2022/07/31

Kids Beyond Limits: The Anat Baniel Method for Awakening the Brain and Transforming the Life of Your Child With Special Needs eBook : Baniel, Anat: Amazon.com.au: Kindle Store

Kids Beyond Limits: The Anat Baniel Method for Awakening the Brain and Transforming the Life of Your Child With Special Needs eBook : Baniel, Anat: Amazon.com.au: Kindle Store


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Anat Baniel
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Kids Beyond Limits: 
The Anat Baniel Method for Awakening the Brain and Transforming the Life of Your Child With Special Needs 

by Anat Baniel (Author) Format: Kindle Edition


4.7 out of 5 stars 293 ratings

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Discover the revolutionary way to harness the brain's capacity to heal itself

Supported by the latest brain research, The Anat Baniel Method uses simple, gentle movements and focus to 
help any child, who has been diagnosed with autism, Asperger's Syndrome, ADHD, Cerebral Palsy or other developmental disorders.

In this supportive and hands-on book, Anat Baniel guides parents through the nine essentials of the method, each one designed to harness the brain's capacity to heal itself -- with remarkable and sometimes immediate results.

By shifting the focus to connecting rather than "fixing," this powerful yet simple method helps both children and parents to de- stress, focus, and grow. Most of all, the it helps all children maximize their potential, no matter what their diagnosis.

286 pages
27 March 2012
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Product description

About the Author
Anat Baniel has established an international reputation for her work with special-needs children. Trained by Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais, a pioneer in increasing self-awareness through movement, she runs the Anat Baniel Center, a treatment facility in Marin County, California, which draws students and clients from all over the world. --This text refers to the audioCD edition.


Review
"This wonderful book illustrates how to engage the miraculous capacities of the brain to change and heal."
- Harvey Karp, MD, creator of the DVD/book The Happiest Toddler on the Block

"Kids Beyond Limits gives parents and others who care for special children new hope and a new sense of possibilities."
-- Arianna Huffington, AOL Huffington Post Media Group

"This accessible, insightful, practical book for parents of children with special needs will profoundly deepen their ability to help their children improve....Anat Baniel is a master clinician for children with special needs. The stories presented here are not exaggerations; they are triumphs from which most parents of children with special needs will surely benefit." -- Norman Doidge, MD, author of The Brain That Changes Itself

"I have observed Anat's work with severely challenged individuals over a period of more than two decades, and have witnessed transformations that are simply stunning. My hope is that the Anat Baniel Method will reach the greatest possible audience and that it will become a part of academic teaching, training and research programs in rehabilitation medicine and in physical therapy, and the sooner, the better."
-- Dr. Daniel Graupe, University of Illinois, Chicago

"Anat's work with children is magical. She's their brain whisperer. This hugely important work will free special needs children and their parents from fear and limitation moving them into a world of new possibilities and joy."
-- John Gray, author of Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus

"Anat's work is wonderful and profound. Kids Beyond Limits does a masterful job of helping parents and caregivers help the special child in their lives. This is a book of great wisdom as well as deep appreciation for the great challenges of raising a child who has special needs."
-- Jack Canfield, author of Chicken Soup for the Soul


--This text refers to the paperback edition.

4.7 out of 5 stars 293 ratings
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About the author
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Anat Baniel



Anat Baniel is the founder of Anat Baniel Method® NeuroMovement®, a powerful practice that takes advantage of the brain’s remarkable ability to change itself for the better to heal body and mind. Over the past 30 years, Anat Baniel has helped thousands, from children with special needs to stroke survivors to high-performing athletes overcome pain and limitation, and reach new heights of performance, both physical and mental.

Anat Baniel was born in Israel, and she went to graduate school at Tel Aviv University to become a clinical psychologist. At the same time she pursued her passion for dance. She also worked as a psychologist for the Israeli Army for a number of years. While in graduate school, she began studying with Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais.

Dr. Feldenkrais was not only her teacher and mentor, he also became her very good friend. He was adamant that Anat do the work in her own distinct way, allowing her Method to develop and evolve uniquely and fully. His words to her early on were: “Do not let anyone tell you how to do your work.” And that included him.

Anat Baniel continued working with high performers such as musicians and dancers, with people suffering from pain or limitations, and with an ever-growing number of children with special needs. This combination of clients led Anat to have profound insight as to how the brain learns and changes. She developed her Method and defined the Nine Essentials that are required to drive potent, positive brain change.

