Putting "The Brain Gym" to work for you.

Movement is essential for people of all ages and physical states.  The intentional movement available through the 26 Brain Gym Activities will enhance any learning pursuit, especially helping parents and educators to support children in their daily life endeavors.

Authors of "The Brain Gym", Paul and Gail Dennison, are pioneers in the field of mind-body integration known as Educational Kenesiology.  The activities are intended to be intentional, playful movement, that foster the flexibility, eye teaming, and hand-eye coordination that allow learners to thrive in the classroom, along with the ability to live happily and creatively amid the stresses of modern life.

Whole Child Wellness is currently working on a pilot study to document the effects of implementing "Brain Gym" activities in the classroom, in the hopes it will encourage more schools to use the techniques that incorporate movement into learning.

For more information on how to order the "Brain Gym" books, or to find out more about ways to incorporate movement to promote learning, please contact Whole Child Wellness at staff.drflemming@embarqmail.com .

Every Child is a Puzzle.

ADHD is a puzzle with hundreds of pieces.  Each child has their own unique puzzle, with some pieces being more important than others.  Whole Child Wellness looks as the entire ADHD puzzle and determines the key pieces that are causing the primary symptoms.

For most children, treating the two main pieces will bring 80% of the results, but it is crucial to treat them all. 

We are trained to find all the pieces of your child's puzzle, then tune the program to fit your child's need.

For more information on the pieces to your child's puzzle, go to naturalhelpforADHD.blogspot.com .

Parent Nights at Whole Child Wellness.

We have scheduled a "Parents Night" at Whole Child Wellness for Monday, May 16th and Thursday, May 26th at 7:00 pm.
Dr. Flemming will discuss the latest in brain balancing programs.  She will also be available to answer any questions parents may have regarding their childs symptoms and behavior. 
All parents are invited to come to the office, meet the Dr. and Brain Coaches, and learn a little more about the Whole Child Wellness program. 

Does your school have an ADHD Resource Kit?  Whole Child Wellness has developed a resource kit for local schools that has specific ideas on ways to reach and teach ADHD children.  Look in our upcoming newsletter for more information.  If you would like to receive this newsletter, e-mail NEWSLETTER to staff.drflemming@embarqmail.com .

Join us at the Zim Zumm Family Expo in Jacksonville!  See naturalhelpforadhd.blogspot.com to get times and dates!

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. 

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.

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.

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!