Robert Melillo – Integrative Therapy for Neurodevelopmental Disorders: Connecting Primitive Reflexes and Brain Imbalances to Polyvagal Theory to Improve Learning, Behavior and Social Skills

Outline

DEVELOPMENTAL NEUROLOGY OVERVIEW

• Epidemiology of mental health, educational, and neurobehavioral disorders
• Movement and brain development
• Brain development through segregation, integration, and localization of networks
• Primitive and postural reflex development and retention, plus the relationship to brain development
• Brain asymmetry, development, function, and integration of the hemispheres, plus the relationship to learning disabilities, behavioral
• disorders and socialization issues

ASSESSING AND REMEDIATE RETAINED PRIMITIVE REFLEXES

• What are primitive reflexes? Why and how do they develop?
• Assess primitive reflexes in infants, children, and adults
• Symptoms associated with specific primitive reflex retention
• Asymmetry of primitive reflexes and the relationship to brain imbalances, ADHD, dyslexia
• HANDS-ON LAB: Remediation exercises for primitive reflexes
• CASE STUDY: Adult female with multiple retained primitive reflexes, history of dyslexia, depression, digestive issues, and syncope

PRACTICAL IMPORTANCE OF THE POLYVAGAL THEORY IN LIFE AND IN CLINICAL PRACTICE

• Polyvagal theory and evolution of the autonomic system
• Fear paralysis reflex, the Moro reflex, and both the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems development
• Relate movement and primitive reflexes with Polyvagal Theory
• Autonomic and hemispheric regulation of immune system, gut function, and other issues
• Assess autonomic development, heart rate variability, and autonomic dysregulation
• Connect brainstem development, the development of the social engagement system, and attachment disorders
• HANDS-ON LAB: 35 ways to stimulate the Vagal system
• CASE STUDY: Child with ADHD, retained Moro reflex, and abnormal heart rate variability
• CASE STUDY: Patient with autonomic imbalance and autism

HEMISPHERIC DOMINANCE VS HEMISPHERIC WEAKNESS

• Right brain vs left brain functions
  • Why and how the right and left brain become specialized
  • How imbalances can develop
  • How imbalance produces specific symptoms

• HANDS-ON LAB: Testing for brain imbalances
  • Cognitive style profile
  • Hemispheric checklist
  • Postural hemispheric exam
  • Cranial nerve exam

• Develop specialized hemispheric-based treatment to restore balance
• CASE STUDY: Patient with dyslexia, learning disabilities and retained primitive reflexes

ATTACHMENT, POLYVAGAL SYSTEM, AND HEMISPHERIC IMBALANCE

• Understanding attachment and behavior
• Relate attachment with movement and discover the subconscious way we form and maintain relationships, and how this can affect us our whole life
• How the brain hemispheres contribute to attachment
• Functional neurology of human behavior, relationships and emotions
• HANDS-ON LAB: Use the adult attachment inventory as a diagnostic tool
• HANDS-ON LAB: Target functional neurology networks diagnostically and therapeutically
• CASE STUDY: Patient with reactive attachment disorder and ADHD