Article based on the findings of Hiroshi Nittono, Michiko Fukushima, Akihiro Yano, Hiroki Moriya.

Here is, maybe, your first Japanese lesson, we will start with the word: Kawaii. Kawaii means cute.

Note: learning and focus are managed in the brain by serotonin and Dopamine.

This study by Hiroshi Nittono, Michiko Fukushima, Akihiro Yano, Hiroki Moriya shows that if you look at the picture of a baby animal, an intense and relaxing effect will occur with the addition of an increased capacity to resolve complex motor or cognitive tasks.

Watching pictures of dogs and other animals and even delicious food did not have this impact on the brain.

“In humans, the stimuli are deemed cute, they capture attention, bring a smile to the viewer’s face and induce motivation and behavior for approach, learning and caregiving.

Baby faces modulates perception and attention immediately as you lay eyes on them and activates Dopamine function of the brain.

“Because cute things produce positive feelings, their influence may extend to other aspects of behavior.”

Researchers Sherman, Haidt, and Coan reported two experiments showing that performance in a fine motor dexterity task (the children’s game Operation where the participants have to remove tiny body parts from a plastic body with tweezers and without touching the edges) improved after participants viewed a slide show of cute images (e.g., puppies and kittens) more than after they viewed images that were not as cute.

The authors explain that viewing those pictures makes them feel relaxed and they are better able to focus.

Note: relaxation is the product of good serotonin function

Cute baby falls asleep in her bowl of food.

They also said that viewing of cuteness motivates social engagement and produces friendly tendencies.

The study also shows that any adult individual is shown cute baby animals pictures and baby pictures, they always rate the baby picture as more cute.

The conclusion of the study declares that:

…perceiving cuteness not only improves fine motor skills but also increases perceptual carefulness.

Cute features not only make objects more user friendly and approachable, but also induce careful behavioral tendencies in the users, which is beneficial in specific situations, such as driving and office work.

Kawaii things not only make us happier, but also affect positively our behavior.

Here is a public slide show to make you feel happier

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/10/01/cute-animals-funny-pictures_n_1928228.html?GEP%2040%20#slide=1584503

References:

• Alley TR (1983) Infantile head shape as an elicitor of adult protection. Merrill Palmer Q 29: 411–427.
• Sherman GD, Haidt J, Coan JA (2009) Viewing cute images increases behavioral carefulness. Emotion 9: 282–286. doi:
• Sprengelmeyer R, Perrett DI, Fagan EC, Cornwell RE, Lobmaier JS, et al. (2009) The cutest little baby face: a hormonal link to sensitivity to cuteness in infant faces. Psychol Sci 20: 149–154.

In this case, the slideshow is designed for children with autism, Asperger’s, or simply anyone with anxiety issues.

If you struggle to feel serene. If you find that anything will set you off in a bad mood, then you need help regulating Serotonin in your brain.

This exercise is designed to present your brain with the sensory experience your brain needs to “refill” on Serotonin, which is the chemical your brain needs if you want to feel calm and in control.

Please let me know other slideshows you would like to see here. There are so many themes: “Fish”, “Flowers”, “Trees”, “Cats”, etc

We are going to give you two simple exercises to do twice a day, a quick one to do several times throughout the day, and a couple of things to do at bedtime.

The exercises will:

• Promote better production of dopamine by stimulating activity in the Olfactory bulb, where your dopamine is produced;
• Strengthen connections between the Olfactory bulb and the rest of your brain;
• Help you feel better, and all sorts of good things will happen in your brain as a result of a better regulation of your Serotonin levels.
• Help you get healthy, rejuvenating sleep to maximize repair during this crucial time of natural maintenance work that happens at night.

If you take action and give this simple regimen a real try you will feel very quickly the benefits.

Put the phone on mute, close the door and take care of your brain.

1. The Multisensory Core Protocol

This is your first exercise. It will promote activity in the olfactory bulb, in the upper cortex in the visual and touch zones and create new lines of communication between those areas, simply by repreating the exercise twice a day.

