Barbara Ward's site & questions

[Guest guest]

Can anyone explain how to appoint surrogate muscles for other muscles

as in 1st bullet of in-depth checks below?

Below is a link to Barabara Ward's site and her in-depth balance for

noise sensitivity and the pertinent text from that page.

http://www.kinesiology.gen.nz/noise.htm

For the

last 20 years I have worked with children who have a range of problems

which prevent them from functioning effectively in the classroom. For

the past sixteen years this work has involved Brain Gym® and Edu-K.

I don't

much like labels, but many of these children have been called

"hyperactive," or "learning disabled," or "dyspraxic," or "withdrawn,"

or they have been assessed as having "auditory processing problems" or,

or, or... ..

My Edu-K

understanding has taught me to see it in different terms: some part of

their nervous system simply isn't functioning efficiently enough to

achieve what they are trying to do with it. Over the years I have

laughed, cried and worried a lot with parents and children alike as we

have moved, balanced, coaxed and eacouraged people to take the risk to

do things differently with Edu-K.

Lots of

change, growth and success has occurred, but there have been times when

I still couldn't find the key to assist some padicular child to

'unlock'. Coordination and balance would improve with Dennison

Laterality Repatterning, ears would test ON and there would appear to

be no further vestibular problems, as head and body movements became

stress-free in all directions. Yet still the child wasn't functioning

well in the classroom, speech clarity didn't improve fully or still

parents and teachers felt he or she wasn't listening properly... .

In

tidying my office a few months ago I came across an old Scientific

American article that I had hoarded since August 1989, feeling

that one day I would understand why. Entitled "The Middle Ear

Muscles", the subtitle to the article said:

"Tiny muscles behind the eardrum contract involuntarily

when a person vocalises or is exposed to a loud noise This

neuromuscular control system prevents sensory overload and enhances

sound discrimination."

Aha,

sensory overload and poor sound discrimination sounded familiar.

Suddenly I knew what to do with this information. The article is well

worth a read, but what it triggered for me was the idea that maybe some

of the ear probleins children have are MIDDLE ear, not solely INNER ear

problems to do with the vestibular system. If we can use surrogate

muscles to balance the eyes, I thought, then maybe we could apply the

same process and use surrogate muscles to balance these two tiny

muscles in the middle ear.

I

developed a simple protocol for assessing middle ear muscles and did

balances with a number of children over the next few weeks. Feedback

over several months has been fascinating.

is

just seven. His mum is a general practitioner who has been wonderfully

open to all the things we have done to get her son physically able to

cope with school. He has some major health problems which have taken

all his energy. She had told me that he was very sound-sensitive, so we

balanced for "coping comfortably with loud noises". Questioned for

feedback last week, her response was, "That balance changed our lives -

we can now go out without earplugs, and we can go anywhere!"

had very indistinct speech, poor balance and very limited momentum in

anything she did. She spent most of her time stopped, not looking,

listening or moving, as she struggled to speak with some fluency. Her

eyes never ceased to sparkle, and her wacky sense of humour always

shone, as did the love between mother and daughter. She had been

assessed as "dyspraxic" and having "auditory processing problems", with

some hearing loss in one ear. For her the immediate improvement after

the middle-ear balance was in her movement. She began to keep her

balance and she began to dance! For the first time ever she began to

enjoy pattemed movement, and she now takes highland dance lessons. She

often shows me at the beginning of our sessions what she is leaming.

Over

time her speech has become much crisper and her recent audiology

reassessment, while still showing her hearing loss, showed age level

auditory processing. Her mother called me to tell me the audiologist

had commented that "all the kids who are doing Brain Gym make good

progress".

I want

to get this statement in writing! Happy child, happy mum, happy

Barbara.

was an artist of nine when we met and some would have had him taking

medication for "hyperactivity", but his mother found me instead. With

Dennison Laterality Repatteming and lots of Brain Gym and balances his

coordination improved and so did his reading. His speech stayed fuzzy,

and he switched off his ears most of the time, even though head

movement and ear checks were now clear. Always cheerful on the surface,

he nevertheless became embarrassed at his failure to live up to his

elder brother and became quite sad.

