Snowdrop

A Snowdrop Success Story. - Snowdrop weekly report. 23 / 1/ 2012

2012-01-24T08:53:00.002+01:00

This week we welcome one new family to the Snowdrop programme from the South of England. We also have two children from India who are due for reassessment. We also celebrate the news of the fantastic progress of one of our children who has been on programme for three years and who is now doing amazing things.

When I first saw Finn Jordan, he was 8 months old and would sit in his little bouncy chair in what seemed to be an almost 'catatonic' state. As his mum said, "it was as though someone had found his standby button and pushed it." He showed no inclination at all to interact with his environment or the people within it.

Finn had been born with a choroid plexus papilloma, a tumour in the brain which had caused hydrocephalus. All of this had caused massive brain damaged and he was forecast to have huge problems with vision, cognition, language, - in fact in every area of development. When I saw him I knew we had to act immediately and I instituted a detailed programme of neurodevelopmental stimulation, which I taught to mum and dad. When I saw him four months later, it was obvious that we were beginning to make progress.

Today, Finn is described as "precociously intelligent," has superior language and communication skills, can see as well as you or I and is developmentally indistinguishable from his twing brother. He is living proof that not only can we stimulate brain plasticity, but that we can direct that plasticity down a developmental route.

You can read about Finn below.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/article4079757.ece

Boy beats tumour by acting like twin

www.thesun.co.uk

LITTLE Finn Jordan recovers from brain tumour damage by copying his twin brother, Kian

How Music touches the Brain.

2012-01-21T09:50:00.000+01:00

More evidence for the positive influence of music upon brain function. This is why Snowdrop now offers the 'listening programme' and why exposure to music is generally incorporated into our development programmes for children with cerebral palsy, autism, ADHD and other developmental disabilities.

With thanks from ScienceNordic.

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Finnish researchers have developed a new method that makes it possible to study how the brain processes various aspects of music such as rhythm, tonality and timbre.

The study reveals how a variety of networks in the brain, including areas responsible for motor actions, emotions, and creativity, are activated when listening to music.

According to the researchers, the new method will increase our understanding of the complex dynamics of brain networks and the way music affects us.

Responding to Argentinian tango

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the research team, led by Dr. Vinoo Alluri from the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, recorded the brain responses of individuals who were listening to a piece of modern Argentinian tango.

"Our results show for the first time how different musical features activate emotional, motor and creative areas of the brain", says Professor Petri Toiviainen of the University of Jyväskylä, who was also involved in the study.

Using sophisticated computer algorithms developed specifically for this study, they then analysed the musical content of the tango, showing how its rhythmic, tonal and timbral components evolve over time.

According to Alluri, this is the first time such a study has been carried out using real music instead of artificially constructed music-like sound stimuli.

The whole brain reacts to music

Comparing the brain responses and the musical features led to an interesting new discovery: the researchers found that listening to music activates not only the auditory areas of the brain, but also employs large-scale neural networks.

For instance, they discovered that the processing of musical pulse activates motor areas in the brain, supporting the idea that music and movement are closely intertwined.

Limbic areas of the brain, known to be associated with emotions, were found to be involved in rhythm and tonality processing.

And the processing of timbre was associated with activations in the so-called default mode network, which is assumed to be associated with mind-wandering and creativity.

"We believe that our method provides more reliable knowledge about music processing in the brain than the more conventional methods," says Toiviainen.

He adds that brain areas related to emotion and reward have in previous studies been found to be activated during intensely pleasurable moments of music listening. But this study, he says, is the first one to specify which particular musical features activate these areas.

The study was recently published in the journal NeuroImage.

Snowdrop weekly report. - 16/1/12 - 22/1/12

2012-01-17T15:51:00.000+01:00

This week we welcome four new families to the Snowdrop family. We have two new families from the UK and two from the US, so welcome to you all, you know who you are.

The interesting news this week involves the 'listening programme' which as most of you will be aware, Snowdrop began offering last month in conjunction with American neurotechnology company, 'Advanced Brain Technologies.' As you know, I am a stickler for evidence based therapy and there are many 'listening type therapies' out there with absolutely no evidence to support their use, which is why Snowdrop has not offered one until now. However, TLP does have evidence, from the University of Sheffield amongst others which supports its use with our children. We currently have five families who are using TLP and even though each family is in the early stages of its use, - we are already measuring small improvements. The improvements we are noting so far involve the following.

Increased eye - contact
Decreased frustration
More sensitivity to voice tone
Increases in affection, touching and hugging
Increases in talking / communication
Quicker responses to verbal directions
Increases in phonological awareness
Increases in vocal quality.
Increases in physical coordination
Decreases in levels of activity
Improved sleeping patterns
Decreases in sound hypersensitivity
Decreases in touch hypersensitivity
Improved visual and auditory attention

Not a bad set of initial results!

Those of you who are due for reassessments in the next few weeks should start to think about convenient dates as February is filling up fast and I am already taking new appointments for March. At the moment we are adding new families all the time, as this weeks four families demonstrate, so if you need to book an appointment for the next few weeks, book early to avoid disappointment!

Keep working hard and remember when you are brushing or spinning, or doing whatever programme activity it is with your child, - 'The key to forging brain plasticity is repetition of stimulus.' Repetition, repetition, repetition!

Keep well.

Andrew

Social Cues Could Hone Language Development in Children.

2012-01-13T10:54:00.000+01:00

Vygotsky was saying that a child's language development was socially driven and this was back in the late 19th Century. He said that a child develops language as a social tool and model's ad refines it within the social interactions with his family and friends. This is why Snowdrop programmes contain activities which focus on modellig speech sounds, words, etc. Now we have even more evidence to support our views.

With thanks to the Montreal Gazette.

New light has been shed on the way children learn to speak — contradicting what researchers previously believed — that could lead to advances in how speech-related disabilities are treated.

Children around the age of two may learn to speak by using social cues and having a parent or other caregiver repeat words back to them, according to a new study by University of Denmark researcher Dr. Ewan MacDonald, along with researchers at the Universities of Toronto and Queen's.

Previously, it was thought that children listened to their own voices to figure out if they were speaking correctly. MacDonald said the results were surprising, but the exact learning method hasn't yet been pinpointed for children younger than two years old.

The experiment was conducted by first getting adults to say a word — in this case "bed" — which was then simultaneously altered and played over headphones to the subject to sound like they were actually saying "bad."

Adults, when they participated, took the feedback from the headphones to adjust their speech and would try again to say bed, but pronounce it closer to "bid" to compensate for the researchers' playback.

The surprising results came when toddlers participated and didn't adjust the way they spoke the word.

MacDonald said this suggests the children aren't using the feedback from their own voice to learn how to speak.

He said the results point to one of two possible conclusions: that children only sometimes listen to their voices — listening when they are practicing their speech and looking for social cues when they are performing — or they rely on social cues from a caretaker to get feedback on how their speech is progressing.

The second option — social cues — is what excites MacDonald.

"They may be using the feedback from the person that they are talking to," MacDonald said. "They may be looking at the person and the social interaction of the person that they are talking to and using that to judge the accuracy of their productions."

MacDonald said that when talking to a parent, positive responses, such as smiling, or repeating words with corrections to pronunciation could be how two-year-old children learn to speak.

"By looking at how the person is responding, they can use that to judge whether they are producing (the word) correctly," he said.

The researcher — who recently moved to the University of Denmark from Queen's University in Kingston, Ont. — said the study findings are the first step to figuring out how people learn to speak.

He said this could lead to developing strategies to assist children with abnormal or delayed speech development.

MacDonald said it is too early in the research to give specific advice to parents with young kids, but the study's results do point a general way forward.

"I think the important message is to just communicate with the child," he said. "It's not just they must correct everything, it's more just everyday communication could actually be important."

Another upside to the results is the possibility that children learn how to speak in much the same way songbirds learn to sing. Studies have shown that some birds learn through similar social cues.

rhiltz@postmedia.com

twitter.com/robert_hiltz

The Listening Programme for ADHD.

2012-01-04T15:52:00.000+01:00

As readers of this blog will know, Snowdrop, in conjunction with American neurotechnology company, Advanced Brain Technologies,' began to offer 'The Listening Programme' to its clients. The reason we did this is because TLP has scientific evidence to support its use. In particular, it was evidence provided by a study carried out by the University of Sheffield, - my own university which impressed me.

We now have half a dozen families whose children are using TLP in conjunction with their Snowdrop developmental programme and the initial results look very promising, with changes being observed in all children. The changes being observed include a reduction in activity, increased attention, reduced auditory hypersensitivity, increased eye contact, increased quantity of and clearer language production, amongst many other small changes.
I would like to share an email which I received yesterday from a Dad whose little boy has very bad ADHD. His ongoing Snowdrop programme has reduced his level of activity dramatically, but the supplementation of TLP has also had beneficial effects upon this and in other areas, such as auditory hypersensitivity, concentration, etc. I quote directly.

"I just wanted to catch up with you on how ---- has been getting on with the listening program.
So far his speech has improved as has his concentration. He will sing jingle bells and can almost now bear happy birthday. He will sit and do his numbers and alphabet for 5 minutes without any problems at all and he is also now willing to actually communicate without prompting. Sleeping has been no problem with 11-12 hours a night. ---- is more willing to follow instructions and though will have a quick moan if you tell him it is the end of computer time he will still get off the computer. All that is good news."

Anyone who would like to know more about Snowdrop and TLP should go to the Snowdrop Website.

2011

2012-01-01T15:05:00.002+01:00

What a year 2011 has been for Snowdrop and how far we have come! At the end of the year we have triple the number of children on programme than we did in January. 95% of those children are making good progress; - a few are making staggering progress.

A couple of weeks ago a mum showed me some video footage of her son, who when born four years ago, suffered massive brain injuries. His prognosis was to be totally dependent in every way for every aspect of his care. In the video, he was sprinting in the park, alongside his uninjured twin brother and his dad. He was in nursery the other day and teacher was looking for her book to read to the children; - whilst she was searching, he decided he would take another book and read a story to his 4 year old peers to keep them happy. He was the only child in nursery who could read at 4 years of age because it had been part of his programme to learn to read. - At birth his mum and dad had been told he would be blind!

Then there is the little boy, again 4 years old who suffered badly with ADHD. Mum and Dad couldn't take him anywhere, not even out to the park because he would run off. He had no language and every time he heard music he would cover his ears and scream, his auditory processing problems were so severe, - he was extremely hypersensitive. Two years later and he no longer covers his ears, he no longer runs off, - it is possible to have a conversation with him and these good folks can go out together as a family.

A final example is someone on this group, - little Leonie Hall, who as everyone knows suffered catastrophic brain injuries, but through the hard work of Pierre and Liz now has a life to look forward to and has exciting possibilities for her future development. In some areas of development her developmental ability now outstrips her chronological age.

These are just three examples of real children making incredible progress, there are plenty more I could tell you of. However, in summary, this year has brought many successes, - children who can now see, who could not see before; - children who can hear and understand language who prior to the programme could not; - children who can feel, move, interact, play, use their hands, laugh, cry and do a million little things who before could not! Being a part of this and working with such dedicated, determined people as you, - their parents, makes life richer and more worthwhile and I thank you all for the opportunity from the bottom of my heart, - it is a privelige to work alongside you all.

A couple of weeks ago, Snowdrop also took its first steps to acheiving charitable status when we had a first meeting of our prospective board of trustees. Charitable status will enable us to raise funds and to reach out to so many more children and families.

If 2012 is as successful as 2011 then it will be a great year. Bring it on!!

Thanks.

Andrew

Autism; - It may be all in the wiring pattern.

2011-12-29T11:25:00.000+01:00

As evidenced by my book 'Brain Injured Children. - Tapping the Potential Within.' I have long argued for the role of abnormal brain connectivity in autism, - whether that abnormal connectivity is caused by the expression of specific genes, or by brain injury. The point i

Studying a rare disorder known as tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC), researchers at Children's Hospital Boston add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that autism spectrum disorders, which affect 25 to 50 percent of TSC patients, result from a miswiring of connections in the developing brain, leading to improper information flow. The finding may also help explain why many people with TSC have seizures and intellectual disabilities. Findings were published online in Nature Neuroscience.

TSC causes benign tumors throughout the body, including the brain. But patients with TSC may have autism, epilepsy or intellectual disabilities even in the absence of these growths. Now, researchers led by Mustafa Sahin, MD, PhD, of Children's Department of Neurology, provide evidence that mutations in one of the TSC's causative genes, known as TSC2, prevent growing nerve fibers (axons) from finding their proper destinations in the developing brain.

Studying a well-characterized axon route – between the eye's retina and the visual area of the brain – Sahin and colleagues showed that when mouse neurons were deficient in TSC2, their axons failed to land in the right places. Further investigation showed that the axons' tips, known as "growth cones," did not respond to navigation cues from a group of molecules called ephrins. "Normally ephrins cause growth cones to collapse in neurons, but in tuberous sclerosis the axons don't heed these repulsive cues, so keep growing," says Sahin, the study's senior investigator.

Additional experiments indicated that the loss of responsiveness to ephrin signals resulted from activation of a molecular pathway called mTOR, whose activity increased when neurons were deficient in TSC2. Axon tracing in the mice showed that many axons originating in the retina were not mapping to the expected part of the brain.

Although the study looked only at retinal connections to the brain, the researchers believe their findings may have general relevance for the organization of the developing brain. Scientists speculate that in autism, wiring may be abnormal in the areas of the brain involved in social cognition.
"People have started to look at autism as a developmental disconnection syndrome – there are either too many connections or too few connections between different parts of the brain," says Sahin. "In the mouse models, we're seeing an exuberance of connections, consistent with the idea that autism may involve a sensory overload, and/or a lack of filtering of information."

Sahin hopes that the brain's miswiring can be corrected by drugs targeting the molecular pathways that cause it. The mTOR pathway is emerging as central to various kinds of axon abnormalities, and drugs inhibiting mTOR has already been approved by the FDA. For example, one mTOR inhibitor, rapamycin, is currently used mainly to prevent organ rejection in transplant patients, and Sahin plans to launch a clinical trial of a rapamycin-like drug in approximately 50 patients with TSC later this year, to see if the drug improves neurocognition, autism and seizures.

In 2008, Sahin and colleagues published related research in Genes & Development showing that when TSC1 and TSC2 are inactivated, brain cells grow more than one axon – an abnormal configuration that exacerbates abnormal brain connectivity. The mTOR pathway was, again, shown to be involved, and when it was inhibited with rapamycin, neurons grew normally, sprouting just one axon.

Supporting the mouse data, a study by Sahin and his colleague Simon Warfield, PhD, in the Computational Radiology Laboratory at Children's, examined the brains of 10 patients with TSC, 7 of whom also had autism or developmental delay, and 6 unaffected controls. Using an advanced kind of MRI imaging called diffusion tensor imaging, they documented disorganized and structurally abnormal tracts of axons in the TSC group, particularly in the visual and social cognition areas of the brain (see image). The axons also were poorly myelinated – their fatty coating, which helps axons conduct electrical signals, was compromised. (In other studies, done in collaboration with David Kwiatkowski at Brigham and Women's Hospital, giving rapamycin normalized myelination in mice.)

Sahin has also been studying additional genes previously found to be deleted or duplicated in patients with autism, and finding that deletion of some of them causes neurons to produce multiple axons – an abnormality that, again, appears to be reversed with rapamycin.

"Many of the genes implicated in autism may possibly converge on a few common pathways controlling the wiring of nerve cells," says Sahin. "Rare genetic disorders like TSC are providing us with vital clues about brain mechanisms leading to autism spectrum disorders. Understanding the neurobiology of these disorders is likely to lead to new treatment options not only for TSC patients, but also for patients with other neurodevelopmental diseases caused by defective myelination and connectivity, such as autism, epilepsy and intellectual disability."

The point is that we have evidence that the brain can be encouraged to change its wiring pattern through being exposed to appropriate stimulation from the environment. This is what the Snowdrop programme is designed to do, - to provide the appropriate environmental conditions to encourage the brain to respond by changing its wiring structure.

The Importance of Tummy Time.

2011-12-23T10:35:00.000+01:00

When you consider the size of a newborn’s head compared to the rest of his tiny body and add the fact that for many months after birth his muscle strength is low, you can see why spending time on his tummy can be frustrating. This is even more so for our babies who have developmental disabilities which bring additional problems with regard to muscle tone, coordination and sometimes hydrocephalus.

Nowadays we also have a fear of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, which quite rightly keeps babies on their backs for a huge amount of time. However, this does have developmental drawbacks because in terms of mobility development, when a baby is on his back, he is upside down.