The merits of olfaction are now well published and we invite you to review the bibliography.

Neuroscience has made crucial advances in the field of Dopamine and serotonin and how to use simple natural techniques to improve their production and function. This exercise is an adaptation of those findings for you to enjoy their benefits.

2. Find the fruit, holding and smelling

3. Smell 6 times a day

Finally, smelling throughout the day any scent of your choice: orange, lemon, lavender, apple, preferably from an essential oil to obtain a strong scent, will complete the regimen for a dynamic and efficient action against the terrible disease.

“Therapeutic” smelling means at least two slow, deep inhalations. Put all your millions of smell receptors in the nose to work!

4. At bedtime: Music, Scent on the Pillow

At bedtime, listen to at least 5 minutes of relaxing orchestral music and apply a fragrance to your pillow.

You don’t have to fall asleep to the music. Headphones is best, as it isolates from all other noise. Close your eyes and let your brain enjoy working on this.

As for the fragrance on your pillow, you will find yourself waking up to it in the middle of the night for the first few days. It’s normal.

Notes

Better to have someone do it to you

If you do it to yourself, the effects of the exercises will be diluted. If you do it to yourself, then you involve a lot more areas of your brain when you do the exercises. It is best to have someone do the exercises to you and for you to be as passive as possible. For example, when you smell, close your eyes and focus on inhaling slowly. Let your partner present the smell to you, don’t hold it, or you involve motor areas, proprioception, etc.

The more focused and specific the sensory experience, the more impact it will have on your brain.

The Storm

If you do this properly, your brain will start to change immediately and for the first few days, you will go through what we call the Storm. You will likely become moody and cranky, which will make it difficult to stick to the exercises. Keep at it and soon, you will be stable and improving day by day.

The storm can take virtually any shape or form. It can be a high fever with no symptoms, a drowsiness that gets you to sleep for hours during the day, a headache, or any exarcerbated behavior: screams, hitting, biting, throwing, jumping. The only stable element is that you are not going to like it.

As all storms, it will pass and you will be rewarded.

Probably unoticed, during the storm, something will change, something subtle, something brief and wonderful. Maybe you will sleep an entire night but you were so exhausted you did not even realize it. Maybe you will find yourself experiencing extreme precision in your movements. Observe and rejoice, the storm is the sign that healing has started.

Smoking, drinking and other stimulants

You may have to include to your action some life style changes. Stimulants are very impairing and damaging to Dopamine and serotonin. Gradually decrease to eventually stop entirely consumption of coffee, tea, alcohol, cigarettes. Take a serious look at your nutrition and evaluate what you may have to change in order to help your body and your brain to fight efficiently.

—

That’s it! I hope this works great for you.

If you have questions, post them in the comments section below. We read all of them personally. They get to us in our email.

Taken from en email we received from a parent…

Mother:

I am becoming a little concerned about her attitude when we have company.

It seems that if anyone comes to the house that is going to take any of my attention she becomes agitated and screams, yells, throws things and finds any way possible be disruptive.

She doesn’t like it when one of her siblings stays home from school but she is fine with them being home on weekends and nights.

Maybe I am making too big a deal out of this?

I take time during the day to play with her and include her in what I am doing but I almost feel like I should have someone else come in and play with her once a day so she won’t get so attached to me and expect my attention all the time.

Claudie:

The good news is that what worries you is the most NORMAL thing ever.

All children in the world suffer from “phone syndrome”, “mom has friends over syndrome”.

You probably did not notice it from the other kids, because they were playing their “syndrome” so much lower key than your daughter has been forever, that they went unnoticed.

The fact that she is demonstrating her awareness, attachment and fear of losing even a second of your attention may be a sign of healthy development.

Now, how will you deal with it?

What do you do now? Ask her to be quiet? Ask her to calm down? Reinforce her?

No, inviting more people will not help her get used to it.

Giving her even more one on one time will make it pass.

