brain development games?

[gardenmom5]

dudeling has lagging development of his corpus callosum.  I tried to do therapy with the audiologist (five years ago .  . . ) he absolutely wouldn't do it.  I had to beg and cajole him.  Now, the struggles it is causing him is getting to him, and I believe one reason he is withdrawing from so many things.

any suggestions for games that help with development?   I tried getting him into swimming/MA/horseback riding . . . he would do a little, but never stick with anything.  He can do one-on-one.   large groups don't work.  

[Pen]

Ice skating lessons? Back to MA or horses? Brain gym? A musical instrument? 

[matrips]

If you google games for crossing the mid-line, you’ll find a lot of ideas.  Is that what you’re looking for?  

My kids loved putting on a stretchy Lycra suit and playing balloon volleyball with their OT or me.  We also used to play variations on bean bag toss.  Rubber chicken shooting was popular-again crossing the mid-line. 

Our OT also suggested Parkour for the kids, but we didn’t have the time or money for that, so I’m not too sure all what it is.

Dianne Craft did a bunch of seminars at our homeschool conference and talked about the corpus callosum, those not by name that I remember.  She talked about the band of fatty tissue down the middle of the head.  She had a whole program devoted to right/left brain stuff, as well as supplements (from her or amazon).

ILS is also focused on that, and has exercises to go along with the listening program.  Again, lots of midline work.

[EKS]

Our pediatrician (who is an accomplished violinist) suggested playing the violin.  My son played for 6 years.  I don't know if it did any good, but the problems he was having with auditory processing diminished considerably over that time.

[gardenmom5]

3 hours ago, EKS said:

Our pediatrician (who is an accomplished violinist) suggested playing the violin.  My son played for 6 years.  I don't know if it did any good, but the problems he was having with auditory processing diminished considerably over that time.

was that specifically violin - or an instrument that requires both hands?  more so than piano?  (which I attempted to get him to do when he was younger)

[Melissa in Australia]

Juggling 

[geodob]

Yes, juggling is the best thing.  You can use small bean bags, that you could make yourself.
Also just start with 1 bag, tossing it from hand to hand.  Then add a second, and gradually increase the number.

[EKS]

10 hours ago, gardenmom5 said:

was that specifically violin - or an instrument that requires both hands?  more so than piano?  (which I attempted to get him to do when he was younger)

He said any instrument was good, but that the violin (and the other violin style instruments) was particularly good because you also have to deal with getting the notes exactly right.  I don't know if that is actually true, but since I was already taking violin lessons at the time, it was easy to roll my son into it.

[Suzanne in ABQ]

I don't know how old your dudeling is, but I did a bunch of Dianne Craft's exercises/games with my son when he was 11, and it made a HUGE difference in his ability to do just about everything.  The exercises are focused on crossing the midline, which requires information to pass through the corpus collosum. It took about six months of daily practice (about 15-20 minutes, 4-5 days a week), and it was worth every second. Some of the activities are done sitting (drawing the alphabet in large format over a sideways figure 8 (infinity symbol) with a crayon, to get tactile experience crossing the midline while saying and writing the letters over and over. Some of the activities are done standing (eg. marching with knees high, touching each knee with the opposite hand while looking at various corners of the room).  It's fun and silly, and everyone can do it together, so it's more like a fun game. My son was resistant to practically everything I asked him to do, but he willingly did these activities every day.  I also followed the advice she shares in the "Biology of Behavior", which is on audio CD, and gave him supplements and simple diet adjustments to help his mood and coping functions.  

Visit diannecraft.org (note the double n's in her name). You can read about some of her philosophies on the website (she also offers courses for professional development, etc). But if you click on the "Where do I Start?" tab, you find a document that leads you through check lists that will help you narrow down the type of glitches that are making things hard for dudelling. From there, she lists options and resources specific to his needs. I highly recommend the Brain Integration Manual (even though it's expensive). I have the 2013 version, and I'm happy to share information from that, but I'm sure the 2020 version is more current, and probably easier to navigate. 

