Profile:

Hi, My name is Anke Koelman and I was born in The Netherlands, where I completed my University education. I hold a Doctorandus (Drs.) Degree from the University of Leyden, the Netherlands in Biochemistry and Mathematics (2 Majors). Theory of Education was my Sub-Major. After graduation I taught Chemistry and Mathematics at a High school and was also employed by the National Catholic Paedagogic Centres to write Chemistry textbooks and diagnostic tests. As the programme was implemented nationally, I was also involved in teaching teachers from all over the country.

In 1979 I married my then husband Wim, who was working for a service company in the oil industry and our first move was to Egypt, where I was offered a position at the American University in Cairo to teach mathematics, but as he was moved to Houston, Texas, USA I was unable to accept that position. Instead I was offered the position of Associate Professor at the Houston Baptist University, teaching Mathematics, as well as Organic Chemistry labs, which I held for 2 years. Our next location was Aberdeen, Scotland where I taught Biochemistry labs at the College of Agriculture and the University of Aberdeen.

In 1984 we moved to Adelaide, where soon after we arrived our third child, Friso, was born with a severe brain injury. He was born in a coma, but after I took a series of pictures of him using the flash on my camera, he opened his eyes. Unfortunately the brain damage was so severe, that he could not cry or suck, he had no hearing, no pupil reflex and no sense of smell. He was diagnosed with severe spastic quadriplegia.

To help him develop further, I investigated many practical approaches to improve brain functioning from all over the world. If a technique had a beneficial effect on him, I studied the technique in more depth, so that I could do it on a daily basis with him at home. After 2 years of doing exercises with him (for 2 hours twice a day, 6 days a week with the help of many volunteers), his hearing was tested in the children's hospital and found to be normal! His pupil reflex and sense of smell had come back and he was able to cry, suck, chew and indicate yes and no answers to us.

One of the first succesful techniques I learnt was Suggestopedia (Superlearning) (for more information about these techniques check my other website) which helped his body relax, so that it was easier for him to do the exercises.

The first Kinesiology technique that helped him was Educational Kinesiology (Edu-K). After the Integration Process was done (to integrate the left and right side of his brain), he responded to the "Cross Crawl exercises" by becoming more and more alert, so that he could learn better. As we were doing the Conductive Education programme (from Hungary) with him, which involves a lot of cognitive learning, the effect of the Cross Crawl was clearly noticeable, so I took the Basic Edu-K and Touch For Health (TFH) courses, curious to learn more.

At that time one of the volunteers had a son, Chris, who was repeating grade 2, because he had some problems with writing, especially story writing. After that initial Kinesiology course, I needed to practise what I had learnt and did the Integration Process from Edu-K (for left/right brain integration) with him, as well as some Brain Gym® exercises for writing. After 3 sessions his writing had improved to the point that he no longer used capital letters where they did not belong, stopped making reversals (b for d), improved the spacing of the letters and his spelling was no longer phonetic. He also started writing stories with illustrations, instead of his usual one liners (see information booklet: "How to Improve Learning" under "Publications" below). Needless to say I was very impressed by the results and so were his mother and teacher, therefore I decided to do further training and became a Consultant and Instructor in Educational Kinesiology in 1988.

People often ask me: Do the balances hold or do you have to keep doing it for the rest of your life?

1. I was wondering that myself, so a year later I asked Chris' mother how he was getting on as he had received no further sessions after these initial 3 sessions. His mother gave me a couple of stories he had written. They were beautifully illustrated and showed no spelling mistakes or reversals. The letter spacing was very nice and punctuation was impeccable. It showed that once a new connection in the brain is made (through Kinesiology or Brain Gym®), the brain will take over and use these connections to make more connections when further learning occurs, without the need for continued additional support. (see information booklet: "How to Improve Learning" under "Publications" below).

2. Another question I have been asked a lot is: "How many sessions does someone need and when can we expect to see results?"

How many sessions someone needs to achieve measurable success depends on many factors. Difficult births like a forceps delivery, vaccinations, emotional traumas, hereditary factors and food allergies can all influence a person's ability to learn and concentrate, as well as his/her health. Sometimes success happens quickly, sometimes it only happens when all factors that caused the problem have been taken care of, but if a person wants to improve, I have always seen results. One of the children I worked with 8 years ago, who had been diagnosed with dyslexia, is now doing a double degree at Adelaide University in Engineering and Law........

