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⦿ NeuroHorizonsEurope is the only small-group, entirely in-person, and fully individualized experiential learning program of its kind in greater Europe.
⦿ Master Practitioner and Teacher Sylvia Leiner Shordike has distilled her 30+ years of professional experience serving children into a unique synthesis of cognitive, experiential, hands-on, and practicum instruction.
⦿ The curriculum empowers parents and caregivers with new awareness, skills, and attitudes that bring more vitality into their own lives, while also optimizing the developmental trajectory of the Child With Special Needs.
You learn to empower yourself to empower the child.
Sooner than you might imagine.
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⦿ Over ten 5-day training segments we explore the questions and challenges commonly faced by parents and caregivers supporting the Special Needs Child.
⦿ You experience the transformative power of neural plasticity for yourself, using the framework of intentional movement. By evolving this self-awareness, and personal “differentiation” and “organization” for yourself, you are then able to model them for your loved ones.
⦿ It is through your personal exploration of Experiential Movement® that you develop the new awareness, skills, and habits that empower you to embody a fluid, spacious, and skillful relational presence — keys to empowering the child or children you care for.
⦿ You are taught in-person (there is NO Zoom-type teaching) by Master Teacher Sylvia Leiner Shordike, author of The NeuroHorizons Primer. This assures a highly individualized and potent learning experience tailored to your needs. You bring more clarity, ease, grace, and pleasure into your life and family.
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“A huge awakening, and life changing for me and my Special Needs son. Far more integration, ease and freedom. As I experience my own skeleton and nervous system in new ways, how I work with my son also shifts; small, subtle, movements are really effective.
I came to this training for my son, but now I realize how much I need this for myself too, so I can grow old and still move :)”
Jean Smyth
NeuroHorizons Graduate &
Mother of Special Needs Child
"There are so many things I thought were not possible, or maybe only possible for others. But now I know they are possible for me. I started this training mainly for my Special Needs daughter, but then on top of that I really learned to develop myself."
Roland Mueller
NeuroHorizonsEurope graduate &
Father of Special Needs Child
“Exactly what I was looking for: The opportunity to learn about how I move my own body, so that I can be the best possible role model for my daughter.
I feel much better in my own skin, and there is a new sense of curiosity about options for myself, and for my child. Your embodied teaching, clarity, humor, passion, and generosity bring so much life to this learning. Thank you!”
Daniela I., Ph.D
NeuroHorizons Graduate &
Mother of Special Needs Child
“Sylvia's insistence on a small group, in-person, personalized learning environment is so healing and empowering. Her teaching style is dynamic and down-to-earth, crystal clear and encouraging for the parents who have never studied this genre of movement work. Truly impressive.”
Verena Kurz
NeuroHorizons Graduate &
NeuroMovement Graduate
NeuroHorizonsEurope Experiential Movement®
Enrollment now open (Series 4 begins April 2025)
Seligenstadt, Germany (next to Frankfurt)
Class size limited.
➤; Find more program specifics on the "Program Details" page.
"Tummy Time" for my infant?
Or more time on their back?
You may be surprised!
"Tummy Time" for my infant? Or more time on their back?
You May Be Surprised!
Should I impose “tummy time” on my infant? Or just let them freely explore on their back until they find their own way onto their belly?
I'm Sylvia Leiner Shordike of NeuroHorizons® Experiential Movement®. I want to talk to you about “tummy time”. I know this is a very interesting subject for a lot of young parents.
Parents are told often to put their infant on the belly, starting already at three weeks old sometimes. The idea is that will help the infant to gain strength, and that it will help the development of the infant.
Well, I would like to invite you to think about it differently. The key question I am asking you to think about? At this early age, what exactly is the infant learning when placed by the parent on the belly, compared to what she would be learning if she were instead freely exploring on her back?
These are important questions. Here I will be using videos of children and also of myself as a model. I hope these will help you be mindful about how the baby learns on her back some key developmental steps in ways that are not available when she is on the belly.
For those of you who don’t have the time to watch this short video, here are some key takeaways.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
These baby videos show how neurotypical infants will naturally learn by themselves to roll onto their belly, sometimes sooner, sometimes later. The infant learns this when they are feeling skilled enough, safe, and ready. They feel this AFTER they have spent lots of time on their back on the floor — they have fully engaged in neural mapping and activated their native learning process in ways that cannot happen on the belly.
On their back the baby is:
* Learning weight-shifting from side to side while developing a dynamic core;
* Learning to orient themselves in space and relate to gravity;
* Learning to roll the pelvis;
* Learning to flex, round, rotate, and twist the spine;
* Developing and integrating the flexor, extensor, and side muscles;
* Learning to roll the head, with the head in constant motion (no flat head);
* Learning to lift the head through the spine;
* Developing a mobile sternum and chest, with free breathing;
* Developing eyesight and focus (exploring hands and feet);
* All leading to ease, agency, curiosity, and the infant’s exploration of new options such as creeping and crawling.
* These are all building blocks — “simple” movements that allow for increasing complexity of movement and an optimal development.
A baby prematurely placed on their belly:
By contrast, when the infant is placed by the adult on their belly BEFORE they have learned to get there by themselves, neural mapping and the native learning process can be constrained, delayed, or even blocked altogether:
* The baby who is plopped down on their belly by the adult does not understand how they got there. In this position they are essentially stuck — they cannot freely move their head, shift their weight from side to side, breathe freely, or explore.
* The infant cannot yet fully engage or organize their muscles. They cannot lift the legs, arms, or head — this necessary organization is only learned later AFTER their weight-shifting exploration that is possible when on their back and sides.
* Random movement is limited, so neural mapping is limited, and the native learning process is constrained. The baby is not at ease or feeling safe or joyful.
* The “simple” building blocks for increasing complexity and optimal development are not available in this prematurely imposed and constrained position on the tummy.
In short:
It’s about the QUALITY of the child’s movement experiences, NOT formulas, protocols, and timelines.
The key is HOW the child arrives at a new milestone, not WHEN.
FREE RANDOM MOVEMENT ON THE BACK = NEURAL MAPPING = LEARNING
= AN OPTIMAL DEVELOPMENTAL TRAJECTORY
Our task and challenge is to allow the child’s native learning process to unfold on its own unique timeline.
This maximizes neural mapping and optimizes the child’s developmental trajectory.
Unconstrained time on the back on the floor is critical to this development.
