When behavioral, cognitive and emotional problems develop and interfere with daily functioning, it may be time to call  The Institute for Brain-Behavior Integration (IBBI). IBBI was created to provide those answers to brain-based challenges using comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation services.  

For many parents, the start of the school year is a time filled with questions about how best to help their children achieve success in class and with friendships.  For adults, the season may refocus attention on work performance difficulties, organizational challenges or other issues impacting success in daily life.  For adults and for parents of children and adolescents who have questions about how to manage challenges with…

• Managing attention (e.g., ADD/ADHD)
• Developing effective study habits
• Establishing SAT/ACT, LSAT, GRE, MCAT accomodations
• Establishing friends
• Learning at a pace consistent with their expected potential
• Behavioral self-control
• Anxiety/Depression concerns
• Substance abuse concerns
• Concerns of aging (e.g., dementia)
• Other developmental concerns

…where can you turn for answers?

Institute for Brain-Behavior Integration (IBBI)
David Alter, PhD, LP, ABPP, ABPH and Nancy Foster, PhD established the Institute for Brain-Behavior Integration (IBBI) at Partners in Healing to provide comprehensive brain-based neuropsychological evaluation services to address developmental challenges of childhood through older adulthood. Neuropsychology is the subspecialty field in psychology that uses standardized measures tailored to the needs of each individual to evaluate aspects of brain functioning in order to determine what may be impacting thinking and behavioral functioning.

Our IBBI evaluations focus on pathways between brain functioning and daily behavior. Our evaluation services help to identify the resources within the client and in their environment to help improve day-to-day functioning.

This can lead to positive changes in school or career performance, improve relationship skills with peers, families or couples, and improve overall psychological health. It can also help to fine-tune treatment plans  to make the treatment process more effective and to reach tangible treatment benefits for school and job performance or general daily functioning more quickly. To schedule an evaluation at the IBBI, call 763-546-5797 or contact us through email at info@pih-mpls.com. By David S Alter, PhD & Nancy Foster, PhD

As Fall begins, families gear up for many transitions that traditionally happen at this time of year. Some children will begin school for the first time, some will start or transfer to a new school, which can mean leaving old friends, and some children begin junior or senior high.  The lazy days of summer are over. There are new schedules to follow, an increased pace of life with sports, clubs, socializing and homework.  How can parents support their children during these times when stress and worry can develop and before new routines are created? 

To help ease these transitions:

• Review all the information the school sends about special dates, bus schedules, after school activities, emergency forms and class room assignments.
• Record important dates on the family calendar so that you can juggle your schedule, especially if you have children in more than one school.
• Re-establish bedtime and meal routines and stress the importance of getting adequate rest.
• Reduce TV and non-homework electronic time to 2 hours or less per week.
• Support your child’s visit to their new school and visit it with them if possible.
• Help your child organize their workspace for homework.
• And if your child is stressed, use your best listening skills. Do not overreact. Remain calm and positive. Reinforce your child’s ability to cope.

How parents can help when problems arise.
If your child demonstrates problems that seem extreme in nature or go on for an extended period, you may want to contact the school to set up an appointment to meet with your child’s teachers and school counselor. They may be able to offer direct or indirect support that will help identify and reduce the presenting problem. They may also suggest other resources within the school and the community to help you address the situation.
While children can display a variety of behaviors, it is generally wise not to over-interpret those behaviors. More often than not, time and a few intervention strategies will remedy the problem. Most children are wonderfully resilient and, with your support and encouragement, will thrive throughout their school experience.

However, when these problems persist and solutions seem unavailable, know that our knowledgeable staff of child, adolescent and family therapists are available to meet your needs.  Give us a call so we can extend our help to you.

By Harriet Kohen, MA, LICSW

Resources
Clark, L. (1996). SOS: Help for parents (2nd ed.). Berkley, CA: Parents’ Press. ISBN: 0935111204.
Dawson, M. P. (2004). Homework: A guide for parents. In A. Canter, L. Paige, M. Roth, I. Romero, & S. Carroll (Eds.), Helping children at home and school II: Handouts for families and educators. Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.
Rimm, S. (1996). Dr. Sylvia Rimm’s smart parenting: How to raise a happy, achieving child. New York: Crown. ASIN: 0517700638.
Some of this material was reprinted from Back-to School Transitions: Tips for Parents,             
by Ted Feinberg, EdD, NCSP, & Katherine C. Cowan National Association of School Psychologists

One of the most exciting areas in modern medical science involves our deepening understanding of the relationship between brain functioning and our day-to-day functioning. Each month seems to bring new discoveries about how our physical and emotional health can be improved by increasing the health of the brain. Learning to regulate our emotional and physical arousal levels through brain regulation training can make a huge difference in our physical and emotional health. Healing Rhythms is a very pleasant personal biofeedback training program that can teach you to regulate your emotional and physical arousal levels. Healing Rhythms gently trains you to reduce your stress levels, improve your emotional resilience, and to keep your mind clear of distracting thoughts. Check out Healing Rhythms and discover how you can put yourself on the path to improved mental and emotional health.

Authored by Dr. David Alter

In the last entry we introduced the idea of pain as a faulty memory signal; a state-dependent signal that can be activated by many triggers.  We emphasized the importance of learning memory-modifying steps you can take to put you back in charge and learn to have the remembered past – the pain signal that keeps on firing – pass right on by.  By recognizing that The Pain, its Plain, Stems Mainly from the Brain, here are six suggestions to consider that help free the brain from old pain memory patterns, and allow it to express different nerve firing patterns that modify your experience of pain.

1.    Shifting the focus of attention from what can be done for you to what you are able to do for yourself.  This shift in focus orients the brain to how and where you can exercise control, which disrupts old patterns of helplessness in the face of failed efforts to obtain relief.

2.    Develop a toolbox of safe and simple movements.  The body is designed for movement.  The body needs movement the way it needs food and sleep.  Whether the safe movement involves simple stretches, a walk to the mailbox several times per day, or involvement in a yoga class, develop a movement routine you maintain.  It disrupts the memory circuits that say movement is dangerous and painful.

3.    Restoring restful sleep. While we sleep, the brain filters our experience from the past.  Sleep revises, discards or strengths aspects of past experience.  Without adequate sleep, our ability to restore energy reserves, rebound from the past experience, and feel prepared for the future is hobbled.  Explore proven methods for re-establishing restorative sleep so you give the brain the energy it needs to construct new habits of functioning during the day.

4.    Learn focused awareness skills.  When pain is present, it can be like a magnet that draws attention to it.  Pain-focused attention almost always makes the perception of pain worse!  A number of methods for developing the capacity to direct attention away from pain, or toward perceiving sensations in the body in new ways can be very useful.  Meditation, breath awareness, guided imagery and self-hypnosis are examples of focused awareness skills you can learn.

5.    Become a “sensualist”.  We are blessed with five senses.  Pain tends to make us aware of only one of them.  If pain becomes the dominant sensation that people experience, awareness of other sensations dulls.  It is important to involve yourself with activities that bring alive other sensations – taste, sight, sound, smell, taste and touch.  In addition, there is good evidence that laughter and humor release molecules that flood the brain and body with strong pain dampening effects!

6.    Letting go of what’s past (passed).  People with persistent pain tend to have much higher rates of depression, anxiety and even high rates of histories that include past traumas of various sorts.  Of course, having persistent pain can be depressing, anxiety provoking and traumatizing!  Still, past trauma tends to keep the doors to pain in your present life wide open.  Therefore, it is important to learn methods of resolving the on-going influence of past trauma on your daily life.  Doing so powerfully rewires the brain and frees up the mind to experience life anew.