Tummy time: strength, head shape, and smarts

Placing a baby on his tummy not only gives his neck muscles a workout, it strengthens the torso and provides him with more reaching and looking practice. That’s a big boost for development; in fact, researchers have seen that more tummy time correlates to better motor skills in babies. Not only that, but, amazingly, encouraging motor skills is also known to help babies with social development, since the stimulation to motor pathways in the brain seems to encourage growth in other regions as well. In other words, tummy time isn’t just a physical workout — it’s a boost to other areas of development too.

Seeing the world belly-down and head up also makes it easier for your baby to correlate the sounds in his surroundings with their exact location (rather than being stuck looking at the ceiling or seeing things upside-down all the time). That’s also why carrying your baby is good for the brain because it does not block his ability to turn and locate sounds as say a car seat would.

When and how much?

Most authorities agree that around two to four weeks after birth is a good window to start tummy time. Remember, at this point your baby and his large cranium are fighting an uphill gravity battle, so don’t be surprised if you don’t get far with the exercise, especially if your little one has developmental problems. Try once a day to start, and if it helps, (and if he is small enough), place baby on your stomach (this counts) and talk to him whilst he does what could be all of a 30-second workout.

From there, tummy time will grow in length. Recommendations range from trying for 30 minutes a day or several stints of five to 10 minutes, to a looser goal of whenever possible. But many babies don’t enjoy the exercise until they get stronger (around four months of age). Within a month or two after that, the belly becomes one of their favorite positions because it allows them to see, reach, and play more easily. All of this will take longer with a child with say cerebral palsy because of the aforementioned difficulties which are also working against them, but keep trying, - start small and second by second work the time so that he is spending longer and longer on his tummy.

Tummy time how-to

If your baby is just starting out, you can roll up a receiving blanket and put it high on his chest, under the armpits, but don't place him so high that it restricts his movement. Instead of plopping your baby down directly on his tummy (where he’s not used to being), start by lying him on the floor on his back. Look at him, give him a smile, and make contact first. Tell him something like: “I’m going to help you roll to your belly, okay?” (With repetition, he’ll know what’s about to happen) and roll him from the hips gently. If his arm gets stuck underneath him, lift up the hip on the same side of his body to allow him to pull his arm out. The idea is to let your baby participate in getting into the position so he’s practicing the movements and feeling more in control, instead of having you simply stick him there.

Once your baby is on his belly, get down on the floor in front of him to talk.

Put one or two toys within reaching distance or a mirror close up so he can see himself.

Once your baby can lift his head enough to see in front of him, one of his favorite things to look at might be a book of faces. Get an accordion-style baby faces book with clear, large photographs.

Use a comfortable but flat mat without too much padding so he has more control over his arms.

Your best bet is to try tummy time when your baby is fed, rested, and ready to play. His tolerance for frustration will be higher when he’s in a good mood.

Just because your baby is grunting and making noises, or kicking and struggling a bit, it doesn’t mean you have to rescue him. It’s a difficult exercise for babies, so sometimes their noises just signal effort. But when your baby truly seems unhappy or starts to cry, roll him over to his back and scoop him up to a more familiar place.

Remember that since it’s an unfamiliar position nowadays, it takes a lot of practice and repetition for some babies to like being on their bellies. But even a two-minute session counts, and it’s something to build on. Keep at it, and you’ll see your baby’s comfort, and even enjoyment, of tummy time grow.

The developmental consequences of tummy time is the development of crawling, which has profound knock - on effects upon the development of the visual system and upon cognitive development, so keep trying, but also try to make it fun.

How Snowdrop was formed.

2011-12-22T12:54:00.000+01:00

My name is Andrew Brereton and I was the father of a child who suffered with profound brain injuries, which caused a mixture of symptoms, - some of quadriplegic cerebral palsy and some of autism, although neither of those diagnoses do justice to the true nature and severity of his brain injuries, -suffice it to say that he was described as being in the worst 5% of possible injuries! Unfortunately, Daniel passed away eight years ago, suffering a series of brainstem strokes. We always knew that for someone with his level of disability, the length of his life would be severely limited, but unfortunately, knowing that something is going to hurt, doesn't actually stop it hurting when it happens!

Daniel was born at the North Staffordshire Maternity Hospital in Stoke –On – Trent on the 4th September 1987 and within a few short weeks was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. We were warned by the paediatrician that the fact he was able to make such an early diagnosis indicated a high degree of severity of the condition. – He was not wrong and within a few weeks it became clear that I would be forced to give up my work as a chemist in the ceramics industry, in order to help my wife, Janet look after him. - Daniel rarely slept, he could stay awake for days and nights on end. This was an impossible situation for my wife to deal with alone and soon she was struggling to cope, whilst I went out to work.

Although in the early months of Daniel’s life, I was largely at home, I became increasingly interested in Daniel's problems and in human cognitive processes, so I decided to enrol for a university degree in psychology / child development at our local college of higher education, which is part of Manchester University. The structure of my chosen courses meant that I only had to be on campus part of the time, so I was still largely available to help with Daniel's care. Three years later I passed my degree with upper second class honours, my final dissertation being on the subject of 'Programmes of rehabilitation and their effects upon brain - injured children and their families.'

The three years of my degree studies paid off in more than one way, - not only did they foster in me a greater understanding of the difficulties Daniel faced, they also highlighted some useful techniques which we could employ in treating some of those difficulties; some of these techniques really had an impact upon his quality of life. My success in my studies also further fuelled my interest in this field and so I enrolled on further courses, eventually gaining post graduate qualifications in ‘child development,’ 'language and communication impairments in children,' and ultimately an MSc based in neuroscience and child development. I was also fortunate to be involved in several research projects such as the construction of neural networks to mimic cognitive processes in children, the design and employment of sociocultural learning programmes with children who experience learning difficulties and the design and employment of various communication therapies for children who experience language and communication difficulties.

My studies at university also opened our eyes to alternative therapeutic interventions which were available and consequently, over time, we not only travelled the globe to seek help for Daniel's difficulties from these approaches, but I was given the opportunity to study at various clinics. We studied and employed alternatives at clinics in the UK and internationally. Some of these approaches we found useful and productive, - others we did not. In fact, more accurately, I would say we found some techniques within most approaches to be beneficial, whilst finding many other techniques within each approach to be of no benefit. We also found the intensive philosophy of some alternatives to be detrimental to Daniel and to us as a family. I guess what I am saying is that there is an element of truth in all approaches, but no one approach has a monopoly on the facts!
Also, as we discovered, there are also people out there who are proposing preposterous, easily disproveable theories of brain function / development; - people who are not qualified to be doing what they are doing and people who are charging unjustifiable amounts of money for their preposterous, underqualified theories.

Our employment of many of these alternative approaches created a great deal of hostility within the ranks of the medical professionals who treated Daniel and over the years of his life we were subjected to a constant tirade of enmity. We arrived at the conclusion that this was as a consequence of their perceived loss of powers; - they seemed to think that any approach which we chose which was out of their circle of control, was a direct threat to their perceived competence, and they acted accordingly towards us. In truth, all we were trying to achieve was greater quality of life for Daniel by enhancing his developmental prospects. We found it amazing that we were subject to so much criticism for seeking answers to Daniel’s difficulties from a group of people who possessed no answers to those problems themselves.

Although throughout his lifetime, Daniel remained very severely handicapped, our efforts at helping him were far from fruitless. At birth, Daniel was cortically blind and deaf. This meant that although his eyes and ears were working normally, his brain was not interpreting the sensory information, which they were collecting. However gradually, through utilising our new knowledge, we were able to restore both his vision and his hearing. This may sound small beer in the global picture of overwhelming global handicap, but for Daniel it meant that he could now see his Mum and Dad; - that he could see, hear and begin to interact with his two younger brothers. – This revolutionised Daniel’s whole being.

Sadly as I say, Daniel passed away eight years ago. He had sustained injuries in his lower brainstem which were life threatening and which we knew could take him at any moment in his life. The fact that we managed to avoid this for 16 years is testament to what can be achieved through hard work. We miss him terribly and there will always be a massive hole in our lives. How do you get over the death of a child? However, the snowball of enthusiasm and interest, which he created in me, - interest in helping to solve the problems many children face, rolls on.

Using all of the knowledge, which my son passed to me, (despite all my qualifications and research experience, he remains my most astute tutor), I have established 'Snowdrop.' It is in its infancy, but it aims to take all the knowledge and experience amassed over the years and to utilise it for the benefit of children and families like ourselves. Snowdrop provides programmes of neuroscience based therapy for children who experience a wide range of developmental disabilities. Those problems may express themselves as more global difficulties such as cerebral palsy or autism, or more specific difficulties such as dyslexia, dyspraxia, or specific language impairment. We also treat children who have a wide range of genetic disorders.

Treatment is carried out by the family in the child's own home. Our ‘programmes’ are variable in their intensity, depending upon the particular problems displayed by the child and are designed to fit in with what the family can practicably achieve without placing them under an undue burden of stress. We believe that the best environment for development to have a chance of taking place is one where both child and family are happily motivated and jointly focussed on the same objectives.

Although Snowdrop is based in the UK, in it's short life so far, it is already having an appeal internationally and we have children on our books from all over the world. All we want to do is to be of service to children and their families. In this way, my son's life and everything he taught me about brain injury and the developmental problems children face will have not been wasted.

Please peruse our website, which can be found on http://www.snowdrop.cc

I have also published a book titled, 'Brain Injured Children. - Tapping the Potential Within.' This can be accessed through this link and through the website.

Can a Child Have Both Cerebral Palsy and Autism?

2011-12-05T17:21:00.000+01:00

For me, the answer has to be, 'Yes,' I have seen many children who have mixed symptoms of both. There are many roads to the 'destination' of autism. There is increasing evidence that one such road is genetic, - the gene(s) in expressing itself / themselves create an anomaly in brain development,- (the evidence points to the adoption of an abnormal wiring pattern), which produces the symptoms of autism. Another road is now thought to be methylation difficulties, another through oxygen starvation, etc. All these differing 'roads' lead to brain dysfunction, which produces what we observe as autism. So, autism consists of a set of symptoms, (distorted sensory perception, faulure of socialisation, communication and imagination, stereotypical behaviours, etc). - These symptoms, all caused by brain dysfunction, are the way in which the condition we call 'autism' expresses itself, - so autism is an expression of brain dysfunction.

There are approximately one hundred billion neurons in the human brain, each cell having the potential to create ten thousand connections to other cells to form complex groupings of connections known as neural networks. This is an unbelievably complex operating system and when it becomes injured, the pattern of injury is therefore like a fingerprint, - unique to the child. Some children may have common symptoms, but no two children will display exactly the same problems. - This is why autism is a 'spectrum disorder,' with a child at one end of the autistic spectrum, displaying totally different problems to a child at the other end of the autistic spectrum.

We have already established that autism is caused by brain dysfunction, - well there are many other problems, which are also caused by brain dysfunction, one of which is cerebral palsy. CP can be caused by oxygen starvation, genetics (rarely), drug abuse, infection, jaundice, malnutrition, or one of many other causes. So it is brain dysfunction, which produces the sets of symptoms we know as CP just as it is brain dysfunction, which produces the sets of symptoms we know as autism.

So it is correct to say that both autism and CP are caused by brain dysfunction, - indeed, they are both 'expressions' of brain dysfunction, or if you like, 'brain injury.'

Now, the more severe and widespread the brain dysfunction, the more symptoms, (or expressions) will be displayed. So whilst a child who has suffered only a moderate amount of damage to the neural networks of the brain might display the symptoms or EITHER autism OR cerebral palsy, (or some other expression), the child who has suffered more severe damage, may display multiple expressions! These might include some symptoms which are considered to be on the autistic spectrum, alongside some symptoms which are considered to fall within CP (or indeed any other expression of brain dysfunction, - there are many!).

So the answer is yes, I believe it is possible and not uncommon for a child to have a dual diagnosis of both autism and cerebral palsy. Does this mean they have two different conditions? No. They just suffer from severe brain dysfunction. At Snowdrop we provide programmes of rehabilitation for all types of and severity of brain injury

Dyslexia; - A failure of sensory attention?

2011-11-27T10:40:00.000+01:00

I see this inability to 'tune out' extraneous stimuli from the environment in order to focus on a specific task or feature in children with many types of developmental disability. I talk about it in my book, where I call it 'wide spectrum tuning,' but I have never seen it in anyone with dyslexia. An interesting article apart from them going on about dyslexia having one cause! We already know of two!, - injury to part of the cerebellum and injury to parts of the 'magnocellular system.' Snowdrop provides therapy which helps to retune these attentional systems to more normal levels.

With thanks to Medical News Today.

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Dyslexia affects up to 17.5% of the population, but its cause remains somewhat unknown. A report published in the online journal PLoS ONE supports the hypothesis that the symptoms of dyslexia, including difficulties in reading, are at least partly due to difficulty excluding excess background information like noise.

In the study of 37 undergraduate students, the researchers, led by Rachel Beattie of the University of Southern California, found that the poor readers performed significantly worse than the control group only when there were high levels of background noise.

The two groups performed comparably at the prescribed task when there was no background noise and when the stimulus set size was varied, either a large or a small set size.

According to Dr. Beattie, "these findings support a relatively new theory, namely that dyslexic individuals do not completely filter out irrelevant information when attending to letters and sounds. This external noise exclusion deficit could lead to the creation of inaccurate representations of words and phonemes and ultimately, to the characteristic reading and phonological awareness impairments observed in dyslexia."

The Role of the Thalamus in Autism.

2011-11-20T09:51:00.000+01:00

Anyone who has read my book, Brain Injured Children; - Tapping the Potential Within, will be aware that for a while now, I have been pointing to the thalamus, along with the reticular system as being key players in causing many of the sensory processing problems faced by many children on the autistic spectrum. This is why a Snowdrop programme of developmental stimulationincorporates techniques designed to help normalise sensory processing capabilities by 're-tuning' these neural structures.

Thanks to the University of Chicago Medical Centre for this excellent work.

Two new studies show that the thalamus--the small central brain structure often characterized as a mere pit-stop for sensory information on its way to the cortex--is heavily involved in sensory processing, and is an important conductor of the brain's complex orchestra.

Published in Nature Neuroscience and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the two studies from the laboratory of Murray Sherman both demonstrate the important role of the thalamus in shaping what humans see, hear and feel.

"The thalamus really hasn't been a part of people's thinking of how cortex functions," said Sherman, professor and chairman of neurobiology at the University of Chicago Medical Center. "It's viewed as a way to get information to cortex in the first place and then its role is done. But the hope is these kinds of demonstrations will start putting the thalamus on the map."

When light hits the retina of the eye, that information makes a stopover in the thalamus before being sent to the visual cortex of the brain to be processed. Similarly, auditory and somatosensory (touch) information is routed through the thalamus before traveling to cortex for more complex processing.

One set of experiments, conducted by Brian Theyel and Daniel Llano in Sherman's laboratory and published online Sunday December 6 in Nature Neuroscience, used a novel imaging technique to demonstrate how the thalamus remains a part of the conversation even after that initial "relay."

The flavoprotein autofluorescence imaging technique, developed with University of Chicago assistant professor of neurobiology Naoum Issa, allowed the researchers to observe neuronal activity in a specially-prepared mouse brain slice that preserved connections between thalamus and somatosensory cortex.

Once sensory information reaches the cortex, it is thought to remain segregated there as it moves from primary cortex to secondary cortex and higher-order areas. But when Theyel severed the direct connection between primary and secondary cortical regions, stimulating primary somatosensory cortex still activated secondary cortex as well as the thalamus (see video), suggesting a robust pathway from cortex to thalamus and back. Only when the thalamus itself is interrupted does the activation of secondary cortex fail.

The observation that at least a portion of sensory information passes back through the thalamus on its travels between cortical areas refutes the notion of the thalamus as a passive, one-time relay station, Theyel and Sherman said.

"The ultimate reality is that without thalamus, the cortex is useless, it's not receiving any information in the first place," said Theyel, a postdoctoral researcher. "And if this other information-bearing pathway is really critical, it's involved in higher-order cortical functioning as well."

The somatosensory pathway finding demonstrates for the first time that this corticothalamocortical loop, which is also present in the auditory and visual systems, significantly activates cortex. Keeping the thalamus "in the loop" may help the brain coordinate sensory information with motor systems to direct attention or coordinate multiple cortical areas to accomplish different tasks, Sherman said.

"The thalamus is a remarkable bottleneck," Sherman said. "But that may be because as a bottleneck, it provides a convenient way to control the flow of information. It is a very strategically organized structure."

In the PNAS paper, published online Monday, December 7, postdoctoral researcher Charles Lee mapped two auditory pathways entering different parts of the thalamus to see whether they carried the same or different information.

