CONSULTATIONS FOR LEARNING BLOCKS
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CONSULTATIONS FOR LEARNING BLOCKS |
Logic Access Difficulties
or
Gestalt Access Difficulties
or perhaps some combination of the
two?
These are indicators of learning difficulties & often lead to -
·
Frustration
·
Lack of self confidence
·
Giving up
·
Behaviour problems
·
Performance anxiety (tests)
·
Daydreaming or Hyperactivity
INTEGRATED HEATH KINESIOLOGY (IHK) CONSULTATIONS FOR OVERCOMING LEARNING
BLOCKS
The IHK Programme Brings Together Four Separate Disciplines –
Learning blocks can be
a problem for anyone
and are not related to overall intelligence.
Frequently we will see children who are very “street smart” but unable to
function academically at school. At the other end of the spectrum, we see gifted
learning-disabled children, who have gifted abilities in certain areas, and
learning blocks in others. Some children will have globall
developmental delay (problems in most areas) compared to delay in specific
areas (such as speech and language).
WHAT DO WE DO? HOW DOES IT WORK?
The IHK programme for Overcoming Learning Blocks is a 3-stage
process –
1. Assessment
Micro-skills of learning: This consists of 1-1¼ hours of testing the micro-skills of
learning and assessing brain function and behaviour. These micro-skills of
learning, such as eye movement, memory and coordination, make up the
macro-skills of reading, writing, spelling and numeracy (which we also assess). During the assessment, we use three separate
types of testing to do this –
(i) Muscle Response Testing or Kinesiology – This is pushing gently on an
outstretched arm (typically while lying), while addressing a possible problem
area. This gives feedback from the body about what is causing stress and what is not.
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muscles go “weak” under stress (like going weak at the knees on
hearing bad news).
-
using
muscle response testing we can test the micro-skills of learning, for example
eye movement, tracking across the page and recognising letters, which are all important
skills for reading. If the arm goes “weak” during any of these tasks, we know
the person is experiencing stress even if he or she appears to be doing the
task quite well! Children will avoid these stressful tasks and it is
often where the label “lazy” is used quite unfairly.
(ii) Psychometric Tests – These are not full psychological assessments but
rather practical tests drawn from standard psychological tests for visual and
auditory memory. For example, Digit Span, which is testing the child’s ability
to repeat back a sequence of numbers and then reverse them. How well this is
done, compared with children of the same age, indicates the child’s ability to take
in what is heard and then make pictures of it (tested through reversing the
digits). These memory skills are vital for learning times tables, remembering
spelling, doing maths and for following instructions.
(iii) Neurological Tests – This is not a full medical neurological examination
either but uses standard neurological tests for balance, co-ordination and
integration of brain functions. For example, balance tells us how the head on
neck reflexes are going, which is important for eye movement when reading.
Marching ability, on the other hand, tells us how well both sides of the brain
are working together.
At the end of the assessment, we can give an indication of
how many treatment sessions will be requires - usually a further 5-10 one hour sessions.
2. Treatment
Brain formatting: Through mainstream research in anatomy and physiology, we know a lot
about which parts of the brain control different functions in the body.
Acupuncture research has linked these brain areas to specific acupuncture points.
By testing these acupuncture points using muscle response testing, we can tell
which brain areas need to be worked on. This process is called “brain formatting” and is the basis of the LEAP
program.
Working through the
hierarchy of brain areas: We work systematically through brain areas testing to find those that are
contributing to the presenting problems. We start with checking communication
between large areas of the brain – like the two brain hemispheres. Problems in
these areas relate to global learning difficulties. We then move to smaller and
smaller areas of the brain that have quite specific functions. For example, the
hippocampus is a small region of the brain which controls the laying down and retrieval of memory.
Specific senses: After working with the brain areas,
we move on to the specific senses such as problems with the eyes (e.g.
eye-tracking), hearing (e.g. locating sounds in space), balance (e.g. balancing
on one leg) and co-ordination (e.g. marching).
Higher learning functions: Finally, we test and correct stress
related to the higher brain functions that are still showing problems, such as
letter and number recognition, numeracy skills, spelling, writing and reading.
We also work with residual behaviour problems.
