The Family Clinic Newsletter Volume 2

July 10, 1999

Hello again from the Family Clinic. Thanks for remaining on our mailing list. We hope to serve you more often and in better ways.  Please contact us if we can be of service.

In this News letter we will cover the following topics:

What’s new    ADHD news    Cabbott Studies  Allergies

Learning Disorders News    Auditory Processing Problems     Irelene Syndrom

Peace of Mind ....

What’s new? What’s new is what’s new at the Family Clinic. This is a section that is on our Home Page that discusses what we stumble upon in our practice of Holistic Psychology. It is updated often. We invite you to take a look:   http://www.yourfamilyclininc.com

ADHD News

New and exciting things are happening in the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). One of these was mentioned in our last newsletter regarding the Cabbott studies. A group of psychologists from New York are working together to develop a methods to identify ADHD disorders in children and adults. They use brain mapping techniques and feel they have discovered important difference among individuals with ADHD disorder. They state that there are eight different types of ADHD. This new information is important because it will help treat ADHD individuals quicker and more accurately.

The bad news is that their procedure is very expensive. First it involves a brain mapping session. Brain mappings cost about $400.00 to perform. The brain mapping gives a picture of the brain’s functioning in terms of brain waves. From the brain map, a treatment plan can be developed telling the EEG biofeedback practitioner where to place the electrodes and what brain waves to strengthen. The brain mapping procedure also involves comparing the results to a normative sample. Unfortunately, this normative sample data base costs $10,000.00 putting this procedure out of reach for most Counselors and Therapists. Thus pin pointing the type of ADHD and what part of the brain to work with is still a future dream. To make it a reality, the cost must be reduced considerably.

Allergies. We had heard before that food allergies may cause ADHD symptoms, but it wasn’t until one of our clients enlightened us on just how powerful food allergies can be. Her son was in therapy by Psychologists and Psychiatrists for ADHD and received stimulant medication. The medication worked at first, but then with time, was ineffective. Even with increase dosages, the medication soon failed to give the results it once did. Some one informed her of Dr. Rapp’s book:   Is This Your Child?:  Discovering and Treating Unrecognized Allergies in Children and Adults. She stated that when she followed the guidelines in the book, her son does well in school and at home.

We told another client that had similar problems. The mother informed us that when he was an infant, he couldn’t tolerate milk. As a toddler, he got a skin rash when ever his skin came in contact with eggs. She had thought he outgrew his allergies to milk and eggs. She was wrong. The symptoms just took a different form and looked like a severe case of ADHD or a mild case of Manic Depressive Disorder. After deciding to give a diet a try, her child does not drink milk or eat eggs. Now medication is no longer needed. She says her child acts like he did during the first day of medicine. If you suspect your child’s ADHD symptoms are cause in part by allergies, examine our checklist on Allergies and ADHD at the Family Clinic.

Learning Disorders News

Many ADHD children also have learning disorders.  Some professionals feel that seventy percent of children with ADHD problems also have auditory processing problems. Auditory processing problems means that the child does not process everything he/she hears. There are many subtypes of auditory processing problems. Some children simply do not have good working auditory memory. They can not hold information in memory long enough to do something with it. Others have trouble filtering out background noise in order to hear the important sounds (e.g., a teacher talking). While other children can not distinguish between phonetic sounds. A child may have perfect hearing but have auditory processing problems.

Some children have mild forms of auditory processing problems and others have severe problems. Some Universities (e.g., University of Southern Mississippi) have programs to help serious cases of auditory processing problems. Treatment involves placing the child in a sound proof room and then gradually introducing various types of sounds. A few Audiologists, Therapists, and Psychologists offer remediation via computer programs. This treatment is usually costly (about $7,000.00). Still out of reach for many children.

Now there is an inexpensive computer program to help children overcome mild to moderate forms of Auditory Processing problems. Earobics offers two computer compact disks that have exercises

to remediate auditory processing problems. Each disk costs $59.00. You can order these CD’s by calling Edutainment at 1-800-338-3844 or the ADD Clinic at 1-800-962-2673. The exercises are fun and also can be used with normal young children to help them develop good listening and hearing abilities.

Thanks to one of our subscribers, we found another great resource for individuals with ADD and auditory processing problems. This web site includes chat boards and information regarding these issues. Follow this link to http://www0.delphi.com/adhdresearch/.

Another common type of learning disorder missed by most schools and professionals relate to developmental vision problems. Most eye doctors check for 20 20 vision. This relates to how far the individual can stand to read normal sized print. To be considered to have good vision, you should be able to read normal sized print (e.g., the size of print on an eye chart) 20 feet away. However, much of school work requires good near point vision. When children can not see things close up, we call that developmental vision problems. There are many different types of developmental vision problems. Some of these vision problems can cause children to look like they have dyslexia, when in reality it is a vision problem.

One type of vision problem is called Irlen Syndrom. Irlen Syndrom is believed to be caused by the way the brain processes white light. The cure is tinted glasses or tinted overlays which the individual can use to read. More information can be found at this site.

Other developmental vision problems are related to eye muscle problems that interfere with "near point" vision. Near point vision relates to the distance used to read. Individuals may have good 20/20 vision, but can not read print from books. Most Optometrists and Opticians do not test for near point vision problems. Most Optometrists do not believe that near point vision is important for learning. We believe this view point is wrong. Some children can not read because they see letters dance on the page. Other children can not read well because their eyes skip or do not focus well close up. These are problems related to eye muscles and are not related to what is normally thought as dyslexia. This link  provides additional information.

The Family Clinic offers a wide variety of services for children with all types of learning disorders. There are probably over one hundred different types of learning disorders. If your child is having problems in school, maybe it is due to one or more types of learning disorder. We can help you assess which learning disorder it may be, and offer treatment strategies to remediate the Learning Disorder. For more information, contact us through E-mail.

Peace of Mind ....

Peace of mind refers to having thoughts empty of worries, fears, concerns, and negative thoughts. Peace of mind also involves having feelings of well being and serenity. A person is truly lucky if he/she has peace of mind.

We believe peace of mind is a learned behavior and can be worked toward.  Each step toward obtaining peace of mind is worth the effort.  Some try to get an artificial peace of mind through drugs and alcohol. Others try to obtain peace of mind by seeking out entertainment or fun experiences.  True peace of mind is not obtained by these methods.

One good method of obtaining peace of mind is working a 12 step program such as Alanon, Alcoholics Anonymous, etc. Another method involves using a Course in Miracles.

The Course in Miracles comes from a book written by two New York psychologists. Since this book has been written, several books have taken their principles and made it easy to read and understand. One of our favorite book is Love is Letting Go of Fear  by Gerald G. Jampolsky, ISBN: 0890872465. We feel everyone should read this book. It is from "A Course in Miracles" and Jampolsky presents everything well. The book is easily read and the concepts are described in non-technical terms. It is a good philosophy to live by.  If followed, it will bring peace of mind.

Well.... that’s it for now. We hope you have enjoyed this newsletter. Thanks for visiting our web page on Holistic Psychology. (Note: if you click here, it will get you back where you were).

Please let us know if we can be of service to you. If you wish to make comments or wish to be removed from the mailing list or have some friends you wish us to send this newsletter to, please let us know via E-mail at mailto:drdan@netdoor.com