Last weekend I was in Seattle and I went to a training in Neurodevelopmental Movement Therapy. It was taught by Sonia Story who is very kind and genuinely does this work because she wants to help. She's had training in many modalities, including the Masgutova Method, Brain Gym, Balmetrics and Rhythmic Movement. She has personally seen amazing results with the many children she has worked with.

I primarily went to the class because of my interest in primary reflex integration therapy . I had read about it on an CAPD board on Facebook, and the mother who posted about it said her son's CAPD was cured through the therapy. I know many believe CAPD cannot be cured, but it made me wonder about the therapy, so I began to investigate.

The information I found was nothing less than phenomenal. This therapy has shown to help children with learning disabilities, including dyslexia and ADHD. Many children have little or no symptoms of their learning issues after doing this therapy. It's being used to help children with Autism, with great success. It was originally created to assist in overcoming trauma, and it works for that as well. Amazingly, it is helpful no matter the age of the person, so even adults who have traumatic brain injury appear to benefit from the program.

While in the class I met a mother whose son was profoundly autistic. At 10 years old he would sit in the corner and bang his head against the wall. She said they did this therapy, and her son is now 16 and fully functional and in some respects just fine. She had done many things, including changes in diet and moving to a rural home to get away from the toxins of the city, but she said the thing that had the greatest impact was this reflex integration therapy. She was taking the class so she could start working with other children.

The class Sonia Story teaches incorporates several movement methods, and if there's one thing I learned, it's that movement is critical to brain development. I had no idea! She had amazing stories to tell of children who overcame challenges through movement therapy.

So we've begun the therapy in our home. The nice thing about Sonia's training is that you can learn to do it on your own. She said she usually only sees clients once a month, so most of the work is done by the parents, which saves so much money! Many practitioners of this therapy don't train the parents, so of course that can end up being expensive since at minimum you need to do it 3 days per week. I myself have unintegrated reflexes, so I am also doing it. It will be about 4-6 weeks before we see results, but I will surely come back and post to let everybody know how it's going.

Also, I am so impressed by this therapy, I am arranging to have Sonia come down to the Los Angeles area and teach her class. If anybody is interested, let me know. It will probably be the last weekend in February or second weekend in March 2010. There are very few people in the United States who do this work, so it's worth it to come take the class, even if you have to travel a bit. I traveled from Los Angeles to Settle, and it was for certain very worth it!

Bonnie