Hey ,

Two weeks has FLOWN by!! Just a reminder that we've got our nerdy neuroscience book club tomorrow. Before we turn the page, let’s quickly recap the journey...

What We’ve Explored So Far

• Chapter 1 introduced us to the foundational principles of brain organization and highlighted just how interconnected movement and sensation truly are.
• Chapter 2 took us into the deep core of basic movement circuits—the midbrain, brainstem, and spinal cord microcircuits. We saw how even the simplest, oldest circuits “set the beat” for coordinated action and how they’re wired to respond to sensory input and rhythm.
• Chapter 3 (our last session) zoomed in on vision. We unpacked how your brain builds a map of the world, decides what’s important, and orchestrates rapid shifts in attention, gaze, and body position using the tectum/superior colliculus—crucial for understanding everything from engagement to “fight or flight” responses in children and adults.

What's coming up in Chapter 4?

The Roles of the Basal Ganglia: For Initiation of Movement and Motor Learning,”

This is where things get powerfully practical for therapy.

Here’s why it matters:

• Movement Initiation and Learning: The basal ganglia aren’t just “background players”—they’re central to deciding which actions get started, sustained, or stopped. Understanding these circuits reframes how therapists can support clients who struggle to get moving, switch tasks, or form new movement patterns.

• Insights from Decades of Neuroscience: The chapter offers accessible (and occasionally mind-blowing!) summaries of classic experiments (like cats and rats performing without a neocortex!), helping us grasp why learned and habitual movements persist even after brain injuries—and why breaking a habit or building a new skill feels so different neurologically from executing an old one.

• Clinical Gold for Therapy: Dysfunctions here explain everything from Parkinson’s “freezing” and tiny handwriting to hyperkinetic disorders like Huntington’s, and even touch on ADHD, Tourette’s, and OCD. The chapter demystifies why some children and adults have trouble initiating, sequencing, or stopping movements—and arms us with deeper understanding for empathy and intervention.

• Linking Neuroscience to Habit, Motivation, and Plasticity: You'll see the neural basis for “chunking” movements, habit formation, and the interplay between motivation, dopamine, and action. There are gems for anyone working on skill acquisition, reward-based strategies, or habit change in therapy.

Bottom line: Chapter 4 bridges the gap between deep-brain microcircuits and the complex, lived experience of movement challenges. If you want to better understand why our kiddos get stuck, move impulsively, or struggle to learn new patterns, and how to work with the brain’s natural design, this chapter is a must-read.

And if you want to integrate it, own it and remember it - discussing it with a bunch of neuroscience nerdy therapists is where it's at!

Sign up HERE to get the FREE PDF download link sent to your inbox

>> https://bookme.name/wiredOnDevelopment

Come join us to nerd out (and draw practical inspiration for your next session)?

Looking forward to diving deep together,

Mindy

P.S. No need for perfect recall or “getting it all.” Bring your curiosity, your questions, and your stories—even if Chapter 4 is your first foray into the Neuro nerds Book Club. You belong here!