Archive | Childhood Learning Disabilities

Advances in Neuroplasticity – Bozeman Pechakucha Night Notes

Advances in Neuroplasticity      –   Bozeman PechaKucha Night

Good evening, I am Michael Koster and I would like to give you some insights into the exciting area of Neuroplasticity as well as some concrete examples of practical applications.   I hope you are all taking notes tonight because there will be a quiz at the end of this presentation.

brain3 localization

Slide 2

This is the model of the brain that has been used for the last 400 years.  It has well defined regions and those regions do not change. This lead to important conclusions about the brain:

1.       When brain cells failed to develop properly or were damaged they could not be replaced.

2.       The brain could not alter it’s structure or find new ways to function once it was damaged.

play dough images

Slide 3

This is the current model of the brain, actually this is what your brain looks like after you raise teens,

A plastic brain or neuroplasticity implies that the brain can change

1.       Children are not always stuck with the mental abilities they are born with.

2.       A damaged brain can reorganize itself

3.       Old dogs can learn new tricks with ease

neurons brain

Slide 4

The Nucleus Basalis focuses our attention and helps us remember what we are experiencing.  After the critical periods of development in childhood when the nucleus is always on, it can only be activated when something important, novel, or surprising occurs or when we make the effort to pay close attention.  This the brain region that is the control center for plasticity.

woman with helment

Slide 5

This is Cheryl.  Her balance system was destroyed by an antibiotic.  Consequently she can hardly stand up on her own and always feels like she is falling over. The helmet she is wearing has an accelerometer built into it that feeds information to electrodes on her tongue. From the moment she put the helmet on the sense of falling left her.

paul_bach_y_rita real chair bach-y-rita1

Slide 6

Paul Bach-y-Rita built the helmet Cheryl is wearing and is one of the pioneers of sense substitution.   His first device was a chair that allowed blind people to see images through vibrating sensors on their back. The original version built in the 60’s weight over 400 pounds.

woman with brainport edit pons device

Slide 7

The new version weights a view ounces and mounts on a pair of glasses. Like the helmet it   also works through electrodes stimulating the tongue.  The Pons device is the interface that sends the signals.  Bach-y-Rita’s team has found that just programing the ponds to send random impulses can help people with Multiple Sclerosis regain motor function and speech.

Michael Merzenich

Slide 8

Michael Merzenich was probably the first person to use the term Neuroplasticity in the published Literature.    His original work was on cochlear implants that bypass the damaged parts of the ear and feed sound signals directly to the brain. He proved with a series of experiments that brain maps do in fact change over time.

Brain Map

Slide 9

He has taken his knowledge of brain maps and turned it into practical inventions that help sharpen perception and memory, and heal learning problems. His team of scientists develop software programs that redesign the brain by training specific processing areas to do more mental work………( He believes that IQ can be improved.)

Twin

Slide 10

A set of Identical twins was enrolled in our Montessori Preschool. One neuro typical, the other exhibiting a lack of awareness of other people and obsessive behavior.   We gave him four thirteen day treatments sessions of a sound therapy program known as the Tomatis Method.  He now exhibits neuro typical behavior and is more advanced academically and socially then his twin brother.

Alfred Tomatis

Slide 11

Alfred Tomatis developed this method and a device he called the electronic ear in the 1950’s originally to help Opera singers regain damaged areas of their vocal range.

He discovered:

1.       The voice only contains what the ear hears

2.       If hearing is modified the voice is immediately modified

3.       It is possible it permanently change speech by means of auditory stimulation.

Ear_Diagram

Slide 12

The Tomatis Method uses the ear as a gateway to the brain. The ear not only transmits sound to the brain but also transmits information about balance.  By stimulating the ear in specific ways it is possible to strengthen the auditory reflex and retune the cortex to respond to different frequency ranges.

apraxia

Slide 13

This little girl had an inability coordinate her movements, she could not speak clearly and was not potty train at age 4 and a half.  In our Montessori environment she could not sit still or focus on a lesson.   After we gave her 7 days of sound therapy she potty train herself.  After 15 days her speech began to clear and she began to focus on lessons.

music sound wave

Slide 14

The Tomatis method uses modified classical music that has been sent through sound processors. Because of the unpredictability that has been added to the music it forces the brains processing  centers to stay engaged. This facilitates neuroplasticity and allows  the brain to rewire itself .