Lee recorded from neurons in different areas of the thalamus while stimulating different areas of the inferior colliculus, another brain region of the auditory pathway. When the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus was stimulated it excited an area in the thalamus known to project to primary auditory cortex, suggesting that this is the direct route for auditory information through the brain.

By contrast, stimulating the surrounding "shell" region of the inferior colliculus provokes a different response, sending a mixed combination of excitatory and inhibitory input to a different region of the thalamus in contact with higher-order cortex.

"These are two parallel streams serving different functions," Lee said. "The thalamus is also the central hub for transferring information between cortical areas. Rather than carrying information, this second pathway winds up modulating information being sent between cortical areas."

Both papers newly characterize the complexity of the thalamus and its role in shaping sensory information both before and after that information reaches higher cortical regions – not a crossroads, but a conductor.

"These experiments not only give you a new way of looking at how cortex functions, but also answers a question about what most of thalamus is doing," Sherman said. "People who study how the cortex functions now have to take the thalamus into account. This can't be ignored."

How do Babies Learn?

2011-10-22T08:34:00.000+01:00

So which is it? Are babies mindless beings who only eat, sleep and cry? Or are they little geniuses, ready for academic pursuits? The truth is probably half way between the two. There is no doubt that the brain of a baby is like a sponge which eagerly soaks up information and that brain plasticity in young babies is at it's peak. What we must also realise however is that young babies need a secure, loving environment in order to utilise this inherent neuroplasticity.

In evolutionary terms, babies have not changed a great deal over the last 50,000 years. However, what we know about them has changed a great deal.

Astute observers of human development have always believed that the early years were critical to developing potential and this view is supported by evidence that children exposed to highly enriched environments develop bigger, superior brains, whilst children who are exposed to impoverished environments have smaller, less well developed brains. This is a view which began as early as the Greek philosopher Aristotle and was developed in the 11th century by the Persian philosopher, Ibn Sina (known as "Avicenna" in the West. He argued that the "human intellect at birth is rather like a tabula rasa, a pure potentiality that is actualised through education and experience of the world and consequently ' “comes to know" '

While this information is exciting and hopeful, especially to the parents of children whose development has been adversely affected by brain injury or some ather retarding factor, it also poses a danger, as some professionals and parents think it means we should apply intensive and exhaustive programmes of stimulation to teaching both brain injured and 'well' children in order to maximise their potential. Enter the billion-dollar baby industrial complex to sell us videos and flash cards to make our babies "smarter and the clinics offering eight to ten hour day – long programmes of developmental stimulation to children with developmental problems.

But a number of researchers have found clear evidence that some promotion of early learning tasks can actually interfere with later learning. Not only that, but that ensuring that the child has plenty of 'downtime' actually improves the learning process. This recent study by Ellenbogen et al demonstrates that relational memory -- the ability to make logical "big picture" inferences from disparate pieces of information, and an essential part of learning - is dependent on taking plenty of breaks and even more important, getting a good night's sleep. I believe that this is where other rehabilitation centres have it worng and where Snowdrop have it right in relation to the programmes of developmental stimulation we provide for brain injured children.

So here's the dilemma: We know we're supposed to be doing something to take advantage of the early years of brain development, but what? The answers to this query may be simpler than we think. They require only the simplest understanding of how babies operate.

First, babies are wired for relationships. To paraphrase the great Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky, everything children need to know comes to them through relationships which provide interaction with more skilled partners, relationships that mean something to them personally. From birth, they use their emerging skills to seek out those they can learn to trust. They flourish when they know they are secure. They fall apart and under-perform when they are stressed. Their behaviour is organised and meaningful. They communicate clearly when stressed if we will but pay attention to their cues. When their needs are met, they snuggle, coo and sleep. When they feel overwhelmed, they fuss, turn red and lose motor coordination.

So babies need to be cared for by their parents and grandparents and other caregivers in a way that "listens" to what they tell us with their behaviour. Responsive care-giving gives children evidence that their needs matter. It teaches them to respect themselves and others.

They need to be cared for by people who are emotionally available to them. They need to see a smile reflect their own and a look of concern in someone's face when they cry. When they make attempts at language, they need to be heard and responded to by someone who really wants to know what they have to say. They need opportunities to play with other children and figure out what works in human interaction. They need some freedom to choose their own play activities and interact with others in their own comfortable style.

When children are confident in their safety and acceptance, they can relax and learn. According to Bjorklund and other evolutionary psychologists, learning is inhibited by fear and anxiety but facilitated by security and the opportunity to choose. Children are born learning as a natural response to their interesting world. They only need our interest and support. We adults serve as guides to help them find their way.

Anyone wanting more information on Snowdrop's work should email info@snowdrop.cc, or go to our website at http://www.snowdrop.cc

The Brains of People with Autism Develop More Slowly.

2011-10-21T10:00:00.000+01:00

Yet again we see that some types of autism are clearly linked to the development of abnormal wiring patterns in the brain. We know that the wiring pattern is largely determined by two factors, - either genetic expression, or when brain injury forces the brain to alter the normal wiring pattern. What we also know is that environmental stimulation is the most powerful influence on that wiring pattern, which is why Snowdrop provides programmes of neurodevelopmental stimulation, which increases the normal environmental stimulus in order to try to influence the brain not to adopt an abnormal wiring pattern.

With thanks from the University of Claifornia.
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Researchers at UCLA have found a possible explanation for why autistic children act and think differently than their peers. For the first time, they’ve shown that the connections between brain regions that are important for language and social skills grow much more slowly in boys with autism than in non-autistic children.

Reporting in the current on-line edition of the journal Human Brain Mapping, senior author Jennifer G. Levitt, a professor of psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behaviour at UCLA; first author Xua Hua, a UCLA post-doctoral researcher; and colleagues found aberrant growth rates in areas of the brain implicated in the social impairment, communication deficits and repetitive behaviours that characterize autism.

Autism is thought to affect one in 110 children in the U.S., and many experts believe the numbers are growing. Despite its prevalence, little is known about the disorder, and no cure has been discovered.

Normally, as children grow into teenagers, the brain undergoes major changes. This highly dynamic process depends on the creation of new connections, called white matter, and the elimination, or “pruning,” of unused brain cells, called gray matter. As a result, our brains work out the ideal and most efficient ways to understand and respond to the world around us.

Although most children with autism are diagnosed before they are 3 years old, this new study suggests that delays in brain development continue into adolescence.

“Because the brain of a child with autism develops more slowly during this critical period of life, these children may have an especially difficult time struggling to establish personal identity, develop social interactions and refine emotional skills,” Hua said. “This new knowledge may help to explain some of the symptoms of autism and could improve future treatment options.”

The researchers used a type of brain-imaging scan called a T1-weighted MRI, which can map structural changes during brain development. To study how the brains of boys with autism changed over time, they scanned 13 boys diagnosed with autism and a control group of seven non-autistic boys on two separate occasions. The boys ranged in age from 6 to 14 at the time of the first scan; on average, they were scanned again approximately three years later.

By scanning the boys twice, the scientists were able to create a detailed picture of how the brain changes during this critical period of development.

Besides seeing that the white-matter connections between those brain regions that are important for language and social skills were growing much slower in the boys with autism, they found a second anomaly: In two areas of the brain — the putamen, which is involved in learning, and the anterior cingulate, which helps regulate both cognitive and emotional processing — unused cells were not properly pruned away.

“Together, this creates unusual brain circuits, with cells that are overly connected to their close neighbours and under-connected to important cells further away, making it difficult for the brain to process information in a normal way,” Hua said.

“The brain regions where growth rates were found to be the most altered were associated with the problems autistic children most often struggle with — social impairment, communication deficits and repetitive behaviour,” she added.

Future studies using alternative neuroscience techniques should attempt to identify the source of this white-matter impairment, the researchers said.

“This study provides a new understanding of how the brains of children with autism are growing and developing in a unique way,” Levitt said. “Brain imaging could be used to determine if treatments are successful at addressing the biological difference. The delayed brain growth in autism may also suggest a different approach for educational intervention in adolescent and adult patients, since we now know their brains are wired differently to perceive information.”

UCLA Study Demonstrates the Brain's Ability to Reorganise.

2011-10-19T00:41:00.000+01:00

Thanks to 'Scienceblog' for this report, which again clearly demonstrates just how plastic the brain actually is. It is this inherent plasticity that Snowdrop aims to direct in our programmes of rehabilitation for brain injured children.

Visually impaired people appear to be fearless, navigating busy sidewalks and crosswalks, safely finding their way using nothing more than a cane as a guide. The reason they can do this, researchers suggest, is that in at least some circumstances, blindness can heighten other senses, helping individuals adapt.

Now scientists from the UCLA Department of Neurology have confirmed that blindness causes structural changes in the brain, indicating that the brain may reorganize itself functionally in order to adapt to a loss in sensory input.

Reporting in the January issue of the journal NeuroImage (currently online), Natasha Leporé, a postgraduate researcher at UCLA's Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, and colleagues found that visual regions of the brain were smaller in volume in blind individuals than in sighted ones. However, for non-visual areas, the trend was reversed -- they grew larger in the blind. This, the researchers say, suggests that the brains of blind individuals are compensating for the reduced volume in areas normally devoted to vision.

"This study shows the exceptional plasticity of the brain and its ability to reorganize itself after a major input -- in this case, vision -- is lost," said Leporé. "In other words, it appears the brain will attempt to compensate for the fact that a person can no longer see, and this is particularly true for those who are blind since early infancy, a developmental period in which the brain is much more plastic and modifiable than it is in adulthood."

Researchers used an extremely sensitive type of brain imaging called tensor-based morphometry, which can detect very subtle changes in brain volume, to examine the brains of three different groups: those who lost their sight before the age of 5; those who lost their sight after 14; and a control group of sighted individuals. Comparing the two groups of blind individuals, the researchers found that loss and gain of brain matter depended heavily on when the blindness occurred.

Only the early-blind group differed significantly from the control group in an area of the brain's corpus callosum that aids in the transmission of visual information between the two hemispheres of the brain. The researchers suggest this may be because of the reduced amount of myelination in the absence of visual input. Myelin, the fatty sheaf that surrounds nerves and allows for fast communication, develops rapidly in the very young. When the onset of blindness occurs in adolescence or later, the growth of myelin is already relatively complete, so the structure of the corpus callosum may not be strongly influenced by the loss of visual input.

In both blind groups, however, the researchers found significant enlargement in areas of the brain not responsible for vision. For example, the frontal lobes, which are involved with, among other things, working memory, were found to be abnormally enlarged, perhaps offering an anatomical foundation for some of blind individuals' enhanced skills.

Previous studies have found that when walking down a corridor with windows, the blind are adept at detecting the windows' presence because they can feel subtle changes in temperature and distinguish between the auditory echoes caused by walls and windows.

Leporé noted that scientists and others have long been curious about whether or not blind individuals compensated for their lack of vision by developing greater abilities in their remaining senses. For example, the 18th-century French philosopher Denis Diderot wrote of his amazement with some of the abilities shown by blind individuals, in particular a blind mathematician who could distinguish real from fake coins just by touching them.

But it wasn't until the early 1990s that the suspicions of science began to be confirmed with the development of neuroimaging tools.

"That allowed researchers to probe inside the brain in a non-invasive manner, yielding insights into the impressive adaptive capacity of the brain to reorganize itself following injury or sensory deprivation," Leporé said.

Other authors included Caroline Brun, Yi-Yu Chou, Agatha D. Lee, Sarah K. Madsen, Arthur W. Toga and Paul M. Thompson, all of UCLA, and Franco Leporé, Madeleine Fortin, Frédéric Gougoux, Maryse Lassonde and Patrice Voss, of the University of Montreal.

This study was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canada Research Chairs Program, the National Institute on Aging, the National Library of Medicine, the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, the National Center for Research Resources, the National Institute for Child Health and Development, and a grant from the National Institutes of Health.
The researchers report no conflicts of interest.

The UCLA Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, which seeks to improve understanding of the brain in health and disease, is a leader in the development of advanced computational algorithms and scientific approaches for the comprehensive and quantitative mapping of brain structure and function. The laboratory is part of the UCLA Department of Neurology, which encompasses more than a dozen research, clinical and teaching programs. The department has ranked No. 1 among its peers nationwide in National Institutes of Health funding for the last seven years

Deficits in the reward system of the brains of children with ADHD found.

2011-10-09T13:29:00.000+01:00

This is a very interesting study, with one elementary mistake! It was thought for years that the dopaminergic system was responsible for reward, - it isn't, but people, including scientists who should know better keep calling it so! The mesocorticolimbic system, which is a primary dopamine pathway, involving the stratium and the accumbens produces dopamine, but that dopamine does not produce 'reward' it produces 'desire' or what we would term 'craving.' - This 'desire' is the basis of addiction. What happens when this pathway is stimulated is that associated systems which produce opioids, - the brain's own heroin, are triggered to release those opioids, which is where the 'reward' comes in. However after a while, opioid production begins to fall and so we have desire without pleasure or reward! This is why addicts need more and more of a drug to feel the reward - to release the opioids! It is also why many addicts feel the craving to take drugs, but don't get pleasure from it! Anyway, it seems that this system might be undersensitive in some children who have ADHD and this research might lead to more effective treatments. Indeed at Snowdrop, we use several techniques with children who have ADHD, which directly target these neural systems.

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The underlying causes of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have yet to be well characterized. But a new study utilizing brain imaging has found an abnormality in the pathway responsible for the motivation/reward system in patients with ADHD. The finding may lead to more effective treatments for the condition as well as a greater understanding of ADHD behavior.

A hallmark of ADHD is lack of attention. Especially seen in the classroom, both children and adults with the disorder lack the ability to focus for extended periods of time. Scientists suspected the symptom was due to a deficit in motivation and reward system--a process which can hone focus with the understanding that a reward (or at least not a punishment) will be given if successful.

Studying that pathway is a difficult task. It relies on the chemical dopamine, which can be easily affected by ADHD treatment or drug abuse which is common in adult ADHD sufferers. Tests to this point have been relatively small, but a push by lead author Nora Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, finally saw a sizable cohort of participants investigated.

53 adults with ADHD who had never received treatment were subjected to a PET scan along with 44 healthy controls. Researchers looked at both ends of the dopamine pathway--"dopamine receptors, to which the chemical messenger binds to propagate the "reward" signal, and dopamine transporters, which take up and recycle excess dopamine after the signal is sent."

The study showed those with ADHD had lower levels of both receptors and transporters. This was especially clear in the acumbens and midbrain, both of which are regions important to the motivation/reward process.

Understanding the deficit in dopamine can help change the way ADHD patients interact with the world. Volkow stated, "[The pathway's] involvement in ADHD supports the use of interventions to enhance the appeal and relevance of school and work tasks to improve performance."

Though the dopamine problems have not been a solid fact until this moment, the medication that has been used for decades were on the right track. "Our results also support the continued use of stimulant medications — the most common pharmacological treatment for ADHD — which have been shown to increase attention to cognitive tasks by elevating brain dopamine," Volkow said.

The team also hopes that this study will help adults with ADHD who tend towards drug abuse and obesity. The lack of dopamine makes the rewards system difficult to trigger, so overeating and over use of stimulant drugs may be seen as a dangerous form of compensation, an unconscious move to help bolster the feeling of reward. Developing therapies that help attenuate the need for drugs and binge eating will greatly improve quality of life. Thanks to the examiner

Sensory Processing Difficulties.

2011-09-26T17:00:00.002+01:00

Although the sensory system is very complex and its correct development is vital, this post is only able to provide a brief guide. I will however highlight the major problems, which children who suffer brain injury face in the developmental areas of vision, hearing and touch.

We take in information about our environment through our senses. This is something, which we cannot help but do. The amount of sensory information our brains are processing at any one moment is phenomenal. As I sit here typing for instance, I am aware of several sensory stimuli. Visually I see the computer keyboard, with the letters printed on the keys; I can see my hands, the desk, the computer screen and more. In my peripheral vision, I am aware of the window, my dog, the sofa and other items in the room. Auditorially (hearing), I can hear the kettle beginning to boil, I hear my fingers tapping on the keys of the keyboard and I hear my cat mewing. In terms of touch (tactility), I can feel the keys of the keyboard; feel the wooden floor beneath my feet etc. These are merely the things of which I am aware and these sensory stimuli are all being processed simultaneously, in a fraction of a second.