I used several other right-brain learning techniques and resources as well, to help him with math facts and spelling, but not until we got the brain integration and dietary stuff figured out.

[catz]

I actually think any instrument can work.  Our large music program has a nationally renowned music therapy program where they start really gentle one on one with clapping and singing and moving to trying some instruments to basics on the instrument.  Some kids then transition to traditional teachers after that introduction.  So you may want to google in your area specifically for music therapy programs.  

 

Edited December 12, 2019 by FuzzyCatz

[gardenmom5]

18 minutes ago, Suzanne in ABQ said:

I don't know how old your dudeling is, but I did a bunch of Dianne Craft's exercises/games with my son when he was 11, and it made a HUGE difference in his ability to do just about everything.  The exercises are focused on crossing the midline,  

I was able to have a discussion with him about this last night.  I put him in "crossing the midline" activities when he was small - trying to do this.  He fought me tooth and nail the whole way.  I kept trying different things, hoping he'd cooperate with something.  we did mazes he'd have to trace - he very abruptly stopped drawing and it became difficult to get him to write for any reason.

so - last night.  I started explaining all this to him - about the corpus callosum, and how to develop it.  "why didn't you tell me before?" - 'cause you wouldn't have been able to understand. . "fair enough".

I appreciate the website - I'm hoping he will be more cooperative going forward.  he's frustrated by how his brain works.  

[gardenmom5]

5 hours ago, Suzanne in ABQ said:

I don't know how old your dudeling is, but I did a bunch of Dianne Craft's exercises/games with my son when he was 11, and it made a HUGE difference in his ability to do just about everything.  The exercises are focused on crossing the midline, which requires information to pass through the corpus collosum. It took about six months of daily practice (about 15-20 minutes, 4-5 days a week), and it was worth every second. Some of the activities are done sitting (drawing the alphabet in large format over a sideways figure 8 (infinity symbol) with a crayon, to get tactile experience crossing the midline while saying and writing the letters over and over. Some of the activities are done standing (eg. marching with knees high, touching each knee with the opposite hand while looking at various corners of the room).  It's fun and silly, and everyone can do it together, so it's more like a fun game. My son was resistant to practically everything I asked him to do, but he willingly did these activities every day.  I also followed the advice she shares in the "Biology of Behavior", which is on audio CD, and gave him supplements and simple diet adjustments to help his mood and coping functions.  

Visit diannecraft.org (note the double n's in her name). You can read about some of her philosophies on the website (she also offers courses for professional development, etc). But if you click on the "Where do I Start?" tab, you find a document that leads you through check lists that will help you narrow down the type of glitches that are making things hard for dudelling. From there, she lists options and resources specific to his needs. I highly recommend the Brain Integration Manual (even though it's expensive). I have the 2013 version, and I'm happy to share information from that, but I'm sure the 2020 version is more current, and probably easier to navigate. 

I used several other right-brain learning techniques and resources as well, to help him with math facts and spelling, but not until we got the brain integration and dietary stuff figured out.

I've sent off a query about their program.

do you know if this can work for all ages?  or just younger children?  It would definitely be brain integration - but he also has to be willing to cooperate.  right now, I'm willing to completely drop "school" just to do brain integration therapy - in whatever form.

[mathnerd]

7 hours ago, EKS said:

He said any instrument was good, but that the violin (and the other violin style instruments) was particularly good because you also have to deal with getting the notes exactly right.  I don't know if that is actually true, but since I was already taking violin lessons at the time, it was easy to roll my son into it.

Both piano and violin are good (so are other instruments as well). Try to see if he is agreeable to continuing his piano lessons now or if he wants to start on the violin. There are numerous articles on the web about how Einstein's corpus callosum had developed in an unique way and researchers are connecting that to his early start at playing the violin. Maybe that would get your son interested in learning music 🙂

[matrips]

6 hours ago, Suzanne in ABQ said:

 

I don't know how old your dudeling is, but I did a bunch of Dianne Craft's exercises/games with my son when he was 11, and it made a HUGE difference in his ability to do just about everything.

