What Blocks A Child's Developmental Process? In my last intel about the developmental process, readers had a lot of comments and questions about what is causing so many children to have developmental problems.
My wife and I have a private practice and we work with these children. We only have theories, but they hold up in clinical applications. If we work with a child whose developmental process has been blocked, and the family follows our suggested strategies, the child's developmental process re-engages and starts moving forward again.
Our theoretical frame is that something has blocked the natural developmental process. We need to discover what has blocked it and work with the family to remove it from the child's environment. After the process re-engages, the natural developmental process can take over, but the child does not mature overnight. The child needs to go through the normal developmental stages to catch up with his/her peers. This can take many months (and in the case of autism, many years) to achieve.
From our experience, there is no one thing that blocks the developmental process. It is many things and is usually between one and two dozen things.
We all know about allergies and allergic reactions. Allergies are one aspect of an area in our immune system which is called Hypersensitivity. Within hypersensitivity there are many sub-classifications. But, our discussion will not be technical nor detailed. For the purpose of this discussion, hypersensitivity involves reactions to environmental factors.
Allergic reactions are usually an inflammation of the skin or other tissues of the body. But other hypersensitivity reactions can affect emotions, behaviors, thinking, and other functions and processes of the body. Our theory is that a child's developmental process can be blocked by an immune reaction to environmental factors to which the child is hypersensitive. This can be anything in the child's environment which the child touches, ingests, or breathes.
What do we do in our clinical setting?
When we work with a child with developmental problems, we start with a test of the child's reactions to all the factors in the child's environment. We usually find the child reacts to one or two dozen environmental factors. We coach the family in approaches and techniques of removing those factors from the child's environment. When the family does this, the child's developmental process re-engages.
Each child has a unique menu of things to which the child reacts. So, there is no list to present to you. Up to now, we have found no way to achieve our results without individual testing.
An Example
For the purposes of discussion, let me describe a common environmental factor to which many of the children we see are hypersensitive. This is only one factor, but it can give you an idea of the impact these environmental factors can have on the developmental process. We often find that children are reacting to the chemicals in the laundry detergent and the dryer sheets used by the family. This means that the residue of these chemicals are touching the child's skin 24/7. The child is constantly in contact (by touching and breathing) with these chemicals to which that child's immune system reacts.
Okay, now let's talk about the nature of this reaction the child has to those things to which the child is hypersensitive. Whether you believe in evolution or a biblical story for our development, we were made from the natural components of this earth. So, when our immune system was developed, we were synchronized and in tune with our environment.
At that time, there were only a few things to which our immune system would be hypersensitive. If we came in contact with something to which we were hypersensitive, the immune system would find a way to alert us and would then shut down some non-essential (for immediate survival) functions so all of our energy would be available to walk away from that contaminant. When we were no longer in contact (touch, ingest, or breathe) with those things to which we were hypersensitive, the immune system would restore our natural functions and the episode would be over.
In our modern world we are still relying on our immune system to protect us, but our contaminated environment now puts us in contact with 80,000+ non-natural chemical substances. So, those children who are particularly sensitive will have lots of opportunities to have hypersensitivity reactions to environmental factors.
In the case of the laundry chemical residue in the child's clothes and sheets and towels, the hypersensitive child has no opportunity to walk away from those chemicals to which he or she is reacting. Now, multiply that reaction by one or two dozen times for all of the things to which the child reacts. This gives you and idea about how our sensitive children are being affected by our environment and their hypersensitivity.
From our experience, one of the non-essential functions which gets shut down by this immune hypersensitivity reaction is the developmental process. When families eliminate all contact with their child's 'offending' environmental factors, the child's developmental process re-engages.
Why hasn't the scientific community discovered this?
From my perspective, it is because they are all looking in the wrong direction. They want to find the one environmental factor which is causing these problems. For instance, in the last few years there has been a lot of conversation from parents about mercury in vaccinations causing autism. The scientific community cannot find the link (between mercury and autism) because they are studying the mercury and not the hypersensitivity immune response.
Eliminating these offending factors from the child's environment is not the only step that needs to be taken. This is only one of the phases of our work. In another intel, I describe the three phases of our work.
Although I describe it simply, the task of eliminating the offending factors from the child's contact is often very difficult. This is especially true when the child's favorite food, and in some cases the only food the child will eat, are ones to which the child is hypersensitive.
