Projekta Apraksts

 February 28, 2019

CANDEO MOVEMENT

OFFERING NEUROMOVEMENT® LESSONS FOR CHILDREN AND ADULTS

To The Board Members of LELBA:

Introduction

My name is Nadia Vizitei. I am an Anat Baniel Method®/NeuroMovement® practitioner, based in Columbia, MO. (www.candeomovement.com) I am the sole proprietor of Candeo Movement LLC, which operates my practice in Columbia, MO. I also work in St. Louis, MO where myself and several other NM practitioners (contracted through Candeo Movement) offer NeuroMovement® sessions. Rev. Dr Dace Skudina acts as the coordinator for my practice's operations in the St. Louis area, and has done so for the last 10 months. (for more information about NeuroMovement, see Index A).

Proposal

My short term goal is to travel to Latvia with two other certified ABM/NM practitioners in the summer of 2019, and to work pro-bono with Latvian children with disabilities (for the information on those practitioners see Index B) My primary objectives for this trip are (1) to make a positive impact in the lives of individual children through NM lessons; (2) to use the progress of those children to demonstrate the benefits of NM as an intervention, thus encouraging funding to allow myself and other NM practitioners to return for future trips, and (3) to educate caregivers and therapists in how they can apply the principles of NM in their daily interactions with children in order to promote positive brain change.

My long term goal is a partnership with LELBA to continue to bring NM to Latvia on at least an annual basis. Ideally I would like to form a long-term relationship with an entity in Latvia (be it an orphanage, a hospital, a specific therapy program, etc.) to create lasting, positive change in how children with disabilities are cared for and supported in their development. This entity could then become a model for other organizations looking to improve the outcomes of disabled children in their care.

Project Planning to Date

In February of 2019, Dace Skudina began reaching out to contacts in Latvia associated with projects related to children with disabilities, asking if their programs would be open to their children participating in a NeuroMovement Intensive. We were looking specifically for a program that (1) could provide between 8-12 children meeting specific criteria to participate in an intensive session of 9 lessons (for a list of those criteria see Index C), (2) could provide a space for the practitioners to work from, and (3) were willing and able to collaborate with a variety of other programs, agencies, and specialists who are interested in learning more about NM. The two programs to which we narrowed the selection down were ZvanniekiAlternatativeFamily Homeand Riga(Government Run Orphanage). After gathering information on the children affiliated with each location, we determined that Riga had more children who met the selection criteria and thus would be the ones to host the intensive. As it currently stands, our plan is to spend 5 days working at Riga. Over those days, at least 12 children will participate in an intensive of 9 NM lessons each. 8 of those children will be current inhabitants of the orphanage, while 4 will be children who used to live in the orphanage but now live in foster homes. These children have diagnosis such as cerebral palsy, epilepsy, genetic syndromes, and autism. After the 5 days of lessons, we will give a presentation in Riga open to caregivers, therapists, and medical professionals interested in learning more about NeuroMovement®.

After completing our work in Riga, we will then go and spend two days at Zvannieki. During our time there, we will give between 1-4 lessons each to 10 children and adults with diagnoses such as autism, intellectual disability, ADHD, and sensory integration challenges. We will also offer a seminar to foster parents and caregivers about how they can use some of the principles of NM to support the learning of children in their care.

Request

In order to complete this project as planned, we are requesting funding for the travel expenses of our practitioners and coordinator, the use of an apartment in Riga for lodging, funding for daily travel expenses to and from the orphanage in Riga, and funding for the expenses related to the presentation in Riga (rental of a presentation room and project, a translator, etc.) Rev. Dr Dace Skudina is our coordinator for this project, and will be responsible for overseeing and maintaining the transparency of our use of granted funds.

Contact Information

If you have any questions about this proposal, please contact

Nadia Vizitei

(573)289-2772

nadia@candeomovement.com

or

Rev. Dr Dace Skudina

(314) 239-5860

skudina@gmail.com

Index A

What is the Anat Baniel Method®/NeuroMovement®

In NeuroMovement®, practitioners use movement to provide a child's nervous system with the information and experience that is missing either due to disruption in early developmental process, or to assaults such as brain injury or stroke. Where there has been insufficient neural mapping (e.g. in the extensor muscles of the lower back, or the hip sockets and how they relate to the shoulders), the practitioner helps the student map those pieces and relationships in his brain. Where there is a lack of differentiation (e.g. a child with CP always moving her two legs together as if they were one, or a child with ASD who uses his ribcage as one unit with no relative movement between the ribs), the practitioner helps the student learn to move in a more nuanced and refined manner. By supplementing and expanding on a child's development, a practitioner helps that child move along her own developmental path that is unique to her specific structure, experiences, and intentions.

