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enormous impact on his/her emotional well-being, intellectual level and skills for success. In
addition to nutrition, dealt with in another advocacy letter, research is showing that experiences,
coupled with heredity, literally sculpt the brain.
A baby is born with approximately 100 billion neurons, or nerve cells, in his/her brain that
communicates through tiny connections that form networks. These networks allow neurons to
transmit information involved in sensing, feeling, thinking, learning and remembering. At
birth, most of these important connections are not yet formed; neural networks are established
in the brain in response to experiences. Every experience a baby has forms a corresponding
network in his/her brain. Movement is a central part in acquiring these experiences and
stimulating the brain.
Experiences are like food for the brain. A rich diet of love and healthy stimulation causes the
brain to grow and flourish. A positive environment nourishes the child's innate intelligence
and allows his/her unique gifts to blossom. Conversely, an impoverished environment
diminishes the brain. Unfortunately, many children's brains are starving due to a lack of
attention, movement and the right kinds of experiences. Without the opportunity to be used,
neurons can actually wither away and die.
Primary reflexes
Primary reflexes are movement patterns that emerge during fetal life and are critical for the
survival of the newborn - e.g. infant rooting and suck reflexes. At birth a baby has no control
over voluntary movement. The baby responds to environmental stimuli through the primitive
reflexes, which are automatic stereotyped responses. As the nervous system develops,
however, they are inhibited or transformed. The persistence of primary reflexes beyond their
normal timespan (12 months) interferes with subsequent development. It can affect not just
arms and legs, but eye functioning, visual perception, balance and the processing of auditory
information. Retained primitive reflexes will also affect a child's sensory perceptions, causing
him/her to be hypersensitive in some areas and hyposensitive in others. All these issues have
educational implications. More than 70 primary reflexes are known. We will here discuss 3
important examples.
Perceptual motor foundations are laid Perceptual motor skills are developing by
down by one year of age: three years of age:
• Body awareness • Auditory perception
• Bilateral coordination • Visual perception
• Lateralisation • Eye hand coordination
• Motor planning • Visual motor integration
• Purposeful activity