In an effort to help our NACD families and others maximize their efforts and make the most out of the time they have to work with their children, it is incredibly important to keep reminding everyone about the significance of intensity.

The foundation of what we do at NACD is designing very targeted individualized programs that are created to help provide the maximum results, relative to the time invested. The significance of being targeted is that we stimulate and change the brain when we apply specific, organized, targeted input with the necessary frequency, intensity, and duration. Random input is just noise to the brain; disorganized input is irrelevant to the brain; and any input that is not received by the brain with intensity never happened.

We understand that intensity, the most important of the Super 3 (frequency, intensity, and duration), is not entirely a reflection of how loud or strong or exciting we are when working with our kids. The big factor is what the intensity is with which they are processing the input. Have you ever seen someone fall asleep at a party or in a movie theater or sporting event? These are all intense environments; but if that person is asleep, it has zero intensity for their brains—it didn’t happen. I recall the question I heard way back when in school—“if a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it, did it make a sound?” It’s not about you, it’s about them. Back to the folks at the party-how about if they are not asleep, but just dozing? Or, they just had a fight with their significant other and are running through the last argument in their mind one more time, or have a song stuck in their head that keeps going around and around. How much did all that “intensity” that is going on impact them? Probably not much. Ultimately intensity is based on how the individual is receiving/processing the input.

I have always related intensity and impact on a scale of 1-10. If something goes into a brain with the intensity of 9 or 10, learning is virtually instantaneous. Drop it down to 7-8 and we need a fair amount of frequency and duration to change the brain. If the intensity is only a 6, we need a lot of frequency and duration—many times per day and lots of days, weeks, or months. At a 5 we are in for a very long haul. And below a 5, we are better off taking a nap.

Let’s look at some of the things that affect intensity, starting with physiological issues. Diet is one of the things we talk about with all parents. I won’t get into the specifics of diet in this article but suffice it to say that if you feed your kids pancakes with syrup for breakfast, just send them back to bed and forget about school. Sleep is another foundational issue, and doing what is needed for both you and your child to get enough sleep is very important. So before we go any further, let’s see where we are. If what you are trying to put into your child’s brain is super exciting to them and they love it, they ate some good protein, had a great night’s sleep, and feel wonderful, you might get them to an 8. Trying to input something they might like but don’t love, drop to a 7; not a wonderful breakfast, drop to a 6; and then you were up with them for half of the night, we just dropped to a 5, and perhaps you are both getting ready for a nap.

Just yesterday I had a talk with a very nice family, great, concerned parents who have a teenage son on the autism spectrum. He has had a few small seizures that did not appear to have any residual effect and is on two different anti-convulsive medications. His doctors have also put him on two additional drugs that are used for schizophrenia and irritability. When I look at this boy, he looks like he is about to fall over with his eyes open. He’s at a 2-3 for intensity, and if you work hard, you can push him briefly to a 4, and on rare occasion to a 5. Under the circumstances we hope to maintain what function he has until these medications that all slow his brain down can be altered or eliminated.

Drugs that are used for seizure control and behavior and attention control are slowing down the brain. As a side note, the neurologists and neurosurgeons that I worked with almost 50 years ago were aware that the vast majority of seizures actually caused no harm, and my clinical observations over all of these years verify it; but we still have neurologists who see their mission as stopping all seizures, regardless of the fact that they are medicating the child to the point where there can be virtually no development. I’ve been happy to hear that after 50 years, there are a few neurologists acknowledging that not all seizures spell the end of the world and are being much more conservative with the medications. And fortunately there are new very promising alternatives to the drugs.

Diet, sleep, health, exercise, or the lack of, and medications all have an effect on the brain, your child’s ability to process information, and thus to be stimulated and develop.

I have a confession to make. I do not get regular organized exercise. I played sports, and I played them hard. I have almost always lived where I had a good size piece of land and always loved working outside and work hard. I enjoy walks and hikes, but a daily exercise routine—never. It’s a good thing your child has parents and helpers to help structure their days, establish priorities for them, and to motivate them and make things fun. Perhaps if I had some great fun personal trainer who came and got me at a specific time each day and praised my success, I might exercise. I probably would also need to add a 25^th hour to every day. As adults we are responsible for ourselves. We can choose to eat well, exercise, whatever; however we are also responsible for our children, and it is our responsibility to see that our children eat well, get their sleep, and do all the other things needed to help them develop well. Even the smartest child isn’t wise. We need to make the choices for them and keep them heading in the right direction. Side note: How many of you give your pets more nutritious diets than your kids?

The younger the children, the easier it is to make things fun and increase the intensity. I constantly hear that little Johnny is bored with this or that or he doesn’t like it. The reality is that it’s not about the activity, it’s about the environment of the activity and how it is presented. Remember Tom Sawyer and how he got the kids to paint the fence for him? Create the right atmosphere, and you can get your kids to have a ball cleaning toilets. If something doesn’t hurt, you can create an atmosphere that makes whatever you are doing fun, and if something hurts, stop doing it because something is wrong. If you can’t get your intensity or their intensity above a 5, what should you do? You should go take a nap and come back to it later with good intensity.

One of the most common issues I see when watching program implementation is a lack of intensity when a child gets something right or does something well. I can observe someone working on processing, and the difference in the response when the child gets something right or wrong is almost indistinguishable. Often when reviewing program implementation videos, we have to pay close attention to see if a child got something correct or not because we can’t tell the difference from watching the reaction of the parent or caregiver.

Children of most any age will respond to your positive attitude and words of praise. If older children need something more to get their intensity up to adequate numbers, then explore some form of a positive token economy, where achievement as a reflection of their trying and doing something with sufficient intensity to impact their brains can purchase special privileges and such. But always let your child know that you are proud of them for their efforts and achievements. Don’t reward compliance that does not equate with intensity. Reward achievement even if you have to initially make it a bit easier for them so that they can experience success.

