Neurodevelopmental Programme

Supporting the developmental foundations behind learning, coordination, concentration and emotional regulation

Some children are bright and capable, yet everyday things seem much harder than they should be.

Reading or writing may take enormous effort. They may struggle to sit still, concentrate, coordinate their movements or keep up with their peers. They may be unusually sensitive, anxious, easily overwhelmed or become frustrated by things that other children seem to manage more easily.

Sometimes, part of the reason can lie in the foundations of their early development.

My Neurodevelopmental Programme looks at these foundations and, where areas of development have not fully matured, uses a structured programme of movement-based exercises to help support the nervous system and develop more mature patterns of movement and control.

“Within weeks of starting the programme, our child was calmer and more focused. His reading improved, and school no longer felt overwhelming.”

What does neurodevelopment have to do with learning?

From the moment a baby is born, movement plays an important role in development.

Early movements help the brain and body begin to work together. As a baby lifts their head, rolls, sits, crawls and eventually walks, they are developing balance, coordination, body awareness, postural control and the ability to use the two sides of the body together.

These physical foundations are also important for many of the skills children later need in the classroom.

For example, a child needs sufficient postural control to sit comfortably at a desk, coordinated eye movements to follow words across a page, balance and body awareness to move confidently, and the ability to use both sides of the body together for many everyday learning and movement tasks.

One of the areas I assess as part of this developmental picture is primitive reflexes.

What are primitive reflexes?

Primitive reflexes are automatic movement patterns that are present during pregnancy and early infancy.

They have important jobs to do during the earliest stages of life, helping with birth, movement, protection and the development of the nervous system.

As the baby's brain and nervous system mature, these early reflexes would normally become less dominant and be replaced by more mature patterns of movement and postural control.

Sometimes, however, elements of these reflexes remain active for longer than expected.

These are often referred to as retained primitive reflexes.

A retained reflex doesn't automatically mean that a child will have difficulties. However, when several aspects of early development have not fully matured, they may place additional demands on the child and make certain tasks more effortful.

How might this affect a child?

Every child is different, and there is rarely one explanation for a child's difficulties.

However, immature developmental patterns may be one of the factors worth exploring when a child is struggling with areas such as:

Balance, coordination and body awareness
Sitting still and maintaining good posture
Handwriting and fine motor skills
Reading and tracking words across a page
Concentration and attention
Crossing the body's midline
Physical confidence and sporting ability
Sensory sensitivities
Emotional regulation
Anxiety and feeling easily overwhelmed

This is why I don't simply look at a diagnosis or presenting difficulty and assume that a neurodevelopmental programme is needed. I assess the child first.

Assessment comes first

Before recommending a programme, I want to understand your child.

My comprehensive assessment looks beyond the difficulty you can see and explores a number of areas that may be contributing to it.

Depending on your child's needs, this can include neurodevelopment and primitive reflexes, balance and coordination, visual skills, auditory processing and hearing, together with nutrition, stress and mindset.

This wider assessment is important because two children can appear to have very similar difficulties for completely different reasons.

Once the assessment is complete, I produce a written report explaining what I have found. We then have a report-reading appointment over Zoom, where I take you through the findings, explain how the different pieces may connect and discuss what I recommend as the next step.

A Neurodevelopmental Programme is only recommended when my assessment indicates that this work would be appropriate for your child.

An individual programme for your child

If neurodevelopmental work is recommended, I create an individual programme based on your child's assessment findings.

The exercises themselves are mostly carried out at home, little and often, as consistency is an important part of the process. I show you and your child what to do and provide guidance so that you can continue the exercises between appointments.

This isn't a programme where I give you a set of exercises at the beginning and leave you to get on with them.

Your child comes back to see me regularly so that I can review their progress, reassess where necessary and change or introduce exercises as their development progresses.

There is no fixed number of reviews. I see your child as often as they need during the programme.

The programme usually takes approximately four months, although every child is different and progress isn't expected to follow exactly the same timetable.

Looking at the whole child

The neurodevelopmental exercises are an important part of the programme, but they are not the only thing I consider.

A child's ability to learn, regulate and develop can be influenced by many different factors.

During review appointments, I can therefore continue to look at other areas identified through the original assessment, including nutrition, stress and mindset, and possible environmental or toxicity factors, where relevant to that child.

This is an important part of my approach.

Rather than separating a child's difficulties into isolated symptoms, I am interested in how the different pieces may be interacting and what may be placing additional demands on that particular child.

What happens at the end of the programme

At the end of the programme, I reassess your child's neurodevelopmental progress so that we can compare where they are with where they started.

The aim isn't to make every child fit the same developmental template. It is to help strengthen foundations that may have been making everyday life more effortful and give the child a better platform from which to learn and develop.

Where do we start?

If you're wondering whether neurodevelopment may be part of the reason your child is struggling, you don't need to decide which assessment or programme they need yourself.

I offer a free 15-minute telephone consultation so that you can tell me a little about your child, the difficulties you are seeing and what you would most like help with.

From there, I can advise you which assessment I feel would be most appropriate.

Book Free 15 Min Consultation

“Albert has gone from struggling to thriving - winning his term progress prize, reading constantly and earning places in both the tennis squad and the RAMS rugby team.”

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