Rosemary Murphy Developmental Learning developlearning.co.nz

There has been a surge of interest and research in recent years into the causes of learning difficulties in children with normal IQ. Perhaps the most exciting discovery for parents and educators is the fact that most learning difficulties are caused by underlying developmental immaturities in the child's learning 'equipment”.

These immaturities may be caused by the child missing a crucial stage of developmental movement in the first year of life, such as crawling or they may be hereditary, passed down through the family tree.

Either way, because the child's brain is still growing and forming, it is entirely possible to revisit the activities and movement patterns of very early childhood, which should have formed this learning 'equipment” in the first place and reconstruct the pathways, bridges and connections in the brain needed for learning to be easy.

In my current work with children with mild to moderate learning difficulties, I meet many parents who are seeking assistance for their children who seem bright, but are struggling to learn in the classroom. Many of these parents have had their own challenges with learning, but do not want to see their children struggle as they did.

Children with more significant learning difficulties, which may have been identified as dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADHD, ADD and Aspergers, also have underlying developmental immaturities contributing to their learning and behavioural difficulties. These often also include an auditory processing delay which interferes with their ability to process spoken language accurately.

The good news is that learning for these children can be made much easier by identifying the underlying causes and removing the obstacles to learning through movement and listening therapy.