She is growing and developing in her head, it is a wonderful thing.

Children go through this phase when they are between 8 months and 2 years of age. At this age it is convenient to parents because they are small enough to be carried where we need them to be even if they don’t want to, they can be placed in someone else’s care, and you can go on with your life when you need to.

When they go through this phase at a later age it can become a burden on you. Remember that everyone has to go through the same developmental milestones one way or another. It’s not just her and it’s not just you.

Other good news: it will pass!

My advice: buy a book on the normal development of typical children and check to see where she is at, it may help to give you an idea of what is coming next.

You can’t make a child be convenient, you know that already.

Let’s talk a little about what may be going on in her head.

To grow up, to feel she is becoming an individual on her own is a little frightening, so she wants both of both world. She wants to be the baby that you care for every minute of the day, but she also needs to be the boss too, and that creates an internal conflict that makes it even harder!

Asking you to play games is her way to own you, to own how long you are going to spend with her. The more complicated she makes it for you, the longer you will be hers and hers alone.

There are no easy shortcuts to child development, keep following your Multisensory Therapy program, so she will develop naturally. You are doing everything that is best for her, do not  worry more than you need to.

Mother:

Thanks!  Everything you said makes perfect sense.

I think I am always over-analyzing everything Kristin does, looking for those autistic tendencies that I used to worry so much about… the insistence on routines and repetition, etc.  

I have to remind myself that I am not looking for characteristics of autism anymore, but instead I am watching a growing little girl emerge with her own individuality and personality!

Last night Julia and I spent about 45 minutes with Kristin and you could say we were doing nothing more than teasing her which is something we would never have considered doing a year ago!

She was lining up her DVD cases in rows and we kept snatching one from the lineup just to get a reaction.

Julia stole her stack that she was working from and refused to return one at a time until she got a kiss for each one.

Kristin was mocking us, laughing and enjoying the game rather than screaming and getting mad because we were messing with her and she seemed to enjoy it.

Julia was amazed that she knew who was on the cover of all the dvds and the words were clear.  She kept commenting with astonishment that Kristin was saying so much more and she was so excited she called her boyfriend and put Kristin on speaker phone.

Mark said hi to Kristin and she said “Hi, Mark!”  (first response ever to a phone)

She then picked up her Wiggle’s DVD and proceeded to sing “Hot potato, Hot potato” at the top of her lungs.

—

The point here is that it is easy to forget that your child with autism is also a real child who is trying to grow and mature naturally.

Your child will go through all the developmental milestones. He may do it in a different order or at a different pace, and so he will look weird and immature in many situations.

But don’t forget how you help a child grow. Forcing situations to help a child get used to living in the real world does not work. You have got to help prepare whatever needs to be prepared inside her head, both emotionally and physiologically so that she will be fine, just like a regular child is fine in that situation.

Are you translating all what your child does as a symptom pertaining to the diagnosis? Take a step back, read a book on normal child development and see.

names have been changed to preserve the privacy of this family.

How do you react when other people talk about normal vs. special needs?

Who defines what an average child is supposed to be able to do?

Who decides that your child is “broken”?

Should we not be looking for a way to make everyone exceptional?

Before you read anything else, watch this:

My first encounter with “normal” children happened 36 years ago, when I was pregnant with my first boy: Kim.

I am French. In France, if you were a good mother 30 years ago, you read, studied, memorized this book, titled “Parent”.

It says that:

“if your child does not cry every day between six and seven pm, he has a serious problem and you need to consult with your pediatrician”.

Kim never cried.

I believe that there was a reason for that: I spent every waking hour and many of the night hours my eyes riveted to his beautiful face. If he showed by a sucking motion of the lips that he was hungry, I would pick him up and breastfeed him. If he made a face suggesting discomfort, I promptly and lovingly checked his diaper, a fold in the sheet, the position of his toes.

I was of course totally excessive, as the mother of every first child, but the result I experienced was one of a peaceful and content baby who never cried.

