These are actual cases drawn from the child development work by Bright Start's author Maureen Hawke.
They demonstrate the importance of working on enriching your child's environment from very early in life – and also watching diet and other major issues potentially badly impacting your child's brain growth.
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Exposure to Sound is extremely important in helping your baby develop its huge brainpower.
Failure to undertake some simple activities can result in learning difficulties later.
Lachlan, 7, was recommended for therapy by his teacher at the beginning of Year 2 at school.
He was an immature, nervous little boy who had difficulty expressing himself, mixing with other children and was failing in school.
He had problems with auditory discrimination, auditory sequencing and motor planning. Six weeks later, following a home based co-ordination program and a dairy free diet, his handwriting had improved. His teacher reported she had seen an enormous improvement in his confidence and ability to express himself. His mother said he was much less anxious and no longer required the regular laxatives he had had for chronic constipation from the age of two years.
Three months later he started a Sound Therapy CD's course for his auditory processing difficulties and over the next four months began to finish his work in school.
By the end of the year his report card showed he was achieving at an average level in the class and his mother said: "The changes in him are wonderful". Lachlan's and other cases are discussed in Step 4 of Part One of Bright Start's Program, where you'll also find a comprehensive list of readily available classical music you should be playing your new baby.
Daniel, 9 years, had reflux as a baby. He never lay on his tummy as every time his mother put him on the floor he screamed and regurgitated food.
He did very little creeping on hands and knees and was very quick to stand up and cruise around the furniture. Learning to read and write in school was very difficult for Daniel.
He had extremely poor eye movement skills. Optometric evaluation found that his focusing and eye teaming skills were very poor. After nine months of brain co-ordinating exercises, including creeping on hands and knees, Daniel's reading age had improved by 2 years and 3 months.
Most children with reading problems have trouble with one or more aspects of the visual process.
Details on what this process involves and activities for you and your by to help ensure proper development are detailed in Bright Start part One Step 5
Studies have suggested that breast fed babies are smarter than their formula-fed peers. Yet scientists have debated whether this improved cognitive development is due to specific ingredients found in the mother's milk, or because of other non nutritional factors, such as the mother's education level or the increased amount of mother-infant contact.
A new double-blind randomized study supports the view that docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and arachidonic acid (AA)- two critical fatty acid nutrients found in human breast milk-play an important role in the developing function of newborns.
Details of this research are in Part One of the Bright Start program, where you'll also learn of cases in which food allergies caused problems – something which can rob your child of 'development time' :
Brooke, 5 ½ years, was repeating pre-school due to his delayed speech, poor co-ordination and a lack of concentration.
He mixed poorly with his peer group and at home had severe temper tantrums. His mother reported that he was a happy and healthy baby until 5 months of age, when he had his first ear infection.
Since then he had had around 50 courses of antibiotics and continued to have ear infections even when he had grommets. He also had frequent colds.
Two months after commencing brain body co-ordinating exercises and removing dairy foods from his diet, his mother reported dramatic improvements in his behaviour. He no longer had tantrums and could now be reasoned with.
He could now balance and ride a scooter, click his fingers, write his name, colour within the lines, copy shapes, use utensils to eat his meals, was completing puzzles and his speech was much clearer. Brooke's program is continuing.
Joanne, at around 4 ½ years, began to have regular bouts of tonsillitis which stopped around 6 years and were treated with antibiotics.
At about 8 years old, Joanne began to have episodes of asthma. In school, she was "switched off", rarely completed work and her comprehension was very poor. She could read fairly well but had no understanding of what she had read and had no concept of problem solving.
She generally struggled with most areas of her schoolwork. When dairy foods were removed from her diet, Joanne became more alert, began completing her work in school and her reading comprehension age improved by 2 years in just three months.
Step 7 in Bright Start Part One details more cases and helpful research.
Some simple professional spinal manipulation may stop your baby's screaming and suffering with colic.
A randomised controlled study in Denmark involving 569 colic infants, treated at 50 clinics, enjoyed a 94% success rate: After 2 weeks of manual spinal therapy, colic stopped in 60%, improved in another 34%. No adverse side effects were reported. The number of hours the infants were suffering from colic halved after the first day of treatment.1
On average, infants with colic have a 35% faster birth process- from the start of labour to birth - than other infants.3
Jenny, a 6 day-old from Queensland, Australia, was unable to turn her head while lying on her tum, and was screaming and pulling her legs up to her stomach. She was a very "snuffly" baby. After one manipulative treatment she stopped screaming and could lie comfortably on her stomach.
Step 8 of Bright Start Program Part One takes you through how to check up on your baby's bones and muscles
Tummy crawling and creeping on hands and knees help control your child's initial reflexes. This lets your baby learn and interact better with the environment.
Some children skip too quickly through the tummy crawling and creeping stages and have learning difficulties later.
Jonathon, 9, had reading, spelling and co-ordination difficulties. He screamed when on his tummy as a baby, never crawled and shuffled around on his bottom.
After 6 months of co-ordination activities, including tummy crawling and creeping, his school reported he had gone up two groups in reading and his mother said he was now reading for pleasure and no longer always covered in bruises.
You'll find details on the crucial need for creeping and crawling – and simple exercises – to help avoid these problems on Bright Start Program Two Steps One and Two.
Medical studies detailed in Bright Start Program Two, Part 6, show the important relationship between treating children with antibiotics – and the impact on asthma and brain development.
Mathew 4 years: As a baby he had severe reflux and then repeated ear infections from 6 months of age, these were treated with antibiotics.
However, his speech development was good. He was not interested in holding a pencil, drawing or painting. Temper tantrums were at least daily. Mathew had very low muscle tone and had never climbed as a toddler. His parents reported that he was not an active child and preferred to sit and play games or use the computer.
As an infant he was unable to tummy lie because of reflux, which meant he had less opportunity to tummy crawl. This forward tummy movement helps baby develop muscle tone. Good muscle tone helps develop better body awareness which in turn assists development of co-ordination.
After 2 months of brain body excises and removal of dairy food from his diet, Mathew started playing soccer in the backyard, he was kicking balls and had become very physically active. He had stopped having temper tantrums but became extremely irritable if he ate even a small amount of dairy food.
His mother and grandfather were also dairy intolerant. Mathew had been given goats milk formula as a baby which had reduced his reflux, but was put back on dairy food around 2 years with no apparent problem at that time.
However it is now very apparent that dairy food has always had an adverse effect on Mathew's behaviour and is a trigger for his temper tantrums.
Each part of Bright Start's Programme provides you with
| Simple steps to follow and |
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Easy activities you and your child can perform |
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"Is that so?" information: specific and sometimes startling research findings and relevant child development cases. These have been personally handled by Bright Start's developer, Maureen Hawke, in her 25 years' work helping under achievers. |
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