Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Keep kids hydrated to improve cognitave function.

For a substance that is so essential to life, water seems remarkably unremarkable: colorless, odorless, tasteless. Yet, it is the magic elixir for learning, the "secret potion" for learning.


A 2009 study at the University of East London investigated whether having a drink of water improved children's behavior on cognitive tasks.  Fifty-eight children aged 7-9 were randomly allocated to a group that received an extra glass of water or a group that did not.  Results show that children who drank additional water performed better on visual attention tasks.  These results indicate that a child's cognitive performance can be improved by having a drink of water.

Water is one of the most important and most abundant inorganic substances in the body.  Water comprises more of the brain than any other organ in the body.  It is essential for the electrical transmissions within the nervous system that allow us to sense, learn, think and act. 

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

The numbers on co-morbidity and ADHD

54-76% of ADHD children meet the criteria for oppositional defiant disorder.
20-50% of ADHD children meet the criteria for conduct disorder.
12-21% of ADHD adults qualify for antisocial personality disorder.
The severity of ADHD is correlated to the severity of other disorders.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Dominance and Lateralization

Understanding dominance and lateralization can guide us to the best approach when working with children suffering from neurobehavioral disorders.


*4 easy tests to determine the dominant hemisphere.
Hand- Throw a small ball and ask the child to catch it and throw it back with one hand.
Foot- Place a small ball on the ground and ask the child to kick it.
Eye- Create a telescope with a used paper towel roll. Hand it to the child at mid line of the waist and instruct the child to take the telescope with both hands and look into it. If you want you can check whether the child uses a different eye when looking through the telescope at a near or far object.
Ear- Tell the child that you heard some noise on the other side of the door and him to listen at the door and see if he hears it.
For each dominance tested, record the dominant side.


Mixed dominance (not having some or all dominance on the right) may be a sign of developmental delay or brain disorganization. Up until 7 years old, the mixed dominance may resolve with proper care and brain balancing protocol. After 7 years old, the mixed dominance pattern is usually fixed. Each mixed dominance has a pattern of strengths and weaknesses. When the language centers are located in the left hemisphere (which occurs in most people, but there may be exceptions), it is neurologically ideal to have right-sided dominance.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Testing Attention

The T.O.V.A. is a diagnostic test used by many child behavioral practitioners to test variables of attention.  Taken pre- and post treatment, it measures the speed and accuracy of response to a 21 minute computer task.  The task is pretty boring (trust me on this one) and requires a degree of maintained focus and concentration to complete.  For kids with ADHD, it provides insight as to how well a treatment is working to control attentiveness and impulsivity.  A T.O.V.A. score improvement of 0.5 confirms that drug therapy has been effective in the treatment of ADHD.  Pre-and post testing of children in our Whole Child Wellness program has shown T.O.V.A. score improvement at 2.0!  This is irrefutable evidence on the effectiveness of our program, and its ability to improve the function of the ADHD brain.  No medication needed!