Brain Rules

Melissa Petcu, occupational therapist, recently attended the course Brain Rules for Pediatric Development by Charlene Young. This course focused on the development of the brain and highlighted diagnosis and treatment strategies for children with autism and ADHD. There are 7 brain rules:

1. Exploration of the environment to enhance learning and development

2. Vision is the strongest sense and can over power other senses

3. Individualization of input to enhance development as each brain is unique

4. Gender influences how you use your brain

5. Movement is a key factor in language development

6. Sensory Integration is important for multi-sensory processing

7. Neuro-Nutrition can include sensory stimulation, food, and sleep.

Some other interesting key points of the course include:

• The brain is very plastic (easier to change) between the ages of birth- 3 and then again around ages 10-13.
• Calming benefits of therapeutic massage
• Origin of behavior can be learned, cognitive, or sensory
• Cryotherapy techniques for behavior management
• Importance of tactile development in infancy and how infant carriers, swings, chairs, and other equipment affect this development.
• Movement patterns  to increase attention for ADHD