“Anat discovered two great truths:

The principles that underlie the limitations of the child with special needs which are the same ones that can lead to real progress for that child—are the principles of brain plasticity.

Those principles are beautifully outlined here in practical human terms as Anat Baniel’s “Nine Essentials®”. Second: (and this is an even greater truth)—most ‘hopeless child’ cases aren’t. … The child who struggles so hard just to respond, to initiate action, to understand, to move competently and to have command in his or her world, can especially make great use of their brain’s plasticity on their path to growing and evolving their capabilities in ways that contribute to a better life for them.

If you can really connect with such a child—as the author so beautifully describes—then with appropriate guidance almost every kid with special needs is capable of substantial, continuous and sometimes almost unbelievable personal growth. Don’t underestimate the complexity or difficulty that may be involved in getting a child with such struggles on a positive growth path. Building a more effective and more powerful brain requires us to start where the child is, and where that brain is right now. This can require a highly personalized approach and almost certainly a great deal of very hard work for all concerned. Remember that a little positive neurological change achieved each day can represent great progress over the course of a year, and even more so across the span of a young life."

"Following in the footsteps of the revolutionary scientist-clinician Moshe Feldenkrais, the greatest thinker about how to improve movement in the twentieth century, [Anat] Baniel shows why our mainstream approach to children with special needs is often wrong, and at times damaging, because they train the children to 'ape' developmental milestones they are not developmentally ready to meet.

The approach here, far wiser, far more subtle, truly holistic, far more ingenious, far more in accord with how brain development occurs, shows ways to access the child's OWN brain plasticity, and yields far greater results, so that the children can spontaneous grow from within.

I know because I have observed Baniel's little patients on multiple visits, and time after time, I have seen children whose parents were told their brain-damaged children would never walk, or talk, or be able to think well or regulate themselves, begin to do just that with this gentle technique.

I have seen the peace on the faces of these children as their minds and plastic brains suddenly begin to integrate what they have learned for the first time, the explosion of joy at their first steps and watched them grow and become more independent."