One of the most common killers of intensity is duration. Many of the activities we give children have a duration of only a minute or two, and the duration we give is a maximum. Maximum, not minimum. More often than not, more turns a positive into a negative. We encourage parents to, if at all possible, end an activity on a high note. Parents tend to continue an activity until the child has had it, and it turns negative. The result of that is the next time you go to do that activity the child recalls it as a negative, not a positive. Imagine giving your child the forbidden fruit—ice cream. You give them just a spoon or two and they love it and you stop. They want more. Now imagine that you gave your child a couple more of spoons of ice cream—still loving it—and then you gave them a small bowl. They’re still loving it, but not quite so much. Then make them eat a large bowl, having to force them to eat it over the course of an hour; and to really make it fun, make them eat more and more until they throw up. That would sure teach them to love ice cream. When should you have stopped? We have the ability to turn most anything that can be positive and fun into a negative. Remember: it’s all about intensity.

The big secret to success is intensity—the intensity with which your child takes in the input you are providing.

Intensity is not only foundational, it is mandatory: Get it?

 

Anything that adversely affects your child physiologically has a negative impact on intensity: Get it?

 

Any mediation that affects your child’s brain is likely to have a negative impact on their intensity: Get it?

 

What you do can affect your child’s intensity, but ultimately, it’s a matter of doing what works to create intensity in them: Get it?

 

Too much of a good thing is a bad thing; stop while you are ahead: Get it?

 

If your intensity or your child’s falls below a 5 and you can’t raise it, take a nap: Get it?

 

To be successful we need to provide your child with specific targeted input with sufficient frequency, intensity, and duration: Got it?

 

Good!

Reprinted by permission of The NACD Foundation, Volume 31 No. 8, 2018 ©NACD

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Jake is the youngest of three children. He was first flagged as struggling academically in kindergarten and then again in grade one. Jake struggled with saying the alphabet, sounding out the alphabet, math, staying focused, sitting still and making/keeping friends. At home, he was busy physically with sports, but could not get along with siblings, couldn’t take a joke, had multiple meltdowns over silly things and spent a large part of everyday upset and crying. Our family spent the majority of our days walking on egg shells in hopes of not triggering Jake.

Jake’s grade one teacher convinced me to have a psychologist evaluation done in order to help get the support Jake needed in school. I ended up paying $1300 for a 3-hour evaluation where I was not allowed to be present. The psychologist diagnosed him with ADHD and said he was the most severe she had ever seen and that he would never be able to function without medication.

In the fall of grade two, I started Jake on the recommended stimulant drug and within a short amount of time he was a walking zombie, no spunk, no personality glossy eyed, no appetite but he was able to focus. At the 7-month mark, our family physician discontinued his medication due to a 10 lbs weight loss. Jake’s personality returned and so did his appetite and we were thrilled. We vowed never to medicate again.

In the fall of grade three, I was still very concerned with Jake’s academics. I expressed my concerns and our history to a doctor at work whom I had never met before. To me, this encounter was like divine intervention. He recommended a program called NACD. The doctor encouraged me not to wait but to act as he handed me a USB stick with an audio recording of child development. When I left work that day, I had a plan and I had hope for the first time.

We had our evaluation in December of grade three, near the end of 2014. I liked how Sara conducted Jake’s evaluation. I was allowed to be present for the whole evaluation which took maybe a total of 2 hours. Prior to the evaluation, I had filled out paper work on things, like what did Jake eat, how much screen time did he get, physical activity, team sports and how many hrs of sleep he was getting a night, were just a few of the questions. In my opinion, this was actually a head to toe assessment of what was going on in this child’s world. I was sold on NACD from just the evaluation alone.

Within a few days, Sara Erling our Developmentalist, emailed us a program that she’d developed specifically for Jake based on his needs. We started immediately. Within weeks, we started to see changes, but the greatest change happened at approximately the three-month mark. Jake, in a short amount of time, was no longer wiggling all over the place and was able to sit and focus for extended periods of time in class. I was now more determined than ever to continue this program. With the help of NACD and our Developmentalist, Sara, our goal was to get Jake to grade level and able to function without supports.

With our Developmentalist, Sara Erling, we have worked with Jake to meet his specific needs. Sara has done an amazing job supporting both Jake and the family. She has helped instill positive behaviours as well as delivering quarterly evaluations. She continues to set the bar higher and higher to ensure we continue to see the changes necessary to move Jake forward.

NACD isn’t about a band aid solution like stimulant drugs. They are helping parents help their children to get lasting results through brain development aka neuroplasticity. In a short 3.5 yrs, NACD has helped us develop Jake to the point where he can thrive on his own without supports or medication! Not bad for a child who according to one, would never function without medication (heavy sarcasm). We have a confident, happy, thriving child who knows that he can be successful in life with whatever he chooses.

Thank you, Sara Erling, for never using labels and always knowing that we would get Jake to the finish line. You have changed our lives for the better and we are so grateful for all you do!!

—Rachel Schappy (Mother)

NACD Newsletter, June 2018 ©NACD

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When Jennifer was a month old, she was given a brain scan and the results showed some abnormality. I was instructed to give her “phenobarbital” which just seemed to make her sleepy and unable to nurse. I, therefore, decided to discontinue the medication, and Jennifer appeared more alert and nursed more often after that.

We were told to stimulate Jennifer as much as possible. A nurse assigned by the hospital visited our home every 3 to 6 months to evaluate Jennifer’s progress.I then decided to show her bright colors and toys, take her to shopping malls for stimulation of objects and people. My husband, father-in- law, and I read to her and gave her lots of attention.

After 6 – 8 months, she began to show some improvement mentally and physically.

When Jennifer was twenty months old, my husband and I took an intensive early child development program where we learned some techniques to stimulate her physically and intellectually. I made large flash cards with pictures of famous people, animals places, objects, and words. I did lots of creeping and crawling with her. She ran, jumped on a trampoline, swam and brachiated. I flashed word cards in Spanish and English, played classical music and Wee Sing tapes and played tapes in Japanese, Spanish and French. She was also in two play groups with children her own age for socialization.

When Jennifer was three, she read books independently which was a shock to the hospital staff. At age 3 she read words in English and Spanish and showed gifted behavior on all her hospital tests. She was also enrolled in a small Montessori preschool for 3 hours twice a week, and I continued to teach her at home.

I remember one amusing incident when, at age 3, she read a book for the librarian who thought that Jennifer had “memorized” the words. Every time we returned to check out books for Jennifer after that, the librarian would call other adults over, open a book (2nd grade level), to any page and ask Jennifer to read it. Jennifer would read the page correctly and with expression. The librarian would then quiz Jennifer on the material. One day (several weeks later), I told the librarian that Jennifer’s delight in visiting the library was diminishing with her constant testing of my child. As a result, the testing ended, but Jennifer continued to be a wonder to the library staff.

