The Compass Program

Finding Hope and Direction in the Struggle

The Compass Program is holistic in nature and sets aside academic content to develop the underlying neuropathways required to learn effectively. It is a progressive system of Reflex Integration and individualized cognitive exercises designed to strengthen and build upon weak or underdeveloped neuro-connections. During this program, we focus on integrating primitive and postural reflexes, the building blocks responsible for completing each stage of development. Reflexes are automatic movements that happen without conscious thought, connecting cognitive regions, develops our sensory systems, and act as steppingstones to the prefrontal cortex. When reflexes fail to integrate or develop, disorganization occurs, cognitive functions and motor movements are impaired, and learning becomes difficult.

Unintegrated reflexes cause frequent problems for children and adults.

In a classroom setting, some signs look like taking a long time to copy from the board, putting thoughts on paper, has trouble focusing, gets easily distracted, or can’t remember what was previously learned. Other signs are low energy, struggles with change, behavior management, and regulation of emotions just to name a few.

Outside the classroom, it could look like all of the above, plus motor planning issues (clumsy), frequent mistakes in daily activities, difficulty with attention to details, disorganized, trouble with planning and time management, multi-step directions are difficult, and much more.

Unintegrated reflexes can look like behavioral issues, which is caused by immature neurological wiring.

When reflexes are not fully operational or integrated, cognitive overload occurs. Cognitive overload is when the brain works harder to process incoming information which places a high demand on the nervous system causing stress. This results in mental and physical fatigue, a loss of concentration, and the ability to focus while responding appropriately to the present moment. This can increase frustrations, causing serious struggles in school, home life, and social interactions. These problems do not go away when a child grows up into adulthood and can continue causing frustrations in the work environment and the ability to achieve life goals.

Reflex integration gets to the root of the problem by addressing neuro-connections that are weak or currently missing. Movement is the instrument designed to integrate and complete the developmental stages for all future learning.

The Compass Program is generally 12-18 months in length. It consists of an assessment, a customized reflex exercise program with top down individualized, cognitive exercises to be completed five days a week at home, and a recheck every two months to adjust the exercises accordingly.

We provide two tools to help calm the nervous system, regulate energy levels, and maintain rapport with others, and offer parental support on the journey. Lastly, we use top-down pieces to support individual specific needs such as help with handwriting, processing speed, building working memory, etc.

Areas that are impacted by non-integrated or developed reflexes are:

reading (dyslexia)
speech (verbalizing and communication)
auditory and visual processing
cognition (thinking, remembering, judging & problem-solving)
focus and concentration
movement (motor planning)
proprioception (where I am in space)
vestibular activity (balance & eye movements)
behavior and emotional regulation

writing (dysgraphia)
math (dyscalculia)
timing
processing speed
sequencing
spatial reasoning
working memory
cognitive flexibility

Testimonials

Parent

Julie F.

When we started this program with Mary, our daughter was struggling with behavioral and academic issues which included: daily meltdowns, aggression toward peers, reading and math deficiencies, gross and fine motor skill deficiencies, and the list went on. The difference this program has made in her life is amazing. We’ve seen her gross and fine motor skills develop, and she is now able to form her letters correctly with proper sizing and ride balancing toys with ease. Her aggressive behavior has dramatically decreased, her reading and math skills have taken off, and she can now run and keep up with her peers. And, because daily tasks have become so much easier for her, we no longer see the daily meltdowns. Not only has she developed cognitively, but we’ve also seen an increase in her self-confidence. I’m so grateful to Mrs. Mary for investing her time in this program.

Parent

Joe and Stephanie Hopson

Our daughter, Charlotte age 7, has been doing reflex Integration with Ms. Mary for about 4 months now. We were blessed to be able to adopt Charlotte from the foster care system at age 4. She is a sweet, loving, and energetic little girl. While she has many wonderful characteristics, we began to notice her having difficulty with simple things like wearing tennis shoes, fidgeting all the time, and not being able to remember simple math facts and phonics. Charlotte was diagnosed with ADHD and although she was prescribed medication for this, it was not without side effects.

After hearing about and researching reflex integration, we were thrilled to find that Building Bridges for the Mind is right here in our own community and there was no need to travel 3 hours away, multiple times a week, to access this amazing program.

We are so pleased with how this program is working. In only 4 months, we are seeing Charlotte’s reading skills increase to the point that before she struggled with just reading the directions on her schoolwork and now, she is enjoying chapter books! We have seen her go from never being able to wear tennis shoes due to her sensory issues to happily bouncing down the stairs in a pair of shoes with socks, without us telling her she couldn’t wear sandals! We are seeing behavior and attitude improvements that we did not even expect!

What a blessing Ms. Mary has been to our family. We are looking forward to continuing to see Charlotte grow and experience situations like she has never been able to before.