Sep 9, 2026 | I'm a Parent, I'm a Teacher, ILT Blog
Our children are young, so we expect them to be irresponsible, to need our advice and supervision. We don’t expect them to be able to independently plan to meet their goals, do their homework, safely cross the road or to take on complex tasks while still very young. Why not? What is it about childhood that prevents them from these responsible behaviours?
It’s all about brain development, of course. Tasks that require wise decision making, organising, planning, managing time, thinking before you act and avoiding impulsivity are part of the functions of the front part of the brain – called the prefrontal cortex. This happens to be the very last part of the brain to develop completely – at around age 25 years. This is why adolescence can be a difficult and dangerous age. Young people have so much knowledge, skills and ability yet don’t have the brain development needed to always supervise their own actions in a wise, responsible way. We call the functions performed by this part of the brain Executive Functions. The prefrontal cortex is literally the boss of the brain.
Most children gradually develop this brain area but some may be slower in some areas than others. They may struggle with completing tasks, remembering what homework has been set, being able to focus their attention and stay on task, recalling important detail, and controlling strong emotions. All of us tend to develop unevenly – with some aspects streaking ahead but others lagging behind. This is normal and not necessarily a sign of a serious problem. It is also normal for such a child to need support while waiting for a very natural progression of brain development.
There are ways to help. Leaving such children alone may prevent them from reaching their potential and labelling slower development negatively may impair the very development they need. Supporting them in positive ways can help them over obstacles.
A useful website to visit for clear explanation of executive functions, help that works and ways that could worsen the situation is written by Seth Perler. The website (Google Seth Perler.com) is available and contains a wealth of information about Executive Functioning and helping to coach children through challenges. You might find the information valuable.
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Sep 2, 2026 | I'm a Parent, I'm a Teacher, ILT Blog
In this article, some answers are given to some of the most often asked questions that parents pose about learning disabilities and difficulties[1].
- What is a learning difficulty?
Typically a learning difficulty or problem is defined as a difficulty acquiring academic skills such as reading or maths. Some children show very subtle problems which are hardly noticeable. Other problems are very severe and make it virtually impossible for the child to progress in a certain academic area.
Learning problems can be rooted in emotional factors, such as fears, a highly stressful environment, family troubles and so on. It can be based on a mismatch between the child and her environment – for example, a school that is too unstructured for her her. It could be biological – and due to irregularities in brain development and functioning. If fairly severe, the term commonly used is ‘learning disability’. If not, ‘learning difficulty’ would be appropriate. Either way, it would be unwise to ignore it and hope it will go away. Better to have a comprehensive evaluation to try and determine the root causes underlying the learning problem. A learning disability, on the other hand, cannot be due to emotional problems.
- What is a learning disability?
A learning disability is usually understood to be a learning problem that is severe enough to impact negatively on a child’s academic progress and that can be attributed to some or other inefficient brain functions. It is NOT the result of lower intelligence, severe emotional disturbance or a physical challenge such as sight or hearing impairment. Some learners are incorrectly labelled as ‘slow’ learners, suggesting below average intelligence when, in fact, they are suffering from an unrecognised learning disability.
Some intellectually gifted children who are coping at school but failing to realise their very high potential may also have a learning disability.
- Can a learning disability be outgrown?
It is more likely that a child with a learning disability may learn how to compensate for her difficulties. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing because it can help to build resilience and strength that can help enormously throughout life. In fact, many of us have ways of compensating for areas of weakness. An example of a compensatory technique is reading through study content in preparation for a class if you cannot follow spoken language easily, or reading content out loud (or making an audio recording of it to play back) if you can understand and remember better through auditory channels.
- Can a learning disability be caused by an emotional problem?
No. The root of learning disabilities lie in irregular functioning of certain brain areas. A child may, of course, show accompanying emotional problems which are caused by the distress of her learning disability. In this case, the emotional problems may be helped by therapy. It is rare for a child with a learning disability to not show low self-esteem and a sense of being a failure. Years of struggling result in confusion about one’s self identity, anger, despair and frustration.