Reassessing as we go: The nature of kinesiology is very
direct. After we work on a function, we can reassess it directly to see if
further work needs to be done. At the end of the 4th
session, for example, we reassess digit span to check that it has improved, and
then set spelling and times-tables homework using the newly acquired skills.
How we do the
correcting: After
identify area that needs to be worked on, by using
muscle response testing (as described above); we correct the problem with a
combination of one or more of the following techniques.
(i) Correcting confusion in the nervous system: A global example of confusion in
the nervous system is saying to a person to “turn left”, and he or she turns
right. The reason for this type of confusion is that the messages do not go to
the most efficient part of the brain for processing directly, or the messages
from the brain affecting the body get confused. An example of confusion in the
nervous system affecting the ability to learn to read is when the muscles of
the eyes pull against each other rather than working together, so that the eyes
move in a jerky motion and miss words or jump lines.
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we
fix confusion in the nervous system by administering gentle painless acupressure
to a sequence of acupuncture points with a small implement called a “tei shin” (we don’t use needles), which effectively “turns
on” the nerves related to this function.
-
this is a bit like recovery from spinal shock where the nervous system shuts
down. After a car accident, you may be paralysed for 6-8 weeks, but after the
bruising clears, the nerves start to “turn on” again, and feeling and movement begin
to return to the affected limbs. After trauma, such as concussion or closed
head injury, however, the nerves in the brain may not turn back on. We use the
acupressure techniques to turn them back on.
(ii) Correcting Emotional Stress (Emotional De-Stressing)
see also Counselling Kinesiology™: Emotional stress can become associated or “coupled” with a
learning task.
For example, you might have tried to spell your name and been laughed at when
you made a mistake. From then on, you remember this bad experience every time
you go to spell. This restricts your fledgling spelling ability and you get a
real “thing” about spelling – performing far below your actual ability.
It may be a family or social problem
that gets locked in with the learning task e.g. just learning to spell when
there is a death, separation, moving of house or change in schools.
Frequently learning problems lead to
low self-esteem and behavioural problems e.g. disturbing the class rather than being
shown up for what you can’t do.
-
To
correct these emotional stresses we use muscle response testing with “time-tracking”,
a kinesiology technique that allows us to identify an “emotional reference” in
the past. An “emotional reference” is a real experience or impression from the
past, where there was trauma or unpleasant feelings. It maintains the current negative
feelings in similar situations. We can gently address these memories or
impressions of critical incidents in the past with the child, and work through the
issues, while holding special “brain emotional de-stressing points”. These
points change blood flow in the brain and allow the stressful memories to be
re-processed and lose their controlling hold. We combine this with positive
visualisations and counselling skills (see Counselling Kinesiology™).
(iii) Structure: Frequently spinal misalignment and jamming of the bones of the skull
can interfere with nerves, affecting brain function. Even the shape of the roof
of the mouth and he teeth can cause problems (e.g. glue ear from a highly
arched palette causing hearing problems and speech delays).
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since bones are held in place by muscles, correcting muscle imbalances
will frequently fix structural problems. Kinesiology is used
to test virtually any muscle in the body, and reflex points are used to
strengthen the muscles that test “weak”. If this does not correct the
structural problem, we refer on to Chiropractors or Osteopaths.
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sometimes the structural corrections such as the N.O.T.
procedures (mentioned above) can be very helpful with attention problems where
the child is locked into fight or flight responses and over responds to
classroom stimuli.
(iv) Nutrition: Even if the diet is good, poor digestion or absorption problems can
mean a child misses out on nutrients that are vital
for effective brain function and growth. The most common nutrients required are
omega 3 fatty acids (fish oils), amino acids that make brain neurotransmitters,
digestive enzymes to aid poor digestion and tissue salts for minerals
Sugar or carbohydrate cravings can
result from huge rises and falls in blood sugar. Since the brain runs on blood
sugar, grumpiness, aggressiveness and hyperactivity, or sleepiness and poor
concentration, can result. These symptoms can often seesaw between opposite
extremes. While dietary modification may be required, frequently an underlying
problem with adrenal, pancreas and liver function needs to be
corrected. We use specific nutritional supplements along with
kinesiology balancing techniques to address these problem.
Frequently food intolerances, even
to quite healthy foods, can cause problems with brain function. Common
intolerances causing these problems include food additives (artificial colourings,
flavourings & preservatives), wheat and salicylates (found in red apples).
