Comments on: ADHD, ADD and Dyslexia

By: sue

sue — Fri, 07 May 2010 05:01:31 +0000

Our 8yr old son in year 4 was diagnosed with “attetion deficit low active” although he outsmarts the teachers and quitely sits and does no school all day, but when asked he says he did allot of work that day. He works hard and does well with a 1 on 1 learning, I guess that because we have been doing speech, occupational therapy, literacy, brain gym etc over the years as he had suffered several delays due to many years of ear infections since he was a baby and glue ear at the age of 4. by 41/2 yrs he was begining to hear sounds clearly back then a peadiatrics dr in sydney recommended we use adhd drugs to help him improve PS he never has been hyperactive in his life. He has always struggled inschool and tried to do as little as possible thus falling behind so we repeated his school year at 6yrs of age to help him catch up but this impacted his Self-esteem but he took it in his stride and became positive about it. at year 1 he hated school and his teacher shouted allot at the students by end of term 3 we moved to perth and put him in yr 2 with a wonderful structured and very organised and focussed teacher, this helped our son allot he loved school and going to school. by yr 3 his teacher found that he was very slow at getting things done and not understanding class work, so she devised a program for him to help him with areas that were difficult for him. in thata year he was doing literacy clases, speech therapy, sport and braingym after school each week. by the end of that year we also found out he needed glasses after doing a visiong processing test.
So in year 4 he started wearing glassesand this has helped only slightly as he states he sees words moving and coming at him still, so this year we started visual processing therapy. he still sees the words moving but now feel comfortable wearing 3d glasses over his normal glasses, but there has not been any improvement with his classwork we received allot of pressure from the school teacher and psychologist to get him on ritalin. the peadiatrics dr perscribed ritalin to our son and did not check his blood pressure and left us to believe this was the only hope we have. so we started ritalin mid last term and the teacher praised it as he was doing his work on his own and completing set tasks. But I am concerned as I still do not feel comfortable that I received pressure from his teacher who has no medical experience and has only been teaching for 4 yrs and has seen a child from the previous year change over night just because they were taking perscription drugs that it would be good for us too. Also the school psychologist did not perform any tests on our son nor indicate any other alternatives and as he is not dissable they were not able to get in an aid to do 1 on 1 and the teacher has 31 students in the class and could not give our son the attention. (so drugs was our only options as it worked for another child whom we know nothing about)

when we went back in term 2 I did more investigations stopped ritalin and increased our sons fish oil and vitamin intake, but the teacher pulled me aside and asked me if our son has stopped ritalin as his performance has stopped. so in last 2 weeks we are back on ritalin and there has not been a great improvement in his work.. PLease Help Us as I do not want DRUGS to be the only answer to getting our son to focus and concentrate on his school work, he is too young and not enough diagnosis has been conducted by the school and pediatrics dr to warn us about the risks in the future. PLease help or if you can direct us in the right direction please.

By: Geraldine Mullins

Geraldine Mullins — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 08:16:31 +0000

This comment is unsolicited by Dawn.My grandson now nearly 10 yo was tutored by Dawn for at least 2 years. Dawn is highly competent and skilled in getting the best from children who struggle with literacy and numeracy. She provides amazing levels of dedication to teaching, gently giving Jack re-assurance so he could focus and learn. He was relaxed, confident and had lots of fun while improving his self image at a time when he could have become negative and felt he was dumb.
Sadly Jack’s parents moved to an Eastern District suburb and did not continue with dyslexia tutoring. This is a very tragic outcome because he has had an entire year without dyslexia tutoring, he has been taken out of his school classes,wrongly assessed as ADHD and medicated with Concerta, a long-acting Ritalin drug. This diagnosis and chemical treatment by WA paediatricians cannot be clinically substantiated but is favoured by a parent or teacher who does not want to be harrassed by a child who is inattentive simply because he needs to be educated in a specific learning model.

By: ADD/ADHD - Developing Confidence in School

ADD/ADHD - Developing Confidence in School — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:33:20 +0000

[...] [...]

By: ADD/ADHD - Developing Confidence in School

ADD/ADHD - Developing Confidence in School — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:33:20 +0000

[...] [...]

