The way we perceive our place in the world is through our interactions between our physical body, brain, and the environment around us. These interactions take place through the sensory systems and via the action of sensory processing in which the nervous system receives messages from the senses and turns them into appropriate responses. One sensory system that influences learning is the vestibular system and the vestibular ocular reflex system. The vestibular ocular reflex system or balance system is in the inner ear and is the first sensory system to mature in humans. The key responsibilities of the vestibular ocular reflex system: for balance, as it is the primary organ of equilibrium and plays a major role in the personal sensations of motion and spatial orientation; for posture as the vestibular inputs directly into the nervous system to make subconscious adjustments of tissue activity and body posture; and for all eye movements as the vestibular input to the nervous system directly helps stabilize the eyes during head movements. Take for example the activities of reading, which will depend on the development of stable eye movements or writing, which involves the finite coordination between the hand and the eyes and the repeated adjustment of head position if copying is the task. The vestibular ocular reflex system is neurologically connected to emotional regulation within the prefrontal areas of the right hemisphere being responsible for: the expression of emotions, paying attention, effectively modulating motor function, determining appropriate sensory input, filtering during stressful vestibular challenges, and assessing of dizziness and disorientation. Therefore, the vestibular system, balance, and emotional regulation are neurologically connected. The vestibular system ocular reflex is important for all students in the classroom and is directly related to proper visual, auditory, and proprioceptive accuracy. Therefore, it can greatly affect all students’ ability to read, write, do mathematics, develop emotional resonance and physical capabilities. An impaired or underperforming vestibular systems ocular reflex can result in abnormal nystagmus, an excessive to-and-fro movement of the eyes. This is where the object of focus does not remain fixed when the gaze is brought upon it but instead, it appears to be moving as the object is not fixed on the same point on the retina, which can result in a similar response as a flickering light, a moving object or a collection of lines on a page of text, This can become a problem for numerous activities, including reading and writing, and for anyone suffering from an impaired or underperforming vestibular system ocular reflex can be a reason why reading text on a printed page can present a particularly stressful challenge, as the changing positions of the words and letters require much more effort to process. However, this picture is not complete, along with the vestibular system ocular reflexes are the reticular activating system. As spoken about above the vestibular system which is stimulated via physical movement also maintains our arousal state through its connection to the reticular activating system, (Edlow et al., 2012). This system keeps us alert and responsive to sensory stimuli (Reilly et al., 2012). The reticular activating system is found in the cerebellum of the brain stem, acts as a screening devise for incoming information from birth to death (Mesulam, 2010). This wake-up call helps determine what is important to pay attention to, and it has been suggested this can be achieved via the increase of oxygen, blood flow and glucose (Edlow et al., 2012), which awakens the brain cells making the student feel more alert and in turn able to focus, engage and have improved attention afterwards (Robins, 1997). However, sitting for long periods, with a lack of physical movement taking place in the classroom there is becoming an epidemic of students who are showing signs of a reduced capacity of the RAS (Siege, 2004; Jenson, 1998; Jenson, 2008). If the reticular activating system becomes under-stimulated the tendency is for the individual to become sleepy, fatigued with little cognitive energy. These signs are seen in an increase in boredom and misbehaviour seen amongst students (Fischer, 2009) resulting from the increased state of stress in the amygdala (Mesulam, 2010). As a result of stress, by an impaired or underperforming vestibular ocular reflex system and under-stimulated reticular activating system, a student may shy away from situations where words and numbers are being asked to be processed and have difficulty in how their brain perceives the ‘bigger picture’ or structure of meaning behind these things Other learning Issues are seen with an impaired or underperforming vestibular system ocular reflex and an under-stimulated reticular activating system, • Dyslexia, which is difficulty reading and associated problems with writing, spelling and oration.
• Dyscalculia, which is difficulty with maths and associated problems such as solving maths problems, understanding time, and using money.
• Dysgraphia, which is difficulty with writing and problems with handwriting, spelling, and organizing ideas.
• Dyspraxia is a sensory integration disorder resulting in difficulty with fine motor skills, problems with hand-eye coordination, balance, and manual dexterity.
• Dysphasia / Aphasia, which is difficulty with language and problems associated with understanding spoken language, poor reading skills and comprehension skills.
• Auditory Processing Disorder, which is difficulty hearing the differences between sounds and is associated with problems such as reading, comprehension and language.
• Visual Processing Disorder, which is difficulty interpreting visual information and is associated with problems such as reading, maths, maps, charts, symbols, and pictures. So, what can teachers start doing as solutions to an impaired or underperforming vestibular system ocular reflex and under-stimulated reticular activating system
The answer may just be as simple as MOVING The following are just a few movements that all children hopefully perform to activate the vestibular system ocular reflex and reticular activating system, in and out of the classroom Find 5 minutes in your lesson every 15 minutes to do the following examples • Jumping. • Twisting the body • Catching an object • Hoping (hopscotch) • Skipping. • Walking and running backwards, sideways, forward and in circles. • Bouncing • Balancing exercise • Juggling
For a longer 15-minute break and at recess (break time) encourage students to participate in one of the following examples
• Play games like tag, hopscotch and Stick in the mud
• Sports that require whole-body movements like football, rugby, and hockey.
• Playing an instrument such as the piano, drums, or guitar.
• Spinning (object and yourself) and balancing in bigger spaces and with equipment
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