Brain
Power
Building the Brain Through The Senses

The brain has been studied for hundreds, maybe thousands, of years, yet understanding the
mind-brain connection is yet to come. Science emphasizes proving something exists. If a
hypothesis is made, and research is done, a theory can be proven wrong. Any benefits resulting
from the research are only anecdotal in nature, and thus are limitless. Children have limitless
potential, from the time of conception, onward. Culture limits this potential by its expectations, its
limitations, and its overall standards. Opportunities are limited by society, economics, education,
and parental behavior.

All of us are equipped with an ability to use our brain to learn great things. Its plasticity is limitless,
as far as we know, and must be capitalized on from infancy forward. This can be done very
simply. Sensory integration techniques, usually used only on developmentally delayed children, or
children born prematurely, or considered "at-risk", should be applied equally to all children to
optimize their potential. Many programs currently available recognize the need for such stimulation.
Unfortunately, most are cost- and time-prohibitive, both to families and to school districts, and
therefore the education about such instruments is not widely disbursed. This must be changed, if
society wants to better itself and its future, in tremendous ways that impact our earth, our finances,
and our political situation. If all children are taught to their potential, crime would decrease, living
standards and educational standards and expectations would increase, and humanity as a whole
would be at peace. However, that idea is very hard to sell to the current population. It must start
parent by parent, child by child. If every mother and father believes in the ability to maximize their
child's potential through sensory integration, it is their right and their obligation to do so.

Methods of Learning

Our vestibular, proprioceptive, and tactile senses are the bases of all learning. Stacked on top of
these are the senses of sight, sound, touch, and smell. On top of these senses come all types of
learning. Learning to walk, seemingly an easy enough milestone, is based on the milestones of
raising one's head, rolling over, building trunk  and neck strength, as well as visual perception, and
a sense of space and self. Learning to walk uses both sides of the brain in crossing the midline, a
skill which requires the development of the corpus callosum. The corpus callosum, located
between the left and right brain hemispheres, is a small, flat organ at birth. Integrated sensory
stimulation to all the body's senses, develops the connections across the and within the brain halves.
Corpus callosum development continues to grow and strengthen well into the fourth decade of life
and beyond. Billions of connections are formed. Some are pared off if they are not used, as others
are strengthened with repetition. Lifelong skills are mastered.

Games that are learned in childhood, such as jump rope, running, red-light/green-light, catch,
hopscotch, and tag are games that emphasize small and large muscle use, muscle coordination,
visual and auditory control

Using building blocks, playing with pretend grown-up tools, and caring for baby dolls, are building
blocks that form the basis for understanding the more complex directions and coordination needed
to play the games of  baseball, basketball, volleyball, soccer, and tennis. Coordination learned by
doing somersaults, cartwheels, swinging and tumbling, climbing on playground equipment, climbing
trees, skateboarding, and bicycling, teaches the brain body coordination and balance as well as
proprioception, or its place in space, in various positions. Vestibular motion gives input to joints and
muscles, strengthening motor balance as well as increasing brain connections required for building
intelligence

Stimulation of these simple senses does not take any type of formal program. The above-mentioned
games can be done at home, or found on a playground. Teaching with simple items, a child feels
what hard, soft, squishy, and stiff is, can identify textures of plants, trees, wood, vinyl, and rugs.
Educating through multi-sensory approaches reinforces the child's comprehension. For example,
Play-Doh can be used to manipulate into cubes, circles, squares, cylinders, houses, and hot dogs.

Children's developing language centers can be enhanced by their exposure to vocal labeling of  the
many things he or she can see, hear, taste, and smell.  A child naturally will mimic an adult's
behavior, especially one he or she depends upon, whether a parental one or not. A child is
dependent upon  primary caretakers in his or her world  to begin modeling learning behavior and
molding learning potential. In the first two years of life, a language base is acquired, and nursery
thymes, stories, and sing-song repetitions build phonemes, the basic segments and elements of a
particular language, stored within memory. Without such exposure to language, it may never be
acquired. Listening to symphonic sounds, jazz, harmonic, or nature sounds will also stimulate
auditory discrimination within the brain structure, and also builds bridges between the two
hemispheres.

Other pathways

If the corpus callosum is missing, damaged or altered, other potential pathways include the anterior
commissure, a much smaller pathway connecting the brains through thousands of white
connections (considered the wiring of the brain) exist over the olfactory bulb. This pathway cannot
compete with the mighty strength of the billions of connections that form in the corpus callosum.
Other connections are less well known about, but the plasticity of the brain continues to amaze  
scientists, parents, and doctors alike. I have seen a child, without a corpus callosum, walking,
talking and doing the things normally not seen in a child without one. He is my child. I have
exposed him to every sensory technique I came across, and most were not provided to me. He had
another rare diagnosis from birth, unrelated to his brain, but I was already doing sensory activities
with my first-born daughter. I just continued them with my son. When we found out he was
missing his corpus callosum entirely, I can only point out all the stimulation I did with him prior to
and after he was diagnosed, as to how well he is functioning today.

Building Success into the Adult Years


Early brain stimulation and the curiosity that it builds will even determine a child's success in life.
The paths he or she chooses, how self-confident or how challenged he or she feels, is all dictated
by the amount of, or lack of, early childhood sensory stimulation. Infant eduction matters!

Therefore, as infants become pre-schoolers, children grow into grade-schoolers, and those same  
children grow into teenagers. As they now face the pressures of early adulthood, having an arsenal
of reasoning built on sensory pathways established at a young age by an caring, engaging adult
would be a wise thing to have. Decisions made during these years are critical to the future success
of these children. Choosing success, or continuing on a path towards self-destruction can all be
found in the way a brain is wired. I urge all parents to engage all children's brain power early. It is
never too late, and it is never too complex. Start walking in the woods, listening to  different types
of music, having family game nights, or buying word find books.

As a parent or grandparent, your active brain still seeks sensory input. As a person ages, the
pursuits of golf, tennis, racquetball, and marathon running, all call into play the muscle memory and
brain memory of childhood and early adulthood. Taking up a new sport, hobby, or craft all require
re-building or strengthening brain connections that may have become dormant. As the old axiom
goes though, "It's like riding a bicycle, you never forget."

Choose brain power for yourself and your children, no matter what your age, life situation, or
circumstance. If you cannot do it for yourself, do it for your children.

By Jennifer Cummins (c) 2006 all rights reserved May not be re-produced without express written
permission by the author
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