Trouble at home, parental discord and so on are never the primary, underlying cause of a learning disability. Neither is poor parenting, abusive parenting or inattentive parenting. These factors can exacerbate the effect the disability has on the child and how well she can cope with it, but they don’t cause disabilities.
- Can medication ‘cure’ a learning disability?
No known medication addresses the root cause of a learning disability.
- Can disabilities be inherited?
This is a difficult question. Some research suggests that some learning disabilities may be inherited and that others are not. Often those in the field of neurodevelopment find that a weakness in a certain brain area or other important brain system might be inherited. This might result in a learning disability but the child may have a different experience to the family member which results in her not showing any lack of ability at all. ILT practitioners have had the experience of seeing parents experienced surprising improvement in certain areas if they participate in their child’s therapeutic programme. This is because the underlying brain area has benefitted and becomes more efficient.
- When should I consider placing my child in a remedial or special needs school?
The fact that a child has a learning disability doesn’t necessarily mean that she has to leave mainstream schooling. If the prognosis is good, it might be better to seek out the support of the current school while the child undergoes a programme to help. It is sometimes not easy to return from remedial or special needs environments to mainstream education so a child who can cope might benefit more by staying put. However, school personnel and other professionals need to be in agreement with this and together you can decide on the best course of action if it is warranted.
Most children with learning disabilities can be helped and ILT has a very good track record when it comes to turning dis-ability in ability. However, we can never guarantee 100% success – we are regularly humbled by children who present with very puzzling problems. In spite of saying that, a child with a learning disability will not flourish over the long run without proper assessment and treatment. Don’t delay in getting your child the help she needs.
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[1][1] With thanks and acknowledgement to Barbara Novick and Maureen Arnold who wrote the book ‘Why is my child having trouble at school?’
Aug 26, 2026 | I'm a Parent, I'm a Teacher, ILT Blog
Over the last few years there seems to have been an enormous leap in explanations for Learning Disabilities (LD). There is talk of genetic predisposition, processing times (e.g. slow auditory processing), brain imaging techniques and findings, quantified EEGs, brain biofeedback, sound therapy, light therapy, and many others. Each new avenue quickly gains a following of professionals offering help.
In the midst of all this, one might wonder if the ‘old-fashioned’ belief in movement programmes is outdated. With all the computerized programmes, new therapies and drugs that speed up processing times being more and more widespread, can we motivate the belief in the power of movement programmes? Why does Integrated Learning Therapy (ILT) still achieve such good results, even though the approach does not rely on technology or sophisticated equipment?
The answer lies in the simple truth that LD is not just a cognitive (intellectual) deficit. A really close look at children identified has having LD will show that they also have significantly high deficits in several motor (movement) areas. This was supported by research in England, which suggested that very refined, accurate tests of balance might be a quick way of screening for LD[1].
Integrated Learning Therapy (ILT) finds that movement training is wonderfully beneficial. It refines and speeds up kinesthetic (feeling of movement) processing as well as auditory processing, visual processing and the integration of all three to produce balanced, calmer individuals who become more proficient in reading, spelling, maths and writing.
ILT sees that the learning problem is in the brain of children who have difficulties – not because of lack of intelligence. The brain ‘wiring’ is faulty or incomplete, leading to neurological disorganization. Look at the behaviour of a child with LD. They reflect the disorganized neural networks in their brains with their disorganized ways of trying to learn and cope with the demands of home and school. They are struggling with information that is not getting through from skin, body, ears and eyes to the brain, or they are processing the information too slowly, or it may be scrambled along the way. Some children may be hearing only part of a word or sentence and, to make matters worse, what they do hear may be processed slowly and is confusing. They don’t hear full instructions from teachers and parents. Others can’t use their eyes to learn because vision might not be supporting them – even though optometrists declare their sight to be normal.
To add insult to injury, their two brain hemispheres may not be working together. You can see signs of this in school-aged children: they don’t automatically know their left from their right, they can’t do more than one thing at a time, handwriting and producing written work is tedious and really hard because they struggle to organize themselves or their work. Not surprisingly, they become frustrated with the daily effort and may have meltdowns. Simply put, LD children are usually working much, much harder than their more ‘learning ready’ classmates.
