From Talking to Non-Verbal to Talking Again
A mom brought her 3 year old in because she had become non-verbal at 2 years old and displayed defiant-like behaviors. These outbursts worsened and her ability to connect with family members suffered.
Even though she had been going to speech therapy for a little over 6 months, mom noticed little progress. Mom began to worry about her daughter’s ability to make social connections, verbally, emotionally and physically and her emotional outburst was causing stress to the entire family. She did not like to be touched and was extremely nervous.
The Science of the Autonomic Nervous System
Under stressful circumstances a child can undergo something call “dysmaturation” of an immature autonomic nervous system (ANS). Because the ANS acts as the foundation and support system to higher-level cortical functions, this dysmaturation and dysregulation of the higher cortical functions can affect mood, memories and emotional states of regulation as well as force the body, like the speech producing systems.
There is a very important neurological structure that exits from right underneath the skull from the brainstem and it is called the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve has multiple “sections” and each has its own special job. One of them, the dorsal vagal system, acts as a protective mechanism when the body is under stressful situations. This can look like different things, one of which is “shutting down” and going into survival mode, like withdrawing and not communicating, just like for this little girl.
Additionally, we have 2 different sides of the ANS, the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system. When working properly, these two sides of the autonomic nervous system work hand-in-hand to regulate growth, healing and development with stress responses. When the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system are dysregulated however, and the body is in a constant state of protection because the dorsal vagal system is hyperactive, the body becomes less adaptable, less resilient and functions like speech get put on the back burner and become impaired.
What can causes this dysmaturation, dysregulation and impairement? Something called subluxation. We talk about what subluxation is in this blog post.
Because of Chiropractic Care
This toddler’s parents noticed improvements in:
Getting to Sleep
Quality of Sleep
Amount of sleep
Ability to concentrate on a task/goal
Vocabulary and Expression
Understanding concepts
Attention and Focus
Mood (Self Esteem)
Anxiety
Family relationships
Emotional Outbursts
Ability to self-regulate emotions
Is your child struggling with this or something else? Sprout Family Chiropractic located in Kearny Mesa, San Diego is here to help.
Send us a message through our Contact Us page or give us a call at (619) 786-4886 for a free 5 minute phone consultation.
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Source: Resolution of Defiant Behavior and Improved Speech in a Non-Verbal Toddler Following Reduction of Vertebral Subluxation: A Case Study. Sarah Hock, DC, CACCP & Calle Miller, DC. Journal of Pediatric, Maternal & Family Health, Chiropractic ~ Volume, 2022.