When Jennifer was 5, we moved to Orange County, but continued to visit friends in San Diego once a week because she missed her friends terribly and was in Japanese and Spanish classes with them. She was tested privately and found to be gifted in every area but socialization. She also appeared to be borderline hyper and showed some aggressive behavior towards her peers. She excelled in both swimming and gymnastics. She went to school part-time (for socialization), and was taught at home by me. She also attended extra-curricular group classes in music and foreign language.

At age 7, the Children’s Hospital of San Diego discharged her since her overall I.Q. was in the highly gifted range. The doctors did not know what to make of her amazing progress due to her Apgar score at birth. The hyperactivity was still there, but she was still advancing intellectually. It wasn’t until we went to NACD when Jennifer was almost 10, that we were able to pinpoint the problem and work to resolve it. Since then, we’ve seen a tremendous change in her both physically and intellectually. Jennifer is 14 now, and we continue to have her evaluated once or twice a year.

With NACD’s guidance, we’ve resolved the hyperactivity, worked on correcting her dominance, and her ability to process and retain information which has helped her academic success. The digit span activities, specific listening exercises, chess lessons, and neurological exercises set up by NACD have prepared Jennifer to master college material. In addition, she continues to progress in her home program prepared by NACD.

Since Jennifer’s neurological evaluations by Mr. Doman, and her discharge from Children’s Hospital, she has won numerous trophies and plaques in essay contests, chess, art exhibits, vocal and violin competitions, science fairs, poetry and short story contests, Latin competitions, and swimming events. During the summers of 1992 and 1993, Jennifer auditioned and won to play in the 1st violin section in the Disney Young Musicians Symphony Orchestra.

Presently, Jennifer is the Concert Mistress for the Orange County Youth Symphony Junior Orchestra, a title she has held for two consecutive years.

Last July, Jennifer received a partial grant to attend the Maurice Ravel Violin Camp at St. Antoine, France, where she played a solo for the 26 French students enrolled in the camp with her.

Jennifer also scored in the 99th percentile (the ceiling scores) on the high school entrance exam for academically enriched classes. This was without being enrolled in school full time.She is a readaholic, favoring Isaac Asimov’s science fiction books. She has studied Japanese and Spanish, but is currently studying French and Latin, and sings in Latin, Italian, French, and German. She also enjoys composing music when she has the time.Jennifer’s favorite artists are Leonardo da Vinci and Picasso. She enjoys string music by Mozart, Hayden, and Lalo. Her favorite opera is “The Magic Flute” and her favorite musical is “The Phantom of the Opera.”

Jennifer is tutored in Latin and French, studies violin, piano and voice, plays 1st string in a chamber quartet group, is concert Mistress in a youth orchestra, and attends Orange Coast College.

At age 14, Jennifer seems socially, intellectually, and physically excellent. With the educational program designed for her by NACD, and through her own efforts, she has achieved many marvelous accomplishments.

JENNIFER ON NACD

I think that NACD is a very good program. Mr. Doman is pleasant, witty, and he really listens to me. His program works too. I’ve seen improvements in my memory skills and a decrease in hyperactive behavior. I can now study for longer periods of time with better concentration. I look forward to seeing Mr. Doman on my evaluation visits. He really looks out for the kid’s welfare and makes sure the parents are doing the program correctly for their children. He also defends my right to have free time and creative time in spite of my hectic schedule. He’s a neat person!

Reprinted by permission of The NACD Foundation, Volume 10 No. 7, 1996 ©NACD

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We should let the experts educate our children. Moreover, the experts on any individual child should be directly involved in the education of that child. The most credible experts on any individual child are that child’s parents.

Learning begins the moment a child’s brain starts receiving stimulation and doesn’t end until it stops receiving stimulation. Because the majority of our children’s early learning experiences take place in their home environment, it stands to reason that their first teachers (their parents or guardians) are best suited to continue as their teachers. Therefore, the ideal educational situation, whenever possible, is that of homeschool.

Does this philosophy also apply to families with individuals who have been labeled with such problems as attention-deficit disorder (ADD) or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)? The answer is an obvious yes! Unfortunately, there are a great number of parents who lose confidence in teaching their children at home once a label enters the situation. Labels such as ADD or ADHD carry a great deal of mystery with them, and they can be overwhelming to some parents. The good news is that parents are still the experts on their children, and teaching them at home can still be an excellent choice.

What Is ADD and ADHD?

What is ADD and ADHD? Essentially, both of these labels describe symptoms. In fact, a list of symptoms is used to identify such children. A child receives a label based on prolonged occurrences of eight or more, out of a possible fourteen, symptoms before the age of seven. These symptoms have been identified as:

• Often fidgets with hands or feet or squirms in seat.
• Has difficulty remaining in seat when required to do so.
• Is easily distracted by extraneous stimuli.
• Has difficulty waiting for a turn in games or group situations.
• Often blurts out answers to questions before they have been completed.
• Has difficulty following through on instructions from others.
• Has difficulty sustaining attention in tasks or play activity.
• Often shifts from one uncompleted activity to another.
• Has difficulty playing quietly.
• Often talks excessively.
• Often interrupts or intrudes on others.
• Often doesn’t listen to what is being said.
• Often loses things necessary for tasks or activities at school or at home.
• Often engages in physically dangerous activities without considering the possible consequences.

The label ADD refers to those children who are experiencing attention problems, but who are not hyperactive or impulsive. Such children display a variety of symptoms that can be related to inefficiencies in different areas of their development. Fortunately, developmental problems can be identified, addressed, and often eliminated.

Tactility Development

In the development of tactility, there are two common areas where problems can occur. The first one involves the ability of an individual to appropriately process sensations of light touch, pressure, and pain. The second area of tactile development involves proprioception. Proprioception refers to one’s knowledge of where one’s body is in space. If an individual has not completed developing his proprioception, his brain is not likely to know specifically where his body is. Symptoms of low development in this area include bumping into things, fidgeting or squirming around, and, to a degree, engaging in physically dangerous activities without considering the consequences.