Anat’s work is at the forefront of the emerging brain plasticity field, helping wake up the brain to its greater potency for learning and change throughout life. And anyone can benefit from the Nine Essentials, which is why Anat wrote her bestselling book Move Into Life. “You can begin applying the essentials as you read about them and begin experiencing changes right away.”

And after repeated requests from parents and students, Anat wrote her book Kids Beyond Limits. “It was the thousands of children, from a few weeks old to teenagers, whose transformations I had witnessed over the years through my work or through the work of practitioners I had trained, that compelled me to write this book.”

Anat has trained hundreds of practitioners in this Method. She and her team work out of the Anat Baniel Method Center located in San Rafael, California. For

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Heather added it
Shelves: parenting, psychology, started-but-didn-t-finish, want-to-come-back-to

This book is about creating connection with your child, rather than fixing them. We learn what we experience, not what we necessarily were intended to learn. Instead we learn the experience of our limitations - what we can't do, our what we do poorly. We have to begin where a child is right now in terms of what he can do so he can progress beyond his present limitations. Discerning and respecting what a child can or cannot do at any given moment is a key factor in helping them move beyond limitations. If they could they would. this book teaches you 9 essentials through which you will learn to focus and awaken the underlying process of your child's discovery and creation of self, which is at the heart of successful growth and development. It shows you how have to shift your focus away from what your child "should" be doing now according to age and stages.

I like how this book has short highlights for each section so you can get the basics without reading every section that is not pertinent to your unique situation & needs. (less)
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Colleen
Jan 13, 2013Colleen rated it it was amazing
Shelves: medical
This book is amazing. It gives really amazing advice on how best to communicate with your special needs child. I thought it all seemed too simple to make a difference BUT I applied what I learned with my daughter who has cerebral palsy and she has made huge changes in the last couple weeks. I can't believe how much better we seem to understand eachother, her spasticity is way down and she is attempting to crawl for the first time ever. Beware, though, it gives advice on HOW to do stuff with your ...more
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Becky
Apr 20, 2014Becky rated it it was ok
Was not overly impressed with Baniel's essential tools for connecting with special needs children. She recommends slowing down, using touch, keeping flexible goals, varying activities, and promoting imagination among other essentials. I personally did not find her insights to be groundbreaking...or even insightful. Of course I need to slow down to connect with my child, and of course our movements and therapy must be slow and purposeful. Of course our goals need to be flexible. Variety is the spice of life. Perhaps I've already been tuned into most of these essentials before reading this. We adopted our daughter and have been focused on attachment parenting, and perhaps these "essentials" go hand in hand with what we've been doing to foster attachment with our daughter. At the most, this book was a good reminder of these things for me and an affirmation that we are doing beneficial things in meeting the needs of our child. (less)
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Sarah Mocca
Aug 16, 2012Sarah Mocca rated it it was amazing
Well, it took almost two years, but I finally finished this book. It was fascinating! The reason it took so long was not because it was boring or hard to read; quite the opposite is true! I spent a lot of time considering how to truly and effectively implement this book in every day situations, digest and re-read the information, and gain a real understanding of the topics. 

For a book on neural plasticity, it was exceedingly conversational and filled with real life cases and examples. This is a worth while read for anyone who has a special needs person in their life, but all of the concepts can apply to each of us, regardless of limitations. (less)
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Kimberly
May 06, 2018Kimberly rated it liked it
Shelves: non-fiction, parenting-marriage
My children are not diagnosed as special needs, but I was curious about this book because it was recommended somewhere to me (can't remember where). I skimmed/read this book very quickly. Her stories of helping children are amazing, nonetheless, I didn't feel like she gave a very clear method to implement in one's own home. Of course, it's not really fair to think people can replicate her success on their own by simply reading a book, when she has studied the subject extensively and had loads of ...more
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Mary Beth
Jul 11, 2019Mary Beth rated it really liked it
This book focuses on the mindset of creating connection with your child, rather than fixing them. We learn through our experiences and not necessarily what was intended to learn. We typically assess what a child can't do and don't spend enough time building on their successes. We need begin helping a child to build onto what the child can do to help them. Discerning and respecting what a child can or cannot do at any given moment is important in helping them move beyond limitations. The book rev ...more
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Juan
Apr 23, 2021Juan rated it it was amazing
This book is about principles of child development, which work in harmony with the brain rather than in contention with it. This non-forceful and often counter-intuitive approach recommends acting in a slow, subtle, and aware manner right on the edges of the child subject's current state of development while they have self-attention, not pushing for predefined milestones, and not using positive reinforcement. Anat Baniel tells numerous stories and gives examples of outcomes that were superior to what was expected. What is written here may seem very obvious to many, is scientifically backed, and a descendant of the prior Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais method, but it is very different from many traditional medical methods.
(less)
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Kristin
Feb 10, 2022Kristin rated it it was ok
Shelves: book-club-reads
I did not enjoy reading this book. I find his ideas interesting, but there's no real proof to his claims. My biggest frustration was that he didn't site his references in the text, so you really couldn't go look anything up for yourself. At least not easily. (Whatever happened to footnotes???) Also, some of the "essentials" were so idiotically simple that it felt like he was out of touch with what means to be a parent. If paying attention to your child could really cure him/her, no one would ever be born with disabilities. Kinda goes back to needing that peer reviewed evidence or further documentation.

