Brain Injury and Strokes in Babies and Children
Has your baby had an in utero stroke? Or is your baby or child suffering from limitations due to a pediatric stroke?
Has your child been diagnosed with global brain damage or experienced other brain trauma?
Are you concerned about your child’s future? Are you looking for an alternative approach to healing and growth?
Anat Baniel Method® NeuroMovement® is a revolutionary, science-based approach that is supported by leading neuroscientists and brain research. Our focus is on improving the quality of the functioning of the brain itself. View the video below to see the journey of Nash, who was born with global brain damage, to discover what is possible with this Method!
Holistic Approach to Brain Injury and Stroke
NeuroMovement® is a holistic approach to brain injury and strokes in children and babies. The Method offers powerful brain change tools that provide transformational help for children diagnosed with global brain damage, traumatic brain injury, pediatric stroke, hemiplegia, and many other conditions.
NeuroMovement offers a systematic method of upgrading brain potential that is useful on the spectrum all the way from severe brain injury or malformation to everyday glitches to improving high performing artists, musicians, and athletes.
~Dr. Martha Herbert, MD, PhD, Neuro-Pediatrician, Author of The Autism Revolution
Click here to learn why Dr. Herbert supports NeuroMovement for stroke, autism, and other conditions.
Strokes in Babies and Children: What are the Challenges and the Possibilities?
Strokes Can Happen in Utero, in Babies, in Children, and in Adults
Did you know that the highest risk for stroke is a few weeks before birth and during the first year of life?*
Some infants who suffer an early stroke have symptoms and some infants are not diagnosed until later when delays in their development show up.
“Pediatric stroke affects 25 in 100,000 newborns and 12 in 100,000 children under 18 years of age.”**
*You can find more information about pediatric stroke from Children’s Hemiplegia and Stroke Association at www.CHASA.org
**Statistic from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia at www.chop.edu/conditions-diseases/pediatric-stroke
What’s Possible for Stroke Recovery in Children?
In our experience, using NeuroMovement and the 9 Essentials, we have seen babies, young children, and teenagers learn to move, think, feel, and act in ways that seemed impossible before. We have seen these children become happier, improve academically, and develop fuller, more independent, and satisfying lives.
We have seen the parents experience relief and greater hope, and become inspired by their child.
Pediatric strokes may sometimes lead to:
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- cerebral palsy
- learning, cognitive, or behavioral challenges
- attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
- seizures
- language delays
- sensory issues
- hemiplegia
Testimonials From Our Parents
For over 30 years, we have seen breakthrough, transformational results for children with brain injuries and stroke when using NeuroMovement and the 9 Essentials.
Dan Oullette
Hannah’s Dad
“My daughter Hannah suffered an in utero stroke and was diagnosed with a right-sided hemiplegia at 8 months of age. In that first week I saw my daughter begin using and recognizing her arm for the first time in her life! Now Hannah is quite active. She does ballet, horseback riding lessons, swimming and she still likes to go for her ABM lessons because she knows how much they help her….we can now see that Hannah is going to live a full and vibrant life thanks to ABM NeuroMovement!”
Joe and Jessica
Addie’s Parents
“Addie was born two-and-a-half months early as a result of her identical twin’s passing in utero and she spent 53 days in the NICU. A stroke occurred…The diagnosis was PVL (periventricular leukomalacia)….We found ABM Practitioner Andrew Tarr to work with Addie….Addie had a total of 8 sessions with him. The only word I have for Andrew’s talents and Addie’s progress is AMAZING….Today, Addie has increased her right-hand reach attempts tenfold, holds her bottle during more than half of her feedings….”
Jennifer and Andy Riggs
Sophia’s Parents
“I found out that Anat Baniel Method existed when Sophia was 5 weeks old and still in the NICU. I was researching on the internet to find out what HIE was…..I looked it up and found out it meant Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy, which essentially means brain injury. After her first block of lessons, it was like Sophia woke up to her surroundings and started making sense of her world…..Her vision went from a 3 on the CVI scale to 7.5 out of 10….I can immediately tell when she has had lessons by the way she is more relaxed and moves with purpose.”
What Can Be Done for Brain Trauma and Strokes in Babies and Children?
View the video of Elizabeth, who was diagnosed with global brain damage and was given a very grim prognosis from medical doctors. It was later determined that Elizabeth was born without a third of her cerebellum. She defied all predictions.
The first thing to know is how important immediate intervention is. The brain is a self-organizing system and with children, it is highly plastic. This means that the brain continuously grows and changes in response to its experience and does so extremely rapidly. Learn more about brain plasticity.
NeuroMovement awakens your child’s brain and provides it with the new information it needs in order to figure out alternative solutions. Your child learns skills that otherwise he or she wouldn’t be able to figure out, due to the brain damage. Our ABM NeuroMovement Practitioners help to create the best conditions for learning through gentle movements and the 9 Essentials.
We have also worked with children who have been born without a portion of their brain. Or they may have had a portion of their brain removed (due to seizures or other complications).
These children have often gone on to live full lives, with very few limitations.
Read more about Elizabeth’s journey and the amazing outcomes she experienced with this work.
Your Brain Is Made for Change
What If My Child is Older?
While it is very advantageous to start the right kind of intervention as soon as medically possible, it’s never too late. The human brain is built to change throughout life.
We have worked with children and teenagers with severe brain damage and extreme limitations who experienced transformational and life-changing results. Their mobility, speech, cognitive, and social capabilities increased dramatically. They discovered more freedom and control in their action, and a fuller sense of self and personal empowerment.
We’ve had similar results with adults. Jill Bolte Taylor, author of My Stroke of Insight book and TED Talk believes that the 9 Essentials describe the conditions that she and her mother created for her to heal from her devastating stroke. Listen to the interview with Jill Bolte Taylor on the NeuroMovement Revolution.
Click here for more information on the power of NeuroMovement in stroke recovery and rehabilitation.
About Anat Baniel
A trained clinical psychologist, dancer, and close professional associate of Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais for over a decade, Anat Baniel is perhaps best known today as the founder of Anat Baniel Method® NeuroMovement®.
She is the author of two highly acclaimed books about this transformational methodology: Move Into Life: NeuroMovement for Lifelong Vitality and Kids Beyond Limits.
Anat Baniel has experienced over 30 years of remarkable outcomes with thousands of children with special needs and adults with strokes, injuries, and other limiting conditions. It is through this experience that she developed her innovative, scientifically based approach with concrete and easy-to-use tools—the Nine Essentials—that enable children and adults to move beyond their limitations, making the seemingly impossible possible.
Anat Baniel’s work is at the forefront of the emerging brain plasticity field, helping wake up the brain to its greater potency for learning and change throughout life. Anat has trained hundreds of practitioners in this Method. She collaborates with leading neuroscientists, doctors, and educators including Dr. Michael Merzenich, Dr. Martha Herbert, Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, Dr. Elizabeth Torres, and others. She and her team work out of the Anat Baniel Method® Center in San Rafael, California.