As an example of this processing, consider the complexity of my typing this text, which hopefully you are reading with enjoyment! The front part of my brain (the frontal cortex) is sending out messages to the motor parts of my brain (the motor cortex), which control my hands,

instructing it which keys on the keyboard I need to hit next in order for the written words on this page to make sense. The motor cortex then instructs the hands to move in order to hit those keys. Parts of the brain known as the basal ganglia and cerebellum then become involved in

order to attempt to execute the necessary movements of the hands in a fluent and accurate manner. When the movements have been executed, feedback signals are then sent back to the frontal cortex, via the ‘cerebellum’ and ‘basal ganglia’ to inform it how successful the hands

were at hitting the correct keys on the keyboard and whether the movements were accurate and fluent. If necessary, the frontal cortex then issues new instructions, to correct any errors.

In a healthy, uninjured brain, this grossly oversimplified description of events all takes place within a fraction of a second whilst the brain simultaneously takes care of many other complex tasks. It is a phenomenal feat.

Also, consider how the brain decodes the various sounds we call language and how it regulates its own attention. Imagine you are sitting in your lounge holding a conversation with a visiting friend. There you are, happily chatting away; - you are attending to your friend’s voice

so that your auditory system is able to process the constant stream of noise, which we call speech. Your brain is able to take this constant stream of sound, break it down into recognisable chunks and attribute meaning to it so that you understand what it is your friend is saying. At

the same time, your brain is tuning out extraneous sounds in the background, such as traffic passing outside your window, so that you are able to focus on the task at hand. Your brain does all of this and much more, (this again is actually a gross oversimplification), with the

minimum of effort, without you even being conscious of the processes involved.

Now consider a brain, which is not healthy; - a brain, which has suffered injury and try to imagine the chaos, which might ensue for a child whose sensory processing system has been impaired. Imagine this child’s ability to ‘tune out’ noises, which he does not wish to pay attention to, has been impaired. What havoc would that child experience?

I believe that the sensory problems, which are faced by brain-injured children can be assigned to five categories, which we shall discuss later. Fundamentally it seems to me that many brain-injured children experience difficulties in correctly modulating incoming sensory information, their sensory system processing incoming stimuli in a distorted manner.’ I have applied these theories (which are all supported by evidence), to differing patterns of brain-injury: - And there are many patterns of brain-injury to which they can be applied! A particular pattern rarely has absolute, identifiable boundaries and symptoms from another. There is often a great deal of ‘overlap’ in the symptoms which differing patterns of brain-injury display. Allow me to explain.

A good example is my proposition that cerebral palsy, autism and ADHD are not distinct separable conditions, but are a continuum; they are overlapping expressions of brain–injury and consequently it is possible to have some symptoms of autism, or ADHD within what is termed cerebral palsy. It is also possible to have some symptoms of cerebral palsy within what is known as autism or ADHD.

I can already hear the howls of indignation over the fact that I have referred to autism as brain-injury! Have you not seen all the recent evidence, they will say, which points to the cause of autism as being genetic? Yes, I have seen this evidence and I accept that some forms

of autism have genetic causes. However, I have seen too many children with brain-injuries, who display amongst their repertoire of symptoms, many autistic qualities. Thus, I cannot ignore the fact that some forms of autism also have environmental causes. In other words, they are produced by brain-injury. I am also aware that genes can only express themselves in the correct environmental conditions!

It was Delacato in the 1970’s, who first claimed that children suffer distortions of sensory processing, separating them into the categories of ‘hyper-sensory,’ hypo-sensory’ and white noise. I have managed to identify five categories of sensory difficulties, which children display,

(other researchers may find more!) and I see these as symptoms of a malfunctioning ‘tuning mechanism’ in the brain. This ‘tuning’ mechanism is the structure which enables us to ‘tune out’ background interference when we wish to selectively attend to something in particular; it also enables us to ‘tune in’ to another stimulus when we are attending to something completely different. It is the same mechanism of the brain, which allows us to listen to what our friend is saying to us, even when we are standing in the midst of heavy traffic on a busy road. It is this mechanism that allows us, even though we are in conversation in a crowded room, to hear our name being spoken by someone else across that room. It is this mechanism, which allows a mother to sleep though various loud, night-time noises such as her husband snoring, or an aeroplane passing overhead and yet the instant her new baby stirs, she is woken. It is a remarkable feature of the human brain and it seems to be the responsibility of three structures operating cooperatively; - these are the ascending reticular activating formation, the thalamus and the limbic system.

Having made such a bold claim, allow me to furnish you with the evidence to support it. The three structures just mentioned receive sensory information from the sense organs and relay the information to specific areas of the cortex. The thalamus in particular is responsible

for controlling the general excitability of the cortex (whether that excitability tunes the cortex up to be overexcited, tunes it down to be under excited, or tunes it inwardly to selectively attend to it’s own internal sensory world.) (Carlson, 2007). The performance of these neurological structures, or in the case of our children, their distorted performance seems to be at the root of the sensory problems our children face.

I would label the five categories of sensory distortion, which I have witnessed in brain-injured children as follows: -

1. Sensory over-amplification. The particular sensory modality, (vision, hearing, touch, etc) can become oversensitive to stimuli from the environment. It is my belief that in this case, the thalamus, limbic system and reticular formation, which are acting as the brain’s ‘tuning

system’ are malfunctioning and are not effectively regulating the level of incoming sensory stimuli. Indeed, in this case they would appear to be acting to over-excite the cortex, which would have the effect of amplifying the sensory stimuli. This could possibly cause the child to

overreact, or to withdraw into himself as a defensive strategy from a world, which in sensory terms is simply overwhelming.

2. Sensory under-amplification. The particular sensory modality can appear to become under sensitive to incoming stimuli from the environment. In this case, I believe the thalamus and other two brain structures, acting as the tuning system, are acting to under-excite the cortex, which is having the effect of appearing to dampen down incoming sensory stimuli. This could influence the child to act as though he cannot see, hear or feel; - he may be deficient in this way, in one or more sensory modalities.

3. Internally focussed sensory tuning. In this case, the particular sensory modality appears to be ‘inwardly tuned.’. In this case the three brain structures, acting as the brain’s tuning system are exciting the cortex to attend to sensory information of the sensory system’s own making, or from within the child’s own body. Consequently, the child may have difficulties perceiving the ‘outside’ sensory world through this haze of internal stimulation. We see this effect ourselves in the visual aura of a migraine, or when we have 'pins and needles.'

4. Wide spectrum tuning. In this case, the three neurological structures are exciting the cortex and attempting to tune its attention to many incoming stimuli simultaneously. They seem unable to filter out background noise, sights, etc in order to allow the child to focus on one aspect of the environment. For this child, the world is absolute chaos and again, he often withdraws into himself.

5. Narrow spectrum tuning. In this case, the neurological structures are only exciting the cortex selectively, allowing the cortex to attend to limited, isolated sensory stimuli. This child may often seem ‘over-focussed’ on one particular aspect of his environment. He can for instance, become intensely interested with a spinning top or the particular features of one toy and will not play with anything else, to the point of seeming obsession. For this child, it appears his sensory tuning system is focussed too narrowly and he cannot spread his attention to incorporate several features of his environment simultaneously.

Can these problems be addressed? Yes they can. As part of its programme for children with sensory processing issues, Snowdrop creates an individually tailored 'adapted sensory environment' for the child to encourage his sensory system to begin to process stimuli on a much more normal level. Are we experiencing success with children who have sensory processing problems? Yes we are.

Anyone requiring more information should contact info@snowdrop.cc

References.

Beck, A. T., and Guthrie, T. (1956). Psychological significance of visual auras: Study of three cases with brain damage and seizures. Psychosomatic Medicin, Vol XVIII, no 2,

Carlson, N. R. (2007). Physiology of Behavior. London. Allyn and Bacon.

Haist, F., Adamo, M., Westerfield, W., Courchesne,E., and Townsend, J., (2005). The functional neuroanatomy of spatial attention in autistic spectrum disorder. Developmental Neuropsychology, 27, 3, 425-458.

Mulleners, W. M., Chronicle, E. P., Palmer, J, E., Koehler, P. J., and Vredeveld, J. W. (2001), Suppression of perception in migraine: Evidence for reduced inhibition in the visual cortex, Neurology, January 23, 2001; 56(2): 178 - 183.

Yang, T., and Maunsell, J. H. R.. (2004) The effect of perceptual learning on neuronal responses in monkey visual area V4. Journal of Neuroscience, 24, 1617 – 1626.

A Mother's Touch.

2011-09-24T10:00:00.000+01:00

When a baby with neurological problems is born into a family and he / she is brought home, we know that normal patterns of interaction between baby and parents can break down. This is no fault of the parents, but is merely the consequence of the stress of the situation in which they find themselves. Unfortunately, this can have negative consequences for many areas of development, especially in terms of language and communication development. This is why a Snowdrop programme, which stimulates communication development always includes 'back to basics' activities to overcome these issues and to stimulate brain development.

UCI child neurologist and neuroscientist Dr. Tallie Z. Baram has found that maternal care and other sensory input triggers activity in a baby's developing brain that improves cognitive function and builds resilience to stress.

For an infant, a mother's touch provides a feeling of security, comfort and love. But research at UC Irvine is showing that it does much more.

UCI child neurologist and neuroscientist Dr. Tallie Z. Baram has found that caressing and other sensory input can trigger activity in a baby's brain which can make a remarkable difference to the development of the child.

The finding contributes to growing knowledge about epigenetics, the study of how environmental factors can reprogram the expression of genes.

In a study published earlier this year in The Journal of Neuroscience, Baram and colleagues identified how sensory stimuli from maternal care can modify genes that control a key messenger of stress called corticotropin-releasing hormone.

In earlier work, Baram helped discover that excessive amounts of CRH in the brain's primary learning and memory center led to the disintegration of dendritic spines, branchlike structures on neurons. Dendritic spines facilitate the sending and receiving of messages among brain cells and the collection and storage of memories.

"Communication among brain cells is the foundation of cognitive processes such as learning and memory," says Baram, the Danette Shepard Chair in Neurological Sciences. "In several brain disorders where learning and similar thought processes are abnormal, dendritic spines have been found to be reduced in density or poorly developed.

"Because an infant's brain is still building connections in these communication zones, large blasts or long-term amounts of stress can permanently limit full development, increasing the risk of anxiety, depression and dementia later in life."

Her most recent study describes for the first time the cellular pathways of the epigenetic process by which maternal care reduces the expression of CRH in the hypothalamus. Detecting sensory input, DNA in brain cells in this stress-sensitive region activates a neuron-restrictive silencer factor, which limits CRH. Without the interference of excess stress-triggered CRH, neural dendrites in the hippocampus can fully develop, which leads to stress resilience.

"What's noteworthy about this study is that it reveals that brain structure is influenced by the environment early in life, and especially by maternal care," says Baram, whose research on early-life factors in neural development has fundamentally altered the understanding of disorders such as epilepsy.

"There has been a belief that the brain is hardwired - that once it's established, it's that way for life," she says. " But we're seeing that the brain is actually 'softwired - that changes in stimuli alter the wiring - and that it's not predestined to be a certain way."

It is upon this plasticity that the conventions of the Snowdrop programme are based!

Infants trained to concentrate benefit academically.

2011-09-03T09:13:00.000+01:00

This is why the Snowdrop programme builds attentional abilities through processes such as training children to focus eye contact, partake in 'intensive interaction' and to build 'proto-conversations' Regulation of attentional resources is an essential part of the developmental process.

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Although parents may have a hard time believing it, even infants can be trained to improve their concentration skills. What's more, training babies in this way leads to improvements on other, unrelated tasks.

The findings reported online on September 1 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, are in contrast to reports in adults showing that training at one task generally doesn't translate into improved performance on other, substantially different tasks. They also may have important implications for improving success in school, particularly for those children at risk of poor outcomes, the researchers say.

"Research suggests that differences in attentional control abilities emerge early in development and that children with better attentional control subsequently learn better in academic settings," said Sam Wass of the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development at Birkbeck, University of London. "The connection is an intuitively obvious one: the better a child is at concentrating on one object, such as a book, and ignoring distractions, for instance people moving around a room, the better that child is going to learn. We show that attentional control abilities can be trained at a much earlier age than had previously been thought possible."

The researchers trained 11-month-old infants to direct their gaze toward images they observed on a computer screen. For example, in one task, a butterfly flew only as long as the babies kept their eyes on it while other distracting elements appeared on screen. Infants visited the lab five times over the course of 15 days. Half of the 42 babies took part in training, while the other half watched TV. Each child was tested for cognitive abilities at the beginning and end of the study.

Trained infants rapidly improved their ability to focus their attention for longer periods and to shift their attention from one point to another. They also showed improvements in their ability to spot patterns and small but significant changes in their spontaneous looking behavior while playing with toys.

"Our results appeared to show an improved ability to alter the frequency of eye movements in response to context," Wass said. "In the real world, sometimes we want to be able to focus on one object of interest and ignore distractions, and sometimes we want to be able to shift the focus of our attention rapidly around a room—for example, for language learning in social situations. This flexibility in the allocation of attention appeared to improve after training."

The fact that the babies' improvements in concentration transferred to a range of tasks supports the notion that there is greater plasticity in the unspecialized infant brain.

"In other words, if we want to substantially alter cognitive development, it may be that the earlier we start, the better," Wass said.

There is one caveat: It remains unclear whether babies' developing and "trainable" brains might tend to lose newfound skills just as readily as they gain them.

Autism. - It's all in the wiring plan.

2011-09-03T09:04:00.000+01:00

As has been thought for many years now, it seems that parts of the brains of children with autism are wired differently. That doesn't have to mean that the wiring pattern has to be permanent though. The environment is the most powerful developmental force and we know that the brain can change its wiring diagram in response to environmental stimulation. That is what the Snowdrop programme is all about.

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STANFORD, Calif. - Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital have used a novel method for analyzing brain-scan data to distinguish children with autism from typically developing children. Their discovery reveals that the gray matter in a network of brain regions known to affect social communication and self-related thoughts has a distinct organization in people with autism. The findings will be published online Sept. 2 in Biological Psychiatry.

While autism diagnoses are now based entirely on clinical observations and a battery of psychiatric and educational tests, researchers have been making advances toward identifying anatomical features in the brain that would help to determine whether a person is autistic.

"The new findings give a uniquely comprehensive view of brain organization in children with autism and uncover a relationship between the severity of brain-structure differences and the severity of autism symptoms," said Vinod Menon, PhD, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and of neurology and neurological sciences, who led the research.

"We are getting closer to being able to use brain-imaging technology to help in the diagnosis and treatment of individuals with autism," said child psychiatrist Antonio Hardan, MD, who is the study's other senior author and an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford. Hardan treats patients with autism at Packard Children's.

Brain scans are not likely to completely replace traditional methods of autism diagnosis, which rely on behavioral assessments, Hardan added, but they may eventually aid diagnosis in toddlers.

Autism occurs in about one in every 110 children. It is a disabling developmental disorder that impairs a child's language skills, social interactions and the ability to sense how one is perceived by others.

The study compared MRI data from 24 autistic children aged 8 to 18 with scan data from 24 age-matched, typically developing children. The data was collected at the University of Pittsburgh.

"We jumped at the results," Menon said. "Our approach allows us to examine the structure of the autistic brain in a more meaningful manner." The new findings expand scientists' basic knowledge of the core brain deficits in autism, he added.

The analysis method, called "multivariate searchlight classification," divided the brain with a three-dimensional grid, then examined one cube of the brain at a time, and identified regions in which the pattern of gray matter volume could be used to discriminate between children with autism and typically developing children.

Instead of comparing the sizes of individual brain structures, as prior studies have done, the new analysis generated something akin to a topographical map of the entire brain. The scientists essentially mapped the autistic brain's distinct cliffs and valleys, uncovering subtle differences in the physical organization of the gray matter.

Such analysis may be a more useful approach than previous tacks. Earlier studies, for instance, suggested that people with autism may have larger brains in toddlerhood or have a large defect in one brain structure. This study took a different approach and discovered several autism-associated differences in the Default Mode Network, a set of brain structures important for social communication and self-related thoughts. Specific structures that differed included the posterior cingulate cortex, the medial prefrontal cortex and the medial temporal lobes. These findings align well with recent theoretical and functional MRI studies of the autistic brain, which also point to differences in the Default Mode Network, Menon said.

Once Menon and his team had found where the differences in autistic brains were located, they were able to use their analysis to classify whether individual children in the study had autism. They used a subset of their data to "train" the mathematical algorithm, then ran the remaining brain scans through the algorithm to classify the children.

"We could discriminate between typically developing and autistic children with 92 percent accuracy on the basis of gray matter volume in the posterior cingulate cortex," said Lucina Uddin, PhD, the study's first author. Uddin is an instructor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford.