 

Different poster here.  Can you give me some specific examples of what it helped with and how?  I have her program.  My target child was unfortunately very resistant to it but I still keep thinking about revisiting it...

Handwriting is his big issue.  He’s in high school now and even when he takes his time, it looks like he scrawled it in a hurry.  It’s terrible. He used to be decent when we did hwot all the time. I can’t imagine him doing an SAT essay.

[gardenmom5]

1 minute ago, matrips said:

Different poster here.  Can you give me some specific examples of what it helped with and how?  I have her program.  My target child was unfortunately very resistant to it but I still keep thinking about revisiting it...

Handwriting is his big issue.  He’s in high school now and even when he takes his time, it looks like he scrawled it in a hurry.  It’s terrible. He used to be decent when we did hwot all the time. I can’t imagine him doing an SAT essay.

I did attend a dog-and-pony for (I don't remember which) college with 1dd.  The admin presenting said he had one kid whose app essay was utterly illegible, and finished with he owed his inclusion of a word doc printed version of it for his admittance.    (that particular school wanted hand -written essays to hopefully remind the admittance board they were dealing with real people.)

[matrips]

2 minutes ago, gardenmom5 said:

I did attend a dog-and-pony for (I don't remember which) college with 1dd.  The admin presenting said he had one kid whose app essay was utterly illegible, and finished with he owed his inclusion of a word doc printed version of it for his admittance.    (that particular school wanted hand -written essays to hopefully remind the admittance board they were dealing with real people.)

Yeah, it’s that bad.  So much for 7 years of teaching handwriting, including cursive 🙄.  His other two  same age siblings- handwriting is fine.

[gardenmom5]

13 minutes ago, matrips said:

Yeah, it’s that bad.  So much for 7 years of teaching handwriting, including cursive 🙄.  His other two  same age siblings- handwriting is fine.

Einstein struggled with math . . . . .

[Suzanne in ABQ]

6 hours ago, matrips said:

Different poster here.  Can you give me some specific examples of what it helped with and how?  I have her program.  My target child was unfortunately very resistant to it but I still keep thinking about revisiting it...

Handwriting is his big issue.  He’s in high school now and even when he takes his time, it looks like he scrawled it in a hurry.  It’s terrible. He used to be decent when we did hwot all the time. I can’t imagine him doing an SAT essay.

 

Well, it's been awhile (Ds was 11 when we did the therapy, and he's 22 now), but I'll remember what I can.

Ds had trouble reading and writing. He could actually read words just fine, but not more than three sentences (a short paragraph) at a time. He would get rather exhausted and then angry, and just refuse to do it.  The same would happen with writing.  He could only write a sentence or two and then he'd just stop.  I remember doing the strength test that Dianne Craft has in the Brain Integration Training (BIT) Manual, where you press down on the child's outstretched arm before having them read or write, then do it again after they read or write a short paragraph.  My son was quite noticeably weaker just from the effort he was putting into those particular tasks. The Circle-8 crayon activity and the physical, cross-body exercises in the BIT Manual helped with these things.  After six months, he no longer complained about writing. He'd just do it. He could read easily as well, though he never really became an avid reader. (He did read all four of the Eragon books!)

Ds also had behavioral issues that, in part, may have stemmed from the high dosage, long-duration antibiotics he had when he was little. They left his gut void of good bacteria, and overgrown with yeast. I gave him several supplements recommended by Dianne Craft to promote good bacteria, boost his nervous system, and get rid of yeast (probiotics, fish oil, Vitamin E, Primrose oil, and grapefruit seed extract). He took them every day for several months. I also limited his sugar intake. This, coupled with high protein snacks to even out his blood sugar (he was hypoglycemic), made him more cooperative in general.  (I learned about all this from the Biology of Behavior CD's)

I hope this answers your questions. I don't think my ds would have been cooperative earlier. He had to be old enough to understand why we were doing it, and how it might help. Like gardenmom5, I also had to set aside some of the academics to make time to focus on the therapy. That may have helped as well to get Ds to cooperate.  These fun activities took the place of long reading and writing assignments. We also did 45 minutes of flashcards every day because he was 11 yo and didn't know them yet. Going on in math was going to be impossible without getting those facts under his belt. So, for several months, we did therapy, math facts, read-aloud (taking turns), science experiments, and various un-schooling type activities.  I'm so glad we were home and I was able to focus on his needs like that. He's out on his own now, college graduated and self-sufficient. It was uncomfortable to just "stop" doing school for those months, but going on with full academics was impossible. The time we spent doing BIT was time well spent.

