Chiroblog

A recent article in the Journal of Integrative Neuroscience provides us with a new way of thinking about autism development. Instead of looking at motor skills, sensory processing, and social interaction as separate issues, Dr. Robert Melillo, one of my main mentors and teachers, suggests that these systems develop together and continuously influence one another. They describe how early brain timing, coordination between the right and left sides of the brain, movement patterns, and interactions with caregivers may all play a role in shaping a child's developmental journey.

A pivotal idea in the paper is that early movement may be more important than many people realize. Dr Melillo discusses how persistent primitive reflexes, unusual movement asymmetries, motor delays, or increased movement variability could indicate differences in how the developing nervous system is organizing itself. These movement patterns may affect a child's opportunities to explore their environment, engage with caregivers, and build social and communication skills through everyday experiences. Development occurs through a continuous cycle of movement, combined with perception, learning, prediction, and feedback from the people that work, interact and play with the child.

We met a minimally speaking child with autism yesterday who spends most of their time on an iphone or ipad.  That alone can create poor posture, but some kids with autism already have weakened postural control muscles, so the result in this child was a very exaggerated forward head tilt!  This emphasizes the importance of how technology, as great as it is, really creates a disconnect in most kids (and adults) but an even bigger disconnect if your child is minimally speaking. If technology is introduced at a young age, then not only is the child’s brain influenced by the devices, but their posture is as well…and as a pediatric chiropractor we have to make sure the brain and nerve system are working in a more coordinated way as well as reducing the time spent on technology.   

Reference: Toward a Developmental Timing Framework for Autism: Linking Hemispheric Asymmetry, Motor Organization, and Motor-Social Coupling.  [imrpress.com]