In addition, the children with the most severe communication deficits, as measured on a standard behavioral scale for diagnosing individuals with autism, had the biggest brain structure differences. Severe impairments in social behavior and repetitive behavior also showed a trend toward association with more severe brain differences.

Menon and his team plan to repeat the study in younger children and to extend it to larger groups of subjects. If the results are upheld, the new method offers the possibility of several applications in autism diagnosis and treatment. For instance, brain scans might eventually help distinguish autism from other behavioral disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or might predict whether high-risk children, such as those with autistic siblings, will go on to develop autism themselves. Brain scanning might also be able to predict what type of deficits will occur in a child with a new autism diagnosis, allowing clinicians to target their treatments to a child's predicted deficits.

"Scans would likely be used alongside clinical expertise, giving that extra hint from the brain data," Uddin said.

When such integrated assessments are possible, the researchers hope they will allow clinicians to build detailed profiles of each patient. "We hope we'll eventually be able to tell parents, 'Your child will probably respond to this treatment, or your child is unlikely to respond to that treatment,'" Hardan said. "In my mind, that's the future."

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Other Stanford scientists who collaborated on the project were research scientist Srikanth Ryali, PhD; postdoctoral scholar Tianwen Chen, PhD; and research assistants Christina Young and Amirah Khouzam. Nancy Minshew, MD, from the University of Pittsburgh, also contributed to the project.

The research was supported by funding from the Singer Foundation, the Stanford Institute for Neuro-Innovation & Translational Neurosciences, the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, the National Institute of Deafness & Other Communication Disorders, the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders & Stroke and the National Science Foundation. Uddin was also supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Stanford University Autism Working Group. Additional information about the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, which also supported this work, is available at http://psychiatry.stanford.edu/

The Stanford University School of Medicine consistently ranks among the nation's top medical schools, integrating research, medical education, patient care and community service. For more news about the school, please visit http://mednews.stanford.edu. The medical school is part of Stanford Medicine, which includes Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. For information about all three, please visit http://stanfordmedicine.org/about/news.html.

Celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2011, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital is annually ranked as one of the nation's best pediatric hospitals by U.S. News & World Report, and is the only San Francisco Bay Area children's hospital with programs ranked in the U.S. News Top Ten. The 311-bed hospital is devoted to the care of children and expectant mothers, and provides pediatric and obstetric medical and surgical services in association with the Stanford University School of Medicine. Packard Children's offers patients locally, regionally and nationally a full range of health-care programs and services, from preventive and routine care to the diagnosis and treatment of serious illness and injury. For more information, visit www.lpch.org.

David. A Case Study from the Snowdrop Programme.

2011-09-01T15:36:00.000+01:00

David is a little boy who literally could not stop. When I first saw him in the village hall justa year ago, he simply ran and ran until he was exhausted. He was so overactive and unpredictable in hisbehaviour that mum and dad did not take him out much, simply because theycouldn’t control him. He also hadterrific sensory processing problems. Ifanyone sang, or clapped, or whistled, David would overreact wildly as ifterrified or as if he was in pain. Inaddition to this, upon examination, he was very oversensitive to tactilestimulation in all his limbs. Also Davidnever slept for more than an hour. At two and a half years of age, mum and dadwere obviously keen to try to calm him down in preparation for entry tonursery.

On my first assessment of David, I spent most of the morningchasing him to try to pin him down long enough to perform various tests /observations, which isn’t an unusual situation in itself as I find myself insuch a pursuit of various children, but David’s level of activity wasbizarre. Finally after much chasing andwrestling, my work was done and mum just looked at me and said, “what on earthcan we do?”

The programme which I instituted was based upon the‘opponent threshold theory’ – The research which supported thistheory seemed to suggest that in some children in order to reduce the level ofactivity of a particular neurotransmitter system, it was necessary to stimulatethat system beyond a certain threshold of activity. The programme activities were designed to doprecisely this. The repetitions of thoseactivities would serve as a basis for stimulating brain plasticity, -encouraging the brain to make new connections within this normal framework ofactivity.

Now mum and dad are the type of people who will readilyadmit that they go away and hibernate. Although they still regularly see me to this day, they take theprogramme and go away never to be heard from for the next four months. This is fine, the last thing I would wish todo is to impose myself upon anyone’s privacy. So the next time I heard from them was four months later when they madethe appointment for their reassessment. I was a little dubious because I thought mum sounded a little cagey onthe telephone and I was thinking that maybe very little progress had been made.

The Friday morning of their first reassessment arrived and Iwaited nervously for them to enter the village hall. I was expecting to have to chase David downagain and had joked with Janet, my wife that I had a lassoo in my bag. I was overjoyed when David walked in holdinghis mum and dad’s hand. Just looking athim you could tell he had lost that ‘frantic’ overactivity. He came to the table, took a tesco bag of hismum and emptied his Mr Men books onto the table. This child who four months earlier had notproduced any language which I could recognise then proceeded to tell me thetitles of the books. He was making goodeye – contact, paying appropriate attention to me and was just so much calmer.

Dad said that when they left after their initial assessmentfour months earlier, he had been sceptical about the programme and what benefitit would have, but that all of that scepticism melted away when they got homeand after one particular activity David had just immediately calmed down. He slept for several hours that firstnight for the first time in months and with the addition of a weighted blanket,was now sleeping consistently well. Hisauditory processing problems had also dissipated to the point where mum nolonger had to dive for the remote control to change channel every time therewas singing on the TV.

David still has problems and I still see him to this day,but these problems are now minor compared to a year ago and we are steadilymaking inroads into them. He now speaksin four word sentences, mum and dad can take him out and his learning abilitiesare progressing nicely now he isn’t being hindered by lack of sleep, aninability to attend and sensory processing problems which were simplypreventing the correct environmental information from being processed in thebrain. David is heading in the rightdirection and will have no difficulty in being accepted into a mainstreamnursery and school.

Snowdrop and 'The Listening Programme.'

2011-08-24T09:16:00.000+01:00

Snowdrop is pleased to announce that in conjunction with US neurotechnology company ‘Advanced Brain Technologies,’ we are now able to offer our clients ‘The Listening Programme.’ (TLP).

The Listening Programme is a music listening therapy which provides engaging brain stimulation to help ameliorate a range of problems which our children face.

Systematic training is provided through listening to psychoacoustically modified classical music which trains the brain to process sound more efficiently. This can lead to improvements in:

Learning
Attention
Communication
Reading

Listening
Sensory Processing
Social Engagement
Behaviour

Self Regulation
Musical Ability

Children, teens and adults can use the programme in the home, classroom or workplace. Completely portable and easy to use, The Listening Programme fits easily into anyone's schedule and only requires 15 to 30 minutes of daily listening.

The Listening Programme is a fusion of beautiful art and sound science. The masterful performances of the award-winning players of the Arcangelos Chamber Ensemble are skillfully crafted using advanced audio technologies to provide an unrivalled listening experience.

How can something that seems so simple - listening to psychoacoustically modified classical music - actually impact a wide range of abilities, such as sensory processing, reading, communication, learning and memory?

Numerous studies worldwide, including research at the University of Sheffield, provide empirical evidence that substantiate The Listening Programme’s efficacy and credibility.

The Listening Programme’s psychoacoustically modified music and production techniques are designed to stimulate or “exercise” the different functions of the auditory processing system. This enables the brain to better receive, process, store and utilise the valuable information provided through the varied soundscapes in our lives such as music, language and the environment in which we live.

THE EAR BRAIN CONNECTION

So the question becomes...how can we overcome auditory processing challenges - moving from a “disorganised” to an “organised” system?

Certain classical music, like that of Mozart, Haydn and Vivaldi, has specific structure, producing sound waves in organized patterns. Within these patterns are vital elements including time, frequency and volume. When listening to music, the ear is receiving the musical sound waves - waves that arrive in different frequencies, measured in Hertz (Hz). These frequencies stimulate the brain, and thus affect different functions of the mind and body.

SPECIFIC FREQUENCIES FOR SPECIFIC FUNCTIONS

The Listening Programme combines decades of clinical research in several fields, including neurology, physiology, psycho-acoustics, auditory processing, music theory and more. The method builds on the work of respected leaders in these fields, such as ear, nose and throat (ENT) physician Alfred A. Tomatis, M.D. (1920-2001). Among other discoveries, Dr. Tomatis helped identify the relationship between certain sound frequencies and their effect on their functions of the mind and body. A simplified explanation of Dr. Tomatis' findings shows that certain brands, or zones, of sound frequencies affect different abilities.

TLP is designed to address these zones, systematically providing auditory stimulation that, when customized for listeners by ABT Providers, can help improve their ability to function in a number of ways.

THE BASIC BUILDING BLOCKS OF AUDITORY PROCESSING ARE TRAINED USING THE FUNDAMENTALS OF MUSIC - FREQUENCY, VOLUME AND TIMING.

How much does 'The Listening Programme' cost?

Unfortunately, the cost is out of Snowdrop's control, but anyone who knows me knows that I would not be offering something unless there was evidence to demonstrate it's effectiveness. That effectiveness has been demonstrated by my own university the University of Sheffield.

The cost of the 10 psychoacoustically modified CD's which make up the programme is £378. The additional cost of Snowdrop controlling the programme on a fortnightly basis is an additional £15 per fortnightly consultation.

The Listening Programme for Schools.

The cost of TLP for use in a school is £600 plus fortnightly monitoring of the programme by Snowdrop at a cost of £50 per fortnightly consultation.

Keane. - A Case Study From the Snowdrop Programme.

2011-08-11T15:28:00.000+01:00

Keane had been born with his twin brother prematurely, he had suffered a bleed to the white matter of his brain around the ventricles, commonly known as ‘periventricular leukomalacia.’ His cerebral aqueduct was also blocked which meant that there had been a build up of cerebrospinal fluid which had caused hydrocephalus. This had created pressure on the brain which had caused further injuries. A shunt had been successfully inserted to drain the excess fluid, but to top it all, the hospital had allowed infection to seep in and Keane had contracted severe meningitis. This had caused even more injuries.

When I first saw Keane, he was 8 months old. I had been contacted by his mother and had made the trip from Devon to London to assess his developmental problems. I walked through the front door and into the kitchen where Keane was sitting in a baby bouncing chair and simply staring into space, - he was totally disconnected from what was happening around him, - it was as though someone had found his ‘standby’ button and pressed it. Mum confirmed that he was like this most of the time.

The diagnosis and prognosis given by the medical professionals was dire. There had been massive damage to the white matter of the brain, to parts of the cortex, (especially the visual cortex, meaning that Keane was cortically blind) and to parts of the upper brainstem. The forecast was that Keane would be very severely handicapped for the rest of his life and would be totally dependent in every way for every aspect of his care.

I knew we had no time to lose here and set about designing a programme of developmental stimulation there and then in the family’s front room, which I duly taught to them that same afternoon. The programme was designed to attack Keane’s problems in every area of development and to stimulate and direct the natural plasticity of the brain. I knew from both mum and dad’s attitude that they would follow the programme unstintingly every day.

Two months later, I received a telephone call from mum telling me that she thought Keane was beginning to see and that he had become much more alert. Obviously I was pleased, but I persuaded her that it was still ‘early days’ and that we should keep our feet on the ground and just continue with the programme.

The time quickly came for Keane’s four – monthly reassessment and the family had elected to come and see me in Devon. I was delighted at what I saw when they walked through the door of the village hall where I see my families. Keane was clearly scanning his environment and actually made eye contact with me. As I put him through his paces it was clear that we had woken this little boy from his stupor. He had made significant gains in every area of development. I designed a new programme and sent the family home.

Three years down the line, and over those months and years I have received several telephone calls from mum. The first was to tell me that Keane had begun speaking and that one of his first words was a very well known expletive! Wonder where he got that one from, - any ideas dad? The next was to tell me that not only was Keane now walking but that they couldn’t shut him up and he was driving them potty! Good old Keane. Recent phone calls complain of him placing himself on the naughty stair after purposefully being naughty and getting into a fight with another child at a family wedding after a child made impolite reference to his red hair. Mum often makes him talk to me on the phone himself to explain his escapades.

Keane is now developmentally superior to his twin brother in every area. It has been a long journey for the family, who have dragged their son out of the depth of his disabilities by working relentlessly every day for three years. The programme is relentless and is repetitive, but it shows what it is possible to achieve.

Keane starts at school next year, but it won’t be the special school that everyone expected, - it will be at a mainstream school with his twin brother. He is now described as ‘precociously intelligent.’ His doctors are amazed and have no explanation for his recovery. The main thing is that he has his life back. Instead of what would have been a life of suffering and problems he has a life of hope and opportunity. That is how powerful brain plasticity can be.

Anyone who would like more information about the Snowdrop programme should go to our website at http://www.snowdrop.cc or email us at snowdrop_cdc@btinternet.com or you can call for a chat on 01884 38447

A gift from a Grandmother.

2011-08-02T10:00:00.000+01:00

I just wanted to share a letter I received this morning from a grandmother. I'm sure you will agree it is humbling.

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"Dear Mr Brereton.

I wrote to you several years ago after seeing an article in 'Able Magazine' about your dear son Daniel. I wanted more information in order to help my own grandson who had severe, uncontrolled epilepsy among other conditions. In response to my request, you very kindly sent me a letter involving a synopsis of your work, and your book, 'Brain Injured Children; - Tapping the Potential Within.'

I knew just from the title of your book that this could be a very beneficial contact I had made. I read your book avidly from cover to cover. Sadly my dear grandson became seriously ill in August 09 and died in April 10. Therefore I was never able to encourage my family to seek your help and advice.

Our world, as you yourself know, fell apart. - The devastation of losing a child / grandchild cannot be measured. I am in the process of sorting through much paperwork I'd collected regarding my grandson's various conditions, of course I came across your book and letter.

You never charged me for your book, so I am sending you a cheque for £40, which is all I can afford as a thankyou, which will perhaps enable you to send copies of your book to a few more deserving families.

I feel sure that the work you are doing is invaluable and am only sorry that my dear grandson was never able to benefit from it. I hope you may long continue to help many wonderful children "tap their potential!" Be assured that I will always keep your book and if I have the opportunity to tell other families about your work I will most definitely do so."

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When I have picked the pieces of myself which remain, off the floor, I have 4 free copies of my book to give away. the first 4 people to email me at snowdrop_cdc@btinternet.com First come, first serve.

Can how a baby cries predict his or her future language skills?

2011-07-23T00:44:00.000+01:00

Thanks for this piece of wisdom, which reminds me of the first question on the Snowdrop language development profile. "Did your child have differentiated cries in response to his / her varying needs?"

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According to a Japanese proverb: “A crying child thrives.” A recent studythat examines the complexity of an infant’s cries in relation to his or her language development seems to offer a scientific basis for this folk wisdom.

For babies whose cries exhibited complex melodies by the age of two months, the study, published in the The Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal, says the probability of a language delay greatly decreases. Those whose cries were less complex had a greater chance of language delays by two years.

In addition, the study examined the language development in infants with cleft lip and cleft palate. The findings suggest distinguishing characteristics heard in the cries of those infants with a cleft and those without. This research is important because the findings may offer new treatments to help language development for infants with clefts.

The psychology of crying is nothing new. In study after study, scientists have documented thecatharsis that only a good cry can bring. For infants, crying is the sole form of communication and there are three distinct types: A “basic cry” is a rhythmic pattern consisting of a cry followed by silence; an “anger cry” is similar to a basic cry but with more volume due to the release of excessive air through the infant’s vocal chords; and a “pain cry” is a loud cry followed by periods of breath holding.

Infants also exhibit what is called a “simple cry melody” – a crying arc consisting of a single rise and then a fall. According to researchers, it is the segmentation of these melodies by momentary pauses and respiratory movement that leads to syllable production.

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Tell us something we don't know!!

Time-Lapse Imaging Charts The Change Taking Place In Brain Circuitry During Development

2011-07-22T10:28:00.000+01:00

Although it annoys me when people refer to autism as a 'disease,' this research in its references to the effect of environmental inputs upon the developing brain, supports everything we do at Snowdrop when we provide programmes of increased environmental stimulation for children who have neuro-developmental disabilities like cerebral palsy and autism. With thanks to Medical News Today.

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Dr. Ed Ruthazer is a mapmaker but, his landscape is the developing brain - specifically the neuronal circuitry, which is the network of connections between nerve cells. His research at The Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital - The Neuro at McGill University, reveals the brain as a dynamic landscape where connections between nerves are plastic, changing and adapting to the demands of the environment. Dr. Ruthazer is the winner of the inaugural Young Investigator Award from the Canadian Association for Neuroscience, which recognizes outstanding research achievements. His laboratory uses time-lapse imaging to chart the changes that take place in brain circuitry during development in the hope of advancing treatments for injuries to the central nervous system and therapies for developmental disorders such as autism and schizophrenia. These diseases are widely held to result from errors in brain wiring due to a disruption of the complex interactions between genetic and environmental influences during brain development.