Note: You may be able to incorporate just some of her ideas into your son's day. Maybe he'd be more cooperative if he read the Manual himself, so he could understand it, and took it on as his own responsibility. 

 

[matrips]

On 12/13/2019 at 12:39 AM, Suzanne in ABQ said:

 

Well, it's been awhile (Ds was 11 when we did the therapy, and he's 22 now), but I'll remember what I can.

Ds had trouble reading and writing. He could actually read words just fine, but not more than three sentences (a short paragraph) at a time. He would get rather exhausted and then angry, and just refuse to do it.  The same would happen with writing.  He could only write a sentence or two and then he'd just stop.  I remember doing the strength test that Dianne Craft has in the Brain Integration Training (BIT) Manual, where you press down on the child's outstretched arm before having them read or write, then do it again after they read or write a short paragraph.  My son was quite noticeably weaker just from the effort he was putting into those particular tasks. The Circle-8 crayon activity and the physical, cross-body exercises in the BIT Manual helped with these things.  After six months, he no longer complained about writing. He'd just do it. He could read easily as well, though he never really became an avid reader. (He did read all four of the Eragon books!)

Ds also had behavioral issues that, in part, may have stemmed from the high dosage, long-duration antibiotics he had when he was little. They left his gut void of good bacteria, and overgrown with yeast. I gave him several supplements recommended by Dianne Craft to promote good bacteria, boost his nervous system, and get rid of yeast (probiotics, fish oil, Vitamin E, Primrose oil, and grapefruit seed extract). He took them every day for several months. I also limited his sugar intake. This, coupled with high protein snacks to even out his blood sugar (he was hypoglycemic), made him more cooperative in general.  (I learned about all this from the Biology of Behavior CD's)

I hope this answers your questions. I don't think my ds would have been cooperative earlier. He had to be old enough to understand why we were doing it, and how it might help. Like gardenmom5, I also had to set aside some of the academics to make time to focus on the therapy. That may have helped as well to get Ds to cooperate.  These fun activities took the place of long reading and writing assignments. We also did 45 minutes of flashcards every day because he was 11 yo and didn't know them yet. Going on in math was going to be impossible without getting those facts under his belt. So, for several months, we did therapy, math facts, read-aloud (taking turns), science experiments, and various un-schooling type activities.  I'm so glad we were home and I was able to focus on his needs like that. He's out on his own now, college graduated and self-sufficient. It was uncomfortable to just "stop" doing school for those months, but going on with full academics was impossible. The time we spent doing BIT was time well spent.

Note: You may be able to incorporate just some of her ideas into your son's day. Maybe he'd be more cooperative if he read the Manual himself, so he could understand it, and took it on as his own responsibility. 

 

Thanks for coming back to respond.  He was 12 when we tried and knew why we were doing it.  We had just finished a year or so of OT though.  I think he was tired of being ‘fixed’.  He was just very resistant. I did do the supplements faithfully and he took them.  I still keep up with some of them plus lots of magnesium.  I notice when he misses a day. 

His reading has always been fine. I’ll look at the manual again for the strength test; I don’t recall seeing it.  But I’d be curious to try it for his writing. 

[*****]

How about self-defense type classes?  I would think these would be good for crossing the midline and wondered if this is recommended?  I was thinking of this for a student I tutor. We did midline exercises when I worked with him this summer and I think it did help. We are in a small room now, so not as much room to move. We have a good self-defense class in the area that i would like to suggest if this would be a good idea.