It wasn't for me, but if you have a child with disabilities, it's worth a read and maybe it'll bring you hope. (less)
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Megan
Jan 18, 2020Megan rated it it was amazing
A must-read for any parent or teacher of children with special needs. I love Anat’s gentle approach. I read this book from the library and now ordered a copy to keep. I will reread it as I got insightful ideas about how to deal with myself and my children even if we don’t have the conditions listed in the front of the book. We all have challenges we work with and every child hits blocks at some point either physically, emotionally, or mentally. This book has doable strategies to help you help your child. (less)
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Jose Abelardo
Feb 02, 2020Jose Abelardo rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
Deep and simple

Very good guide about the little details that parents can incorporate in the way they interact with their child that can make a big difference in the development of a child with especial needs.
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Mhairi MacInnes
Nov 26, 2017Mhairi MacInnes rated it it was amazing
Brilliantly absorbing book for all parents and children no matter what ages or needs...
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Jan Patterson
Aug 07, 2017Jan Patterson rated it it was amazing
Changed the way I care for medically fragile children.
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Wendy
Feb 15, 2022Wendy rated it liked it
Some good ideas and enjoyed reading the example stories. This book felt a lot like an advertisement for the ABM method rather than a learning experience for me though. 🤷🏼‍♀️
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K, Nz
Aug 30, 2012K, Nz rated it it was amazing
So far (just glancing at the book) the story of Michael, a young child who was in plaster is informative, and inspirational.

I've been recommending this book a lot, it makes so much sense, whether you are young, or older, have special needs, or not. For me it's inspirational, and yet again highlights the amazing nature of our brains while gently correcting long-held assumptions about how a brain learns/changes/adapts. (less)
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Jen
Oct 20, 2013Jen rated it really liked it
The exact method that the author uses to bring about these wonderful changes in special needs kids is very vague, and some of her 9 essentials seem just like common sense, nothing earth-shattering. However, I found myself taking notes on a couple key things, so I liked this book as a whole. It did make me curious to see this method in action.
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Jeannine
Mar 06, 2014Jeannine rated it really liked it
This is a book I believe anyone who has kids or who works with kids should read. Her method and the book are written specifically for kids with challenges but it has things that I really think could be useful for all.
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Katie Hopkins
Mar 27, 2013Katie Hopkins rated it it was amazing
Shelves: non-fiction
This is a fantastic book for any parent of a child with special needs. It lays out therapeutic techniques that can easily be applied by the parent - a good supplement for working with your child between appointments with the physical or occupational therapist.
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Tara
Nov 09, 2014Tara rated it it was ok
Though her "essentials" are great, they don't seem like anything really revolutionary. ...more
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Kristin
Sep 15, 2013Kristin rated it it was amazing
This book is of particular interest for parents of special need kids, but parents of typically developing kids can also get a ton out of it!
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Aslihan
Mar 22, 2016Aslihan rated it it was amazing
Shelves: documentary, neuro-science, non-fiction
Sadece özel ihtiyaçlı çocuk sahibi olanlar değil, her ailenin okuması gerekiyor. Çok faydalı bilgiler içeriyor.
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Laura
Jul 06, 2012Laura rated it really liked it
Very informative on how the brain and movement are connected. Gives insight into how we can heal the body through movement, while make new connections in the brain.
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As Karen says the method does seem to have a reasonably sound basis.
However the "Method" comes in different forms and "value for money" may need to be assessed on a case by case basis:


1) Functional Integration - hands on therapy/lessons on a one-to-one basis. Costs vary considerably but skilled therapists do seem to get good results for many people. Others see little difference. Skills seem to be highly intuitive/trial & error so it can take longer than other therapies such as Retained Reflex which take a slightly wider view of brain development. To be fair Anat Baniel is honest about the trial and error nature of her approach but it may not suit those who prefer a more methodical approach. I met some people who had fundraised to take their children for weekly lessons over 4 years and were happy with the results.