Astoundingly, nearly one out of every 100 Canadians suffers from one of these disorders, which have been estimated to cost the Canadian economy over $10 billion annually in addition to inflicting a devastating impact on patients and their families. Two of Dr. Ruthazer's recent publications in prominent science journals advance our knowledge of how the brain develops, which is vital to developing advanced therapies, treatments and even early intervention.

Nature versus nurture

His new study, published in the prestigious journal Neuron, vividly illustrates the effect of environmental inputs on the developing brain. Exposure to just 20 minutes of intensive visual stimulation during development led to enhanced visual acuity and higher sensitivity to finer and smaller visual targets than non-conditioned controls.

"There is no room for inaccuracy in the mature brain," says Dr. Ruthazer. In the developing brain, there is an initial overproduction of imprecise connections between nerve cells. During development and learning, these connections are pruned, leaving connections that are stronger and more specific. This refinement occurs in response to inputs from the environment. "Our study shows that intense visual stimulation renders nerve cells more receptive to subsequent learning and refinement."

Importantly, Dr. Ruthazer's group identified the molecular mechanisms underlying the changes in the nervous system. Environmental stimulation activates the production of a protein called Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor, or BDNF, which plays a major role in the plasticity of neurons and has two forms: proBDNF facilitates the weakening of inaccurate or poorly targeted connections and mature BDNF strengthens appropriate, effective connections. In this case, in response to environmental activity, these processes led to refinement of nerve cell connections involved in the visual system and required for visual acuity. "This indicates that sensory experience during development leads to rapid production of key proteins used at nerve cell connections to confer long-term stability and increased efficacy at appropriate connection points, while simultaneously helping to eliminate inappropriate connections."
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Anyone wanting more information about the Snowdrop programme should email snowdrop_cdc@btinternet.com or visit the Snowdrop website.

Brain Needs Vitamin C to Function

2011-07-19T15:38:00.000+01:00

Personally, I think it is just a bit of a 'leap' to assume that just because GABA receptors in the retina function better with high doses of vitamin C, that this automatically applies to the rest of the brain. However, GABA receptors do supply inhibition so it would be interesting to see what effect vitamin C had on some children on the Snowdrop programme.
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Nerve cells in the eye require vitamin C in order to function properly — a surprising discovery that may mean vitamin C is required elsewhere in the brain for its proper functioning, according to a study by scientists at Oregon Health & Science Univ. recently published in the Journal of Neuroscience.

"We found that cells in the retina need to be 'bathed' in relatively high doses of vitamin C, inside and out, to function properly," says Henrique von Gersdorff, a senior scientist at OHSU's Vollum Institute and a co-author of the study. "Because the retina is part of the central nervous system, this suggests there's likely an important role for vitamin C throughout our brains, to a degree we had not realized before."

The brain has special receptors, called GABA-type receptors, that help modulate the rapid communication between cells in the brain. GABA receptors in the brain act as an inhibitory "brake" on excitatory neurons in the brain. The OHSU researchers found that these GABA-type receptors in the retinal cells stopped functioning properly when vitamin C was removed.

Because retinal cells are a kind of very accessible brain cell, it's likely that GABA receptors elsewhere in the brain also require vitamin C to function properly, von Gersdorff says. And because vitamin C is a major natural antioxidant, it may be that it essentially 'preserves' the receptors and cells from premature breakdown, von Gersdorff says.

The function of vitamin C in the brain is not well understood. In fact, when the human body is deprived of vitamin C, the vitamin stays in the brain longer than anyplace else in the body.
"Perhaps the brain is the last place you want to lose vitamin C," von Gersdorff says. The findings also may offer a clue as to why scurvy — which results from a severe lack of vitamin C — acts the way it does, von Gersdorff says. One of the common symptoms of scurvy is depression, and that may come from the lack of vitamin C in the brain.

The findings could have implications for other diseases, like glaucoma and epilepsy. Both conditions are caused by the dysfunction of nerve cells in the retina and brain that become over excited in part because GABA receptors may not be functioning properly.

"For example, maybe a vitamin C-rich diet could be neuroprotective for the retina — for people who are especially prone to glaucoma," von Gersdorff says. "This is speculative and there is much to learn. But this research provides some important insights and will lead to the generation of new hypotheses and potential treatment strategies."

Source: Oregon Health and Science Univ.

USU study promotes reading without words

2011-07-13T16:58:00.000+01:00

This research will feed directly into Snowdrop's programmes of developmental stimulation for children with developmental disabilities.

With thanks to Megan Bowen

Story Created: Jul 12, 2011 at 11:35 AM MDT

Story Updated: Jul 12, 2011 at 11:35 AM MDT

Language development is extremely important for children at an early age, which is why professors and students at Utah State University have conducted a study to help promote parent involvement in their child’s development.

This stemmed from a larger study, funded by the Department of Education, that focused on using “Family Book Making” to help parents deal with their child’s development delays. This particular study looked more closely at how mothers read to their children. Lisa Boyce, USU’s Interim Executive for Family Consumer and Human Development, was involved with the study and she said they found that mothers and children talked a lot more to each other when they were reading books without words.

Student researchers went into homes of participants and taped the interaction between mother and child while reading books with texts, and books without. Boyce said their hypothesis going into these homes was that parents would ask more questions and be more responsive to their children.

“Mothers were just talking a lot more, more back and forth communication, more responsive to what their children were saying,” Boyce said. “We got excited and looked at more videos to see if it was just a one time thing, and it wasn’t.”

Students presented their findings at a national conference, and Boyce said they are now working on getting it published in a peer-reviewed journal.

The literacy level of the parents doesn’t come into play in these scenarios and Boyce said that is something she is most excited about. She said parents can just pick up the books and talk about the pictures.

“They are able to follow the child’s lead which is important,” she said, “because if a child is interested in something, they are paying closer attention.”

This is something that parents do naturally and it is a good strategy to promote children’s language no matter what level they are at, Boyce said. The study focused on two year olds that were all were receiving early delayed development therapy. The majority of children had speech and language delays.

Language growth that is so critical early on in a child’s life, comes from interacting and talking to their parents, Boyce said. Children naturally have short attention spans, but she said when parents pause and ask questions about what they think will happen next, they are more likely to pay attention longer.

Most students who participated in this study were undergraduates at USU, and one student used this study for her master’s project. She said they were all really excited to follow through with their first thoughts to their data and research. Boyce said she will be incorporating these findings in her classroom, and the application of this study is what will continue on.

“The students have done a wonderful job. Just being in the family’s homes is just a rich opportunity for them to see beyond the text books and journals and apply it to real life,” Boyce said.

The research group will submit their findings in the Fall to be reviewed.

Guarantees.

2011-07-09T11:46:00.000+01:00

I regularly get asked the question, "Can you guarantee that your programme will help my child." In fact I have faced this question twice this week. I understand from where the question arises and why, but unfortunately I cannot ever guarantee a thing.

I understand that parents have many concerns when looking around for therapy. One of these concerns is the number of disingenuous people out there who are prepared to give parents false hope. I will never do this and I am always honest and direct with my answer to the question, which is, "I don't know."

As a parent, I took my own son to clinics around the globe. Some were run by people genuinely trying to help families, whilst it later transpired that others were run by people who were less genuine, only serving their own interests. Only a couple of years ago, the founder member of one of the clinics where I took my son, was jailed for fraud. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/6732337.stm He and an accomplice were raising money ostensibly for their charity, but really for themselves. How low is it possible to get, to siphon money destined for the treatment of brain injured children away from where it was intended, and to use it for your own personal gain. My family paid this man thousands of pounds in treatment fees and raised even more money to help his 'clinic.' When I heard what he had done, I felt used and betrayed.

I remember taking my son to the US, where we attended a clinic which appeared to promise miracles. Apparently, 27% of all brain injured children were 'normalised' by this clinic, - according to their own statistics. Again, this is an internationally renowned clinic, which on the outside looks slick, professional and beyond reproach. However, the internet is a powerful tool for the truth and in this case it yet again uncovers the facts. There is NO brain injured child, who has EVER been 'normalised' by this or any other programme.

There are also other therapy centres throughout the world who are treating brain injured children on a woeful lack of qualifications and experience. Here is one infamous example. - It turns out that back in the middle of the last century, these guys opened their own university, awarded themselves doctorates and opened their own clinic. Only in America! There is also a clinic in the UK, where the highest qualification of the therapy staff is a degree in zoology!!!! How that relates to neuroscience or child development is a question which I have not yet asked.

So, I understand why parents ask the question of me and I don't mind at all. Parents are understandably wary of falling into the same traps which I fell into. All I would say in response is that these are the very reasons I set up Snowdrop. It is a response to the under-qualified, grandiose claim making disingenuous people and it is a response to the 'money go round.' The people who charge thousands of pounds to parents and who's theories of brain function are sometimes quite frankly laughable. If the area in which I work was effectively regulated and licensed, some of these people simply would not be able to operate.

I am a Dad myself and I have suffered most, if not all the stresses and traumas which you are suffering. My motivations are born of my own experience and caring for my own son. I don't seek profit and I don't seek notoriety. I cannot cure your child, but in many cases I do make a difference. There are parents out there who will testify that their child can now see because of my programme, or their child can now crawl, or talk. Not a bad set of achievements, because Snowdrop is still young. I also occasionally see children where progress is slower and I am honest enough to tell you that here.

We still do not understand all that goes on inside a human brain. One day we will and that will be the day when I will know why a programme has more success with one child than it does the next. When we have that knowledge, we will be able to redesign the programme for the children where it has failed, so that it succeeds. At the moment I am left to wonder in awe at an operating system, such as the human brain, which has one hundred billion operating units, (each capable of making up to ten thousand connections) and to try to calculate why!

Until the great day when such a system can be completely understood, there can be no guarantees! What parents should do however is to very carefully check the track record of anyone who treats their child, in terms of their background, their experience and their qualifications. If your child was ill, would you allow someone to treat them who didn't have a medical license?

Memories Are More Likely To Stick If Learning Includes Regular Periods Of Rest

2011-06-19T16:24:00.000+01:00

More evidence to support the way in which we deliver the Snowdrop programme; - That it should not be an intensive, concentrated programme of developmental activities, but should be spaced out during the day and incorporated into a more general 'lifestyle pattern.'

With thanks to MNT for highlighting this research.
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Scientists and educators alike have long known that cramming is not an effective way to remember things. With their latest findings, researchers at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan, studying eye movement response in trained mice, have elucidated the neurological mechanism explaining why this is so. Published in the Journal of Neuroscience, their results suggest that protein synthesis in the cerebellum plays a key role in memory consolidation, shedding light on the fundamental neurological processes governing how we remember.

The "spacing effect", first discovered over a century ago, describes the observation that humans and animals are able to remember things more effectively if learning is distributed over a long period of time rather than performed all at once. The effect is believed to be closely connected to the process of memory consolidation, whereby short-term memories are stabilized into long-term ones, yet the underlying neural mechanism involved has long remained unclear.

To clarify this mechanism, the researchers developed a technique based around the phenomenon of horizontal optokinetic response (HOKR), a compensatory eye movement which can be used to quantify the effects of motor learning. Studying HOKR in mice, they found that the long-term effects of learning are strongly dependent on whether training is performed all at once ("massed training"), or in spaced intervals ("spaced training"): whereas gains incurred in massed training disappeared within 24 hours, those gained in spaced training were sustained longer.

Earlier research suggested that this spacing effect is the product of the transfer of the memory trace from the flocculus, a cerebellar cortex region which connects to motor nuclei involved in eye movement, to another brain region known as the vestibular nuclei. To verify this idea, the team administered local anesthetic to the flocculus and studied its effect on learning. While learning gains in mice that had undergone one hour of massed training were eliminated, those in mice that had undergone the same amount of training spaced out over a four hour period were unaffected.

Explaining this observation, the researchers found that the spacing effect was impaired when mice were infused with anisomycin and actinomycin D, antibioticswhich inhibit protein synthesis. This final discovery suggests that proteins produced during training play a key role in the formation of long-term memories, providing for the first time a neurological explanation for the well-known benefits of spaced learning - as well as a great excuse to take more breaks.

Brain Injured Children. - Tapping the Potential Within.

2011-06-17T16:22:00.000+01:00

Brain Injured Children. - Tapping the Potential within.

Click here to buy it from Amazon UK

Click here to download it from Lulu

Packed with information and clear explanations of many of the problems our children face. It also explains how Snowdrop utilises current research about neuroplasticity to stimulate the development of our children. If your child has a diagnosis of cerebral palsy, autism, developmental delay, brain injury, learning difficulties, ADHD, Dyspraxia and many more, you will find this book to be useful and interesting.

Snowdrop vs Sensori -Motor Patterning: - The Difference.

2011-06-14T13:10:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I was asked a question concerning the differences in the philosophy of Snowdrop and the various organisations which utilise the approach to therapy know as 'sensori-motor patterning. Normally, I don't like to comment on other people's approach to therapy, but as I want to distance myself from this approach, I will answer.

The sensori- motor patterning organisations have many beliefs about brain function and child development, which can be proven to be patent nonsense and I will cover the major issues as follows.

It is a methodology which has come in for a great deal of criticism from many authorities and is judged to be one of the more 'controversial' therapeutic approaches, - so let's examine this desperately 'controversial' approach to treatment.

As I say there are many organisations applying many variations of the patterning treatment, so much so, that it is impossible to attribute all theoretical standpoints to one particular organisation; - Some adhere to some theories, whilst others denounce the same theories. Necessarily then, this is a generalised review.

One theoretical standpoint is the 'recapitulationist'theory.' Many proponents of patterning hold the belief that 'ontogeny' recapitulates 'phylogeny.' - All this means is that they hold to the idea that the development of a child from conception to maturity is a replay of the evolutionary development of our species. Of course it is absolute nonsense and allow me to demonstrate why?

The theory says that at any point in his development the movement patterns of the human child will replicate the movement patterns of species which are lower down the evolutionary ladder. This seems an attractive theory and on the surface it does appear to have some truth in it. After all, does a new-born baby not wriggle like a fish? Does a seven month old child not adopt the same movement when crawling as an amphibian? Does a child who is crawling on his hands and knees not adopt the same movement pattern as a reptile? When a child first starts to walk, does he not hold his arms up in the air like an ape? The answer is yes, to all these questions. However, some of the proponents of patterning go further than to note these resemblances and attribute participation of definite levels of the brain to these developments. - This is where the theory falls apart!

According to recapitulation theory, the following logic applies.

They claim that because the dominant level of the brain operating in a fish is its medulla, and the fish produces wriggling movements, this means that the dominant level of the brain in a new-born baby, which produces similar wriggling movements, must be the medulla!
Because the dominant level of the brain operating in an amphibian is the pons and the amphibian produces 'homolateral' movement patterns (moving the arm and leg on the same side of the body simultaneously), this means that the dominant level of the brain of a young child who produces these patterns of movement must be the Pons!
Because the dominant level of the brain operating in reptiles is the midbrain and the reptile produces a movement pattern called the 'cross-pattern,' then the young child producing the same pattern of movement, must be operating at the level of the midbrain.

You get where I am going with this?

What seems to be forgotten in this simplistic view of development is that although yes, we do share the same brain structures as species lower in the evolutionary scale, in human beings the functions of those structures have been transformed! According to some proponents of patterning then, because the human cortex developed from the olfactory bulb, human beings must think by smelling! It is patent absolute simplistic nonsense!

The second major belief of many proponents of patterning is that of 'individual sequential development.' Put simply, this is the belief that the brain develops in definable stages, from bottom to top and that the brain stage above cannot begin its development prior to the completed development of the stage below. In this view, beginning from the bottom of the brainstem and working upwards, the first brain structure to develop is the 'medulla oblongata.' The next stage above the medulla, the 'pons' cannot begin its development until the medulla has completed its development. The stage above the pons, the 'midbrain,' cannot begin its development until the pons has completed its development. - This apparently continues all the way up to the cortex, which apparently is the final stage of the brain to develop!

This of course is absolute nonsense! We know and can prove that the cerebral cortex exerts a controlling influence even in a new-born baby!

The next claim is that the brain is under-used; - that we only utilise a small percentage (the claim is usually 10%) of the total capacity of the brain. The proposed implications of this proposed under - use are that even a child who is profoundly brain - injured will possess sufficient spare brain capacity to make recovery of function a viable possibility.

Let's nail this myth!