Vaccination stress and emotional
issues (especially depression) often respond well to nutritional
supplementation such as with St. Johns Wort or with homoeopathics.
-
We
correct this nutritional area by using muscle response testing and nutritional
test kits to identify the missing nutrients, and give them as supplements or
recommend dietary modification (Gordon is also a Naturopath). We test food
intolerances directly using the suspect foods and muscle response testing. Problem
foods are then eliminated from the diet (or in some cases
balanced to). Parents occasionally need to bring in a pile of samples
from the refrigerator and the larder to identify the offending food substance.
That said, with the exception of sugar and carbohydrates, this is a minor area
in most cases.
A combination of techniques: Usually we need to use a combination of techniques to fix each
of the particular problem areas we go through. It is like peeling layers off an
onion to get to the underlying root cause. The most common techniques we use are
the acupressure and emotional de-stressing techniques
3. Catch-Up
In the final stages of the programme,
exercises are given to reinforce the corrections that
have been made (e.g. exercises to improve marching, spelling, writing and balance).
After the programme has finished, a
catch-up period is required with parents, a tutor or additional support at
school. This is because the child has fallen behind the class and needs to
catch up on what has been missed due to the learning
blocks. Fortunately, this typically happens quite quickly now that the learning
blocks have been largely overcome.
4. Follow-Up
2-3 months after the programme has
finished we recommend that the child be brought back for
reassessment, to see that all is going well, and that the corrections have
held. This is usually the case. Occasionally we may need to repeat some of the
corrections but usually only a single session is
required. New issues may need to be addressed at this time, for example problems in maths
when algebra is introduced.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ’s)
Q. “Does the programme work for
children and adults of all ages?”
Yes. The problems don’t
go away, the compensations just get better. We frequently work with parents who recognise
that they still have problems similar to their children. Even very young
children and infants, who cannot be tested directly,
can be tested indirectly with muscle response testing on a surrogate (e.g.
parent).
Q. “What about
tutoring during the programme?”
It will not hurt but it may not be
helpful and it might be frustrating. A crude analogy would be like trying to
make a broken machine work harder. It is far better to fix the machine first
and then get it to do new work. Our programme fixes the underlying problem and
tutoring does the retraining.
Several tutors we work in with will
asses the children first, and if appropriate, refer them on to us for
treatment. We then refer them back for the catch-up when we are finished. Tutors
report that this reduces frustration on both sides, and makes their tutoring
easier and more effective.
Q. “Does this work last or will I
need to keep coming back again and again?”
Our aim is to go to the root cause
of the problem and correct it at this level. If this is done,
the problem is resolved and the end of the programme there is no need for
further consultations (although we recommend a follow-up to check that all is
still going well).
A concussion, major illness, toxins
or emotional trauma can cause problems to reappear. Usually this can be corrected in a single session. You will not have to
come back and repeat all the sessions again.
Q. “We have been a few
times and I haven’t seen any changes yet. Is that normal?”
The programme works with the
hierarchy of brain functions starting with communication between large areas of
the brain. Problems in these areas relate to global learning difficulties. We
then move to smaller and smaller areas of the brain that have quite specific
functions. If the child has problems in the large brain areas, dramatic results
can often be observed in the first or second session.
If the problem is with a specific small area of the brain, then this may not be addressed directly until later sessions, with
major changes only being noticed at this time. Usually significant changes will have been made by the end of the 4th session
(when spelling homework is given) but they may not happen until close to the
final session when marching and brain integration have been completed.
Q. “Does it work with
everyone?”
While nothing works 100% for
everyone all of the time, we have an extremely high rate of success and achieve
significant changes in virtually every case. The large number of word-of-mouth
referrals we get from past clients, tutors and health professionals is a strong
affirmation of this.
Q. “How long does it take and do we
have to book in for a whole programme?”
After the initial assessment
we make and estimate of how many sessions are required. This is 6 sessions for
mild cases and 10 sessions for severe cases. 90% of our clients come 7 or 8
times. It is pay-as-you go and there are no up front
fees. Since we frequently get booked out many weeks in advance, it is wise to
book in for the whole programme and we are happy to change appointments
provided we get 24 hours notice. A cancellation
fee may apply for non-emergency cancellations without 24 hours notice, where
the appointment time cannot be filled.