To determine if your child has a problem with tactility, ask yourself these questions:

• Does my child exhibit the above-mentioned symptoms?
• Does she have a high threshold for pain (unaware of where she got bruises on her arms and legs after playing outside)?
• Is she inappropriately ticklish (not ticklish at all or so ticklish that she can’t stand to be touched)?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, your child may not have completed all of the developmental levels dealing with tactility. These problems can be corrected by providing specific tactile stimulation to complete all of the levels of tactile development.

Auditory and Visual Processing

Processing (both auditory and visual) is another area often found to be underdeveloped. An individual’s auditory and visual processing affects their short-term memory. If a child has low processing, it may appear that he is not listening to what is being said. The reality is that he is unable to process the information completely. Other symptoms that occur related to short-term memory/low processing include difficulty in following through on instructions from others, in remaining in one’s seat, in getting easily distracted, in waiting for one’s turn in game situations, in sustaining attention or shifting attention from task to task, in playing quietly, and in losing things necessary for task completion. Using a simple technique can identify children with low processing.

To check your child’s auditory and visual processing levels, you will need to administer a digit span test. To test for auditory levels, dictate a sequence of numbers to your child. Say them slowly (about one second apart) and in a monotone. For example say, “6 . . . 4 . . . 3 . . . 7,” then have your child repeat the numbers back to you in the same order. If she can correctly repeat four numbers in a row, try a sequence of five, then six, and so on. Take note of the sequence length she is able to complete without making a mistake.

To test your child’s visual processing, show him sequences of numbers on flashcards. Use dark solid ink on cards three inches by five inches, showing them to your child for approximately three seconds each. After three seconds, put the card down and have him repeat the numbers he saw on the card in the same order. Begin with a sequence of three or four numbers and increase the sequence size using new numbers and cards. Take note of how long of a sequence he can do correctly.

On both auditory and visual tests, a three-year-old should be able to complete sequences of three numbers; a four-year-old a sequence of four; a five-year-old, five; a six-year-old, six; a seven-year-old, seven; and adults should be able to complete a sequence of seven or more. If your child has low processing skills, you can help increase his skills by practicing the digit spans daily, thus increasing the brain’s ability to process information.
Long-term–memory problems may also be an issue with children who have received a label such as ADD or ADHD. This is related to a concept known as dominance. Almost everyone is either right- or left-handed. In order for the brain to take in information as efficiently as possible, it is helpful to consider if a child is right- or left-eared, -eyed, and -footed.

Gathering Information About Developmental Issues

How can you know which is your child’s dominant eye, ear, or foot? This process involves gathering a great deal of information. Which hand does your child write with? Does she write with this hand all of the time? Which hand does she use to perform other functions with? Which hand does your child use to eat, throw a ball, or brush her teeth? Is she doing all of these activities with the same hand? If so, which one? If your child does all or most activities with a single hand, she probably has established a dominant hand.

The foot can be as easily observed as the hand. Watch your child to see which foot she uses to kick a ball. Observe your child hopping on one foot. Which foot did she use? The foot used most often should be recorded. Also note whether the foot she uses changes consistently. Once you have gathered information about the child’s hand and foot, the eye and ear can be assessed.

We all engage in two types of visual actions, referred to as near-point and far-point activities. When visual activities occur close to us (reading or writing), they are called near-point activities. When visual activities occur at a distance (watching TV or riding in a car), they are called far-point activities. There are several different ways to assess which eye your child is using to take in information for both types of activities.

To analyze visual near-point activities, you will need two note cards. Place a dot (about three-eighths of an inch in diameter) in the center of one note card. On the other card, punch a hole (about the same size as the dot) in the center. Place the card with the hole on top of the card with the dot, and line them up together. Place the cards on a flat surface, and sit your child directly in front of the cards. Instruct your child to lift only the card with the hole up to their face while watching the dot the entire time. Observe which eye he brings the card up to. Try this at several different times, and record the information.

To assess far-point activities, have your child stand across the room from yourself. Point at your child using your index finger, with your arm extended. Instruct your child to point back at you in the same way, so that it looks like his finger is touching yours. Observe which eye the child is using to line up his finger with. Have the child switch hands and repeat the exercise. Which eye is the child using to line up his finger with? Does your child switch between eyes? Record this information along with your previously gathered information on the child’s hand, foot, and near-point visual activities.

Analyzing the Information

Gathering information about your child’s auditory dominance is also a matter of observation. Have your child stand directly in front of a door in your home. Next, have someone on the other side of the door say something softly “through” the door. Encourage your child to “lean in and listen carefully” to what is being said. Observe which ear the child is using to listen at the door. Try this a number of times and record what you see.

Right-Side and Left-Side Dominance

Once you have gathered this information, examine it. Notice which side of the body is used for each activity. Does your child use the left hand, left eye (for near- and far-point), left ear, and left foot? Or does your child use everything on her right side? Is there a mixture (for example, right hand and foot, but left ear and mixed visually)? To use our brains efficiently, we must have an established dominant side. If there is a mixture of some kind, then the brain does not receive, process, store, and utilize information in the most efficient way possible.

Impulsivity

Impulsive behavior is another symptom commonly seen in children with the ADD or ADHD label. Traditionally, it has been treated with drugs. Two commonly prescribed drugs are Ritalin and Dexedrine. These drugs are used to affect the chemical makeup of the brain (more specifically, they raise dopamine levels). The objective is to reduce the impulsivity of the children. An alternative to medication is to take a look at what is causing the impulsivity and then eliminate it. Many times food sensitivities are found to be an issue.

Food Sensitivities

Food sensitivities are generally not as obvious as allergies, so they are often referred to as hidden problems. Symptoms of food sensitivities can include, but are not limited to, congestion of the nose and throat (which can be accompanied by headaches and postnasal drip), impulsivity, distractibility, hyperactivity, and a short attention span. Trying an elimination diet might be an avenue for families who suspect food sensitivities in their children. Speaking to someone familiar with food sensitivities is a good place to start. There are some other sources listed at the end of this article that may help.

Addressing the Problem

Addressing problem behavior is often another major area of concern for children who have been given labels such as ADD or ADHD. Establishing a positive environment, implementing a solid daily structure, and providing appropriate feedback are all very important components of a successful behavior plan. Depending on the child, it is sometimes necessary to eliminate certain negative behaviors before it is possible to establish a positive environment.