The idea that we only use 10% of our brains is probably such an enduring myth because it's comforting to think we have spare capacity. The 'unused' 90% could take up the slack after brain - injury or offer the possibility for miraculous self-improvement. This flexible factoid has been used not only to sell products to enhance our brain's performance, but also by psychics and their supporters to explain mystical cutlery bending powers!

Unfortunately the boring, tedious, but unavoidable facts point to this merely being a desirable myth and unfortunately there are four good reasons why it is false.

If we only use 10% of our brain then damage to some parts of our brains should have no effect on us. As any neurologist will tell you, this is patently not true.
From an evolutionary perspective it is highly unlikely we developed a resource-guzzling organ, of which we only use 10%.
Brain imaging such as CAT, PET and fMRI shows that even while asleep there aren't any areas of our brain that completely 'switch off'.
Parts of the body that aren't used soon shrivel and die. Same goes for the brain.
Any neurons we weren't using would soon shrivel and die as the brain pruned unused connections.

The structure of the brain and its metabolic processes have also been carefully examined, along with the diseases that afflict it. None of this work has suggested there is a hidden 90% that we're not using, – Unfortunately!

Anyone who still maintains we only use 10% of our brains after this fusillade of fact has to come up with a counter-argument for each one of these points. I see no valid argument to refute these facts!

Snowdrop on the other hand, does not base it's treatment methods in theory. We don't have theories, we follow the evidence!

We know that the development of the child depends upon an interplay between genetic expression and stimulation which the child gains from the environment; - with the environment being by far the most dominant force. - Fact!

We know that what a brain injury does is to prevent the stimulation from the environment from reaching the brain in the correct manner. - Fact

We know that the brain is plastic, - that by processes known as 'long term potentiation' and 'long term depression' the brain makes new connections and prunes disused connections in response to stimulation or lack of stimulation. - Fact.

We know that repetition of a stimulus is the crucial factor in encouraging long term potentiation. - Fact

We know that although all children develop at different rates, that the developmental pathway in each area is orderly and can be charted. - Fact.

Using these four simple facts we are able to construct developmental activities, which can be repeated by a child's family, which will act as an increased environmental stimulus and encourage the forming of new connections in the brain, thereby producing developmental function in the child.

The difference could not be more stark.

Developmental stimulation after brain injury.

2011-05-31T16:55:00.000+01:00

A baby's brain has the capacity to grow at a phenomenal rate. At birth it is only one quarter of its adult size, but by three ears of age it will be 80% the size of an adult brain. At birth it is one of the only organs which has not yet fully developed and it is sensory stimulation derived from environmental experience which drives this growth and consequently which drives the development of the child.

Billions of neurons are created throughout the primary stages of foetal development and through birth. Indeed at birth, the only brain structure which is developed to anything like its mature form is the lower brainstem. This part of the brain controls the primitive reflexes and vital functions such as respiration, cardiovascular function, etc. Immediately after birth, baby's higher brain regions begin to make billions of connections between neurons. These connections, called synapses, are used to transmit information based upon sensory experience. Stimulation through the senses of touch, hearing, vision, smell and taste, in addition to vestibular and proprioceptive experience, directly influence these neurons and help in establishing these connections.

The more frequently the neuron connections are used, the stronger and more efficient the new connections become, this is a phenomenon known as 'long term potentiation.' If some of the neural pathways are not used, they become weak and are pruned, (this is known as 'long term depression.'). This is why the repetition of the activities within a Snowdrop programme of developmental stimulation are so important.

We know that babies who are born into an impoverished environment do not develop the rich connection between neurons which develop in other babies. Children who are neglected, exposed to stress, trauma, abuse, have negative experiences which can have a detrimental effect upon brain growth and development. It has been shown, that those infants or children who are not exposed to adequate sensory stimuli because of these factors can develop brains which are smaller then those who have had those "good" sensory experiences.

So, you might ask, how does this apply to children who have suffered brain injury? Well, what effect does brain injury have on a child? It acts as a barrier between the child and his environment. It does so because it prevents the child from interacting with his sensory environment. Because he is unable to gain the necessary sensory experience from his environment, due to the 'roadblock' of the injury, or because the injury is acting to distort incoming sensory information in some way, the brain is unable to make the same number, or quality of connection as it would otherwise have done and as a consequence baby's developmental processes are either stopped, slowed, or distorted.

Is there anything which an be done to rectify this situation? Well yes, at Snowdrop we believe there is. We take children who have suffered brain injuries and as a consequence are experiencing developmental difficulties and we provide them with an 'adapted sensory environment.' Where the injury is acting as a barrier between the child and his sensory environment, the adapted environment acts to amplify the sensory stimulation to which the child is exposed, breaking through the barrier and giving the child's brain the opportunity to form connections. Where the injury is acting to distort incoming sensory information, making the child hypersensitive, or unable to selectively tune in, or to mask sensory information, our adapted environment seeks to re-tune the neurological structures which are responsible for this. Again, in this way we encourage the brain to make the appropriate number and quality of connections and to consequently improve the developmental prospects of the child.

This is the basis of a Snowdrop developmental stimulation programme. Anyone interested in learning more about Snowdrop's work should email snowdrop_cdc@btinternet.com

How Repetition Changes the Structure of the Brain.

2011-05-20T11:34:00.000+01:00

The more we repeat something, the better we get at it; this much is uncontroversial. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth examining. The connection between repeating an action or a skill and then improving because of that repetition is a concept that is so natural and intuitive, so well accepted as common knowledge, that we often fail to appreciate the fascinating mechanics behind the process of skill acquisition. It follows the old adage, 'practice makes perfect!'

On the most basic level, learning a new skill or improving a skill involves changes in the brain. There are a few different ways that our brains adapt to picking up new skills and changing environmental conditions. The first involves a rewiring of the networks of neurons in the brain. Each skill or action that a child performs involves the activation of neural pathways. In Norman Doidge’s book on neuroplasticity, The Brain That Changes Itself, Dr. Alvaro Pascual-Leone has a beautiful little analogy for the way that these pathways relate to skilled performance (Page 209):

"The plastic brain is like a snowy hill in winter. Aspects of that hill–the slope, the rocks, the consistency of the snow–are, like our genes, a given. When we slide down on a sled, we can steer it and will end up at the bottom of the hill by following a path determined both by how we steer and the characteristics of the hill. Where exactly we will end up is hard to predict because there are so many factors in play." “But,” Pascual-Leone says, “what will definitely happen the second time you take the slope down is that you will more likely than not find yourself somewhere or another that is related to the path you took the first time. It won’t be exactly that path, but it will be closer to that one than any other. And if you spend your entire afternoon sledding down, walking up, sledding down, at the end you will have some paths that have been used a lot, some that have been used very little.”

Every action we perform, every new skill we pick up, involves beating down and refining a kind of neural trail. We are making real changes in the brain. And our brains are remarkably efficient to change in response to training. In one study, video game players who played the dark, fast-moving action-based game Call of Duty for 9 weeks were not only better at the game, but were able to see significantly more shades of gray, post-training, than a group who played a simulation strategy game that did not exercise those skills.

Over a longer time span, it is also possible to see significant structural changes in the brain. For example, the brain area associated with motor control of the right index finger in blind subjects who are braille readers has been found to be significantly larger than that of sighted individuals. Similarly, a famous study of london cabbies, famous for their ability to navigate the twisting streets of the city, found that they had greater brain volume in the hippocampus, a structure heavily involved in both memory and spatial navigation, than bus drivers who followed a predefined route every day.

With respect to the brains of children who have developmental disabilities, the brain injuries or abnormalities they suffer might slow that response to training down a little, but the response is still possible.

Evidence for neuroplasticity abounds, - from the structural differences which have been found between experienced athletes and novices, through to the Chinese study of expert divers which found increased gray matter volume in brain areas associated with skilled motor control. Along the same lines, an Australian study of skilled racket-sport players found that brain areas associated with the racket arm were larger than in a matched group of non-athletes. The evidence is irrefutable!

The overarching theme here is that the brain is malleable–it changes with training. It is an interesting concept to keep in mind, especially with respect to brain injured children and it is the overarching principle of the Snowdrop programme.

It’s easy and natural to think about training in terms of muscles, the body and physical skills. But every new skill that a child learns is accompanied also by neural changes that may be harder to see, but are equally important.

If you would like more information about the Snowdrop programme, just visit our website on http://www.snowdrop.cc - email us at snowdrop_cdc@btinternet.com or call on 01884 38447

Snowdrop's principles of treatment for brain injury.

2011-05-08T08:27:00.000+01:00

Stimulating and directing brain plasticity.

What is brain plasticity? – It is the ability of the brain to change its structure and functioning in response to demand from the environment, by either pruning connections which are no longer used, or creating new connections.

My programme is built around the latest knowledge of how brain plasticity responds to environmental stimulation and how we can combine that knowledge with what we know about how developmental processes proceed in the child, I use the combination of this knowledge to stimulate the child's development in all areas.

We know that it is an interplay between the genetic expression of the child and the influence of the developmental environment provided for the child which drives development forward. We can do very little about genetic expression, but what we can do is to influence the developmental environment to which the child is exposed.

How can we influence the developmental environment?

This is where the activities of the programme play their part. The first thing I will do is to assess the functional capability of your child in all areas of development. In terms of sensory development that is visual, auditory and tactile development. In terms of the brain’s output functions, these are the areas of gross motor and fine motor development, in addition to social development and language and communication development. You will note that I have omitted cognitive development from this list and you might wonder why? It is because I see cognitive development as being intertwined with all other areas. Consider this for a moment, - we don’t just develop the ability to see, hear and feel; - we develop the ability to understand what we see, hear and feel. Similarly, cognitive ability is expressed through the brain’s output functions of movement, hand function, language and social ability.

Once I have a ‘baseline’ of your child’s achievements in each area of development and an intimate understanding of his / her difficulties, I will develop a series of activities which are designed to stimulate your child to achieve the next stage higher in each developmental area. It is the implementation of these activities and recommendations by you, his / her parents, which will create your child’s new developmental environment. It is the repetition of these activities, which will create the increased ‘environmental demand’ for function which will hopefully stimulate the brain to make new connections; - new connections which will support the function which we are trying to stimulate. How well these functions develop depends upon many factors including the precise nature and severity of the brain injury and our success in breaking down the barriers which it places between the child and the environment. This is how brain plasticity works!

My approach receives a great deal of support from recent evidence concerning neuroplasticity. One example out of many I could cite is from the Max Plank Institute for Biological Cybernetics at Tubingen, who have succeeded in demonstrating for the first time that the activities of large parts of the brain can be altered in the long term. The scientists were able to trace how large populations of brain cells in the human forebrain are able to reorganise and change their connections to other brain cells as a consequence of environmental stimulation. (Current Biology, March 10th, 2009)

Further evidence to support my philosophy comes from a recent study at MIT which clearly shows that in people who are born with brain injuries, parts of the brain which aren’t normally connected with a particular function can be recruited to take over the functions of brain cells which have been lost to injury. This ability of brain cells to ‘switch functions’ is seemingly driven by the demands of environmental stimulation which creates competition for brain cells to be allocated specific functions. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-02/miot-mpo022811.php

The Snowdrop programme creates such a ‘competition’ for allocation of function in the brain, - the repetition of the developmental activities within the programme creating the increased environmental demand necessary for creating such a situation.

Injury to the Cerebellum.

2011-05-06T08:30:00.000+01:00

The word 'cerebellum' actually means 'little cortex' and it is not without justification, as at first site it does look like a smaller version of the cortex. It is located at the rear of the brain, behind the brainstem and it forms massive connections with the brainstem structures, (particularly with the vestibular nuclei of the pons) and with the cerebral cortex. It is the only structure within the brain which is not fully formed at birth, taking a further two years to develop to it's full complement of neurons.

The proper functioning of the cerebellum ensures that any movements we make are smooth and well coordinated. It seems that the motor cortex supplies commands to the body musculature, which are then refined by the cerebellum to ensure smooth coordination. Feedback on the success of the movement is then supplied from the cerebellum back to the motor cortex where the original movement command can be refined if the movement has been unsuccessful.

One might imagine then that an injury to the cerebellum will interfere with these functions. Movement can become slow and uncoordinated, the child may display problems with balance and equilibrium, the child might experience an 'intention tremor' - (a tremor which is made worse when the child tries to move). Injury to this part of the brain causes 'Ataxia' - a form of cerebral palsy where the muscle tone is hypotonic (floppy).

Higher cognitive functions, like language and visual processing, have long been thought to reside primarily in the brain's cortex, however recent research involving premature infants is documenting an important role for the cerebellum -- previously thought to be principally involved in motor coordination -- and shows that cerebellar injury can have far-reaching developmental consequences.

This work also demonstrates that the cortex and cerebellum are tightly interconnected. Sophisticated MRI imaging of 74 pre-term infants' brains revealed that when there was injury to the cerebrum, the cerebellum failed to grow to a normal size. When the cerebral injury was confined to one side, it was the opposite cerebellar hemisphere that failed to grow normally. The reverse was also true: when injury occurred in one cerebellar hemisphere, the opposite cerebral hemisphere was smaller than normal. So, there seems to be an important developmental link between the cerebrum and the cerebellum, - it seems that the two structures modulate each other's growth and development. The way the brain forms connections between structures may be as important as the injury itself. The cerebellum has also been implicated in the development of some types of literacy problems, including dyslexia.

So the question is, can cerebellar injuries be treated? The answer has to be 'yes!' We know the brain has inherent qualities of plasticity, this is particularly so in the cerebral cortex. If we can stimulate cortical plasticity and re-wiring as a consequence of our treatment then the previous research suggests that we might well also see cerebellar development. Combined with exercises directly aimed at improving cerebellar functioning itself, we believe that Snowdrop rehabilitation programmes provide the best hope for recovery of function in children who have experienced cerebellar injuries.

If you would like to learn more about Snowdrop programmes for brain injured children, then please click here to visit our website. Or you can email atsnowdrop_cdc@btinternet.com

Intraventricular hemorrhage

2011-04-30T09:10:00.001+01:00

Intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) is bleeding into the ventricles of the brain. One characteristic of the immature brain is a weakness of the blood vessels next to the ventricles. The ventricles are cavities that store cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) which nourishes the brain. Of particular concern is a collection of tiny and fragile blood vessels in the germinal matrix, which is the area of brain adjacent to the floor of the ventricles. This is a part of the brain that is active during fetal development but that disappears at about the 35th week of pregnancy. These blood vessels are thin and vulnerable to fluctuations in blood flow through them, which can cause them to rupture and bleed. The younger and smaller the baby, the higher the risk these blood vessels may be ruptured, usually in the first few days of life. A rupture causes blood to flow into a ventricle or ventricles of the brain.

IVH is categorized into grades of severity: grade I is considered mild, grade II moderate, and grade III & IV severe. About 50% of extremely premature babies will sustain an IVH, whereas only about 15% of older premature babies, many of whose germinal matrix has already disappeared, will have an IVH.

If the IVH is classified as grade I or II, the chance that there will be long-term damage is small because the blood remains contained within the ventricles and the additional fluid does not cause excessive pressure.

In grade III and IV, the bleeding is substantial enough to cause a swelling or obstruction of the narrow channels feeding into and out of the ventricles. This may interfere with the normal replenishment and flushing of the CSF. The result can be hydrocephalus, which is a build up of CSF in the ventricles, which puts pressure on surrounding brain tissues. This can then result in injury to that area of brain under pressure. If the bleeding is more severe, blood that has flowed into and filled the ventricles will permanently block CSF flow and lead to hydrocephalus with enlargement of the head, excessive pressure within the skull, and the need for a surgical intervention to relieve the pressure. A small tube or catheter called a ventriculoperitoneal shunt (VP shunt) is inserted to drain off the spinal fluid.

A grade IV IVH results from congestion to the brain tissue around the ventricles when a large IVH has occurred. This results in bleeding into the brain tissue itself with destruction of that area of brain. Lasting brain damage is almost always the result, the severity of which is determined by the extent and location of the bleeding.

Because premature babies have fragile blood vessels, an IVH can occur simply as a result of changes to blood pressure and flow that occurs with birth. Although blood pressure changes occur in most people without bleeding, in the premature baby, the walls of the vessels are vulnerable during these changes. Blood pressure fluctuations can occur as a result of many different conditions, and are often a result of difficulties at the time of birth or lung and breathing complications.

Mechanical ventilation, which is often needed immediately after the birth of a premature baby, can also lead to fluctuations in blood flow. This is particularly likely when the baby is breathing out of sync with the ventilator, which creates additional pressures within the lung and blood vessels in the brain. Much work has been done over the years in an attempt to reduce this particular risk factor and improve a baby’s assisted breathing in general.

