Short YouTube video (Day 11 in a series) by Siobhan Wilcox about parenting children with autism. Wilcox explains neuroscience behind routine, dopamine and neuroplasticity, shares a personal example (son with apraxia) showing repetitive practice builds neural pathways, and recommends short daily techniques/10-minute breaks to interrupt stress responses and improve parental physiology and decision-making.
Chapters
Hey, everybody. Siobhan Wilcox here. Thank you so much for taking the time to watch this video. This is day 11 of Parenting Autism real and raw. I spoke yesterday about how when we are in a constant routine with our children, because they need routine, it can be very challenging for us as parents. We get into a rush ourselves. I wanted to talk a little bit more about that briefly today, just about the neuroscience behind that. You know, scientists have found that there is a very primitive part of our brain that seeks out adventure and that this part of the brain releases dopamine, which is relaxing and energizing to us. It's like a feel good hormone for the body. And that this is released when we are seeking out adventure and new change. So as well as that, if it wasn't just enough to get that extra dopamine into our body, it's also really good for our body because our brain is changing all the time. But if we just keep doing the same thing over and over again, our brain doesn't create new neurotransmitters. When we try new experiences, we fire different parts of our brain and new pathways are made within our brain, which expands our ability for thought, expands our ability for ideas. So, you know, when my son was diagnosed with apraxia, it's a neurological speech disorder, and so we were told that he had to practice different words for 40 times so that that would create a permanent connection in the brain within the neurotransmitters. So when we try new things, new neurotransmitters are developed. When we try them over and over again, we create these permanent pathways in the brain. But then if we just keep doing the same thing, we don't develop new pathways. Because once my son got a word, we moved to the next word and we created new pathways in the next word and created new pathways in the next word. So where he couldn't form sentences because he couldn't form a word at the beginning or the end of a word, he would just be able to get maybe one or two sounds from the center of a word. When we started working this way with him, suddenly he was able to create longer words, form sentences, and people were able to understand his speech. But if we take that idea of how our brain functions and how we can reprogram our own brains, you know, we. It's been shown as well by other scientists, scientists, through neuroplastic plasticity. My mouth is getting all over itself today through neuroplasticity, that our thoughts really create our brain and we can change our brain Using positive affirmations, positive thought patterns and keeping freshness in our lives. This is what really anchors in a brain, so that it is a positive brain. I was writing in my book yesterday about some fantastic techniques that I will share with you in another video that you can use to help get your electrical system and nervous system in your body working so, so that everything lines up for you. But maybe we'll talk about that one tomorrow because I gotta go. I'm actually on an Internet TV show this afternoon talking about parenting, autism, self care skills and what it takes to really anchor that energy into your life. You know, it's not about, I've said this before, but I want to reiterate it. It's not about, you know, taking hours out in a day to spend it in a place of relaxation that usually isn't really viable for most parents, you know, particularly when they're parenting a special needs child. What I found to be much more productive is when we take short breaks, 10 minute stops in the day to interrupt the stress response in the body, that seesaw effect that comes into our body, and when we create a lot of different small techniques, which is what my book is about. There's a lot of techniques in there that you can do in 5, 10 minutes in your day, and if you bring those in throughout your day, then that is what creates a different nervous system response to stress. It starts to change the neurology and your whole physiology starts to change. And once your physiology starts to become much more stabilized, then you're much more rational, you're much more able to adapt to stress around you. You are much more calmer, patient. You make so much better choices in your life, whether it's with your diet, nutrition, with your emotional responses, with your friendships, with, you know, your organizational skills. All of these are secondary when you're in a stress response. But when you start to stabilize yourself, all of those that have become a secondary piece start to come to the front because you have no space and time within your mind, you have breath within your body and you have energy to actually get more organized, you know, to get more focus to move yourself forward in life. So as we move on through this blog, I'm going to be giving you a lot more different techniques, a lot of those little thought stoppers in your day to help you. So thank you very much for taking the time again. My name is Siobhan Wilcox. You can find more information about the work I'm doing@autism expertsalliance.com I look forward to speaking with you soon.