I was confident enough to sincerely believe that the book was wrong and I put it away for good, and, years later, wrote my own book on child development.

How many mothers called the emergency unit for immediate consultation because a famous book was telling them that their child was not normal?

We must measure our child according to himself.

Every time I run an evaluation I look for those capacities in a child upon which it will be possible to build recovery. I recently assessed a wonderful little Chase, a strong-willed, intelligent and tender child affected with severe cerebral palsy. I was amazed with the quality of the motion in his joints, the strength of his back, the quality of his eye scanning. As I was expressing all this to the mother she told me how great it was to hear about his positives, while most often she would be told about his incapacities.

If your child is non-verbal, meaning, he does not communicate with words, he probably is still communicative if he moves around, looks for an object, responds to your requests. He has a conversation going in his mind and this is just as valuable as spoken words.

If your child has poor sleep, he still sleeps some, doesn’t he? Maybe not at the time you would like, maybe not in long stretches of time that you would benefit from yourself, but he does sleep some.

How can you measure your child’s capacities using himself as a measuring table rather than other children?

First you need to know that this is the only valid and exact measure.

Comparing your child to any other child is not only unfair, it is inaccurate. It is unfair because it probably will lead you to make decisions that would be working for that other child but not yours, and it is unfair because it does not allow him to be who he is and who is is going to become. It is inaccurate because it uses numbers which do not exist and are averages of the best and of the worst.

Start from his first day of life and chart down all the components of development:

• Movement
• Communication
• Focus
• Interaction
• Learning
• Feeding
• Sleep, etc.

What could your child do on his first day of life? Do you remember?

What could he do when he was six months old?

Draw a graph, for each of the fields of development, with the age at the bottom and levels of accomplishment on the left vertical line

(fix the terms there-show an example of graph)

The purpose of this exercise if for you to see that your child is developing and learning… at his own pace, yes, but the pace is there!

With this positive attitude, you will find that you will feel more peaceful, more optimistic and more ready to build a world around your child in a way that can help him.

As you observe your child within his own self and within the family you may find that you opted for therapies or plans of action that are not suited for him, or that don’t work for him, simply because he is his own person and a broad approach of his present difficulties is simply not matching his needs.
When you learn how to appreciate your child and his capacities, you also learn how to bring to him the right tools, plan and objectives.
For example, if your child does not use words yet, going to speech therapy may be premature, while doing music therapy, playing drums, dancing might help to develop auditory processing and breathing which are crucial components of speech.

As Shawn Achor states in his talk which I hope you have watched by now, being happy must be the first step to any project.

You cannot make a project which will lead you and your child to be happy when the project is completed.

Be happy now, be proud of what your child can do and rejoice with the moment you have.

My wife commented to me today how convenient she found these slideshows that I have been producing and so it made me want to do another one. It’s really easy in iPhoto on the Mac. Collect gorgeous photos, create a slideshow from them, select a nice piece of soft relaxing music and click “Play”.

Whenever you feel anxiety building up, or whenever you are looking for stress relief, come here, select one of my slideshows, put a headset on to isolate yourself from the rest of the world and enjoy a boost of dopamine and Serotonin in your brain.

As I have said for the other slideshows, if you want to multiply the effect this slideshow can have on your brain chemistry then do some smelling at the same time you watch it. It can be anything that you think smells really nice. For me, sometimes, it is the palm of my hand, especially when I have done some cooking earlier in the day and my hands smell of onion or garlic. MMMMMMHH!

I will refer you to some studies made on rats about smelling and adding another pleasurable sensory stimulus to multiply the effect on dopamine release in particular.

• Coopersmith R, Weihmuller FB, Kirstein CL, Marshall JF, Leon M. “Extracellular Dopamine Increases in the Neonatal Olfactory Bulb During Odor Preference Training.” Brain Research 564, no. 1 (1991): 149-53.
• Coopersmith, R, Leon, M. “Enhanced Neural Response to Familiar Olfactory Cues.” Science 225, no. 4664 (1984): 849-51.
• M, Leon. “Plasticity of Olfactory Output Circuits Related to Early Olfactory Learning.” Trends in Neurosciences 10, no. 10 (1987): 434-38.