Consistency

The key to eliminating behaviors is to establish a consistent plan of action. A consequence to the behavior you are trying to eliminate should be thoughtfully chosen and consistently administered. The consequence should be one that a parent feels will work best for their particular child. Prolonged timeout is one method that has worked well when implemented consistently. Negative-token–economy systems (where a token is lost every time the behavior occurs) have also worked well. In this system, once all of the tokens are gone, the child’s day is over. Another alternative is to positively reinforce a behavior that is opposite and incompatible to the one you are trying to eliminate. For example, a child cannot be doing his chores and be on the floor throwing a temper tantrum at the same time.

Positivity

Once the negative behaviors have been eliminated, a positive environment needs to be established. A positive environment is one in which four positive statements are given for every one negative. It is interesting for parents to test this out on themselves. For a period of time every day, keep track on a piece of paper how many negative statements you make compared to how many positive statements. Most of us fall short of the optimum positive environment, but you can use this test as a starting point. Continue improving your positive-to-negative ratio until you have succeeded in creating a positive environment (four positive comments for every negative) in your home.

Daily Structure

Implementing a daily structure is also important for any expert homeschooling their child. First, establish a routine that you will follow each day or week. Next, go over this schedule with your child so he can expect what the day will hold for him. Your child can be involved in the process of developing the schedule, provided that the overall control of a child’s schedule stays firmly with the parent.

Conclusion

While the identification of labels such as ADD or ADHD is accomplished by looking at a list of symptoms, these symptoms do not constitute the actual problem. It is essential to look at the underlying cause of these symptoms. Once the root causes are identified, they can be addressed and, hopefully, eliminated through specific stimulation. The National Association for Child Development (NACD) is an international organization that assesses the underlying causes to these symptoms. Browse the Web site to learn more about how they empower parents with the knowledge, techniques, and expertise that enables them to assume primary responsibility for their children’s maximum growth and development.

About NACD’s Homeschool & Home Education Programs

The National Association for Child Development (NACD) has conducted over fifty thousand individual evaluations and designed over fifty thousand homeschool programs over the past sixteen years. NACD provides families with individualized programs for children with labels like ADD, ADHD, learning disabled, autistic, mentally disabled, brain injured, Down syndrome, and gifted, serving families who are committed to serving their children in the ways the parents feel are best. To read more about our home education programs, click here.

References

Robert Doman, Child Management, Journal of The NACD Foundation, Vol.3, No.1 (NACD 1983).

Robert Doman, Food Sensitivities, Journal of The NACD Foundation, Vol.4, No. 2 (NACD 1984).

Robert J. Doman Jr., Guide to Child Development and Education: Miracles of Child Development (NACD 1986).

Robert J. Doman Jr., Guide to Child Management (NACD 1986) – No longer available.

Robert J. Doman Jr., Guide to the Parent Teacher (NACD 1986).

Dr. Doris Rapp, “Is this Your Child?” in Allergies and Your Family, Dr. Doris Rapp, 2757 Elmwood, Kenmore, NY, 14217, 716-875-5578.

Dr. Benjamin Feingold, Why Your Child is Hyperactive, The Feingold Association of the United States, P.O. Box 655, Alexandria, VA, 22306, 703-768-FAUS.

Reprinted by permission of The NACD Foundation, Volume 10 No. 8, 1996 ©NACD
(formerly The National Academy for Child Development)

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NACD’s developmental and educational programs are designed to lead each child toward developing his/her fullest potential. These programs are designed through the expertise of Robert J. Doman, Jr., and represent an eclectic approach to child development. These programs are implemented by the parents and other family members under the training and auspices of The NACD Foundation.

The philosophy behind these programs is based upon the acceptance of the concepts of the plasticity and redundancy of the Central Nervous System, as well as the branching effect of the system which can be produced through specific stimulation. It is further believed that:

• Function provides a mirror from which the level of development may be evaluated, and
• The development of the system follows an orderly sequence.

It is possible to determine the individual’s level of function as it relates to his/her overall development. An individual’s function is measured in the receptive areas of visual, auditory, and tactile competence, and in the expressive areas of mobility, language, and manual competence. With this information it is then possible to design a treatment and/or acceleration program which provides specific stimulation to those levels which require further organization.

The goal of such a program is to permit the individual to progress towards organized function and to lessen any degree of dysfunction so that his highest functional potential may be realized. Development of and movement through dysfunctional and neurologically dysorganized levels of the Central Nervous System is achieved through the application of appropriate stimuli which is delivered with sufficient frequency, intensity, and duration.

The evaluation and consequent programming consist of the following:

PHASE ONE

• Review of developmental, medical, educational, and social history.
• Functional developmental evaluation in the receptive areas of visual, auditory and tactile competence, and in the expressive areas of language, mobility, and manual competence.
• Assessment of educational function, utilizing standardized individualized achievement tests where indicated.
• Evaluation of social-behavioral function.

PHASE TWO

Design of an individual program which includes:

• Neurological development
• Perceptual training
• Educational training and development
• Social development
• Behavioral management

PHASE THREE

• Training of the parents in the implementation of the individual program.

Children with special problems have special needs. These needs are rarely met, and these children are almost universally denied the opportunity to reach their potentials. Traditional approaches to these problems lack the necessary direction, specificity, and intensity that are needed for these children with special problems. NACD’s philosophy implies a continuum of function ranging from a low of coma, to a high of genius. All children are on this continuum. Most, given the opportunity, have the potential to improve. Children included within these programs come to us with a variety of labels, including brain injury, cerebral palsy, mental retardation, Down Syndrome, autism, learning disorder, hyperactivity, etc.

Neither Robert J. Doman, Jr., nor his associates are licensed to practice medicine. The design of individual developmental programs is based upon experience and represent suggestions to the family. Each family is encouraged to make its own decisions regarding which specific program techniques and methodologies it wishes to utilize for the children. If medical or other licensed professional advice is needed, please consult a licensed physician or other licensed professional.

Reprinted from the Journal of The NACD Foundation (formerly The National Academy for Child Development)

Reprinted by permission of The NACD Foundation, Volume 10 No. 5, 1996 ©NACD

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The NACD Foundation speaks of persons who ineffectively pass through or miss critical developmental brain levels as being neurologically dysorganized. This simply means they have a brain which is inefficient in its ability to receive, process, store and utilize information. Depending upon which level or levels of the brain that are involved, the individual may exhibit a number of problems in areas of learning, socializing and behaving. These inefficiencies of the brain manifest themselves in a large variety of symptoms.

