As a society we often 'treat' children's bad behaviour using psychological and cognitive techniques and strategies, and with the use of prescribed drugs.
As mental health is now classified as a disease and therefore curable with drugs, extreme behaviour such as ADD and ADHD, and conditions like mild depression and bipolar, are treated by GPs with medication. Ritalin was developed from research on the links between behaviour management and the child's poorly integrated sensory processing abilities between the cerebellum and vestibular systems. Dr. Harold Levinston's theories were instrumental in developing prescribed drugs that temporarily restore the regulation of activity between these two areas of the central nervous system. The effects being an increased ability of the brain to moderate sensory signals and in-turn, calm down behaviour.
Although some people may use medication for short term gains, long term gains may be achieved through the repetition of specific movements and sequences of movements. The use of movement to stimulate and develop a greater functioning and integration within the central nervous system and in particular the cerebellum and vestibular system, has been successfully applied by specialists for decades.
A great many studies on behaviour and the brain examine the correlation between the developing central nervous system and early movement patterns referred to as the primitive and postural reflexes. Reflexes are automated movements triggered by specific stimuli and are active from the 2nd trimester to around 5 years of age. For instance, when a new born baby hears a sudden noise (auditory), is suddenly moved (vestibular), or has something rapidly passing into their visual field (vision), it not only cries but automatically opens its arms and legs wide.
This physical reaction by the infant, is known as a startle reflex. It serves as a useful behavioural response in that it signals an immediate threat. Without many memories to compare each experience a baby is on full alert and will respond like this for many weeks. Once the system adjusts, the brain begins to master filtering sensory information and the reflex is less stimulated until it eventually becomes inhibited. However, for many reasons, this reflex can remain active all through a person's life.
Although as a child they may be able to suppress the extreme physical reaction, their behaviour is still affected in that their subconscious is on hyper-alert to threat, i.e sudden changes in their environment, and their stress levels become heightened in response to a 'perceived' threat. This of course affects their behaviour - the final and observable characteristic of the person's state of mind.
Each new reflex that emerges preceeds the earlier one and has greater associations and connections within higher regions of the developing brain and across the central nervous system. Where reflexes are not inhibited, areas of the brain may not be efficiently interconnected and functioning at an appropriate level. In the majority of cases, un-inhibited reflexes affect the vestibular-cerebella system in some way.
There are hundreds of reflexes (primitive and postural) but specialists have identified between 6 and 10 that when active after the point they should have been inhibited, as having a major influence on cognitive functioning, sensory processing and behaviour management later on in life.
Specialists using natural non-invasive processes for inhibiting reflexes and bridging developmental gaps and delays in the child and young adult, use combinations of regular repetitive movements and intensified sensory experiences. Movements that mimic reflex actions and patterns of movements that intensify the processing of several areas of the brain simultaneously leads to profound changes in the way the brain functions as a whole. Specific sensory experiences that stimulate conscious sensations lead to improvements in the way sensory information is processed by the central nervous system.
As areas in the brain become more interconnected and adept at filtering sensory signals, improvements in cognitive function, emotional well being and behavioural management are brought about.
Both the ActEi and Activate programmes have been designed with this in mind. The Activate programmes specifically use repetitive movements of increasing complexity to engage the vestibular-cerebella system and improve its functionality. The ActEi programmes use movement repetition and sensory challenges to engage multiple activity across the brain.