By: dawn matthews

dawn matthews — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 01:58:54 +0000

Hi,
Thanks for your email on this.

We have a Nutritionist on board at the Dyslexic Centre Australia and she covers all this.

I myself has a massive shortage of zinc for most of life which resulted in dry eyes and mouth, which made reading even harder for me. Once this was fixed life became a lot better.

I have noticed again and again that dyslexic children especially are much more sensitive to toxins and food additives.
Cheers
Dawn

By: Vanessa

Vanessa — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:28:17 +0000

I have a son who is now 5. When he turned 3, everything stopped. His muscle tone had weekend, he started running to one side with his muscles tightening. He wasn’t communicating at all, as he used to grunt and repeat a word a thousand times.

Though very intelligent at age 2, he just stopped at 3. Did not socialise with others. Did not show any interest in other children. He also had sensory issues like screaming for just about everything if it wasn’t his way. Couldn’t work out how to hold a pencil or pass over from one hand to another.

By 3 we enrolled him at a Pre-school and thats where it hit us. He was severly language delayed. That went on up until he was four. Then we got him into Gymbaroo, which was very good for adapting to listening, focusing and co-ordination.

Between 4 and 5years of age I saw an enormous improvement with his behaviour and focus. At this stage he had language therapy and occupational therapy. At this point I was sort of watchin the diet. His food intake was very limited.

It was bizarre that one day he could speak and 2 days later he was all over the place. That clearly showed me that his diet was crucial. He would get very hot with red ears and red patches on his skin.

When this would happend his behaviour was more evident in terms of anger and hyperactivity. Although he was not violent, just extrmely angry and gets quite upset. Which can go on for hours with zero reasoning. You would ask him by this stage, ‘how was school’, and his reply would be, ‘school’.

I am very pleased to say that all of those symptoms have literally been lifted. We have seen a Bio Medicine doctor who provides natural therapy with supplements.

My son has something called Pyrolle which is a blood disorder which depletes the aborption of Zinc and B6, therefore causing all of the above.

The Bio Medicine Doctors approach, is thru vitamins and minerals. They look into your biology and try to repair your genetic code or at least normalise it as much as possible.These doctors treat Bi-Polar, Schizophrenia, ADD/ADHD, Autism and Behavioural Issues including Depression. PLease believe this, they are now recovering Autism depending on how severe it is and reversing it.

There are more and more children with these imbalances now. Most of these children have sensitivity issues with certain chemicals, which is present in food, and the environment. Because of this it is important to eliminate anything with additives/preservatives. Basically anything that will give our children a chemical imbalance as their little bodies are a little imbalanced anyway.

I have seen an enormous imporvement since I have taken him off Gluten and Dairy milk also. My sons body cannot breakdown the protein in gluten and caesin in milk.

To make it simple to understand, gluten (wheat) and caesin in milk acts like a toxin to the brain for some people. He has major intolerances to processed foods and artificail drinks etc.. It will affect his speach and his speed in processing, the behaviour and can not concentrate at all. His body cannot cope.

I have eliminated everything possible that is interfering with blocking his brain. It’s truly fascinating and rewarding to see his improvements. Maintaining this level is hard and now with kindergarten approaching, I really need to be prepared.

There is a lot of work and sometimes I feel like Im a fanatic, but its worth it and I do spread the word.

I am now looking for a program that will help us with reading etc, as I feel that his problem solving will be an issue. He knows how to de code words and at times he looses interest. Still a long way to go as he was only diagnosed with Pyrolle 3 months ago.

Im happy that I finally have my family on board and we are all working together. It was tough to educate them all.

I will definatley keep you posted on his progress. I have read many articles on this website regarding medication for add/adhd, and I would like you to please consider Natural therapy also, as we need to really go deep inside and see genetically what is so imbalanced and get to the core of the problem and not just medicate.

This is truly a revolution in treatment as I can see an enormous improvement with my little boy.

There is help. Have a read on Bio Medicine and the Bio Balance web site.

