My name is Priscilla Roberts. I am a speech-language-pathologist who has worked with children with developmental issues for 40 years. I started working with children in regular public schools where I saw so many children struggling with learning. I also saw that the teachers were overwhelmed and unequipped to deal with the students’ many learning issues related to reading, math, attention, language, and comprehension. I worked with home school parents with students with the same issues.
I started on a journey to try and understand the cause of these issues. Our educational system wants and identify an issue and label it. A label doesn’t provide information as to how to solve it. If we are going to unlock the problem and solve it for the child, we have to understand where it started. I have been on a 40 year journey to discover the basis of these issues. I have developed a unique understanding of the neurological systems of how children learn and how to lead them to success.
I have spent many years studying all aspects of the brain and body to develop a wide and diverse picture of how learning happens and what goes wrong when it does not happen. My training began with the study of Sensory Integration. I followed the top leaders in this field for over 8 years learning about the sensory systems (auditory, visual, tactile and motor) and therapies that were being used to treat them. This was the major therapeutic approach being used at the time.
I studied the auditory system in depth with Sheila Frick. I learned the Therapeutic Listening Program, including the use of modulated music and the Samonas Listening Program which came out of Germany. I also studied the Tomatis Method with Paul Madaule and then his LIFT program. These listening programs stimulate the ear to reorganize the auditory system using some form of modulated music. Modulated music impacts, not only the ear, but also the other sensory systems and the organization of movement. It has global impacts on the neurological organization of the brain and body.
I have studied the visual system with behavioral optometrists around the country. Vision plays a very important role in learning. Vision doesn’t always develop correctly. It is not about acuity, but about perception and processing. We see two eyes and assume that the child sees normally. Many times, a child may demonstrate complex visual processing issues significantly impacting their learning. Vision is a critical and complicated system and it is essential to know how to address the difficulties it presents.
I studied NeuroNet with Nancy Rowe for almost 10 years. I went to every workshop I could. She had a unique understanding of the brain and body connection. She felt that the whole issue of being a good learner or a poor learner revolved around “timing”. She understood that all of the different areas of the brain had to interact together “in time” to improve attention, memory, and learning. Her NeuroNet program is amazing for changing processing time.
I studied many reading programs. I learned the Lindamood Auditory Conceptualization Program developed by Patricia Lindamood in the 70s. This program taught the students to feel sounds in their mouth and then feel the sounds as they built words sound by sound. This was a breakthrough program. It used feeling and hearing to develop reading. I also studied the Wilson Reading program as well as the Orton Gillingham program. Each program had some differences and some similarities teaching the student to identify the separate sounds in words and blending the sounds together.
I researched the concepts of phonemic awareness and learned about the differences in phonics and phonemic processing. These are the critical factors in knowing how to teach reading. A student must first develop the 3 basic levels of phonemic processing for them to then be able to access a phonics program. These phonemic awareness skills are pre-requisites to the development of good reading. They include blending sounds, separating sounds and isolating and manipulating sounds. Language is learned through the auditory system. These are auditory skills. When we read, we read language. Reading must be developed out of the auditory system, not the visual system.
I also learned about the Interactive Metronome Program and used it with many children. I learned how important the timing of the motor system is for attention, memory and learning. Changing the timing and accuracy of the motor system (movement) changed the processing of the whole brain and body. Developing precise accurate movement with precise timing made global changes to the children.
At this point, I began to study Ortho-bionomy which is a form of gentle osteopathy body work. I had begun to understand how important the bio-mechanics of the body was for developing the correct pathways for learning. The Motor system and precise accurate movement mattered to brain development and learning. I had learned a lot about the vestibular system (balance system) while studying NeuroNet with Nancy Rowe. Gravity is the one constant in our world that we have to organize movement around. The vestibular system is the system that interprets movement and gravity. This system is the basis for us to understand time and space. This is critical for learning. The interaction of the vestibular system and proprioception of the muscles and joints provides the brain with important information relative to moving the body in space and time. Think of the Olympic gymnast and the accuracy with which they move and stop. I began to see how critical accurate movement was for attention and learning.
I attended massage school so that I could work with the body to take this understanding to a higher level for developing correct brain processing for all children so I could develop appropriate learning patterns.
Years of study with biomechanics and body work led me to the study of primitive reflexes and understanding the role of these reflexes in development. I began to study with Dr. Svetlana Masgutova and the MNRI method of developing the reflexes. I studied with Dr. Masgutova for 12 years and I learned that the reflexes and the organization of the motor system were a roadmap. Organized primitive reflexes develop the neurological map of movement, vision, hearing, sensory processing, memory, attention and learning. Learning is complicated and it begins with movement. Most importantly, the movement must be precise, accurate and repeatable for the brain to establish the correct learning pathways. We all have a neurological map of development, and it is the same map for everyone. Children with learning difficulties have stepped off this neurological map of reflex development. Re-establish the reflexes and the body will self- correct the map.
As a speech pathologist, I learned that the motor movements of the mouth are critical for correct speech development. The timing of the movements of the tongue, lips and jaw is essential for the development of correct sound production. Correct sound production leads to the development of good auditory processing. The tongue has a map of movement it must develop for sounds to be produced correctly. Where they are made in the mouth, how they are made, and the timing of sound production means everything to the development of good auditory processing and sound discrimination for the development of reading. The movement of the tongue must be differentiated from the movement of the lips and jaw. When this doesn’t happen then speech and auditory processing are affected. It is important to understand how this relates to correct production of consonants and vowels. When the tongue cannot move with speed and accuracy, the child will demonstrate speech errors and precise timing will be lost as sounds blend into one another. The child’s speech may sound slurred or mumbled or the their speech may be spoken too quickly. Syllables are not articulated. These types of issues will affect how the sounds are made. Correct sound production is critical for developing correct auditory processing of sounds which is the foundation for the development of reading skills. Correct speech production equals an accurate auditory perceptual system. Poor speech production results in poor auditory processing and poor discrimination of sounds.
My diverse experience and education have led me to a new understanding of the problems to be solved and how to solve them for struggling learners. I have developed many strategies that I have used with children to address these issues related to organizing the neurological map. It is possible to significantly change how a child processes information to create a learner who can read, do math, have beautiful cursive handwriting etc. and love learning.
Priscilla E. Roberts, M.S., CCC-SLP, LMT
Speech Language Pathologist and Licensed Massage Therapist