The world unfortunately views each of these many symptoms as isolated entities, and thus over the years an ever enlarging list of labels has emerged. This ever growing and ever changing list of labels applied to children has served only to confuse parents and professionals alike. The end result is either the world accepts the symptomatic label with all of the inherent limitations on the child that the label implies or the world attempts to treat the symptom. Good sense requires that we treat the cause of the problem, in this case, the brain rather than the many symptoms which brain inefficiency can produce. The purpose of this paper is not to detail the nature of NACD’s program but instead to review some of the possible complications of failure to treat the neurologically dysorganized child.

One of the many labels applied to some neurologically dysorganized children is “hyperactive.” In a recently published article a ten year follow up of over 100 such children from upper, middle, and lower classes, in Los Angeles County the author indicated that such “hyperactive” children showed problems which included:

• Short Attention Span
• Low Threshold of Frustration
• Tantrums
• Excessive Motor Activity
• Learning Difficulties

When compared to a control group of matched children not having the label “hyperactive” the ten year study revealed the following:

• Upper class “hyperactive” children were just as likely to have an arrest record as lower class “hyperactive” children.
• Upper class “hyperactive” children had an arrest record which showed they were arrested 20 times more frequently than the matched control group who were not “hyperactive.”
• Twenty five percent of the “hyperactive” group had to be “institutionalized” at an average cost of the tax payers of $25,000 per year because of the problems the hyperactive children have with the law as compared to 1% of the non-hyperactive children.

The solution to juvenile delinquency is not in putting such children away after they have committed a crime but in looking at the cause of the problem. In the case of “hyperactive” children, the cause of the problem is obviously an inefficient brain. Treat the brain with a proper program, appropriate for the individual child as we would with a program at NACD, and thereby prevent the complications which might otherwise result.

Reprinted from the Journal of The NACD Foundation (formerly The National Academy for Child Development)

Reprinted by permission of The NACD Foundation, Volume 7 No. 2, 1986 ©NACD

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Special Education

Twenty-five years ago, special education was in its infancy. It was virtually impossible for the parents of children with severe problems to obtain any services from their school systems. With the recent development of special education and the passing of legislation providing for children with special needs, funds are now available through state and federal governments to supplement the education of these children. An effort is being made to evaluate and place more and more children, and as a result, the numbers of “special” programs have increased, and many children are being inappropriately labeled and placed in special classes.

Special Education Placement and Classification

Children are being labeled as learning disabled, hyperactive, neurologically impaired, etc., and are being assigned special class placement, while proper programs are still not available for children with severe problems. Each year, new classifications arise for those individuals who do not “fit” into the regular, “normal” classroom. In some areas, as many as 40 percent of the school population is currently pigeon-holed to fit into one of these categories. Fortunately for most of us, we were attending school during a period when these classifications did not exist. If they had, a large percentage of us would have been placed in special classrooms, attached with special labels.

Stigmas of Labelization

It is important to note that the classifications are administrative ones and they are not a diagnosis, for there is no such disease as hyperkinesis, hyperactivity, learning disabled, etc. These are merely symptoms of a problem, and they are not the problem itself. Children who are placed in these special-education categories become stigmatized by the label because they are segregated and thrust into an abnormal environment that makes it virtually impossible for them to learn normal, appropriate behaviors. Obviously, a child is incapable of learning normal behavior in an abnormal environment. Accordingly, these children, instead of having a great opportunity to succeed, have even less of a chance.

The Use of Drugs

Sadly, many of these labeled children are also placed on drugs in an effort to quiet and calm them down. Estimates of the number of “learning disabled” or “hyperactive” children on drugs go as high as 3 million children in this country today. It is amazing that the education-medical establishment can rationalize the placement of such a large group of children on amphetamines and other drugs during a period when we hear through various media of a public outcry denouncing the usage of drugs in our society by children.

Identification of Problems

The youth of today often exhibit difficulties in various facets of education such as reading, mathematics, etc. Not long ago, I lectured to a group of parents in a community where the most popular labels attached to children were neurologically impaired and communicationally handicapped. The parents pressed me to identify the terms I would use to label such children. My response was, “I call these children easy.” When one of these children would walk into my office, I usually would think, “Here comes one that is easy” or “there’s an easy one.” Why? Because the problems of these children are easy to identify and generally easy to remediate, as the children are often found to be what is termed neurologically dysorganized.

Neurological Dysorganization

A child who is found to be lacking in complete neurological organization is, to some degree, neurologically dysorganized. To a large extent, this is an environmental problem or an inherited problem, as opposed to organic dysorganization such as would be found in a child who is suffering from a brain injury. The first step in detecting neurological dysorganization is to evaluate the child against the developmental profile and to have him tested to rule out the possibility of an organic problem.

Evaluation of Dysorganization

NACD’s evaluation of these children begins by determining the organization at the brain level of the pons. This is ascertained while viewing the child’s ability to crawl on his stomach. The child should be able to crawl on his stomach in what is termed a “cross pattern” without receiving specific instruction. Cross-pattern crawling is forward movement where the child extends his right arm and pulls up his left leg, pushing and pulling with the right arm and left leg. He then alternates his movement so that he is pushing and pulling with the left arm and right leg. If the child crawls in what is called a homolateral pattern (which is pushing and pulling with the right arm and right leg, and then the left arm and left leg) he is exhibiting a degree of dysorganization at that level. If the child crawls without a pattern or in a manner where he is extending both arms forward and pulling both legs up, he is also reflecting dysorganization in the pons area of the brain.

Mid-brain Evaluation

Advancing to the mid-brain, organization or dysorganization can be assessed by examining the child’s ability to creep on his hands and knees. Remember, you crawl before you creep. Crawling is on the stomach, and creeping is on the hands and knees. The child should also creep in a cross pattern. Properly, the child’s hands should be extended flat on the floor with fingers pointing forward. Ideally, the child should be looking forward at the extended hand. Again, if the child creeps in a homologous (bunny hop) or a homolateral pattern (right arm and right leg) he is exhibiting a degree of dysorganization. In assessing your child’s ability to creep, it is necessary that you have him creep at various speeds, with varied amounts of starting and stopping. A child properly organized at this level should never go into the homolateral pattern or homologous pattern.