Please tell me if you would like to see more of this type of slideshow, or if you prefer the fine art ones.

• The number of tantrums this week? How violent were they on a scale of 1 to 5? Was there physical violence to self? To others?
• How many hours of sleep on Monday night?
• How many calories did she take in last week?
• How many times did he used the wrong word for something since I last saw you?
  etc…

We know that we need to keep track of such things. Guess what, there is an app for that!

Watch the tutorial video. It says everything you need to know about the app. It’s really well done.

It’s pricey for a mobile app at $30, but I have not seen any other mobile app come close.

Buy

Buy

Buy

There is “track and share pro“, an app for the iPhone, but you cannot add different observers, which is a crucial piece of information when you report your observations. It is important to know that Dad observed and tracked last week, not Mom. Different people see different things. Also with “track and share pro“ you cannot add different “clients” and if you have more than one child with challenges, you will need a way to keep observation data separate for each one.

Since I posted this exchange I had with another mom, I have had a phone conversation with her.

It turns out I was recording the call, because it was a Mastermind phone conference. She and I belong to this group of like-minded entrepreneurs trying to make a difference and I like to replay the calls, the good ideas, the good vibes.

I am posting here the audio recording of what she said, two weeks after trying out the sensory techniques I suggested when she first asked for help with her daughter who would wake up crying for a long time after every nap.

–

[12/21/11 8:43:28 AM] Irina Belska:

Hi Kim, how are you? My daughter after day sleep often wake up with big cry, I wondering what can be the reason and what I can do about it? It is took about 20 min to calm her down.

[12/21/11 8:44:14 AM] Kim Pomares:

Yes, I have seen this before

[12/21/11 8:45:05 AM] Irina Belska:

and what it can be and what to do?

after night sleep all is ok

[12/21/11 8:45:56 AM] Kim Pomares:

Ill ask my mother.

[12/21/11 8:46:14 AM] Irina Belska:

thanks Kim!

[12/21/11 8:47:15 AM] Kim Pomares:

Here is what she says.

I’ll copy and paste and then explain

strawberry and ice, gentle claw every hour for 3 days

then same every two hours with smell every hour

I would also set the multi texture path for 2 weeks somewhere, and music at bedtime

Translation:

Strawberry and Ice is a protocol to use when she wakes up from a nap. Present a strawberry fragrance and apply ice to a sensitive spot on her body

You can make it into a game

One parent sent us a video where the child placed his hands on a bag of frozen peas, then lifted up his arms real high, then the parent would present a jar of strawberry jam (for the smell), then the child would place his hands back on the cold bag

and so on a couple of times

So long as she gets to smell strawberry and feel ice cold in some way

Strawberry fragrance is the only one we know of that prompts activity in the brain stem. All the other smells that have been studied with MRI’s only show activity in the cortex

And ice is there to help stop all activities in the brain for a fraction of a second

Cold is a powerful danger signal to the brain and so the brain will stop everything it is doing to focus on processing that signal

It’s an effective way of “distracting” her brain from whatever is causing the crying

Makes sense?

[12/21/11 8:53:00 AM] Irina Belska:

very interesting! make sense

[12/21/11 8:53:20 AM] Kim Pomares:

Then there are the protocols that you ahve to do with her throughout the day.

Let me explain those

gentle claw every hour for 3 days

It means a very nice back rub about every hour throughout the day

Does she like gentle touch?

Or does she find it irritating?

[12/21/11 8:56:12 AM] Irina Belska:

seems like it, my husband just try it

[12/21/11 8:56:37 AM] Kim Pomares:

The way to know if it worked is if she relaxes

Did she relax?

The gentle rub will not work very well to stop the crying, but it works well to help her recover after she cried.

To stop the crying, it has to be the “strawberry and ice” protocol.

