Hemispheric Integration Therapy
Most people are aware that if you damage the brain, such as with a stroke, it affects the body. We have all seen people who have suffered strokes and have unique postures and gaits. But the system works both ways. There is feedback between the brain and the body and between the body and the brain. It is the receptors in the body that feed up to the brain. The receptors are the starting point of your nervous system. This may be something as familiar to you as light receptors in your eyes or sound receptors in your ears.
However, most input to your brain comes from less known proprioceptive receptors in your muscles and joints especially anti-gravity and postural muscles. The brain uses receptors to understand your environment for interpretation. If these receptors and the pathways leading up to the brain are not working because they were damaged or it did not develop properly, the activity level of the brain will be decreased and different areas of the brain may not communicate with each other properly.
The functional neurology approach is to evaluate the receptors and pathways to determine where the areas of dysfunction and miscommunication are occurring. We will then strengthen weak areas by exercising those pathways in the same way that one exercises their muscles. This may include visual stimulation, auditory stimulation, olfactory stimulation, vestibular stimulation, rhythm and timing exercises and cognitive exercises among others. In the end, this all has to be fused together in order to allow for multimodal processing so that the child can function at a high level.
This approach addresses both processing disorders as well as sensory integration disorders. This targeted stimulation allows the neurons to become stronger by increasing their DNA activation which in turn allows each cell to produce all the cellular contents it needs to be healthy. This increases the connections between neurons. In Hemispheric Integration Therapy we find that we must correct problems from the receptors to the brain. In addition the right and left sides of the brain must be balanced in order to allow for proper communication to take place between the different areas involved in higher brain function.
In general, more neuron connections means better brain function. Although, there are some common areas of dysfunction, this treatment cannot be standardized as child's developmental delay and sensory integration patterns are different and therefore their treatment plans must not only be different in the beginning but adapt and change as the child progresses.