The Cortex

Progressing up into the lower cortex area of the brain, you may evaluate organization by viewing the child’s ability to walk. Instruct the child to walk across the room while he points at his feet, and assess whether he is walking in a homolateral pattern or a cross pattern. You may wish to demonstrate to the child what you intend him to do, then have him mimic your actions. Have the child follow your instructions while starting and stopping his movement several times. Any hesitation he displays about which hand to point is an indication of dysorganization. He should be pointing opposite hand to opposite foot, and should not walk in a homolateral pattern. There are many children who lack this cross-pattern function, and they reflect coordination problems to a certain extent. Coordinated gross motor action culminates in a cross pattern whether it’s bowling, doing a basketball lay-up, or throwing a baseball pitch. A child who lacks complete organization will display a loss of coordination to some degree. Interestingly, there is the rare child who is neurologically dysorganized but has good coordination. Such children generally have other inefficiencies, particularly mixed dominance.

Cortical Hemispheric Dominance

Neurological organization culminates at the top cortical level of the brain. This organization is the establishment of cortical-hemispheric dominance. This is the establishment of a dominant hemisphere, or side. A completely organized child should be right-handed, right-footed, right-eared, and right-eyed, or left-handed, left-footed, and so on.

Assessment of Dominance

To assess your child’s dominance, begin by evaluating the function of his hands. You can find out if he has a dominant hand, as this will be the hand he writes with, throws a ball with, etc. These functions should all be done with the same hand. If a child writes with one hand and throws a ball with the opposite hand, he obviously is displaying mixed dominance. Assessment of foot dominance is essentially done by using the same method, observing which foot the child kicks with, hops with, etc.

To assess auditory dominance, have the child put his ear next to the door and attempt to listen to conversation that is emanating from the other side. Speak very softly so that the child leans toward you. The child will turn his head to either the right or left so that the dominant ear is closest to the source of the sound.

Assessment of visual dominance is accomplished at what is called near point and far point, using vision as close as three feet and at a further distance. To assess the child at a distance, have him point his finger toward your finger while you extend your arm and point your finger toward the child. If you sight along your finger to his finger, you can find out which eye he is using. You may wish to have him alternate his extended arm from right to left to double check your findings. Also have the child look into a telescope or kaleidoscope, as he will invariably use the dominant eye.

At near point place a one-eighth inch dot on a piece of paper and put another paper with a one-eighth inch hole in the center on top. Line up the hole with the dot so that the child can see the dot by looking through the hole on the top piece of paper. Have the child grasp the paper with the hole in both hands and slowly move the paper up to his eye, watching the dot the entire time. Again, watch which eye the child brings the paper to, as it will invariably be the dominant eye.

A completely organized child will have a dominant hand, foot, ear, and eye, which will be all on the same side. If the child lacks complete dominance in any area or does not exhibit dominance on the same side, it’s a reflection of a degree of neurological dysorganization.

How Dysorganization Affects Function

If the child lacks a controlling hemisphere of the brain organization is lacking because the influx of information to the brain is not occurring correctly. For instance, a child may take visual information through his right eye and store it in his left hemisphere. When a child neglects to take in information from one side and place it in one hemisphere he is not establishing firm pathways into the brain. The child cannot efficiently process that information. You might view the dysorganization as a room filled with filing cabinets. If he is properly organized all of the files are in alphabetical order and he can place a piece of information in and extract it efficiently. A dysorganized child’s files are not alphabetized, and he may absorb the information but when he attempts to retrieve it he may be unable to do so. These children are classically the ones who study for a test one night, only to fail when they go in to take it. They took in the information but lost it when they attempted to retrieve it. When you place these children under any type of stress, the system immediately begins falling apart, and their function diminishes. Often these children neglect to remember a homework assignment from the previous night, yet they can remember what color dress mother wore on Christmas two years previously. These individuals are not lacking innate intelligence. They just cannot properly take in information, assimilate it, process it, and bring it back out again.

Categorization and Classification

Categories and classifications depend to a large extent on the particular school system or district that the child is placed in. In one school district the child may be labeled as learning disabled, while in another he may be categorized as hyperactive. This is the same child with the same problem, but for the most part there are some differences in the symptoms of the children that are placed in these various categories.

The Hyperactive Child

A child who is severely hyperactive is possibly a child with an organic problem, such as a slight brain injury or metabolic problem. Many of these children may be helped through dietary restrictions or medical intervention. A large percentage of the children labeled as hyperactive are those who the teacher feels move around too much, are easily distracted, and/or exhibit a short attention span. There are many bright children who display these same characteristics. It is amazing that often a child who has been thus labeled can sit in front of a television set for an hour straight without losing interest.

Abnormal Learning Environments

Some children are placed in a learning environment that is inappropriate for them. The pace is too slow, the material covered is below their intellectual level, etc. Such a child needs to be challenged and stimulated, and he is not receiving this in his present learning environment. Young children are much brighter and quicker than we often assume, and we may assess a learning environment as appropriate for them when in reality the pace is too slow. As an example, I reflect back to when my son was in kindergarten. I received a call from the school saying my son possibly had a problem in that he seemed slightly hyperactive and had a short attention span. This characterized itself during story time. I went in to observe as the teacher arranged the class in a semi-circle and began reading a story. Sure enough, during the reading my son got up and went to the rear of the classroom where the books were stored and picked one out and began reading. After the teacher finished her reading, she came over to me and said, “Look! See what I mean? He has a short attention span and is unable to sit quietly while I read the story.” I told her that I would have been disappointed if he had remained seated, because he had read that book over a year ago.He was not hyperactive and he did not have a short attention span. He was merely bored. The teacher was reading material that he was already familiar with, and it was below his present intellectual level. It follows that a large percentage of the children diagnosed as hyperactive or hyperkinetic are in reality children who are bright but are bored at their school’s slow pace.

Learning Disabled Child

The child with this label usually is a child who is a classic example of neurological dysorganization. However, some children who are diagnosed as learning disabled have no problem at all, other than being situated in a learning environment that incorporates an inappropriate program. For instance, when you place a child who is a visual learner in a classroom atmosphere with an auditory approach to reading such as phonics, the child will often fail, not because he is incapable of learning to read but because he is a visual learner and has been placed in an auditory program. On numerous occasions, parents have brought their children into our offices claiming that they were failing first or second grade. Often it was the type of learning environment that actually played the key role in the problem. Often it was discovered that the children not only could read, but actually were reading above their grade level. These were children who for the most part had been instructed in kindergarten or nursery school to read by sight and were being tested on their grasp of phonics rather than their individual ability to read.

