What is MindStretch?
MindStretch provides a multidisciplinary approach to a wide variety of learning challenges.
This holistic approach looks both within the individual and at the environment that might be contributing to learning challenges. Many learning difficulties are associated with ADD, ADHD, dyslexia, Down syndrome, slow processing of information and an inability to complete tasks within a reasonable time-frame.

MindStretch looks beyond the labels and strives to identify causes of a child’s learning or behavioural difficulties. Having identified the underlying causes, we are then able to provide a carefully designed movement programme aimed at strengthening and building neurological pathways in the brain. These pathways are vital in helping to support learning and efficient functioning, and can result in a lowering of stress and other difficulties that the child is facing.

MindStretch incorporates the HANDLE^® approach which was pioneered in the USA by Judith Bluestone. HANDLE^® was one of the first approaches to recognise the neurodevelopment basis of learning disorders and to codify and identify approaches to these challenges.

HANDLE^®’s efficacy has been validated through independent research by Dr David Lewis of Harborview Medical Centre and the university of Washington Medical Department of Nuclear Medicine.

The Journal of Neuroimaging Study, 2006 Validates HANDLE^®
The July 2006 issue of the Journal of Neuroimaging published the exciting results of a study affirming HANDLE^® therapy’s effectiveness in the treatment of patients with chronic traumatic brain injuries (TBI).

The study, conducted at Harborview Medical Centre, suggested that HANDLE^®’s non-drug, non-invasive programmes improved brain activation from hindbrain to forebrain. SPECT imagery confirmed the changes both at rest and activation (with the subjects performing a HANDLE^® activity called the crossed-arm bounce).

The five HANDLE^® clients, between four and twenty-three years post-injury, all reported improved vision, and four of the five reported improved hearing, attention, problem-solving skills, and self-awareness, as well as enhanced energy. Three of the five said their pain decreased.

This is impressive scientific support for HANDLE^®’s precept that physiological changes arise from its Gentle Enhancement^® therapy which strengthens weakened systems.

About HANDLE^®
HANDLE^® (Holistic Approach to Neurodevelopmental Learning Efficiency) is an effective non-drug treatment for people of all ages and for a wide range of challenges including:

• sensory integration dysfunctions
• autism and autism spectrum disorders
• ADD/ADHD
• trouble with motor skills and coordination
• conduct disorders
• acquired brain injury
• Down syndrome
• dyslexia
• reading and writing difficulties
• tics and Tourette’s syndrome

HANDLE^®’s founder, Judith Bluestone, is the Educational and Clinical Director of the HANDLE^® Institute International, LLC, based in Seattle, Washington, USA. Her work was honoured in 2004 when she won the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Award for Public Service for creating and sharing HANDLE^®. Judith has over 40 years of experience developing training programmes for educators and neurorehabilitation therapists who work with children and adults with cognitive, motor and behavioural difficulties.

HANDLE^® incorporates research and techniques from medicine, rehabilitation, psychology, education, and nutrition. It is founded on an interactive developmental model of human functioning. Independent research at the University of Washington has validated Judith Bluestone’s pioneering HANDLE^® paradigm, demonstrating changes in brain structure that correlate with functional improvements in adults with traumatic brain injury.

See www.handle.org for more information.