Professional Associations Memberships:

I am an accredited Member of the ATMS (Australian Traditional Medicine Society) where I am registered as a Naturopath, Kinesiologist, Nutritionist, Herbalist, Homoeopath, and Touch For Health Practitioner and I am registered as a Level 3 Practitioner with the AKA (Australian Kinesiology Association, South Australian Association).

In order to be able to work with emotional issues in more depth, I studied the Science of Neuro-Linguistic Programming with Marvin Oka and became a Certified Practitioner and later a Master Practitioner.

Educational assessments:

To establish exactly where a person encounters a difficulty in reading, writing, spelling or maths,
I use the following tests:

• Neale Analysis of Reading Ability (Revised edition) for beginning reading ability through to year 7
• KeyMath (revised) for all aspects of Mathematics
• The Lindamood Auditory Conceptualisation Test to assess hearing and spelling ability
• The Woodcock Reading Mastery Test (Revised edition) for all aspects of Reading

Once the brain is "switched-on" and all areas of the brain are connected, the person can learn anything. Sometimes improvement is instantaneous. For example, in 1988 I performed a research project at a South Australian Primary School. I did the Integration process with one group and the teacher did Brain Gym® during one term twice a day for 5 min. with that group before new learning. There was another group who only did Brain Gym® as well as a control group. The results were amazing: two children in the group who had done the Integration process + Brain Gym® improved 4-5 years in Reading Comprehension in 6 weeks. Apparently all neccessary prerequisites were there, the Integration process and the Brain Gym® made it click. The same improvement was not found for Reading Accuracy (only 2-3 years). Often the brain needs to learn new skills once it is switched on. This often applies when there are problems with Reading Accuracy or Spelling that are the result from speech or language problems that were already evident before school age. Sometimes ear infections between the age of 6 months and 2 years have had a negative effect on the child's Auditory discrimination skills (for more information check my other website under "learning"), which almost always leads to problems with writing and spelling.

To improve Reading Accuracy as well as Spelling and Writing skills, I developed the "Learning to Read for Sure" method, which has proven to be very successful in teaching those prerequisite skills that most children with problems in the language area do not have and that are neither checked nor taught at school. The method is based on my experience for the last 15 years in working with children with reading, spelling and writing problems, as well as the Lindamood Bell method, my own Research, and Educational Kinesiology, (developed by Dr Paul Dennison PhD).

The "Learning to Read for Sure" method:

• Gives children the prerequisite skills required for reading, writing and spelling
  
  
• Develops sound awareness and Auditory discrimination skills (Central Auditory Problems - CAP)
  
  
• Develops confidence in reading through a systematic approach to syllabification of multi-syllabic words
  
  
• Has proven to be very successful for children with Dyslexia, language problems and
  AD(H)D

One 9 year old dyslexic boy could not read at all. After Brain Gym® and the "SureReading" method he is now completing a double degree in Law and Engineering! The "SureReading" method can be ordered by mail and will soon be available via the internet.

Another subject that is only tested, but not taught, is Mental Mathematics. How do you do Mental Mathematics? In other words: What strategies do you use for Mental Maths? The "Live Maths" method was designed to give you the best strategies for all aspects of primary school mathematics.

As a Kinesiologist and Teacher, I first specialised in treating learning and behaviour problems (working both with children and adults) and I discovered that food allergies and the effect of vaccinations and antibiotics can play a major role in the development of learning and behaviour problems, autism and developmental and language delay. As a student in Biochemistry I was already interested in nutrition, but the information about how the same nutrition can affect individuals in different ways has only been discovered recently. In the year 2001 the University of New England (Armidale NSW) offered an Advanced Diploma in Nutrition Medicine as part of a Masters Degree in Health Sciences (Nutrition Medicine), so I enrolled and was accepted. During the Masters Degree study I won the scholarship prize of the South Australian Chapter of the University of New England Alumni Association for Academic Excellence for two consecutive years and on completion I won the "Dean's Merit Award".

Herbal and Homoeopathic medicine can make a dramatic difference to a person's emotional and physical health. Homoeopathy also offers a valuable alternative for vaccinations.

Nutrition plays a major role in our state of health. The kind of food we eat can make the difference between health and illness. Diet plays a significant role in the development of allergies, depression as well as (see my other website under Health and Nutrition) learning and behaviour problems. Almost every health problem is caused by a variety of accumulative stresses to a person's system. As these stresses can be Chemical (ie. Mercury from Amalgam fillings and vaccinations, Aluminium from pans, cutlery and cans), environmental (herbicides, pesticides, pollution), drug related, or structural (eg. after a car accident people say they have never been the same again.....). As soon as there is a stress that acts as the "straw that breaks the camel's back", illness may develop.

