Attention Deficit Disorders: Not what they seem
by Ron B. Minson, M.D.
Attentional difficulties, especially in children, are often misdiagnosed as caused by ADD. That’s because the exact behaviors that clinically define ADD are also created by a number of non-ADD related causes. In cases where ADD is not the correct diagnosis, stimulant medication may actually make matters worse. In fact, approximately 50% of the ADD diagnosed children we see at The Center for InnerChange should not be taking these medications.
If it’s not ADD, then what is causing the problem? ADD-like behaviors can be generated by many conditions.
Auditory processing problems are a case in point. They trigger attentional difficulties. The root of this problem may be a histroy of ear infections in early life. These infections may impair the ability to effectively process a sequence of directions. For example, when you tell a child with auditory processing problems to do four things in order to get ready for bed, they may only be able to remember the first, or perhaps the last two, steps in the sequence. Many individuals, including adults with auditory processing problems, are able to benefit from the Tomatis Method auditory retraining technique offered her at The Center for InnerChange.
Some children experience stress-related attentional problems. Learning disorders that most commonly show up at school are one of the most common stressors. In these cases it is important to work on both the focusing problem and the stress-related anxiety in a coordinated program of treatment.
Many parents tell us that their “ADD” child had food allergies when they were younger. These allergies may still be active and contributing to the child’s attentional difficulties. In young children the allergic symptoms frequently manifest as ear infections, cords, sinus congestion and headaches. As the child ages the allergy may show up as agitation and restlessness, difficulty in focusing, poor concentration, and even mood swings and irritability. The good news is that food allergy related attentional difficulties are treatable.
The classic ADD situation arises when there is an increase in “Theta” and a decrease in “Beta” brain wave activity at an inappropriate time. An example might be a child trying to do math or comprehend a reading assignment while operating with a brain wave state that we would use to relax prior to going to sleep. Their brain will not permit them to move from a resting to an attentional state on demand. There is also an attentional disorder with hyperactivity (ADHD). These children usually have impulsive and aggressive begaviors that accompany their distractibility.
Perhaps the most dramatically increasing group misdiagnosed as ADD are those whose treatment is frequently the easiest. Typically they are extrememly bright and are visual/spatial learners, yet they appear to manifest the classic symptoms of ADD. They are generally global thinkers, quite sensitive to their physical and emotional environment, and astute problem-solvers. However, their distractibility stems from boredom and their giftedness, rather than true attentional problems. Our work with these children is usually short and very rewarding.
With so many different problems masking themselves with ADD-like behaviors, it is important parents, teachers and healers not lump every attentionally challenged child into the ADD classification. Only an accurate diagnosis will permit the application of the most appropriate and productive treatment program.
Things aren’t always what they seem. So focus on the facts. Get more information about attentional problems and how they can be treated.
Awaken Listening using Dynamic Listening Systems, is now available all over the United States and Canada. Click on Practitioners to find a Dynamic Listening Center near you.
Further information on DLS and ADD/ADHD:
Solutions!
There are very few people today who are not familier with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
If they haven’t heard about it at school, from a family member or had personal experience with it, they’ve probably read about it or seen it on TV.
Following is what can be done about it. Awaken Listening offered at ITS and other DLS centers, goes a long way in helping people of all ages affected by ADD/ADHD and similar disorders. For each client an individualized and specifically tailored program is written to fit the individuals needs in order to get the best possible results.
Mystry and Controversies surround ADD and ADHD
Scientific literature shows that ADD/ADHD is a hotly debated topic. Certain experts beleive that the ADD syndrome lacks supportive evidence and should be clinically discarded (G. Coles, L. Fleisher and P. Breggin). Others believe it is a neurological syndrome whose cause might be genetic (Hallowell and Ratey). Still, one thing is clear, they all agree and admit “the exact mechanism underlying ADD remains unknown. There is no single lesion of the brain, no single neurotransmitter system, no single gene we have identified that triggers ADD.”
Here at ITS we don’t know who is right or wrong, and it really doesn’t matter as our only goal is to help our clients; those who come to us with ADD/ADHD like symtoms overcome their difficulties. ITS and other DLS centers do this without medication, using the Sound Stimulation program of Dr. Tomatis, and over the years, DLS centers have been very successful in helping people improve and enhance their lives, by fine-tuning the way they listen. Following is the reason for the importance of this, and why it works.
Dr. Tomatis’ method offers us a solution by
Regulating the vestibular function: Dr. Jean Ayres, a pioneer in sensory integration beleives that all our senses touch, smell, taste, sight and sound, must work in harmony not only with each other, but also with our physical movement and body awareness. The senses mentioned above gather information and then send it to the brain, where it gets interpreted and organized very neatly in specific order. This entire process is called sensory integration. When even one of these senses fails to function correctly, learning and thus one’s quality of living are diminished.
