Is Lack of Coordination a Symptom of a Learning Disability?

Even before children can talk, their actions can speak loudly about the degree of efficiency or inefficiency in their brain processing. Consider babies who never crawl or who develop “butt-scooting” methods of locomotion by their first birthday. What we know about the two halves of the brain, right and left, is that they control the opposite sides of the body (the right brain controls the left foot, for example).

Crawling activates right brain/left brain integration that enable walking to develop easily. Although just because a child has crawled or walked properly doesn’t necessarily mean he won’t have a learning disability. Babies who struggle with early locomotion are often manifesting an outward display of an inner confusion deep within the brain.

Take the case of Max, who was almost thirteen when I met him in October 1999. As a baby, Max never crawled but walked “like a crab” on his hands and toes and then began walking upright at eleven months.

A child’s crawling stage is considered critical for activating the corpus callosum, which connects the two hemispheres of the brain, and allows the coordination of brain functions as well as physical coordination.

Is the Creative Side of Your Brain Doing the Job of the Logical Side?

Through muscle testing, I found that Max had been emotionally stressed when he was two years old and had switched, at a functional level, the right side of his brain to the left side and vice versa. Thus, there was confusion about which side of his brain processed logic functions and which side processed creative functions—the messages being sent were crossed from right to left and left to right.

On Crossinology’s behavioral checklist, Max’s mother indicated he:

• Had allergies.
• Was clumsy and had problems with balance.
• Lacked coordination needed for sports or rhythmic activities.
• Scrawled like a first-grader although he was in the eighth grade.
• Had good grades, but he struggled with reading and spent most of his time in class doodling.

From Doodler to Scholar

Two years later, life had turned around dramatically for Max. Out of 250 students in his high school, he had won the sophomore English award, an achievement that was especially significant for someone who had previously struggled with reading. He now:

• Had a 3.75 grade-point average and was earning advanced scores on the statewide standardized tests.
• Found both the work and the tests relatively easy.
• Was taking Advanced Placement history, with lots of reading, and was doing well.
• Using his lifelong love of language to study new languages—such as Tibetan and Japanese—on his own, independent of school.

Once a classroom doodler who wasn’t realizing his potential, Max was now headed for a rewarding scholarly experience.

Do you or your child experience lack of coordination? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below because perhaps there’s a disconnect that can be corrected. And chances are, you’re not alone. Thank you!

Do You Feel Like Your Brain Just Isn’t Working Right?

My clinical experience indicates that an individual’s behavior reflects the degree of access and integration of his/her brain functions. To a large degree, whether the functions are accessed—or not accessed—determines how a person behaves.

Your behavior tells us the truth about how your brain functions. When you or your child say, “I hate reading [or mathematics or English, or fill in the blank],”you are actually telling us, “I cannot access the part of the brain I need to do that task easily.” You hate it because it is difficult for you to do.

When you read well and easily, you usually don’t avoid reading, but rather seek it out because there is so much to learn and enjoy in books. But when you or your children find reading demanding and stressful, you develop avoidance mechanisms. For instance, you might label reading as “boring.” And who wants to do something that is boring?

Are You Concerned Because Your Child Seems Immature for His/Her Age?

Whether an adult or a child, someone who is mostly using the creative, emotional side of their brain—and who has poor access to logical functions (i.e., cause-and-effect thinking, concrete reasoning, physical coordination)—may often be perceived as “emotionally immature.”

We make this assessment because emotional maturity is essentially the ability to modulate and control the expression of emotions based on a logical analysis of circumstances. A well-integrated person with good access to all brain functions may feel angry, but is able to make the rational judgment that now is not the appropriate time to express that anger (a logic experience).

A more creative person with poor access to logic function, by contrast, will experience the anger and tend to act on that feeling with little consideration of the logical consequences.

When you are born, only the creative thinking (i.e., Gestalt) functions of your brain are activated. Then, around two years of age, you start to realize you can impact your world because the logic side of your brain begins to become active.

Before this, you may have learned to associate that if you cry, your caregiver would come, but making this association is not the same as following a logical series of events.

A two-year-old only knows “now” and has no concept of “later,” which is why it can be so frustrating to try to reason with a toddler. (As most parents learn, we shouldn’t try and reason with toddlers about consequences, but just distract them!) As logic becomes more active, you learn cause-and-effect relationships and eventually develop the ability to rationalize.