A child who is heavily visual or auditory does need some remediation in terms of developing the other modality. Such a child can be situated in a home program to strengthen his ability to assimilate and process visual or auditory information, depending upon which function was found lacking.

The Effects of Dysorganization

One of the effects of dysorganization and lack of a dominant hemisphere is often a problem with language-related activities, such as verbal language and reading. Language is a function of the dominant hemisphere, and if the child is dysorganized, he often has a handicap in terms of his language function. Interestingly, children who lack cortical-hemispheric dominance often have good musical abilities. Music is a function of the sub-dominant hemisphere. To clarify this, reflect on someone who has experienced a stroke. If the stroke occurred in the dominant hemisphere of the brain, the person quite possibly could have lost the ability to speak. If the same individual who could not speak were asked to sing, he quite possibly could do so, since music is not in the dominant hemisphere that was affected by the stroke.

The average child does not generally establish dominance until the end of first grade, although a child’s development can be accelerated to the point where dominance may be realized at the age of 2 or 3 years. However, placing children in a musical environment prior to establishment of dominance acts to reinforce the sub-dominant hemisphere, thus delaying the establishment of dominance. In many cases, without specific remediation we are making that child neurologically dysorganized in such a fashion that he may never become properly organized. Once the child exceeds the age of 6, he has become fixed in his method of accomplishing acts in a particular mode, such as writing with the left hand, kicking with the right food, etc. He will not naturally alter organization to become properly dominant. Specific remediation must take place if we are to correct the organization dysfunction.

The child who is labeled as having a communication handicap is one who lacks dominance, since language functions in the dominant hemisphere. This is the same type of problem experienced by individuals who stutter. We are able to listen to the stuttering child jump from hemisphere to hemisphere in an attempt to communicate.

Behavioral Problems

Children identified as having a behavior problem are generally easy to remediate, with appropriate treatment and management. The problem, however, can be a severe handicap for the child. The dysorganized but otherwise bright child, who is presently not functioning at the same level as his peers, questions his own intelligence and dwells upon what is wrong and why he is different. A large portion of these children eventually (at approximately the third grade level) develop behavior problems. These behavioral problems can originate as a self-defense mechanism, one that the child formulates in an effort to protect his battered ego. If a child tries and fails, he generally is left with only one recourse, which is to internalize the belief that he is of below normal intelligence. Therefore, it is safer in the terms of his ego protection to not try at all or to act out. He then can blame his failure on the fact that he did not try, which is much easier for him to live with.

Children labeled as behavior problems will develop a poor self-image, particularly if they are placed in a special class. Every child attending school knows who is placed in a special classroom, and the child becomes an object of taunting and ridicule by his peers, which only serves to strengthen his poor self- image. He is segregated at the school and in the neighborhood, which correspondingly alters the child’s behavior to produce feelings of despondency that force the child to withdraw and be come introverted and often aggressive. These children seem to be always getting into fights, and very often it is they who initiate the quarrel.

Sexual Disparity

The problems of hyperactivity, learning disability, etc., are more commonly attributed to boys than they are to girls. The primary cause of this disparity between the sexes is a matter of motivation and getting a proper start in life. Before children enter a classroom environment, little girls are in the house playing school while their male counterparts are outside rough-housing and playing in the dirt.

A friend called one day in hysterics, stating that her son in kindergarten received a report from his teacher stating that he had flunked paper-cutting. The mother was at a loss to explain why her son had failed, and she desired to know what this failure entailed. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the child. He was very active and bright. He just had not received prior experience in cutting, which is a problem you would rarely find in a girl as they are continually cutting out paper dolls and making dresses for them, etc. Girls have the advantage of starting school on the right foot, since they play school at an early age and are interested in reading quietly in their mothers’ laps and listening to stories, thereby internalizing various words and phrases spoken. As a result of this prior knowledge, they generally succeed in the early stages of school. That is not to say that females do not exist who fall into the various categories of learning disabled and hyperkinetic. However, the ratio within these categories is three boys to every one girl.

Difficulties in the Classroom

One of the great tragedies of this era is that many children are being classified and labeled, restricted in their opportunities and being denied the opportunities of reaching their potentials. A child who has been placed in a special-education classroom rarely ever leaves the classroom. Since the curriculum in the special classroom is geared below that of the normal class, no matter how well the child progresses each year, he inevitably falls behind his peers in their regular classroom. In addition to this problem, he also has been labeled, which provides not only a social stigma but destroys the child’s own self-image. If data were available, it is quite possible that we would discover adolescent suicides are much higher among those children who have been labeled and classified compared to those who have not.

As the school systems develop these programs, they are placing labels on the children at earlier and earlier ages. Within the next few years we will see more and more schools taking responsibility for children at ages 2 or 3. One of the initial steps the school will develop is to test and evaluate the child. The children are no longer attached with relatively harmless labels such a being lazy or full of beans or he is all boy. Now the child is learning-disabled, hyperactive, or behavioral disordered. There’s a potential for great danger in this, in that millions of children run the risk of being permanently disabled through the process of having these labels thrust upon them.

Goals of Home Programs

When we work on home programs with children with mild dysorganization on the pons, mid-brain, and cortical levels, we can often alleviate these minor problems within a six-month period. If the child has a more severe problem, therapeutical measures would take a longer amount of time for complete remediation. We set home-program goals for children with minor problems as high as advancing academically in reading and math at a rate of one year’s growth within every three-month period.

Rapid advancement is not as difficult as it may sound, because concurrently we are improving the child’s neurological functions, enabling him to absorb information and process it at a much faster rate. We also design the academic program to fit the needs of each individual child. Quite often we only require thirty minutes a day for the child’s instruction, for both the neurological and academic portions of the program.

The future can be bright for these children if the problem itself is treated and not the symptoms. We must also avoid the labels, stigma, and destruction of the child’s self-image.

Reprinted from the Journal of The NACD Foundation (formerly The National Academy for Child Development)

Journal of the National Association for Child Development 1986, Volume 7, No. 8

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