What Happens In A Lesson

During a NeuroMovement® lesson, the practitioner gently leads the child through specific movements which are determined based on the child's individual developmental needs. The process is neither fully active nor passive, but rather a combination of both. While the practitioner may be physically moving the child's body, they are always looking to do so in such a way that the child is a part of the movement. The child may participate by either doing certain movements on her own, or by attending to the feelings and sensations in her own body as the practitioner provides the movement. The child's attention and focus to his own experience of movement during the lesson is vital to his brain noticing differences and making new connections.

Lesson Intensives

Lessons are usually booked in clusters of 6-9 lessons called "intensives," with the child receiving 2-3 lessons a day for several consecutive days. The density of lessons in an intensive allows each lesson to build on the previous one, creating a continuous learning experience that encourages the development and integration of new skills. After an intensive, a child usually has enough new connections to foster continued change and learning for a period of time afterwards through the normal developmental processes (i.e. "play").

Index B

Nadia Vizitei has been working with children with disabilities in a variety of capacities for over 10 years. She has also been a long-term nanny (9 years and counting!) for a child with multiple disabilities, an experience that informs her work with children and their families. Nadia originally planned on becoming an occupational therapist, but when she watched the child she nannied make significant progress after starting NeuroMovement®, she decided to join the practitioner training instead. Nadia now has her own practice in Columbia, MO and travels to St. Louis, MO on a monthly basis to work with students in the area. Nadia has a special interest in working with children with communication challenges (including non-verbal), and children on the autism spectrum. ABM Certified NeuroMovement Practitioner - 2015 · ABM NeuroMovement for Children Practitioner - 2016 · ABM NeuroMovement Vitality and AntiAging Practitioner - 2017 · ABM NeuroMovement High Performers- 2018

Kara Kendellen learned about NeuroMovement® in 2008 while researching interventions for her 2-year-old son with cerebral palsy and hydrocephalus. After seeing her son's progress in just a few sessions, Kara chose to use NeuroMovement in her own recovery after having back surgery that required spinal fusion and the placement of a rod. Impressed by both her personal recovery and her son's incredible progress, Kara joined the practitioner training program in 2013 and currently has a practice in Northern Virginia, and travels to St. Louis, MO on a monthly basis to work with students in the area. She has a special interest in working with disorders of the brain/spinal cord, including hydrocephalus, spina bifida, and scoliosis.· ABM Certified NeuroMovement Practitioner - 2015 · ABM NeuroMovement for Children Practitioner - 2016 · ABM NeuroMovement Vitality and AntiAging Practitioner - 2017 ·ABM NeuroMovement High Performers - 2018

Tessa Thompson discovered NeuroMovement® in 2011 while searching for a more effective intervention for her two children with special needs. Inspired by the changes she saw in her own children, Tessa joined the practitioner program in order to bring the work to a wider community. Since then, Tessa has had another child, become a certified practitioner, opened her own practice, and continued to see amazing growth in her own children. Tessa is based in Bloomington, Indiana but frequently travels to St. Louis, MO on a monthly basis to work with students in the area. Tessa has worked extensively with children with cerebral palsy and adult stroke survivors. ·ABM Certified NeuroMovement Practitioner - 2015 · ABM NeuroMovement for Children Practitioner - 2016

Certification Details:

• The Anat Baniel Method® NeuroMovement® Professional Training Program (440 hours)
• The Anat Baniel Method® NeuroMovement® Continuing Education Seminars: Working with Children with Special Needs (176 hours)
• The Anat Baniel Method® NeuroMovement® Continuing Education Seminars: Vitality and Anti-Aging Levels (91 hours)
• The Anat Baniel Method® NeuroMovement® Continuing Education Seminar: High Performers (41 hours)
• Nadia, Kara, and Tessa participate on an ongoing basis in several continuing eduction opportunities, including practitioner supervision groups with Senior ABM/NM practitioner Sylvia Shordike and working as support staff in ABM/NM practitioner trainings.

Index C

Criteria for Selecting Participants

Based on the profiles provided on the children, I will select participants based on the following criteria:

• if I believe the child will be able to safely participate in NM lessons,
• if I believe the child is likely to experience sustained benefit from one series of 8-10 lessons,
• if I believe the child is likely to make progress in a way that is easily observed and recorded, in order to show the benefits of NM