Children who don’t develop their logic functions may be labeled as emotionally immature and are left behind their peers socially. Their behavior often shows little or no understanding about the consequences of their actions. For instance, they might climb higher and higher up a tree, not realizing that they can’t get down until it’s too late. Then they may fall or cry for help, with no real understanding that their own actions are what put them in this situation. And, they are just as likely to repeat this mistake sometime in the future, perhaps frequently.

If you are the caregiver of a child with limited logic functions, you are especially at a loss as the child grows larger. No longer can the youngsters simply be picked up and carried away from the situation when unacceptable behavior arises.

It is important to recognize that the inappropriate behavior isn’t deliberate or malicious. Rather, the behavior occurs because your children simply cannot inhibit their actions, for they lack the cognitive skills available only through logical functions in the brain.

Are you worried that your child’s behavior is inappropriate? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below because chances are, you’re not alone. Thank you!

Case Study: Special Education Classes Become a Thing of the Past

Perhaps nowhere are the results of the Crossinology® Brain Integration Technique more pronounced than in the case of students who, after treatment, no longer need to be placed in special-education classes. The following story about Walt illustrates the impact of such a shift.

When Walt first visited Susan, he was eleven years old and a special-education student in the fifth grade. He had excellent scores in reading and oral work but unsatisfactory grades in writing and math. He often stuttered and became tongue-tied, and he especially had trouble concentrating and telling time. He also struggled with remembering his times tables, following directions, turning in work, and taking any kind of test.

The list of Walt’s problems went on and included:
• Clumsiness
• Lack of coordination and dizziness
• Eyestrain and headaches
• Impatience and impulsivity
• Lack of confidence
• Letter and number reversal.
• Mood swings
• Telling lies
• Poor at sports and rhythmic activities

His brain pathways were so disorganized that even a simple task would leave him exhausted, making him appear lethargic, inappropriately drowsy, and underactive.

Muscle testing of his corpus callosum showed that Walt’s “telephone exchange center” was working fine. His problem involved deep-level switching which means that his right and left-brain functions were confused—the right brain thought it should handle left-brain functions and vice versa.

What Does it Mean if Your Problem is Deep Level Switching?

Imagine that you’re dealing with a math problem. Initially, the math would be processed in the left half of your brain. However, if you have deep-level switching, you experience very inefficient processing, completely subconsciously and entirely beyond your own control.

Incoming information actually enters the right half, is shunted over to the left half for processing, returned to the right half, and then shunted back out again. If the corpus callosum between the two hemispheres is blocked, information is dropped every time it passes through. When this occurs and the information is released, the individual can appear delayed in his verbal response and somewhat slow mentally.

Add some stress to this equation and the whole process starts to completely fall apart, with the tongue becoming tied in knots. Ever wonder where the phrase “tongue tied” came from? In a normal connection, information would go from point A to point B. But when neurocircuitry problems exist, information goes from A to C to D or E before reaching B.

Imagine Your Grades Going From Unsatisfactory to Straight As

Perhaps now you can understand why Walt was exhausted all the time!

I treated Walt for a total of five hours over a few weeks. Once his pathways were uncrossed (in a functional, not a physical, sense), his brain was reintegrated and ready to learn. One month after treatment, Walt’s math grades went from unsatisfactory to straight As. He was now finishing his schoolwork and had become more kind and affectionate.

Three months later, his social skills improved significantly and he was making lots of friends. Two months after that, Walt reported that:
• His schoolwork was easier.
• He was handing in all of his assignments.
• His teacher was impressed with his positive attitude.

The sense of relief and satisfaction felt by mother and son was nearly palpable. Toward the end of that year, his mother sent me a thank-you note saying that Walt was now an honor-roll student and, furthermore, he had won an award at his elementary school for his outstanding reading skills.

“When Walt first saw you, he was unable to apply pencil to paper or do math. He now writes very well and he has applied what you opened for him towards math. He has memorized his times tables and can multiply and divide. He’s been 100 percent mainstreamed from Special Ed. He .now loves school and has friends at home, school, and church. Thanks for your help.”

Is your child experiencing issues similar to Walt’s? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below because chances are, you’re not alone. Thank you!