[12/21/11 8:58:05 AM] Irina Belska:

she was laid down and laught

[12/21/11 8:58:28 AM] Kim Pomares:

Did she lie down after you did the gentle rub?

[12/21/11 8:58:52 AM] Irina Belska:

while doing rub

[12/21/11 8:59:15 AM] Kim Pomares:

Hmmmm… It looks as though she did not really like it

[12/21/11 8:59:35 AM] Irina Belska:

aha!

[12/21/11 8:59:51 AM] Kim Pomares:

What you describe sounds like the kind of reaction we get from children who find gentle touch less than very pleasurable.

You may need to be creative about the gentle touch exercise

It may work better on her forehead

Around her face

But be careful not to be intrusive

[12/21/11 9:00:42 AM] Irina Belska:

the goal is to relax?

[12/21/11 9:00:50 AM] Kim Pomares:

Exactly

Many kids yawn after it

[12/21/11 9:01:17 AM] Irina Belska:

then she relax when I do it

I was doing today it to her intuitevly and she was very relaxed

[12/21/11 9:01:51 AM] Kim Pomares:

There you go!

Alright so do this throughout the day, hourly, for three days

And every time she wakes up, whether or not she cries, do the strawberry and ice

[12/21/11 9:03:00 AM] Irina Belska:

try to remember!

also after night?

or only daytime?

[12/21/11 9:03:36 AM] Kim Pomares:

If she wakes up crying after a nap, it will help her calm down. If she wakes up and does not cry, it will help preventatively.

Everything I tell you, only do them when she is awake

[12/21/11 9:04:24 AM] Irina Belska:

when she completely awake?

or start to awake?

[12/21/11 9:04:37 AM] Kim Pomares:

Completely awake

[12/21/11 9:04:39 AM] Irina Belska:

ok

[12/21/11 9:05:17 AM] Kim Pomares:

Then, after three days, you alternate Gentle Claw with Gentle Claw + Smell

Still every hour, throughout the day.

For Gentle Claw and Smell, it can be any smell she really likes?

What smell does she really like?

Cookies? Flower? Lemon? Vanilla? Peppermint? Lavender? Carrot?

[12/21/11 9:06:59 AM] Irina Belska:

hmmm…really don’t know what smells she likes

[12/21/11 9:07:09 AM] Kim Pomares:

Have fun exploring with her

You could take her to a health store, the kind that would sell essential oils.

Natural oils are better. The fewer chemicals we are exposed to the better.

These stores usually have lots of samples

She has to really like it, so if she doesn’t like the natural ones, then it’s OK to explore the shampoo aisle at the store

Some of these shampoos smell very nice!

Or soaps

Or jams

sauces

anything, so long as she really likes it

When you smell something you really like, you help your brain regulate its levels of dopamine

When you experience pleasurable, gentle touch, you help your brain regulate its levels of Serotonin

There are many ways to do these things, but smell and touch are the most direct and effective

And they have been studied properly in research labs

Got it?

[12/21/11 9:11:46 AM] Irina Belska:

so first 3 days strawberry and ice

then smells what she like

no ice anymore?

[12/21/11 9:12:34 AM] Kim Pomares:

For the first three days, strawberry and ice whenever she wakes up from a nap, crying or not.

Then after that use the strawberry and ice only when she cries.

For the first three days, throughout the day, gentle claw every hour

Then after that, alternate every hour between Gentle Claw and Gentle Claw + Smell

For 10 – 12 days, for a total of 14 – 15 days

She will be a lot better after that, but not completely recovered. She will need more, but we would need to know more about your daughter to be able to give you other protocols

But she will be a lot better

Now there are two more things

Make up a long path somewhere in your house with multiple textures

Don’t give her instructions about it, just prepare it and leave it there for her to explore, walk on it.

One of them should be astro turf

And make it as contrasted as possible, both in terms of textures and thickness

You still there?