For most children, sensory integration develops as nature meant it to, effortlessly in the course of ordinary play and childhood activities. For some, however, sensory integration develops in a haphazzard manner, without the necessary order and causes any number of learning, development and behavior problems.
As per Jean Ayres these problems occur when the vestibule functions incorrectly. In her book, Sensory Integration and the Child, Dr. Ayres claims that: “Well-modulated vestibular activity is very important for maintaining a calm, alert state. The vestibular system also keeps the level of arousal of the nervous system balanced. An under-active vestibular system contributes to hyperactivity and distractibility because of the lack of its modulating influence.”
The vestibule can be stimulated in several ways, and hyperactive kids try to do it naturally for themselves by moving around continuously. But unfortunately, the benefits from this kind of activity is not very substantial, as the vestibule is unable to translate it into a stimulation of the brain. Occupational therapists use an extensive array of movement techniques, and sensory stimuli to stimulate the vestibule, yeilding good results. Dr.Tomatis’ Method, uses gated sound in combination with a variety of activities and movement techniques yeilding great results in very short periods of time.
Desensitizing bone conduction: Humans assimilate sound with more than just their ears. Bones and skin tissue are sensitive to sound as well. The body shudders instinctively when a loud noise is heard, becuase sound that is picked up by bones is transmitted directly to the inner-ear, bypassing the filtering mechanisms that are present in the ear to dampen sound intensity. These sounds therefore reach the brain without any warning at all with full intensity, causing the body to shudder in reflex. Sound that travels through the ear is dampened to lessen its intensity. Also, the body picks up sound just ahead of the ears, thus warning the ears that sound is on its way.
Unfortunately, most people who present with ADD/ADHD primarily use bone conduction to listen. This results in the sound going directly into the inner ear without the necessary filtration to dampen it or even to keep unneccessary background noise out. This is the primary reason of why these people are so explosive. They are completely at the mercy of what is going on in their environment as they are uncapable of filtering and ignoring unneccessary stimulus.
For these people every sound has the same amount of value. They try very hard to focus and follow a conversation or the teachers words but then the noise from the other kids at recess or a car passing by etc. totally distracts them. The result? They just missed that part of the conversation or instruction that was being given. Other people includinjg teachers and parents get mad at the person accusing them of not paying attention. It is however truly not their fault they fully meant and tried very hard to focus on what they were meant to pay attention to, but the other noises just kept on coming.
They try so hard they are continuously exhausted and feel overwhelmed. They are usually very bright but still find it very hard to their work due to the continuous sound distractors, and then they feel ashamed that they cannot acheive the standard of their peers. They are constantly playing catchup, and become more and more confused by all the irrelevant things they hear.
So, some people in a situation like this start completely tuning out, and become very lethargic and quiet. Others react to every sound, frantically moving from topic to topic in their quest not to miss anything.
Visit a DLS center and allow us to train your ears to take over and become the primary channel of sound, while at the same time moving bone conduction to its place as the secondary channel of sound. This assures that sound is being processed correctly. This is accomplished by having you listen to gated music through specially handcrafted headphones that are also equipped with a state of the art bone conductor. Through this mechanisim one learns to use ones ears and bone correctly. The Desensitisation of bone conduction into second place reduces stress and gives the client the ability to focus and tune into what is important without being distracted by background noise that now gets filtered so that a persone can pay attention and function and learn more effectively. In the course of training a client is also trained use bone conduction correctly. One of the functions of bone conduction is to warn the ear that a sound is coming. Early in the program sound will be sent to the bone a long time before being sent to the ear. Over the course of the program the difference in time will be gradually reduced till the brain adjusts and bone conduction use is normalized.
Lateralizing the body to the side of dominance: In the same way that people are left or right handed, so are people left or right ear dominant. The advantage in being right-ear dominant is that the right ear processes the incoming auditory information faster than the left ear, due to the anatomy of the human body. The right ear processes information faster because information is sent directly to the left brain, which hosts the language center. The left ear however sends the information to the right brain, from where it is rerouted to the left brain via the Corpus Callosum. This being a longer pathway, causes information to be delayed, often causeing Left-ear-dominant people to have to play catch-up. In these instances not only is the information late, but it is usually also incomplete. During the transfer from the right to the left brain, some of the higher frequencies that are important in distinguishing similar sounds such a “B” and “P” are lost, leaving left-ear-dominant people not only having to play catch-up, but also having an incomplete deck.
Awaken Listening helps people with ADD and ADHD achieve better right-ear dominance by gradually shifting sound from the left to the right ear. Also during the expressive phase of the program the client does vocal exercises and reading throgh a special microphone that is coupled with the equipment to filter the exercises that are returned to the persons right ear through the headphones. This also trains the person in self-listening skills.
|
zumagirl
pmessenich