The bleeding of IVH occurs typically within the first 48 hours following birth, and it is very unlikely to occur again at a later date.

There are two main ways in which IVH can potentially cause damage. First, IVH may affect the flow of CSF in the ventricles and second, IVH may cause damage to brain tissue adjacent to the ventricles. Once damage has occurred to brain tissue, it cannot be reversed. However, physical damage to brain tissue does not necessarily mean damage to brain function. The areas of the brain that are often affected by an IVH, those adjacent to the ventricles, are those responsible for motor functions. Commonly, problems with vision and hearing, and other higher cognitive functions are associated. The extent of any long-term effect will often depend on the severity of the bleeding: babies with severe IVH are likely to develop some kind of neurological disability. There is however, a wide range of disability, those with hemiplegia are affected on one side of body only and children with milder forms of diplegia, affecting only the legs, are usually able to walk with minimal supports.

Luckily, many babies who have a mild IVH go on to develop normally or with only minimal disabilities associated with learning.

Cerebral Palsy. - A Short Guide.

2011-04-16T11:37:00.000+01:00

My new book, 'Cerebral Palsy. - A Short Guide.' £5.99 follow the link

http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/cerebral-palsy---a-short-guide/15468012

This guide is designed for parents whose children have received a diagnosis of cerebral palsy. It aims to fill a void. - The void of information and support, which should be provided by the healthcare professions,but is not. A void which leaves parents without knowledge or support, afraid, confused, and not knowing where to turn or what to do. This guide provides a clear explanation of what CP is, the effects it can have on a child and what can be done to treat it.

The Role of Music in Human Evolution.

2011-04-12T09:59:00.000+01:00

This is why exposure to music forms a vital part of all Snowdrop rehabilitation programmes for children with developmental disabilities like cerebral palsy and autism.
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With thanks to The Scavenger.

Evidence suggests that music remains just as essential to the human race now as it did 70,000-80,000 years ago, writes Alan Harvey.

10 April 2011

All human cultures and social groups that we know of respond to music and dance. The type of music may vary but the underlying, fundamental principles of making music are the same.

Our recognition of, and emotional responses to, pleasant and unpleasant music seems to be universal, expressed even in very young infants and seemingly independent of our cultural upbringing.

So what exactly is music for? Why is it a universal that can profoundly affect people, why is it such an essential part of our lives?

Music is a form of communication which is different from language. In humans, music stimulates emotions and elicits autonomic and physiological responses. It entrains neural activity and is inextricably linked to movement and dance.

Music facilitates interactions within groups and can create common arousal states. It helps to provide cohesion and organisation to our social architecture.

Throughout recorded history, leaders – whether of nations, political parties or religious denominations – have understood the power of music to influence populations.

In recent times, researchers have shown that music structures time and provides mnemonic frameworks that aid learning and memory, help organise knowledge. Many of us can remember the lyrics of songs for example, but may not remember much, if any prose.

Attaching words to music somehow makes the words easier to memorise. Yet despite all of this, the impact of music remains mysterious: it does not seem to do anything, it does not transmit data and information in the same way as language/speech.

For many, the evolution of language in Homo sapiens is a unique event that is linked to the evolution of the cognitively modern mind. What then is the relationship between music and language, and to what extent are they dependent or independent of each other?

Our brains are known to be wired to process both forms of communication, but from an evolutionary point of view did music come before language, or vice versa, or was there a common precursor that somehow separated into two systems when Homo sapiens evolved, with both types of communication retained?

Was music an important element that contributed to the early well-being of our species? What, if any, advantages did music give to Homo sapiens from an evolutionary perspective as our founders migrated out of east Africa to colonise the planet?

Why does music continue to exist alongside language and remain important to all human cultures, thousands of generations after the founders of our species evolved?

Modern neuroscience research, especially using new imaging techniques such as positron emission tomography (PET) and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) confirms that the processing of music has a consistent structural foundation in the human brain.

It has been known for some time that, in right-handed individuals, language is mostly processed in the left cerebral hemisphere while many aspects of music involve right hemisphere activity.

But new imaging data have revealed even more complex circuitries involved in music and language processing. Numerous regions of the brain are integrated into networks that subserve music or language processing and analysis, but the neuroimaging data also show that separation of these processing streams is by no means complete.

For example, there is overlap in brain areas that process the emotional (prosodic) aspects of music and speech, and studies have shown that musical training results in a shift towards processing in the left cerebral hemisphere.

As research continues, more is learned about how music-related circuits differ from, or overlap with, other pathways involved in cognitive and emotional processing. For example, brain areas associated with positive responses to music overlap with networks associated with reward behaviours, subjective experiences and acts of social cooperation.

In close association with the evolution of the modern mind, I believe music was of critical importance to our early ancestors; increased fitness and reproductive advantage of a group is gained not only by an individual’s success but also if co-operative behaviours benefit other members of the group, and importantly for our ancestors these benefits extended to others who were not necessarily genetically related.

For most people, music therapy remains a branch of “alternative” medicine, something outside the mainstream. But recent research suggests that it is time that this attitude was changed.

For example, training in music has measurable effects on brain plasticity and can influence learning ability during development. Music also seems to have mnemonic powers, activating circuits in the brain that are linked to aspects of memory processing.

There are also structural changes in developing brains associated with early musical training, and exposure to music seems to have beneficial effects on children suffering from developmental disorders such as autism and Williams syndrome.

In adults, many studies have shown that music used with physical therapy improves motor control and coordination, with benefits for rehabilitation after injury or in degenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s disease.

Music therapy may also improve memory recall and social awareness in Alzheimer’s patients and recent studies on stroke patients have shown that controlled exposure to music improves cognitive function, increases motivation and awareness, and enhances positive mood states.

Taken together, the evidence suggests that music remains just as essential to Homo sapiens now as it was 70,000-80,000 years ago. It continues to be important for development of our children, for our health and for our overall sense of mental well-being.

Above all, music is perhaps the primary medium which enables individual members of the species Homo sapiens to forget their mortal vulnerability and come together as a collective group to share and enjoy common physiological and emotional experiences.

Does another piece of the autism puzzle fit into place?

2011-04-11T08:35:00.000+01:00

Neuroscientists have pinpointed the brain structure regulating our sense of personal space, possibly opening the way to a better understanding of autism and other disorders.

The structure, the amygdala - a pair of almond-shaped regions located in the brain - was previously known to process strong negative emotions such as anger and fear and is considered the seat of emotion in the brain. However, it had never been linked rigorously to real-life human social interaction.

The scientists, led by Ralph Adolphs, psychology and neuroscience professor and post-doctoral scholar Daniel P. Kennedy, at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), were able to make this link with the help of a unique patient, a 42-year-old woman known as SM, who has extensive damage to the amygdala on both sides of her brain.

"SM is unique, because she is one of only a handful of individuals in the world with such a clear bilateral lesion of the amygdala, which gives us an opportunity to study the role of the amygdala in humans," says Kennedy, who led the study.

SM has difficulty recognising fear in the faces of others, and in judging the trustworthiness of someone, two consequences of amygdala lesions that Adolphs and colleagues published in prior studies.

During his years of studying her, Adolphs also noticed that the very outgoing SM is almost too friendly, to the point of "violating" what others might perceive as their own personal space.

"She is extremely friendly, and she wants to approach people more than normal. It's something that immediately becomes apparent as you interact with her," says Kennedy.

Previous studies of humans never had revealed an association between the amygdala and personal space.

From their knowledge of the literature, however, the researchers knew that monkeys with amygdala lesions preferred to stay closer to other monkeys and humans than did healthy monkeys. Intrigued by SM's unusual social behaviour, Adolphs, Kennedy, and their colleagues devised a simple experiment to quantify and compare her sense of personal space with that of healthy volunteers.

The experiment used what is known as the stop-distance technique. Among the other subjects, the average preferred distance was .64 metres-roughly two feet. SM's preferred distance was just .34 meters, or about one foot. Unlike other subjects, who reported feelings of discomfort when the experimenter went closer than their preferred distance, there was no point at which SM became uncomfortable; even nose-to-nose, she was at ease. Furthermore, her preferred distance didn't change based on who the experimenter was and how well she knew them.

"Respecting someone's space is a critical aspect of human social interaction, and something we do automatically and effortlessly," Kennedy says.

The discovery appeared in the Sunday issue of Nature Neuroscience.

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What these researchers do not allude to is that just because the amygdala may be wired in a specific way in people who have autism, this does not mean that the situation is unchangeable. We know that the brain possesses a high degree of plasticity and can and does restructure it's functional organisation in response to the environment in which it finds itself. Therefore if we provide the appropriate neuro-developmental environment, we give people who face difficulties on the autistic spectrum every opportunity for their brain to reorganise itself. This is exactly what a Snowdrop programme entails.

Periventricular Leukomalacia. (PVL)

2011-04-06T16:43:00.000+01:00

What is periventricular leukomalacia (PVL)?

Periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) is damage and softening of the white matter, the inner part of the brain that transmits information between the nerve cells and the spinal cord as well as from one part of the brain to another. "Periventricular" means around or near the ventricles, the spaces in the brain containing the cerebrospinal fluid. "leuko" means white. "malacia" means softening.

Why is periventricular leukomalacia a concern?

With PVL, the area of damaged brain tissue can affect the nerve cells that control motor movements. As the baby grows, the damaged nerve cells cause the muscles to become spastic, or tight, and resistant to movement. Babies with PVL have a higher risk of developing cerebral palsy and may have intellectual or learning difficulties. PVL may occur alone or in addition to intraventricular hemorrhage (bleeding inside the brain). PVL is commonly a cause of cerebral palsy.

What causes periventricular leukomalacia?

It is not clear why PVL occurs. This area of the brain is very susceptible to injury, especially in premature babies, whose brain tissues are fragile. PVL may happen when the brain receives too little oxygen. However, it is not clear when the trigger for PVL occurs - before, during, or after birth. Most babies who develop PVL are premature, especially those born before 30 weeks gestation. Other factors that may be associated with PVL include early rupture of membranes (amniotic sac) and infection inside the uterus.

What are the symptoms of periventricular leukomalacia?

PVL may not be apparent until later months. Each baby may experience symptoms differently. The most common symptom of PVL is spastic diplegia, tight, contracted muscles, especially in the legs. Symptoms of PVL may resemble other conditions or medical problems, so it may not be spotted straight away.

How is periventricular leukomalacia diagnosed?

cranial ultrasound, a painless test that uses sound waves to view the baby's brain through the fontanelles, the soft openings between the skull bones. With PVL, the ultrasound shows cysts or hollow places in the brain tissue.

magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This test uses a combination of a large magnet, radio frequencies, and a computer to produce detailed images of internal structures. MRI may show some of the early changes in the brain tissue that occur with PVL.

Can PVL be treated?

Yes. Snowdrop treats many children where PVL has gone on to cause cerebral palsy. Many of them make good progress on our programme.

Epilepsy.

2011-03-31T09:31:00.000+01:00

Epilepsy is a very common problem in brain-injured children. It is very distressing to watch and can be debilitating for the child. It is also exceptionally varied, ranging from a few unnatural blinks of the eye through to a ‘whole body’ convulsion. Just when I think, I have witnessed probably just about every variety of epileptic attack, up pops a child who produces something unique.

What is epilepsy?

Epilepsy is the tendency of specific brain-cells to misfire. There are three distinctions of epilepsy to bear in mind in understanding this problem. The first distinction is that an epileptic episode is either partial or generalised. The second distinction is that an epileptic episode is either simple or complex. The third distinction is that epileptic seizures are either grand mal or petit mal. Confused? – Don’t worry, read on and it will all become clear.

Normally, brain cells fire according to their being excited beyond a certain threshold of stimulation, or they are restrained from firing because they are inhibited from doing so. Sometimes in epilepsy, these inhibition and excitation thresholds are not applied successfully, causing brain cells to misfire very easily. When this happens, two things can occur:

1. The misfiring may be limited to a specific area of the brain, causing a very specific response from the individual such as a short absence or a twitching of one limb. These are known as partial seizures.

2. The misfiring may form a chain reaction, which spreads to a larger area of the brain, causing a more generalised response from the brain. Adams & Victor (1981) successfully demonstrated this phenomenon by measuring seizure activity with electrodes placed inside patients’ brains. (In Ropper, et al, 2000).

Partial seizures can be further subdivided by our second distinction of simple and complex.

Simple, partial seizures bring about changes in the level of consciousness, but never involve a loss of consciousness, whereas complex partial seizures do involve a loss of consciousness.

Sometimes, if the focus of the epileptic activity is in one of the temporal lobes of the brain, the child may experience an aura prior to the attack. This ‘aura’ may be an experience of positive or negative emotions, it may be a hallucination of one or more sensory modality, or the aura may trigger memories or stereotypical movements.

We now come to our third distinction of seizure activity, grand mal and petit mal seizures. Sometimes during a more dramatic ‘complex partial’ seizure, the child’s body may rhythmically shake. This is known as a grand mal or tonic - clonic seizure. Although this looks dramatic, it is nothing to be alarmed about and is usually over within a few minutes as a combination of structures in the brain, collectively known as the diencephalon act to suppress the seizure activity.

A petit mal seizure is less dramatic, usually very brief and is sometimes so shallow as to go unnoticed by parents, teachers and doctors. An example of such a seizure would be an absence, where the child simply stares vacantly for a second or two. I know a child who used to experience more than fifty such absences an hour and although they sound unobtrusive, when experienced at this magnitude the disruptive effect they can have upon life is easily underestimated.

Finally, and importantly, one aspect of epileptic activity, which it is important to discuss is a phenomenon known as status epilepticus. Usually seizure activity will dissipate within a few minutes and the child will recover with no harm done. However, rarely the seizure activity either will not stop, or the child emerges from one seizure, quickly to be consumed by another and another. This is a dangerous and potentially life threatening situation, which needs immediate medical intervention. In extreme cases such as this, seizures are capable of causing further brain-damage.

It has been demonstrated that some patients with seizure disorders display injury to a part of the brain called the hippocampus, the amount of damage being closely correlated with the number and severity of seizures, which the patient has experienced. The damage appears to be caused by the excessive release of a neurochemical called glutamate during the seizure. (Thompson et al, 1996). It is consequently vital that even if you only suspect your child to be experiencing seizure activity, that this is checked out and treated by a doctor.

What causes epilepsy?

Epilepsy has two causes, one is pathological, and the second is physiological in nature.

l Pathology: -When a brain suffers injury, millions of brain cells may die. Around the area of injury, there may also be cells, which have not been killed, but which are nevertheless injured. In addition, as I have previously alluded, the thresholds of excitation and inhibition, which normally control the firing of these cells, may have been disrupted. Therefore, these injured cells may not fire according to their normal patterns, but may more or less constantly misfire. The child in this situation may have more or less constant epileptic activity occurring in his brain.

l Physiology: - The environment in which the brain operates is by necessity oxygen and nutrient rich. Although the brain only comprises approximately 2% of the body’s weight, it consumes 25% of the body’s oxygen intake. When a brain suffers injury, the availability of the oxygen supply can be compromised. For instance, in many cases of brain-injury, the development of the rate and depth of breathing of the child, does not progress from that of a new-born, which is fast and shallow; - this places difficulties on the optimum levels of oxygen availability, thereby compromising the physiological environment of the brain. Similarly, uninjured children who are ill and develop a temperature may suffer an epileptic seizure as the temperature rise deprives the brain of oxygen, temporarily creating a poor physiological environment.

The young child with brain-injuries may also have trouble in taking in adequate nutrition, which could cause similar physiological effects. The brain’s response to this impoverished physiological environment is to produce a seizure reaction. When brain cells struggle to operate normally without the oxygen and the nutrition they need, they begin to misfire.

What can be done to combat epilepsy?

There are many approaches to combating epilepsy which may improve your child’s situation. Often a programme of developmental stimulation can reduce seizure activity. The reason for this is that if developmental gains can be produced in the child, it means the brain is operating at a more mature, efficient level. This ‘brain development’ can suppress seizure activity.

It is also important that children, who are predisposed towards epilepsy, be given good nutrition. This will help to maintain the physiological environment of the brain in as optimal a state as possible and hopefully keep seizure activity to a minimum.

There is a wealth of medical technology now available, which can help to combat seizure activity. Anti-convulsant medication always extracts a price from the child in terms of drowsiness and other side effects, but it is often necessary, if only temporarily to keep epilepsy under control. As long as the levels of medication are kept to the minimum needed to control the seizure, there is no harm in pursuing this path.

anyone interested in learning more can purchase our book 'Brain Injured Children.' or contact Snowdrop at snowdrop_cdc@btinternet.com