Empowering Women in Chiropractic -Connections in Non-speaking Autistic Individuals

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Hi, I am Dr. Monica Berger, and I can't wait to share three things that we need to think about with connecting with kids or adults on the autism spectrum scale. So today we're going to dive into an incredibly interesting topic that's been going on. It's April, it's Autism Awareness Month, and I was teaching at the Medical Academy of Pediatric Specialties seminar a few weeks ago.

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We call it maps. And this interesting conversation came up when we're looking at connecting, and this is gonna be our keyword today. We're gonna talk about three connections we wanna consider when we're working with individuals on the autism. Spectrum. So one there's been an interesting set of a podcast going around called the Telepathy Tapes, and this was we, I got to hang out with some dear friends.

At the MAPS conference that have been in the autism world for many years, and from researchers to pediatricians to other chiropractors to you name it. It was just a beautiful blend of people there for the same cause. And these, the conversation of these telepathy tapes came up. So what are they?

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I challenge you to go out there and listen to them. But essentially it is a, a reporter and a neuroscientist that came together to explore the intelligence of these of individuals that are referred to as nons speakers because we know individuals across the board, kiddos, adults that have developmental differences.

Oftentimes our nons speakers, they don't have acquisition of language or they're, or very mild acquisition of language. And so over the years, and since I've been in practice I've been in practice over 34 years, I've seen the technology changes with helping those that don't have those verbal skills anywhere from devices called talkers.

In, in, in the school assisted programs, a lot of times they have a device called the talker and teaching these individuals how to use this to help communicate. Now since then, technology's advanced so greatly, right? So now we have computers and we have iPads, and we have all these different accessories.

And what's been so amazing is when these individuals, that are able to finally talk through these devices and express themselves what they're telling us. And it's been, for me, it's been very heartwarming and fascinating because so much is what I've been teaching over the last 30 plus years. Was basically on the foundation, the neurological foundation of disconnect between the brain and the body and the brain.

And I've told probably every parent of kiddos that I've worked with that they are they're brilliant. They're very brilliant. They're, some of them are this savant level brilliant. Lots of times they get told that their child isn't in there, right? But they are. And so I personally never give up hope on these.

On these individuals and I tell parents that, but now what we're able to hear from so many of these individuals from themselves by using these assistive devices and what they're telling the world is, it's just so heartwarming and it. I'm gonna cover three things that I've always taught in all of my programs that I teach in my programs now, and that I try to employ myself and my practice because I believe that these individuals are in there, they can express themselves to us if we listen.

So one thing that caught my ear listening to these tapes was, the collaboration between the reporter and the neuroscientist and devising studies that would, that could potentially be scientifically valid and not being seen is skewed one way or the other. So one of the things that came up, and I've, and we know that a lot of kiddos, individuals.

With neurodevelopmental challenges have poor motor control. In fact, in many of my teachings I've talked a lot about core posture, motor control, and how essential it is because it is one of the number one predictors of developmental delay. Especially of autism. So when we look at our motor milestones that we should be, that these kiddos should be developing in that first year of life, those build upon these gross and fine motor skills that are so often that are a key core component of neurodevelopmental challenges.

Okay. So it's, they're called predictor of interest is they, in, in one of these cases, in these telepathy tapes, they talked about a mom helping a child use one of these assisted devices, these talkers, and they talked about how they help these individuals learn how to use them because they're fine motor skills and their gross motor skills can be so delayed.

So they talked about how the concern was if. The parent, the mom was helping one of the children use these devices during a study. Does that potentially mean that the outcomes, and I'm not gonna tell you what they are, 'cause you should listen to the tapes that outcomes aren't valid because there's it was skewed by what the mom was doing.

Okay. And this is what the mom was doing, was initially because of the poor fine motor control. And this is how they do it in schools too, is oftentimes they'll take the child's wrist or hand and stabilize it first and even take their fingers to have them point on the letters or the pictures on these talking devices.

And that's because they don't have good proprioception. They don't have good, fine or gross motor skills. And by, by giving them deep pressure, so this is. This is things that I've talked about for years. That deep propriocept, that deep pressure helps the brain wake up. Basically, it's telling the brain, I have hands, I have fingers.

How can I potentially use them when I'm doing a certain task and by the caregiver or the teacher's aid or the parents school or whatever, first assisting the child and giving that deep compression and helping them. That starts to build that motor pattern. So that brain is oh, waking up. I have fingers.

How do I use them? So they would go from stabilizing the wrist to maybe the elbow to maybe the shoulder, and then maybe just putting some pressure on the forehead. And that's, that is how we can help. Basically tell the brain what's going on, and it's called propriocept. So you get tactile and proprioceptive input.

Two key sensory systems that the brain needs to know where my body is in space, what limbs do I have, how do I move them? So I found that very interesting when they were talking about that study design and how they're getting these individuals to utilize these talking devices. It's things that I've been teaching in my program for decades, right?

