mode to learning mode.

Because- honestly? Without moving out of survival mode, we aren't going to learn how to read milk bottle labels in the middle of a pandemic grocery store trip. And children aren't going to learn their math, or spelling or history in a classroom either.

Let's do our best to limit that walkie-talkie conversation between the emotional brain and the baby brain, and get it talking to the thinking brain instead.

BZZZ..."Hello? Thinking brain? I don't need the baby brain this time. I've got some sensory input I'm sending up to you. Here it comes. You ready?"

Routines

I remember when I was a classroom teacher and it was the beginning of a school year. I taught elementary school and had either 2nd, 4th, or 5th grades in front of me. No matter which of those grades I was teaching, building routines was a huge part of the first few weeks of school.

We had procedural routines such as where to hang backpacks and how to choose a lunch choice in the morning. We also had behavioral routines such as when it was a quiet work time versus a time that it was ok to talk while working. We also had routines centered around transitions and moving from one place to the next, such as from the rug space to desks or walking in the hallways.

All of these routines were very important in my classroom. I knew that and, like I said, always spent considerable time at the beginning of the school year teaching those routines. Routines made the classroom a better place to be and helped things to run smoothly.

But today- today I had an ah-ha moment. I was re-reading Pam Formosa's book "Fraid Not! Empowering Kids with Learning Differences". I read her book about a year ago, but I am taking part in a book discussion she is running tonight and I wanted to re-read it before the event. 

Anyway, Pam- as you may know by now from reading my blog, is the owner/director of Brain Fit Academy and has also been an amazing mentor to me in many, many ways. And today- when I was re-reading her book, something jumped right out at me.

In the book, she was talking about "The Learning Loop". The Learning Loop is the visual that we use at Brain Fit Academy to help kids understand how stress can affect learning, and how we can use movement (such as Brain Gym® activities) to get us back "into the loop". Here is the image for reference, but for more detailed information I invite you to read the blog post where I go into more detail.

As Pam was talking about the Learning Loop, she mentioned (rightly so) how in school, children often spend the bulk of their day in the "stop and think" side of the loop as they are continuously learning new information. But then- you know what she said? 

She wrote "This is one reason why routines are so important. Routines are already learned patterns of behavior, such as bedtime activities, or the sequence of tasks done when entering a classroom in the morning. It allows students to be in the "move and think," automatic side for awhile in order to re-energize".

I'll say that again- routines "allow students to be in the "move and think".....in order to re-energize".

BAM! Mic drop.

Allowing students- kids- anyone!! to be in "move and think". To have times, to have parts of their day that are familiar, done with ease, already learned and automatic.  

Routines! To RE-ENERGIZE!

Never, in all my 20+ years of teaching and 17+ years of being a mom- have I heard routines explained in this way. 

Did I know routines were important? Yes. Did I create them for my students (and for my own kids at home)? Yes. 

However, I never thought of routines as a way to re-energize the brain and body! It makes perfect sense though. And, it makes perfect sense as to why, when we don't have routines in place, things don't go as smoothly. Kids have a harder time going throughout their day and can more easily get "bopped out of the loop". Maybe it's in school, or maybe it's at home- but not having time to re-energize can mean that we have a harder time staying in the loop and feeling regulated in our emotions.

Thinking now, about the world-wide situation we're in- still in the middle of a pandemic when so many routines have basically gone out the window- no wonder so many of us find ourselves "out of the loop" so easily.

Yes, there's the stress response and that can push us out. But what about that lack of routines. Surely, that is also playing a part. I'm sure it is. Looking at it in this way- routines as a way to re-energize, I would say that it's a factor for sure.

So what should we do about this? Well, that's a tough one other than to say that we should do our best to keep as many routines going as possible right now. Both at home and at school. Think of that "why" of routines- to re-energize the brain and body.  

Kids need the routines. We need the routines. 

I know I would like to stay "in the loop" more.

I know I would like to have time to re-energize. 

What about you? Would you like that too?!?

Problem Solving

I was sitting on the sidelines of my Brain Gym® 104 class. We were on Zoom and the participants were working together to practice a few of the movements I had taught them. 

I was sitting off to the side (out of the frame of the camera) and observing- present in case they needed me, but giving the participants a chance to work together. As I watched and listened, I heard the discussions and conversations they were having among them. There were making connections to themselves and to the children that they work with. But they were also doing something else. 

They were problem solving. 

I had taught the group the movements and we had done them together, but as they were practicing them again, questions (naturally) came up and the group was working together and using problem solving strategies to figure it out. They were re-reading the directions, discussing, taking notes and physically moving through the movements again- working as a group to figure things out. It was a beautiful thing and I enjoyed watching it take place.

Did you know that we actually have a special area of the brain where much of our problem solving takes place? It's called the Prefrontal Cortex. 

At Brain Fit Academy, we like to refer to this part of the brain as the "Executive Brain". If you've read my other blog post about the "Baby Brain", then you should have some understanding of the parts of the brain. And if you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend reading that post first because it will give you more context for the information I'm about to give you.

Go ahead. I'll wait. This post will still be here when you get back.

The Executive Brain is the part of the brain shown here in purple. As well as problem solving, it's the part of the brain that helps us to sustain focus, plan ahead, monitor behavior, pay attention to detail, use judgement, and organize. It's the last part of the brain to develop and it has some pretty important jobs!

"Executive Functioning" has been such a buzz word in schools over the last few years. Schools and teachers are recognizing more and more that many kids are deficient in these skills and schools have been working to give support, develop programs, and directly teach executive functioning skills. I give the schools credit- that they are starting to address this need. I really do. And at one point I was even excited to see that my son was offered a program that helped teach some of these executive functioning skills!

What I've come to realize however, is that for many kids, the lack of executive functioning skills is directly related to their brain and the way it's "wired". 

At Brain Fit we talk a lot about a "disorganized brain". When a person has many retained (active) primitive reflexes, and the brain is "disorganized", accessing this part of the brain is HARD. Many kids we see struggle just to get to the "thinking" part of the brain- let alone the executive part. There's just not much left. 

When those pesky reflexes are active, the child's brain/body are working so hard to fight the reflex activity that they just can't access the higher centers in the brain. It's not they don't want to be able to plan, organize and problem solve. It's that they (literally) can't. Their brain doesn't have the pathways- the neural connections needed to access the executive brain. 

And so, schools see the lack of those executive functioning skills and they do what they think they need to do. They do their best to teach kids the skills they are missing. 

Which-when you think of it, is kind of ironic. The schools are teaching skills that require the higher centers of the brain, the cognitive "thinking brain" to learn. Skills that are seemingly needed to help the child reach the even higher centers in the brain- the "executive brain". However, if you're working with a kiddo who isn't even accessing the "thinking brain", how successful do you think the teaching of those executive functioning skills is going to be? My guess would be not very successful. 

And where does that leave the child? Frustrated? Stressed? Feeling ashamed? 

Yes, the executive brain- the prefrontal cortex is important. One could certainly argue that it's very important- especially as a child gets older. And being able to problem solve is certainly important.

But can I ask this of all of you? Instead of directly teaching executive functioning skills- try looking a little deeper. Look into, and learn about, primitive reflexes. See what it's all about. Read more of my blog posts and learn. Think outside of the box and maybe approach things a little differently. 

We do it all the time at Brain Fit Academy- approach things differently I mean. You can do it too. It's not rocket science. Seriously- what could it hurt?

And if you need help, or want more information? Contact us. We'd be happy to guide you toward the next steps. 

And ultimately, you know who will thank you? The kiddo(s) you're trying to help.