2) neuro movement Lessons - group movement sessions which are similar in appearance to a yoga class but are said to aid brain integration and fine tuning of movements. Highly individual results. Free lessons on YouTube and magazine articles


3) teaching & workshops - quite a variation in cost. Some short sessions are free, but a 2 two day workshop on kids with special needs might cost $329+. The longer training sessions seem to have been videoed in full and can be purchased on DVD ($79 for the above 2 day workshop) so buying the DVD is better value and probably more convenient as you can watch it in short segments and not have to travel/find childcare (it was a live, almost unedited, video of a 2 day workshop). It also seems like the workshops were formulated a few years ago (based on the video clips) and presentation of the material "live" was highly variable in quality. The workshop I attended was very poor. It had less detail than the DVD and was presented in a very rambling way. People I spoke to who had little background on Anat Baniel Method before coming were left unclear about what it was about at the end - the DVD was clearer. Free workshops on YouTube also contained more info (maybe I saw her live on a bad day?) The PowerPoint hadn't been prepared specially for the $$$ workshop and it was really unprofessional. There was a sales pitch on practitioner training courses and DVDs before all the course material had been delivered which came across as a bit arrogant. I'd guess up to 10% of attendees left early and I didn't speak to any satisfied delegates. Overall I'd avoid any live presentations and stick to printed materials or DVDs - although even the presentation style for these mediums does require perseverance and a lot of time to understand the message. It might be quicker/easier to access Feldenkrais which isn't terribly different but somehow more accessible.


4) Practictioner Training - $20k or so plus expenses and 14months. Feldenkrais training is cheaper. Based on the workshop I attended I'd be loathe to sign up to longer training of unknown quality. It would take 300-400+ hours of treatment to cover the cost of the training (depending on overheads) which is not a great rate of return compared to other professions. Training used to cost a lot less. Probably best suited to wealthy Californians or hobbyist practitioners.....


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Only you can decide if that's a scam.

My bias is that any method that leaves out the ego is not for me. Any transformation without ego involvement from my perspective will be less than if the ego were involved.

I cannot prove this objectively. I know it subjectively.

Best wishes.

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It really depends upon the context from which you are asking. Whether this is a scam depends upon how it is being promoted for use. Certainly, the explanations are somewhat wrapped in pseudo-scientific jargon and the neurological equation is somewhat misrepresented, but that does not mean this approach lacks value for physical therapy or for muscle development, especially among children with special needs.

I see that you have tagged "cancer" with this question. If this method is being promoted as anything like a cure for cancer, it would clearly be a scam. But if it is being promoted as a way to deal with pain or muscle atrophy, as a palliative aid, then it does not seem like a scam. Of course, scam or not, your mileage will vary.

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With as much research as I'm willing to give it, I'd lean toward "no, it is not a scam."

I know a little about Feldenkrais, and I know it has worked miracles for some people. If Anat Baniel's method is based on Feldenkrais+, I can imagine it working quite well, for those people who are willing to do the work.

There will be a huge gap in that last part. "Willing to do the work."

When I look at this page: The Nine Essentials, it all makes sense. The Egoscue pain method works in this space (he may not agree, but I'm painting with a broad brush).

I've done Shiva Nata a few times and it kicked my brain's butt.

This stuff CAN work, for a LOT of situations.

Collectively, these types of interventions run the risk of being oversold as a solution for ALL problems. I've run into some practitioners who claimed to be able to fix problems that, IMO, only surgery would fix; suppose it's all a mindset and I'm wired for Western medicine. Some practitioners are also not as well trained as they could be; Reiki is, IMO, polluted with "masters" who are, again IMO, not.

Kinda depends on how much she's charging, what you're willing to spend, and how many times you've been told "there's nothing wrong with you" or "we can't fix that" in a regular MDs office...

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AFAIK the Anat Baniel method is basically the Feldenkraise method which is definitely NOT a scam.