Fishing in a river

Slide 15

Recently, a 69 year old dentist suffered a major stroke. He was given an experimental drug that saved his life, but he experienced loss of fluid speech and loss of fine motor control. After three months of traditional therapy he still had not recovered.   After 15 days of sound therapy he was able to speak clearly and tie sutures again.Langue frequency range

Slide 16

Languages exist in different frequency ranges.   One theory of autism is that during critical periods of language development too many neural connections are made, overwhelming the nervous system.  Sound Therapy can help reset neural connections for specific language frequencies pruning back unwanted frequencies and making it easier to learn new languages .

Fish Oil

Slide 17

Nutrition is a vital component of neuron development.    50% of the oily part of synaptic membranes in the brain are made up of DHA fatty acids.  If the body does not have enough DHA it uses inferior material which can lead to anxiety, depression, poor memory, and poor reaction time.

Brain lifting barbell. Mind power concept.

Slide 18

Exercising your brain is one of the most positive things you can do to promote healthy neural networks.  Learning something new and challenging like a foreign  language, taking up an instrument and learning to read music  or practicing on specifically designed software can keep your brain stay young and healthy.  I don’t think watching you tube videos or Netflix counts though.

Norman Doidge the brain that changes the brains way

Slide 19

Norman Doidge is one of the leading experts on neuroplasticity and he has written two amazing books on the topic from which I have borrowed liberally.  These books chronicle many other discoveries from the frontiers of neuro science.  Both books are entertaining and include references to published studies.

story time with grandpa

Slide 20

Many children with learning challenges are brilliant and try much harder then their peers they just need the right neural connections. Based on my research 95% of all learning disorders and many developmental delays can be corrected with the neuroplastic technology currently available.  Research indicates older brains can be helped as well.

Slide 21

O.K.  I warned you there would there would be a quiz at the end of this presentation.  I realize this is  kind of a trick question but I want to see a show of hands of people who think yes the brain can change?  How about no? Still a few nos. well I guess some brains don’t change,  but most can change with the right stimulation. Just in case you weren’t taking notes I posted my lecture notes on my website under blogs.

Slide 22

Thank you, I am Michael Koster and you can find me at IntegratedBrainSolutions .com

My e-mail address is michael_kost5@msn.com

Making the Right Connections in Your Child’s Brain

By Michael Koster MS

Brain NetworksA lot of the learning challenges that children deal with, including attention deficit disorders, dyslexia, apraxia, autism spectrum and even global developmental delays have a component of incomplete or incorrect neural connections and pathways in the brain. There are probably many reasons why these incomplete connections occur and many of the symptoms can be devastating for the child and for the parent. The most frustrating part is that many of the children who suffer from these develop some type of coping strategy.

There is hope for these children from the frontiers of Neuroplasticity. With a little help from the right type of stimulus the brain can rewire itself. Dr. Norman Doidge has written two books documenting these discoveries; “The Brain That Changes Itself” and “The Brain’s Way of Healing”. Although nutrition and nutritional supplements are an important part of helping the brain develop and heal, for the most part, prescription drugs are not a part of most of these treatments.

Child listens

So what is the correct stimulus to help the brain rewire itself? In chapter 8 of “The Brain’s way of Healing” Doidge talks about the Tomatis Method and how sound and music that has been modified in a specific way can help form new neural pathways in the brain from the sub cortical level up. This method can have a dramatic effect on attention, academic performance, memory, sensory processing, speech, motor coordination and emotional regulation. The Tomatis method was originally developed by Dr. Alfred Tomatis in the 1950’s in France. The method is widely used throughout Europe, and is finally being “discovered” by Neuroscientists in the United States.

Music activates many areas of the brain at the same time, including areas for language, timing, spatial reasoning and emotion. Because the music that is being used with the Tomatis Method has been modified in a specific way that is somewhat unpredictable, the brain does not habituate to it and hence the higher frontal cortex is constantly engaged in Child's earprocessing. From Neuroscience the adage “neurons that fire together wire together” comes into play and new neural pathways are formed and almost miraculously the child starts having more self control, self regulation and the world around him begins to make sense.

The music has also been filtered in such a way that the method starts fine tuning the auditory processing pathways. Many children with learning challenges hear too much and cannot discriminate properly what is the important information they are trying to process. The Tomatis Method helps the child listen correctly which allows learning to be more effective and easier.

For more in-depth information: http://www.tomatis.com/.

DISCLAIMER: These programs are adapted to most listening-related disorders.
The Tomatis Method is not a treatment for any known disease,
nor a means of formulating a diagnosis for any medical or psychological disorder.