Nervous System Regulation in Kids: Where Do You Start? | Roots to Reason

Dr. Lauren Mansolf explores nervous-system regulation, neurodivergence, neurologically focused chiropractic care, and why struggling families may need to look beneath the behavior.

For a parent watching their child struggle, one of the hardest questions can also be the simplest:

Where do we start?

Maybe your child isn't sleeping. Maybe they're constantly moving, struggling to focus, melting down over seemingly small things, experiencing digestive problems, or having difficulty getting the most out of therapies that are supposed to help.

Parents may find themselves moving from specialist to specialist, therapy to therapy, searching for the missing piece.

In Episode 3 of Roots to Reason, host Michelle Hecker Davis talks with Dr. Lauren Mansolf about one place families may not immediately think to investigate: the nervous system.

Lauren and her husband had already been chiropractors for years when their own son began struggling. He didn't sleep well, cried frequently, was delayed in motor milestones, and was extremely active. Eventually, he experienced a seizure.

Despite their professional training—and despite already providing him traditional chiropractic care—they weren't finding the answers they needed.

Then Lauren encountered an approach she hadn't been taught to practice.

“When we found neurologically based chiropractic care, it changed everything.”

And it didn't just change her son's trajectory. It changed the direction of her work.

What Does “Neurologically Focused” Chiropractic Mean?

Lauren is quick to distinguish the approach she practices from the dramatic “pops and cracks” people may associate with chiropractic videos online.

With neurodivergent children, she describes the adjustments as very specific and very gentle.

Her practice uses neurological assessments she calls Insight scans, which she says provide objective measurements intended to help practitioners identify where stress may be affecting the nervous system. Those findings are then used to individualize care rather than applying the same adjustments to every patient.

The goal, as Lauren describes it, is regulation.

And that's where the conversation becomes relevant even beyond chiropractic.

What Does a Stressed Nervous System Look Like in a Child?

Adults often know what an overloaded day feels like.

We're exhausted. Our muscles tense. Sleep becomes harder. Digestion may feel off. We have less patience and fewer reserves for one more demand.

Children can experience stress and overload too—but Lauren points out that what adults perceive as behavior may sometimes be part of how that dysregulation presents.

She gives an everyday example: you ask your child to go upstairs, brush their teeth and hair, grab their backpack, and return downstairs. Five minutes later, you discover them sitting on the floor playing with the cat.

It can look like the child wasn't listening.

Lauren asks families to consider another possibility: what if their system is overwhelmed?

That question fits naturally with something Michelle returns to throughout Roots to Reason: visible symptoms and behaviors can be clues rather than complete explanations.

The “Perfect Storm”

One of the most interesting concepts Lauren introduces is what her professional community calls the “perfect storm.”

When meeting with a family, she says she doesn't begin only with what is happening today. She looks backward.

What was pregnancy like?

What happened during labor and delivery?

When did stresses begin?

Were there periods of illness, poor sleep, repeated antibiotics, ear problems, constipation, or other challenges?

Lauren describes these as stressors that can accumulate over time. In her framework, understanding when those stresses began, how frequently they occurred, the child's current age, and the child's history helps inform her approach to care.

It is an important distinction: the conversation isn't only about the symptom in front of you. It's about the story that preceded it.

The Second-Grade Cafeteria

Perhaps the most memorable analogy in the episode has nothing to do with a doctor's office.

Imagine a school cafeteria filled with second graders.

It's loud. Kids are talking. There's spilled milk, overflowing trash cans and activity everywhere.

Now imagine the teacher walking into that room.

Instead of shouting over the noise, she quietly claps twice or raises her hand. Gradually, the children notice. The room settles. Attention shifts.

Lauren uses that scene as an analogy for what she believes needs to happen with an overwhelmed nervous system.

“If we have a nervous system that's like a second grade lunchroom, it's chaos.”

Once things become calmer, she says, there may be more capacity for what comes next.

Regulation Before Intervention

This is where Lauren's work and Michelle's work intersect in a particularly interesting way.

Families of neurodivergent children may already be working with occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech therapists, learning specialists, counselors, cognitive trainers and other professionals.

Lauren isn't arguing that those interventions don't matter. In fact, she talks specifically about collaborating with those practitioners.

Her perspective is that some children may first need greater regulation before they're able to fully engage with everything those specialists are asking them to do.

“Let's get their nervous system on track first and foremost. Once it's stable, calm and regulated…then these other therapists that are professionals in their areas get to shine.”

Michelle recognizes the same phenomenon from cognitive training: sometimes another issue needs attention before a child is ready to benefit fully from the work happening in her own field.

And that is perhaps the bigger Roots to Reason lesson:

The answer doesn't necessarily have to be either/or.

Different practitioners may hold different pieces of the puzzle.

For Parents Who Don't Know Where to Start

Near the end of the conversation, the discussion turns to something many families experience: exhaustion.

When your child isn't sleeping, you're not sleeping.

When they're struggling, you're searching.

And when you've tried several things without finding an answer, figuring out what to try next can become overwhelming in itself.

Lauren's advice is simple:

“If you feel in your parent gut that there's something wrong, keep looking.”

She directs families interested in her particular approach to PX Docs, which offers educational materials and a directory of practitioners trained in the approach, as well as her own practice's website and educational content.

The broader takeaway isn't that every struggling child has the same underlying issue—or needs the same intervention.

It's that parents are allowed to keep asking questions.

What are we missing?

What is this behavior telling us?

Is my child able to regulate?

And who else should be part of the conversation?

Sometimes getting to the root begins by asking a different question.

About Dr. Lauren Mansolf

Dr. Lauren Mansolf is a chiropractor whose work focuses on neurologically focused chiropractic care. She and her husband have practiced chiropractic for more than 15 years, but their professional direction changed after seeking answers for their own son's challenges. Lauren describes that personal experience as the catalyst for helping other families—particularly those raising neurodivergent children—explore the nervous system as another potential piece of their child's care.

Resources From Dr. Lauren

Lauren recommends PXDocs.com for parents interested in learning more about neurologically focused chiropractic care. She describes it as a parent-friendly collection of articles, research, resources and a directory for locating practitioners trained in the approach. She also directs listeners to her own practice's website and social channels for additional educational content.

Guest offer: Sprouting Life Chiropractic offers a deeply discounted new patient special when you mention Roots to Reason. Join the Roots Circle to get exact offers from the Roots to Reason network.

Listen to Episode 3

Revisit the complete conversation with Dr. Lauren Mansolf on Episode 3 of Roots to Reason.

The conversation explores neurologically focused chiropractic care, nervous-system regulation, neurodivergence, the “perfect storm,” collaboration between practitioners, and why parents shouldn't be afraid to keep searching when they feel an important piece of their child's story is still missing.

Roots to Reason is hosted by Michelle Hecker Davis and explores vital optional therapies rooted in science and community—bringing together practitioners and ideas that can help us ask better questions about how people learn, heal, manage and thrive.

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