155. You Can’t Work on the Brain Until You Work on the Body: The Missing Link Behind Speech, Behavior, and Development

In this groundbreaking conversation, Dr. Tony Ebel sits down with Dr. Dana Johnson, co-founder of the Spellers Method and a leading expert on whole-body apraxia. Dr. Johnson shares her transformative journey from traditional sensory integration therapy to discovering the missing piece: the connection between intention and motor execution. 

This episode explores how whole body apraxia—the breakdown in our ability to sequence, plan, and execute movement—is the foundational issue underlying challenges in autism, including meltdowns, speech delays, and behavioral dysregulation. The doctors discuss why addressing motor planning must come before gut protocols or behavioral interventions, and how the "perfect storm" of maternal stress, birth trauma, and toxins disrupts early neuromotor development.

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Links & Resources:

Follow Dr. Dana Johnson on socials:

IG: @drdanajohnson

YouTube: @drdanajohnson

X: @drdanajohnson

FB: Dana Johnson

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Key Topics & Timestamps

[00:06:00] How non-speaking communicators revealed the missing connection between intention and action

[00:14:00] Why everyone focuses on gut-brain connection instead of motor-brain connection

[00:18:00] The Three Stages - From hyperactive "raging bull" to clumsy "drunken bull" to complete shutdown and exhaustion

[00:21:00] The Perfect Storm - Maternal distress, birth trauma, and toxins as the three-part storm disrupting neuromotor development

[00:29:00] Why watching a child move from car to clinic reveals everything about their motor planning

[00:42:00] The three stages of nervous system dysregulation in severe cases

[00:54:00] The 90-Day Pause - When to stop all other interventions to clear neurological space for healing

[00:59:00] Powerful story of an adult client and his mother becoming comfortable together for the first time

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