Episode 17: The Body-Brain Connection for Learning and Behavior – Dr. Mona Delahooke

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In this Episode

Dr. Mona Delahooke shares that a child acting out and being difficult isn’t intentional or planned. It’s actually the body’s nervous system reacting to stress, protecting itself, and looking for an outlet - usually movement - to feel calm again.

 

You'll learn about the importance of the body-brain connection in behavior and how it affects learning:

• The biology beneath the behavior
• How to spot the signs that your child’s behavior is really due to stress
• Why play is critical to your child's learning

 

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Episode Highlight

“The paradigm shift is that behaviors are the tip of the iceberg, and what lies underneath, the invisible part under the waterline, are those millions of causes that we need to look at, ideally before we start messing around with behaviors, because behaviors can be protective and they often are protective to our children.”

- Dr. Mona Delahooke

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Resources

• Brain Body Parenting - by Dr. Mona Delahooke
• Monadelahooke.com
• Let’s Get Moving - Blog article
• The Lost Art of Questioning - Blog article
• The Gift of Movement and Unstructured Play - Blog article

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Bonus Q&A

Any help for when children are really distracted and need additional help with their learning?

The short answer is to get curious and creative. Find what piques the child’s interest so you can make the material more appealing and exciting, like introducing play. 

Tune in to the Bonus Q&A for a more detailed explanation.

 

 

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