[12/21/11 9:17:48 AM] Irina Belska:

yea

[12/21/11 9:17:54 AM] Kim Pomares:

[12/21/11 9:18:00 AM] Irina Belska:

what is astro turf?

[12/21/11 9:18:27 AM] Kim Pomares:

Fake grass, usually as welcom mats outside your front door

And the last one is:

Music at bedtime

Any piece so long as: 1) She likes it, 2) It is mostly calm, 3) No words, 4) More than one instrument playing at the same time

Ideally with headphones, but it is rare when a child will enjoy listening to music with headphones

[12/21/11 9:21:08 AM] Irina Belska:

meditative music?

[12/21/11 9:21:28 AM] Kim Pomares:

Meditative music is not the best for this

It’s OK, not ideal

[12/21/11 9:22:03 AM] Irina Belska:

ok, do you have some band names as example?

[12/21/11 9:22:11 AM] Kim Pomares:

Chopin’s 1st Piano concerto, 2nd movement is ideal…

[12/21/11 9:22:40 AM] Irina Belska:

good! than we try this

[12/21/11 9:22:43 AM] Kim Pomares:

Romantic Movie scores work well too

She has to really like it

again, she will relax

[12/21/11 9:23:30 AM] Irina Belska:

do I need to do strawberry also when she wake up after night sleep or only after daytime?

[12/21/11 9:23:45 AM] Kim Pomares:

Only after daytime nap

[12/21/11 9:23:51 AM] Irina Belska:

ok

also question, she often bang her head against my or husband very strongly, that it is really painful

[12/21/11 9:24:51 AM] Kim Pomares:

That’s not good

That’s real distress.

These protocols I gave you will help with that

With better regulated Serotonin and Dopamine she will experience less distress, but it may need more “repair”

[12/21/11 9:27:24 AM] Irina Belska:

so first I will do this first protocol and than we see

[12/21/11 9:27:33 AM] Kim Pomares:

Yes

[12/21/11 9:28:54 AM] Irina Belska:

ok, thanks a lot, now I have what to do for 2 weeks

[12/21/11 9:29:23 AM] Kim Pomares:

Glad I could help

[12/21/11 9:29:51 AM] Irina Belska:

(F)  (F)  (F)

Before Multisensory Therapy was a therapy for neurological disorders it was a method of enriching the environment to help typical children develop a healthy and strong brain.

Claudie moved house. She moved next door to us (Yeah!!). While packing she came across a couple of old reports, including this one.

STUDY ON THE INFLUENCE OF THE GORDON POMARES METHOD OF MULTISENSORY STIMULATION ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHILD IN THE DAYCARE

GENERALISATION

The multisentory program effectively started in December 1998, when all babies included in the program arrived in their daycare and passed their adaptating process.

The babies included in the program received regular multisensory stimulation on an average of three times a week, sometimes five times a week, monitoring workers and children absences.

The schedule given for the program has been relatively well followed, modifications and changes being exceptional due to the missing of the fruit or vegetable that day.

The follow-up on the daycares was assured at least two times a month, control daycares being visited only once a month.

During the course of the year, some children from the VIOLET daycare moved up from classrooms because of their age (since they started daycare late, their time in the baby section was shortened), but they continued with the sensory program in their new section.

The group of children from the ARBRE SEC daycare was removed from the study because of the daycare’s status changes and the impossibility to pursue the study in the new status.

BILAN

A first report was concluded in January 1997, a second one in June and July 1998, May 1999 and May 2000.

GENERAL OBSERVATION

The first modification observed with the babies included in the multisensory program was behavioural at meal time and sleeping time.

In those two usually agitated and noisy periods, we gradually observed a change more and more important in the behaviour of the children : calm, silence, autonomy in regard to the adult.

In the control daycares, the non sleeping children are agitated or cry.

The second year of the multisensory stimulation program started in October 1998. Tow children left the daycare, three new ones started in the middle section – ten to fifteen months at the beginning of the year – the beginner children were included in the program.

