Rachel Schumacher has worked actively with children in the sports industry in Hong Kong for 12 years, from running sports curriculum's and classes to outdoor physical education camps.

Acquiring a vast understanding and in depth knowledge both personally and
professionally about the importance of movement for the health and well being of the brain and body, she also noticed a constant and significant connection between the brain and body regarding movement and learning.

Having a natural interest in the mind and body connection, and the concept that learning is not all in the head, her passion of working with children and believing that every individual deserves the chance to achieve to the best of their ability, inspired and made her determined to dig deeper to find the ROOT CAUSE OF LEARNING DIFFICULTIES.

Convinced that an eco-systemic and practical approach was called for, she trained and studied with Professor Shirley Kokot in South Africa, and is a certified Integrated Learning Therapy practitioner and HANDLE®Screener.

Rachel has brought the therapies back to Hong Kong to benefit families that are looking for different approaches to help their children over come learning and social challenges.

Rachel believes in talking openly to the child and the parents about the every day struggles and difficulties that they face.  It is her aim to enable her clients to respond to their environment appropriately and realize their own personal potential. That is, after all, the opportunity that every child deserves.

"Freddie is now ten tears old. He had a difficult birth and has an undiagnosed chromasonal disorder which has affected his development, particularly his speech, his sight (but that is now resolved), his sense  of  >  where he is in relation to objects around him and his gross and fine  motor  skills. We held him back by a year at school and, in comparison to his younger peers, he is doing quite will accedmically. He also continues to develop his physical and speech skills, but the delay is still evident even when compared to those younger children.

Whilst Rachel's therapy offered an opportunity to help Freddie develop more fully we understood that it is not a cure. There is none. However, we want to help Freddie to meet his potential and have been using a  programme developed by Rachel since the summer of 2008. For us and Freddie it is still early days. Yet we have seen improvements in his ability to undertake the exercises that Rachel suggested. He has even moved on to new exercises and we have seen improvements in both his fine and gross motor skills and he is more aware of the objects around him. He used to bump into things and stub his toes and that has stopped. His behaviour has also improved; he is no longer as frustrated as he was. Importantly for Freddie, his improved fine motor skills mean that he can now play on his games consul successfully and the gross motor skill improvements have helped with  soccer and swimming. His swim coach has noted and remarked on how he has improved recently.

Perhaps the biggest and most important change though is his changing relationship with his school friends. It used to be that he could not do what they did or play the way that they did and so tended to play on his own. That is changing. He is now able to join in more and has the growing confidence to do so. Finally, Rachel was wonderful with Freddie and he responded well. He likes the activities and wants to do them. They are fun and not a chore. It also means that, in our busy lives, we get to have some fun with him as well." Mark Reed