Often after an emotional upset, injury, accident, operation, change of diet, use of a certain drug, or any other severe trauma in a person's life, illness may appear, but that does not mean that that trauma by itself actually caused the illness. In order for the system to return to health, all the accumulative stresses need to be identified. These stresses then need to be either eliminated, if they are still stressing the system (such as food that upsets the person's digestive system) or balanced, such as emotions that are still causing a stressful response. Through a variety of Kinesiology techniques it is possible to identify what the stressful factors are, as well as what to do about them and fortunately it is also possible, through a series of balancing sessions, to return to a state of optimum physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health and wellbeing.

As Kinesiology is growing rapidly, new techniques become available every day to more precisely identify the cause or causes of a health - or learning problem, as well as techniques to rectify the problem in faster and more effective ways.

Provider Number: The ATMS membership number is the Provider number for most Private Health funds and is No 2828. Mutual Community, Medibank Private and Australian Unity have an additional provider number which will be supplied at consultation.

Rebates from Private Health Funds:

Assessments and consultations are now claimable under Naturopathy with most Private Health Funds.

In addition Rebates can be claimed under Kinesiology and/or Nutrition from the following Funds:

• MBF (Medical Benefits Fund)
• Australian Health Management
• Australian Union Health
• Australian Unity Health Ltd.
• Cessnock District Health
• CBHS Friendly Society
• Government Employees
• Grand United Friendly
• IOOF
• IOR
• Lysaght Health Insurance
• Manchester Unity
• Medical Benefits Fund
• Naval Health Benefit
• Phoenix Welfare
• Railway and Transport
• Reserve Bank Health
• Teacher's Federation
• Transition Benefits Fund
• Westfund Health Fund

• Brain Gym Teacher’s Edition A$39
• Brain Gym-a student’s guide A$18
• Brain Gym for Business A$30
• Hands On: How to use Brain Gym in the classroom A$63
• Switching On A$30
• Edu-K for Kids A$29
• I am the Child A$41
• Personalised Whole Brain Brain Gym Handbook A$30
• The Dominance Factor A$41
• Smart Moves A$43
• Awakening the Child Heart A$42
• Reflexes, Learning and Behaviour A$50
• The Learning Gym A$26
• Brain Gym Surfer A$19
• The Vision Circles Handbook A$30
• Advanced Edu-K Manual A$50
• Brain Gym and its Effects on Reading Abilities A$42
• If Kids Just came with Instructions A$39
• School Success A$39
• Outer Space Energy Ball A$9.50
• Baby Gym A$23
• Baby Gym and me A$39
• Brain Gym for All $22
• Mind Dynamics A$20
• Learning to Learn A$30
• Integrated Movement tape A$30
• Brain Gym Music For Encouraging (Tessarose) A$30
• Teaching to Learn A $28
• The Parent's Homework A$28
• Drumstick Spinology A$45
• Drumology Level 1 A$35
• The Bear Hunt A$19
• Learn to be an Optomist A$28
• The well Balanced Child by Sally Goddard A$39
• Vision Gym Cards A$49
• Mindd Cookbook A$39
• Small Souls A$20
• Nutrition Rules A$35

• A new Paradigm in Reading A$35
• Autism A$40
• Learning Problems and Neuro-developmental Delay A$49.50 CDs
  • The Mozart Effect CD A$25
  • Mozart Effect Double CD A$40
  • Mozart Effect (Children) Volume I A$30
  • Mozart Effect (Children) Volume II A$30
  CD and Songbook:
  • Children Songbook + CD A$35
  • Wombat and Mates + CD A$35
  • Bean Bag Ditties + Bags A$35
  Postage Rates:
  1 - 5 items $5.00 6 – 9 items $7.50 10 – 20 items $10.00 20+ items $15 Payment Terms: Payment is by cash, cheque or direct bank deposit transfer.
  
  Book Descriptions and author etc can be found on the web site www.braingym.com.au
  
  Thank you for visiting my homepage. If you have any questions or comments please email me on: akoelman@ozemail.com.au
  
  Drs. Anke Koelman
  
  Street Reference: UBD™ page no. 131: grid ref. Q6