Cheers

By: Samara

Samara — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 02:12:32 +0000

I am a violin tutor, and have just started teaching a student who has a true case ADHD. Her mother has chosen not to medicate her daughter. This girl is exceptionally intelligent. If anybody has any suggestions on how I can more easily teach her with this disorder, without restricting her intelligence and creativity, please post, or email me. All of her lessons are 1 on 1, and go for 30mins, ( I will put my email up if asked)

By: Dawn

Dawn — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 05:22:25 +0000

Hi,
It seems to me that teachers are not medical experts and should not be diagnosing ADHD in your daughter. This is a very common label in Australia but in Scotland virtually no kid gets put on ritalin. I have assessed so many kids that have been on this drug, since returning to Australia, that are just dyslexic that it is now making me really angry. I get them off the drug and teach them properly and they flourish. There is a need for this drug but it should be a last resort.

Children should not get further and further behind at school because any work given to a kid at school should, by law, be doable by the kid. This idea of every kid being given the same work whether they can do it or not does not happen in Scotland, Any teaching being seen to continually give a kid work she cannot read or do would loose their teaching qualification in Scotland.

Get back to me if i can be of further help.
cheers
Dawn

By: Allison

Allison — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 07:12:47 +0000

My five year old daughter has always been bright, highly spirited and adventurous, she spoke very early and very clearly from quite a young age. In the main she is very well behaved – toilet trained easily, eats dinner without fuss most nights and loves her vegies. She goes to bed at 7.30 most nights without any trouble and has always socialised ok with other kids, and gets on pretty good with her younger sister.
And then she started kindergarten, within the 1st month my husband and I were called up to the school for the 1st of several meetings.
I am repeatedly told by her teacher that she cannot sit still or focus and that the harder the work gets the further she is falling behind. I do homework with her every night and she does try so hard.
I have seen my doctor and she sent us for a behavioural and psychological test, which came to the conclusion that she was not ADHD but may need to be re-tested in the next few years. The test and report cost us almost $900.00 I took this to the school and they said the psychologist was not a proper doctor and that the report was not worth the paper it was written on. On several occasions my daughter’s teacher has told me she thinks my daughter is ADHD and that she thinks she will benefit from Ritalin. (Her teacher has a son who has been diagnosed with ADHD and is on Ritalin and he seems to have benefited greatly from it as well.) But for me the only problems we are having are in the classroom with her focusing. I realise she is falling behind but I personally don’t think that it is ADHD. In a meeting I asked if they though it might be dyslexia and I was told they were not doctors and could not diagnose dyslexia (even though they have already diagnosed her with ADHD) Even the Psychologist said they don’t test for dyslexia until at least the age of 7. The school want me to see a paediatrician, which I now have an appointment with one in November. I have felt very judged by the school and by other parents.
But yesterday I was driving my car listening to Drive with Richard Glover and I heard you Wendy talking about dyslexia, so much you said sounded like my daughter so I looked up this website and have sat in tears as I have read all the stories. I will do the tick test tomorrow and let you know how I go.
Thanks Allison

By: Anne-Marie Nicholls

Anne-Marie Nicholls — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:05:14 +0000

“Fed up” by Sue Dengate is what lots of parents would probably love to read, before considering going down the path of medicating their child. As mentioned by Dawn, food additives can cause serious problems in people… it’s called having food intolerances, as opposed to allergies. These intolerances can affect people of any age, children and adults alike, from irritability, tantrums, non-compliance issues, to headaches/migraines, stomach pains/cramps, etc.

Testimonials by adults in Sue’s book speak of their own and/or their child’s experiences. Preservatives in wine are an example of what may give an adult regular headaches.

Sue also has other books, including, “Fed up with ADHD,” and “The Failsafe cookbook.” Failsafe foods are those that people with various food intolerances can usually eat. Just checked her website, address below, Sue now a has a DVD, “Fed up with children’s behavior: how food and additives affect behavior.” Two of her books and the DVD are available via her website. Good bookstores have her range of books. Sue also does speaking tours across all states around the country in various regional areas as well as cities. Check the website.

Sue Dengate spoke on a current affairs program several years ago about the bread preservative 282, and sure enough, it was in our bread! I bought Sue’s book, and now always read ingredients labels when I shop. All those numbers indicate artificial colours, flavours, preservatives or flavour enhancers….

Sue Dengate also has a website: http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info
and you can subscribe to an online newsletter.
Hope this helps many of you out there still struggling…