Story At-A-Glance Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) involves difficulties with how the brain interprets and makes sense of sounds, despite normal hearing sensitivity in tests. The auditory processing pathway involves multiple steps: sound detection by the ears, neural transmission, complex brain processing (involving temporal processing, binaural integration, pattern recognition, discrimination, …
Learning Challenges Explained
Vestibular System Dysfunction: Understanding Balance, Coordination and Learning Connections
Story At-A-Glance The vestibular system, located in the inner ear, is often oversimplified as just our "balance system," but plays a crucial role in development, learning, and everyday functioning. Beyond balance, the vestibular system influences muscle tone, eye movement control, spatial orientation, bilateral coordination, attention regulation, and emotional security. Vestibular dysfunction …
Sensory Processing Disorders: Identifying and Supporting Children with Sensory Challenges in the Classroom
Story at-a-glance Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) affects how the brain receives and responds to sensory information, impacting 5-16% of school-aged children and often underlying academic difficulties that are frequently misdiagnosed as behavioral problems. Our sensory systems extend beyond the traditional five senses to include proprioception (body awareness), vestibular sense (balance and …
Retained Primitive Reflexes: Understanding Their Impact on Children’s Academic and Physical Development
Story at-a-glance Primitive reflexes are automatic, stereotypic movements directed from the brainstem and developed in utero that help infants survive birth, assist in early development, and form the foundation for later voluntary movement patterns. These reflexes are designed to naturally integrate (or "disappear") within the first year of life as higher brain centers develop, but when they …
Vision Beyond 20/20: How Visual Processing Issues Impact Reading and Learning
Story At-a-glance Vision is far more than 20/20 acuity—it's a complex system involving the integration between eyes and brain that significantly impacts reading and learning. The visual system requires coordination of multiple skills: oculomotor function (eye movement control), binocular vision (eye teaming), accommodation (eye focusing), and higher-level visual processing skills. Common visual …
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