Download the article: The Well Balanced Child
Hawthorn Press has released another volume in their Early Years series, this time in partnership with the Alliance for Childhood. And it is another important resource for our work with the young child in today's world.
Sally Goddard Blythe is the director of the Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology in Chester, England. She works with children who experience various types of neurological dysfunction and "learning difficulties." As is often the case, those who work with children not functionally "normal" can offer insight into what activities and practices support healthy functioning and developmental ripening. Sally Goddard Blythe's book is an excellent example.
In recent years, many Waldorf educators have become more interested in movement development, early reflexes and sense development. This book is a significant contribution towards a deep understanding of these subjects, and serves to deepen our work with young children through the enhanced understanding that can be gleaned here. One can become informed as to the relationship between movement and neurological development and read suggestions of activities supportive of healthy movement development. This book is highly accessible, using images that make clear the concepts described. It is so important to understand the role of primitive reflexes, and how they become integrated. More and more children seem to struggle with the integration of the early reflexes, and retain them longer than in the past. This little book offers a window into that realm with gifts of insight, understanding and practical tips.
The "Sense of Balance," "Music and the Brain," and "Reflexes and the Developing Mind" are sections worthy of particular note. One section that I was overjoyed to read describes the relation of nutrition to brain development. Ms. Blythe examines fats and various minerals and how they affect the brain in a way that is clear and direct.
All of life is about adaptation and change, and as long as we are able to adapt to the demands of our environment we can survive. However, sometimes in the process of change, in our hurry to embrace new ideas and new inventions, we ignore the value of traditions and customs that have grown up as a result of generations of accumulated wisdom. In our enthusiasm to follow what is new, we are sometimes too ready to discard the old, only to discover much later that something of infinite value has been lost. The role of movement and music in education has been a central theme in this book. This is not a new concept, but rather a revival of traditions that were central to education for over two thousand years and which have only recently been relegated to the back shelf. (p. 164)
The approach taken in The Well Balanced Child makes clear that the entire life of learning and developing rests on a healthy foundation of movement development in the early years. Reading this book makes clear that relationship and offers guidelines for strengthening that movement capacity in young children.