The good news
The good news is that we can speed up the rate at which information reaches the brain and is correctly processed. Brain networks can be reinforced to be more stable – and we do this with the knowledge that the brain is plastic and in a constant state of change throughout our lifespans.
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[1] Angela Fawcett, in Pheloung, B. Help your class to learn. Manly: Australia.
Aug 13, 2026 | I'm a Parent, I'm a Teacher, ILT Blog
Perhaps you sense that your child is not performing up to her potential. Perhaps she is struggling at school or doesn’t show the same mastery of age-expected skills as older siblings. Could she have a learning disability?
For reasons not well understood, learning disabilities are fairly common these days. This has led to increased interest into the relationship between brain functioning and a child’s ability to cope with school demands. As a result of many studies, we now know that a child who finds schoolwork hard is not ‘naughty’, lazy or stupid. We know that even exceptionally intelligent children and those who have the privilege of attending the best schools can still show problems with learning. But we also know that children with a learning disability are not doomed to lifelong failure.
As a parent, the more you know about learning disabilities the earlier you’ll be able to recognise the symptoms. This is important because timing can be crucial to addressing and perhaps resolving a problem before school going age, when children begin to find learning hard, lose interest, develop a lack of confidence and even develop unhealthy coping techniques to compensate.
But there is a difference between recognising symptoms of a learning disability and being able to identify and define its nature. This is where you need a specialist to help you correctly identify the source of the difficulty and know what to do to eliminate it. Remember that sometimes the symptoms of a difficulty may have no clear connection to the underlying cause. Josh might have problems with mathematics but hiring a tutor or remedial teacher to help him with his computational problems may not be the solution. If he has a language processing problem, for example, he may not understand the problems presented to him as ‘story sums’ (e.g. ‘If Betty has seven Rand and loses five ….). Trying to ‘fix’ a symptom without addressing its source can only lead to frustration and a loss of time (and money). To the child, such efforts can compound the problem because in spite of trying, they don’t show improvement. They become discouraged, frustrated and even angry. Some might begin to act out or withdraw, but either way, the family experiences a deluge of emotions which affects all members.
As a parent, you feel responsible for finding the best solution possible for your child. But before you seek out the help of professionals, you could try to understand more about learning disabilities so that you can speak to professionals on a more equal footing. It is also important to project confidence to your child. If you display anxiety and become stressed because of your concerns, your child will also begin to feel more anxious. Remember that there is help out there, and you’ll be doing all you can to help in the most effective way possible.
The causes of learning difficulties are many, and their symptoms are sometimes mistaken for the cause. For example, a child who struggles with inattention and restlessness may quickly be said to ‘have’ ADHD. This isn’t true. The ability to concentrate and keep the body still can be linked to allergies, nutrition, retained reflexes and other aspects of neurodevelopment, which refers to the development of the brain.
Other commonly diagnosed disabilities include dyslexia, (reading, spelling), dyscalculia (understanding numbers and maths concepts), dysgraphia (writing), dyspraxia (uncoordinated body movements), and auditory processing disorder (trouble with interpreting sounds).
If your child shows any of these difficulties, remember that the symptoms suggest that the child’s brain may not have developed in all areas needed to process information. A good starting point may be to find a professional who is knowledgeable about neurodevelopment and willing to look further than treating the symptoms the child shows.
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Aug 5, 2026 | I'm a Parent, I'm a Teacher, ILT Blog
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), nearly 80% of the world’s teenagers don’t get enough physical activity. A recent study, from the University of Montreal, suggests that the amount of physical activity a young child engages in – around the age of 2.5 years – sows the seeds for later sedentary or active habits.
The results show that three simple movement habits in toddlerhood—active play with parents, limited screen time (less than an hour per day) and sufficient sleep—significantly predict a more physically active lifestyle a full decade later. Each ‘good’ movement habit at age 2.5 was associated with roughly five more minutes of outdoor play per day at age 12 – for both boys and girls. Girls with ‘good’ movement habits at an early age also showed higher levels of leisure-time physical activity at greater intensity and frequency. This is important because at adolescence, girls are especially at risk of becoming sedentary.