Q. “How frequently should we
come?”
This depends on time and budget.
Typically, people come once a week, once a fortnight or even once a month. It
is just as effective no matter what the spacing between sessions. Larger
spacing just means that the programme takes longer - months rather than weeks.
Since we are going to the root cause of the issues, and fixing problems but not
actually “teaching” anything, longer breaks are fine.
Appointments can be booked Monday-Friday9.30am-5.30pm and Saturday 9.30am-1.00pm. Our fees are $135/hr
(1/7/'24). We have credit card and EFT facilities. Our
fees are GST exempt since our services are provided
under naturopathy. [You can no longer claim rebates from health insurance providers
under naturopathy as this has been withdrawn by the federal govenment for most complementary therapies]. Unlike medical practitioiners, we are not subsidised for pensioner or other discounts
but do offer time payment for needy cases.
Q. “What causes learning blocks
and related behaviour difficulties?”
In the history taking, we ask about
the following areas that have all been linked to
learning blocks and behavioural difficulties.
·
Pregnancy
- complications, medication side effects, accidents, major traumas, poor
maternal diet (including excess alcohol consumption and smoking)
·
Foetal
distress and birth traumas (forceps or oxygen required)
·
Accidents,
falls or blows to the head resulting in concussion
·
General
anaesthetics
·
Febrile
or other convulsions
·
Major
illnesses or infections (including Glue ear)
·
Problems
with palette or dental formation
·
Vaccination
reactions
·
Poor
diet or food sensitivities
·
Eyesight
and hearing problems
·
Emotional
trauma or upsets (moving house, separation, parental mental health problems,
teasing)
·
History
of learning or behavioural problems in the extended family (i.e. genetic or
congenital problems)
Q. “What is Gordon Dickson’s
background and training?”
Gordon has a very varied background
(B.Eng(hon), Dip.A(mus),
ND, ATMS, AKA, AIK). He has
been practising Kinesiology professionally since 1986. His clinic, formerly in
Melbourne and now on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, specialises in Counselling (Counselling Kinesiology™) and Learning
Difficulties.
An experienced relationship, crisis
and debriefing counsellor, Gordon developed Counselling Kinesiology™ with his
wife Debra, and they have been teaching their courses throughout Australia
since 1990.
Gordon is a qualified Naturopath and
introduced the Certificate in Kinesiology at the Melbourne College of
Naturopathy in 1990, and at the Australian College of Natural Medicine in
Brisbane, in 1995. He was senior lecturer and supervisor of the student kinesiology
clinic until 2002.
His background in counselling,
naturopathy, music teaching and many years as a professional clarinet player, has
led to a very effective way of working with children – especially those with
behavioural difficulties. An initial qualification as an electrical engineer
ensured a thorough understanding of arithmetic and advanced maths concepts when
dealing with learning difficulties.
Gordon collaborated with Dr. Charles
Krebs for several years in extending the Learning Enhancement Acupressure
Program (LEAP™), and working in his clinic. Further studies in the Neural
Organisation Technique (N.O.T.) proved very valuable
for his work with Attention Deficit Disorder problems.
Gordon has written several books and
training manuals on Kinesiology, drawing on his extensive background in this
field. These include “What is Kinesiology?” (1990) and “The
Kinesiology Companion” (1998).
- for Emotional and
Behavioural Difficulties
Developed by Gordon
and Debra Dickson, Counselling Kinesiology™
is a synthesis of mainstream counselling techniques combined with kinesiology
(i.e. muscle testing to identify emotional stress). It is a systematic approach
to identify the emotional issues that cause unwanted feelings to persist, and
is aimed at helping adults and children find long-term solutions to emotionally
stressful issues.
It is designed
to help individuals, couples and
families with –
And with parent /
children relationships in the areas -
Frequently parents bring their children hoping some
miraculous change will occur so that the “problem” will go away. Fortunately,
this is often the case. However, the testing will frequently show that there is
a problem in the whole family or relating to the parenting approaches. A thorough understanding of parenting
approaches with some positive guidelines to offer parents is an indispensable
asset when working with parent / children relationships.
