Powerpoint presentation for parents and carers struggling to understand why their child has learning and behavioural problems. Supporting notes can be obtained from Fit 2 Learn CIC www.fit-2-learn.com

1. Fit 2 Learn Programme
How motor skills,
sound processing and vision are
necessary to be an efficient learner
Charlotte Davies, Director, Fit 2 Learn

2. Charlotte Davies Fit 2 Learn CIC
Daleen Smith Cognitive Visual Therapy Ltd
Mel Healy Sports Physiotherapist and Lecturer,
Bedfordshire University
Fit 2 Learn Consultants

3. Social Enterprise based in Croydon
Committed to:
• identifying the root causes of learning and behavioural
difficulties
• providing effective solutions for children and adults
Funded by:
• Self-investment
• Community investment
• Social Enterprise loan
• Sales of services
Fit 2 Learn CIC

4. • Suppression of primary reflexes
• Control of large muscles
• Mid-line crossing
• Bi-lateral integration
• Core strength
• Co-ordination
Motor Skills

5. Crawling is a good training for:
• Developing bones, joints, ligaments, muscles
and nervous system for a good posture when
standing (McEwan et al)
• Visual perception, eye hand coordination,
body scheming (Visser & Franzen)
• Pencil grip (Visser & Franzen)
• Suppression of primary reflexes
Missing Development

6. Without the key development that would be
expected from crawling or equivalent alternative
activities, the following may occur:
• unable to achieve good postural control at ages 4
to 6 years
• do not reach the point where they can integrate
visual, proprioceptive and vestibular input
necessary for postural control
• lack of postural control impacts their ability to
develop binocular vision
Secondary Missing Development

7. • Feet – flat, inflexible, poor ankle movement
• Hips and legs - out of place
• Hands – fine motor skills necessary to control
tools
• Knowing where their own limbs are in order to
move them
Gavin Sandercock et al, Essex University
http://www.ukactive.com/downloads/managed/Start_Young_Stay_Active.pdf
Other issues picked up while working
on correcting motor skills

8. • Many children have good hearing
• But they experience problems with making
sense of what they are hearing
• Particularly in a classroom where they find it
difficult to follow a teacher’s voice
Sound Processing

9. Tomatis® Sound Processing
Assessment

10. • Blue = Air conduction of sound – human’s main
method of sound processing
• Red = Bone conduction of sound
In order for a human to process sound well:
• air conduction lies about 10 decibels above bone
conduction (at the level of the green curve)
• there are no clashes between the two curves
• the person is right ear dominant
Tomatis® Sound Processing

11. Other Issues on a Tomatis® Profile

12. • The student struggles to identify the source of
sounds:
– on Air marked by X
– on Bone marked by /
• It is distressing as they tend to be very anxious
in busy, enclosed environments
• It can get worse because the student becomes
traumatised and closes down further
Problems with Directionality

13. • Child struggles to follow teacher’s speech in a
classroom, especially if they move about
• Child struggles to read silently and prefers to
read aloud
• Child struggles to read for meaning – they
decode but struggle to understand what they
have read
Implications of Poor Sound Processing

14. • Speech is directly affected by the quality of a
person’s sound processing (Tomatis)
• Lack of auditory processing hinders
understanding of serial order and time
(Conway et al)
Sound Processing Continued

15. • Vestibular integration is the interface between
sound, vision, balance and motor skills.
• The vestibular system is located in the inner
ear – the cochlear and the labyrinth.
• It matures early in utero and is completely
mature in fourth year of life.
• Human labyrinth is significantly different from
other primates – linked to bipedalism and
language skills (Brown & Hecaen)
Vestibular Integration

16. • Laterality allows for specialisation to develop
finely sequenced motor skills for tool making
and hand gestures.
• The vestibular and gross motor skills are the
foundation for visual-spatial-manipulative
perceptions which underlie linguistic functions
(Daniels).
Vestibular System and Laterality

17. The brain needs two eyes to work together in
order to send equal messages to the brain.
The brain can then process and use to see
patterns, distinguish relevant from irrelevant etc.
Binocular Vision

18. Necessary in order to hold the head upright and
still, so that a child can develop good binocular
vision
A child needs good core strength and should not
lean over habitually
Vestibular integration also supports control of
eye muscles
Core Strength and Vestibular
Integration and Vision

19. Compevo Readalyzer® Technology
Left eye
movements
Right eye
movements

20. ReadAlyzer® Graph of a Good Reader
Right and left eyes are
clearly working together
in order to read and
process the text.
It is a very clear distinctive
pattern.
In the UK we do not check
binocular vision when a
person has an eye test.

21. Example: Eyes move reasonably well when reading
numbers, but are more erratic when reading text.

22. Example: Eyes struggle to work together
whatever they read

23. • Education underpinned by an understanding
of whole child development
• Curriculum for children up to 8 years of age
that focuses on the fundamental skills that
they need in order to be efficient learners:
Motor Skills; Sound Processing; Rhythm;
Speech and Language; Binocular Vision;
Pattern Recognition
Recommendations

24. The PE curriculum in particular to provide:
• Systematic development of the kinetic chain
• Postural assessment
• Gross motor skills taught before fine motor
skills
• Music and movement & Drama to be
integrated to allow for whole body learning
Recommendations cont’d

25. Charlotte Davies
Director
Fit 2 Learn CIC
www.fit-2-learn.com
Charlotte.Davies@fit-2-learn.com
Contact Details