The researchers concluded that active parent-child time – playing, moving, being physically engaged together – seems to be the single most powerful lever for establishing healthy long-term movement habits. The shared experiences seem to help children associate movement with enjoyment and motivation.
This research shows the importance of healthy family habits, such as encouraging active play, setting boundaries around screen time and prioritising quality sleep. It also stresses the importance of following the WHO guidelines for children under five – at least 180 minutes of physical activity per day, no more than one hour of sedentary screen time, and 11 – 14 hours of sleep.
The paper is published in the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics.
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Jul 29, 2026 | I'm a Parent, I'm a Teacher, ILT Blog
Integrated Learning Therapy includes careful attention to aspects of a child’s auditory processing. We understand that children who have a left dominant ear, for example, may process spoken language more slowly. This means that a teacher’s instructions may not all be clearly heard and understood if delivered too quickly – especially in a classroom environment which is seldom absolutely quiet. Lesson content may be a bit scrambled because of slower transmission of sounds.
It is always good to have confirmation that our knowledge is accurate and supported by empirical evidence. This came in the form of an interesting article recently. Here is the source: The Acoustical Society of America “Want to Listen Better? Lend a Right Ear.” NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 6 December 2017.
The gist of the article is summarised below.
Basically, the research found that in noisy environments, the right ear leads the way for optimal auditory information processing.
Listening is a complicated task. It requires sensitive hearing and the ability to process information into cohesive meaning. Add everyday background noise and constant interruptions by other people, and the ability to comprehend what is heard becomes that much more difficult.
Audiology researchers at Auburn University in Alabama have found that in such demanding environments, both children and adults depend more on their right ear for processing and retaining what they hear.
The research team’s work is based on dichotic listening tests (testing the ability of each ear), used to diagnose, among other conditions, auditory processing disorders in which the brain has difficulty processing what is heard.
In a standard dichotic test, listeners receive different auditory inputs delivered to each ear simultaneously. The items are usually sentences (e.g., “She wore the red dress”), words or digits. Listeners either pay attention to the items delivered in one ear while dismissing the words in the other (i.e., separation), or are required to repeat all words heard (i.e., integration).
According to the researchers, children understand and remember what is being said much better when they listen with their right ear.
Sounds entering the right ear are processed by the left side of the brain, which controls speech, language development, and portions of memory. Each ear hears separate pieces of information, which is then combined during processing throughout the auditory system.
However, young children’s auditory systems cannot sort and separate the simultaneous information from both ears. As a result, they rely heavily on their right ear to capture sounds and language because the pathway is more efficient.
What is less understood is whether this right-ear dominance is maintained through adulthood. To find out, the research team asked 41 participants ages 19-28 to complete both dichotic separation and integration listening tasks.
With each subsequent test, the researchers increased the number of items by one. They found no significant differences between left and right ear performance at or below an individual’s simple memory capacity. However, when the item lists went above an individual’s memory span, participants’ performance improved an average of 8 percent (some individuals’ up to 40 percent) when they focused on their right ear.
“Conventional research shows that right-ear advantage diminishes around age 13, but our results indicate this is related to the demand of the task. Traditional tests include four-to-six pieces of information,” said Aurora Weaver, assistant professor at Auburn University and member of the research team. “As we age, we have better control of our attention for processing information as a result of maturation and our experience.”
In essence, ear differences in processing abilities are lost on tests using four items because our auditory system can handle more information.
“Cognitive skills, of course, are subject to decline with advance aging, disease, or trauma,” Weaver said. “Therefore, we need to better understand the impact of cognitive demands on listening.”
In the case of younger children who have not decided which ear is dominant, it can help to encourage the right ear to be the leading ear. If a child is strongly left-eared dominant, it can help know this so that necessary classroom adjustments can be made. Either way, Integrated Learning Therapy practitioners are there to help.
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