The schedule is similar to the past year’s, exposures to the same frequency. A member from team 2 was missing, replaced by another member of the same team, but having less experience. Team 2 also switched directors two times during the second year.

Team 1 switched directors once. The new director is really involved and motivated. During a visit on the second trimestre, she expresses the thought to expose the children of the big section – two years old and older – to the program hoping to resolve some major echues in that section :

• lack of appetite from the children, refusal of new food intake
• incapacity from the group of fifteen to calm down or fall asleep at sleeping time.

Private Comfy Nook for Children who need to take a break from the croud

Sleeping time is a crucial moment in the day of a child in a collective daycare. It’s a necessary resting time that most daycares (75% of the consulted daycares) have a hard time dealing with. Children sleeping on a mattress on the floor refuse to stay still, some run in the room, all of them are agitated and noisy.

We naturally encouraged this initiative. Two months later, this director gave us an individual observation report on each child from the big section as well as a verbal report on the general situation of the group following the next four points:

1. all the children from the big section finish their plate (except one, a foreigner child who arrived before the report and who did not speak french).
2. 40% of the children ask for a second serving, which thing never happened since the opening of the daycare, according to the verbal report from the cook, who was there since the biginning in 1987.
3. all the children are calm during sleeping time, except one (a child with important family problems).
4. 50% of the children sleep during sleeping time.

The general comparative observation of the children exposed to the program and the children from the control group is positive in favour of the children who beneficiated from the multisensory stimulation program at three levels :

1. social : the children are less aggressive, more social, less noisy in their general activity.
2. the children’s feeding is more dynamic, they eat better in quantity and variety.
3. cognitive : the children are performing better in answer to simple consignes, validate in their social behaviour the rules of the group (put the things they use back where they belong, get their toy during the calming down time before a meal without asking for it…)

The daycares in the program were visited two times a month, the control daycares once a month.

One of the control daycare got a new director who asked to be offered a number of materials to be able to continue with the program : in the facts, continue to receive us without changing anything with its functioning.

BILANS

A first report was written in January, the second one in May and July 1998. Those reports were enriched with individual observations with the “Violet” daycare. The drawing of the man was accomplished in June in the two groups. The sample joint as annex is the most marking of the structuration of the children.

GENERAL OBSERVATION

The most important point of this year to us is the study of the feeding behavioural modifications and in periode de repos of the “big” group of the “Violet” daycare. We noticed that the critical period does not exceed one month, and we can consider, with 95% of positive results, that it is possible to put together a project of amelioration of the feeding behaviour in the typical young child in a period of one to two month.

We are writing an independent report on this inter study observation.

The first observed modification with the babies included in the multisensory stimulation program is a behavioural modification at meal time and at sleeping time.

In those two periods usually agitated and noisy, we gradually observed a change more and more important in the behaviour of the children :

• calm,
• silence,
• autonomy in regard to the adult.

The last film made during sleeping time at the “Arbre Sec” daycare shows a group of eight children with only one asleep, the other babies found a comfortable position and patiently wait the end of the sleeping time. With the pilot daycares, the non sleeping children are agitated or cry.

GENERAL ANALYSIS

FINE MOTOR

Noticeable difference in the asymetric utilisation of the two hands, in the handling and manipulation of small objects, ability to stack up more than three blocks with the group on the program.

GLOBAL MOTRICITY

Noticeable different motor competencies with the group in the program with balance, and going up stairs.

AUTONOMIC BEHAVIOUR

The children in the program show 85% less aggressive gestures and aggressive behaviour towards the control children.
No apprehension with the adult stranger.

ABILITIES DIRECTLY LINKED TO THE PROGRAM

All children included in the program show the developing of focusing abilities :

• music listening
• olfactive proposition
• visual activity proposition (art or pictures)

FEEDING BEHAVIOUR

The babies included in the program accept to taste new food, in general (two exceptions with mango).

At the end of the third year, the pilot children have a homogene feeding behaviour, regularly take second servings of the offered meal, generally finish their plate.