“Brain Gym® is helping our family in so many different ways.  We do PACE in the mornings, I tell my children, Brain Gym® exercises help you wake up.

It’s common practice that I help my son get dressed, because he is so sluggish in the morning and takes too long, and usually asks for help. It takes about 20 minutes to wake him up. He is 11 years old with Autism. Very high functioning, but with many issues.

Yesterday, he had climbed into bed with us, the alarm went off and I said we should do Brain Gym® to wake up. He was dozing so I said we would do it lying down. My daughter came in and the 3 of us did PACE lying down. I started doing the movements with my son by holding his hands and doing it for him but he quickly woke up and took over on his own. He suggested some alternatives to what we were doing and got right into it. When we were done, both kids jumped out of bed and ran to their rooms racing to get dressed. My son came back a few minutes later, totally dressed saying “look at me”.

Today, I was up early and went upstairs to help wake my son up. He had climbed into bed with my husband who was still asleep and I entered the room just in time to hear my son say “copy me papa” and he was doing the Cross Crawl. Then my son said “this will help you wake up” and I joined in with them as my son led my husband through the PACE exercises (although not in the right order but that will come). He was so proud of himself for teaching his dad!
 We are doing our best to use the movements based on the need, to help the kids get through frustrating moments, redirect thoughts and give them energy.  My son has demonstrated that he is capable of doing these movements on his own and my hope is that he will use them at school as a coping mechanism for different situations.  Also, to have a positive and quiet activity to do that he knows helps him at home. I am putting together a little visual for him on what he can do himself, ‘when you feel like this… try this’.

To read the “Brain Bites – December 2008”and find out what is happening in the body and brain during this testimonial go to http://www.brainworksglobal.com/articles/09_Brain_Bites_Dec_2008.pdf

Micole Ongman, Mother, Advocate & Manager, Recreation