For some

months he was in stuck Low Gear, with no muscle testing possible. Just

doing Brain Gym helped, but we were all frustrated as permission for

surrogate balancing was not forth-coming. He just seemed to need time

to mature. As the middle-ear balance developed I decided to discuss it

with . We had begun to do small balances again as his period of

stuck low gear passed.

Although

he had not shown overt sound-sensitivity, in fact rather the opposite,

he was interested in the idea of this balance. For him only the right

ear was involved, and the outcome has been slow but sustained

improvement in his sound discriminations and speech clarity, and a

sustained return to responsive muscle checking.

My

intention had been to work with sound sensitivity, and this was clearly

the area of improvement for the first child. But for the second it was

in movement and co-ordination, and for the third in general

responsiveness as well as speech clarity. These last two were not

expected responses. The outcomes are exciting, so I want to offer you

this process to trial. Please

send me feedback.

Best

used in an In Depth Balance format as a "balance within a balance", and

allowed to come through ear checks in Laterality. I do also use the

process, with permission, directly as I relate it here.

The

Middle Ear Balance Process

1. Speak

with your student about retreat from noisy places, covering ears, and

unclear sound discrimination, drawing out how it feels for them. With

children, the parent's contribution of history is invaluable. Set a

goal that has to do with coping, or feeling comfortable with loud

noises. However, your student needs to word it.

2. Pre-Checks

Have the student make a whisper and muscle check each arm,

noting any low gear responses. (The expectation is that the right arm

will give a readout for the left ear, and vice versa.)

Whisper yourself and then check both arms.

Repeat this with both you and then the student speaking at

ordinary volume.

Then do it again with each of you shouting.

Low gear in any of these checks indicates the need for

balance, though it is most likely that stress will occur with the loud

noise only.

3. In

Depth Checks

Appoint surrogate muscles for the two middle ear muscles: the

tensor tympani and the stapedius, and a third for the eardrum (tympanic

membrane) itself. (This is not usually involved, but in one balance it

was the key, so I always include it.) The muscles used as surrogates

seem to vary from balance to balance, though they are usually

accessible arm muscles, so you will have to play a bit.

Name

each of the three ear muscles one by one, checking the muscle appointed

as surrogate for it for the opposite ear, noting any low gear ones.

Balance

the surrogate muscles using TFH techniques or using the surrogates to

go into the realms, doing whatever is necessary until all necessary

surrogates are high gear for each ear. (Remember to release the

surrogates from their surrogacy.)

4. Post

Checks

Repeat

the Prechecks . All should now be high gear.

Draw

out any changes your student senses immediately and discuss with them

the implications for life activities which you now expect will be

easier:

better

listening at school,

improved

relations with siblings and / or parents,

generally

improved ability to sustain conversation, especially in noisy

environments,

improved

health from reduced chronic stress load,

more

fun in the playground, etc.

Ccntinue

with whatever balance you are in until the end is reached.

5. CELEBRATE!

Explanation

When the

ears are assaulted by loud sounds, the tiny tensor tympani muscle

contracts to draw the eardrum inwards. The stapedius muscle contracts

to reduce the vibration of the three middle ear ossicles, especially

that of the stapes bone in the oval window into the inner ear.

The

combined effect is to dampen loud sounds and protect the inner ear.

When the muscles aren't working properly, or there is stress over the

whole idea of hearing, then loud noise is hard to cope with, resulting

in a self-protective withdrawal from it.

This acoustic

stapedius reflex (ASR) is involuntary, but it seems that some

people habituate eventually to the constant assault of loud sound in

their world by eventually switching off their reaction to sound most of

the time.

Raising

your voice to attract their attention has a counter- productive effect,

appearing to strengthen the switched off response. (Whispering won't

necessarily switch it back on, however.)

It

appears that several different things could confuse the proper

functioning of the middle ear, but this process allows all of them to

be dealt with in appropriate ways to bring back proper function to

these teeny, but very important muscles.

This is

a tiny application of processes we already know and use in other ways,

but it is bringing exciting improvements to people's quality of life.