So fine motor skills are lacking. How do we wake up the brain? How do we give 'em the tools and stair step them up to the point to retrain the brain to understand, to connect the brain to the body and the body of the brain in one of the other segments. It was interesting again, and for me it was so exciting because it's, again, it's everything that from a left brain.

Scientific logical reasoning part to hearing this from their perspective and their feelings. And it just, for me was exciting to synergistically put this together. One of the other individuals in this, in these tapes talked about just knowing that he had a body. That he had a body and how to use it and move through space and he, his brain didn't even realize that he had a body to use.

Again gross motor skills have to be on point. You have to have good core motor in order to get fine motor. These are so ma, such a common thread in individuals with neurodevelopmental challenges. So it just verified. That doing the work to get the connection between the brain and the body and the brain to get the awareness that they have a body is absolutely crucial for these individuals to navigate their world.

And hearing that validation was just so amazing. So two connections there. Fine motor, gross motor, adding proprioception. Knowing that we really, they are in there, they are alive, they're not, they're brilliant individuals. It's really about connecting that information and allowing their body to, to understand their brain, understand their body and their body to understand how to move.

And that takes me to my third point. My third connection was. It just solidified that what we're doing in the chiropractic world, how incredibly profound it is from me, from multiple perspectives. One, if we have a vertebral subluxation and we have lack of input into the brain about the status of the body, of course the brain's not gonna know what's been able to interpret what's going on.

They can't do these skills. Remember, speech is a fine motor skill, right? Two, it solidified for me that they have an energetic, innate ability to connect to individuals that they safe with, and that is a key point. Kids and animals in particular know when they're safe. They know who they can trust. And that's when healing can come into the realm when they're in a safe environment and they can allow themselves to open up and and receive.

So more than ever it has solidified these telepathy tapes have solidified for me that. I need to make sure I am in the best state as possible. A, I need to take care of myself physically, mentally, emotionally chemically as much as I can. But when I am there, when I'm in the practice and I have my hands on these individuals, whoever it is, what a, whatever age they are, but especially those with maybe some developmental struggles or challenges that.

I am innately grounded and in tune as much as I can be with them. And I am asking permission from them to work with them, not work on them, to work with them. And I don't care what age they are. Just the other day. Last week I saw a baby and mom and worked on them with them at the same time. And this this was a high risk little one, he's only three months old, was a high risk little one.

A bunch of complications anyway. And she had just, she had a miscarriage at 15 weeks with a child prior to that. Anyway. This little one was so guarded these first three months of his life, and he's finally, I could just feel that he felt safe enough and the mom was less on on guard to about him being able to thrive in this world.

And they both just beautifully. Let go together. And so they returned again this week and she's the mom was like, it was an amazing experience for three days after that. But I asked permission from mom and from this little three month old, I. To help them decrease the stress off their body, to allow their nervous system to regulate and heal.

And it's a big difference when you approach it from that angle versus we're going in and we're doing what we wanna do. So many of these kiddos, especially post Covid age, are coming into this world. So stressed out and so on. Cortisol drive, and so rigid and so blocked. If we go in there too fast and too furious without acknowledging what, where they're at, where their nervous system is at, what they're gonna what is allowed at that point in time, we can blow those circuits, and I'm gonna talk more about that in my next segment.

Not today, but my next segment. I'm gonna, I'm gonna give you a specific case of a 10-year-old little pandas girl. Wrapping this up today though the three connections I want you to understand is I. A motor skills are important that we've talked about before. Gross motor comes before fine motor, but how important is to give them that deep, that tactile proprioceptive input to help them wake up their brain?

In this case, they were able to start expressing themselves by using a talker, but we don't know that the profound effects that can happen when we're allowing their brain to wake up. To their body and other ways they're gonna be able to express themselves. Two these individuals are telling us now that we've been on point all these years that they are in there, they just don't realize they have a body or how to use it.

And again, if they're have vertebral subluxations, they're not gonna get that afferent input to the brain. To even know they have a body. And that's my third connection, is the power of chiropractic from all aspects, from the adjustment to the knowing to you innately and energetically being on point.

And the power that we have from a different viewpoint than so many other practitioners. So those are my three connections for this segment, and hopefully you enjoyed it and hopefully it gives you a little bit of inspiration to know when you are working with individuals that have challenges and especially non speakers.

The profound effect you can have. These on the lives of these individuals and giving them a life. That's a wrap for me. I'm Dr. Monica Berger and join me at the Academy of Neurodevelopmental Practices, where we give you this and a whole lot more and a lot of ways to implement these awesome neuromotor patterns needed for the first year of life.

And that's a wrap. I wanna thank ChiroSecuire again, Elizabeth and I had a marvelous time spending it with you, and we will see you next month in may.

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