Sometimes it is most helpful to place the parent on the
table and work on his or her unresolved issues. At other times
it may involve a family therapy approach. It is always important to understand
the full biopsychological context, always looking beyond the obvious.
With children it is often important to combine Counselling Kinesiology
with the LEAP program as there are often several contributing factors (for
example learning issues contributing to behavioural problems and vice versa)..
It is important to allow them to understand their feelings (even being able to
give names to then), open up, talk about them, and
feel supported when tackling difficult issues. The advantage of muscle testing
is that we can find the “emotional references” – past experiences that are
dictating current behaviour, even if the children are not consciously aware of
what is driving them to behave in unproductive and upsetting ways. De-stressing
techniques involving acupressure, visualisation and specific kinesiology
techniques are then used. We also go over Change Techniques for modelling, practising & implementing new
behaviours. This is very affective for assertiveness training and working with
fears and phobias..
Change Techniques for modelling, practising & implementing new
behaviours. For example the “high five“ of
assertiveness training-
1.
Please don’t
do that.
2. Stop it, I don’t like it!
3. Ignore.
4. Walk away.
5. Report to teacher or parent.
For adults, where
in depth approaches are more appropriate, we use a three
stage approach.
STAGE 1: Talk therapy is used to establish rapport and explore at
a cognitive level, the issues that cause the feeling of having lost control of
some area of life. Unlike many other approaches, the intention is not to
resolve the issue in this phase. Counselling Kinesiology uses this stage to
open up the problem areas, identify goals, investigate past attempts to solve
these problems and look at what is sabotaging these goals from being achieved.
STAGE 2: The
first stage leads into a second stage Psychodynamic approach using the
Counselling Kinesiology "Emotional Stress Circuit". Regression is used to connect the person at a feeling level with their
inner child. Rather than being free regression to what material spontaneously
comes up, Counselling Kinesiology uses muscle testing to test for emotional
stress and pinpoint the critical emotional references which
are causing the person to maintain the current problem emotions. This usually
goes back to a symbolic time in the person's early childhood where decisions
about how one can and cannot behave have been internalised and dictate
subsequent behaviour.
Unique to Counselling Kinesiology are the
"Developmental Directory" and "Grief Gauge" emotional
states charts. These are used with muscle testing to
directly identify the critical emotional states that have been internalised.
The "Developmental Directory" is based on
the psychosocial developmental stages. It identifies unmet emotional needs which prevented the development of emotional strengths
and appropriate coping skills at particular phases of life. This lack of coping
skills will continue to cause problems throughout a person's life until they are addressed. The "Grief Gauge™" tracks the
natural way a person comes to terms with any unwanted loss or change, including
the specific tasks of grieving, to arrive at some type of narrative resolution.
Muscle testing, using the "Grief Gauge", quickly identifies where
this process has become stuck and what is preventing the person satisfactorily
coming to terms with the pain of the unwanted loss or change.
By additionally testing for flower essences and ego defence
behaviours at both the reference age and for the present time issue, the
practitioner has a clear window into the psychodynamics of the person's
individual emotional pattern. The practitioner is then in a unique position to
help guide the client through the grieving process, to help the client connect
with the emotional strengths needing to be developed and to empower the client
to feel totally different about the issue. This
process includes many specific techniques such as gestalt role reversal and
cognitive reprocessing. In a very safe and supportive way
the client learns to nurture the inner child and become self-validating.
STAGE 3: The
insight and emotional resolution from the second phase is
translated into practical changes in behaviour at the third Behavioural
phase. Counselling Kinesiology assists the client in using modelling techniques
with clever ways of isolating effective behaviours from seemingly inappropriate
role models. It links these effective new behaviours to powerful emotional
anchors from the second phase and uses emotional coaching with rehearsal and
confrontation, so that the client really masters new ways of behaving. It
allows people to see the sabotaging behaviours of stage one in a
totally new light and appreciate why they felt they could
never use more effective behaviours. They experience overcoming their
limitations and using powerful and effective new ways of being in day to day life. Typically they
report experiencing more emotional connection and more awareness than they have
ever had before in their lives.
Counselling Kinesiology is an educational model helping
clients to recognise generational patterns and make changes that can not only
transform their own lives, but also pass on an enduring heritage to their
children and the following generations.
