ADHD Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder - Syracuse

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder was previously known as hyper kinesis, a term indicating abnormal excessive movement, especially in children.  As short treatment has become common in the term ADHD has been promoted to emphasize attention deficit.  The attention deficit portion of ADHD was previously known as learning disability.  Hyper kinesis in learning disability can be present in the same person, or there can be a predominance of either condition.  This discussion will concentrate on hyper kinesis.

ADHD appears by age 7 and can continue into adulthood.  The principal characteristics are hyperactivity, impulsive mess, and inattention.  There may be 1, 2, or all three of these characteristics present.  Boys are more often hyperkinetic and girls.  There is usually no familial pattern to the conditions; in fact, rarely is more than one child in the family involved even though there may be siblings.

The hyperkinetic child is not just an overactive youngster who cannot be controlled by his parents because they lacked parental authority in disciplinary ability.  The hyperkinetic child is actually any neurologic disadvantage because of one or more physiological reasons.

There are many characteristics that distinguish hyperkinetic children.  Some have several or most of these characteristics all the time; others display only a few of them.

There is yet another variation; some hyperkinetic children show considerable aggression or other symptoms during one part of the day, yet they are very loving and comment other times.

Some of these characteristics are present at some time in almost everyone; their presence does not necessarily indicate ADHD.  The condition must be present before seven years of age, lasting for six months or more.  The behaviors must be excessive for a child of that age and interfere with school work, other children, family life, and/or physical activities.  The inappropriate activity must be continuous, not just a reaction to a temporary situation.  If poor behavior is only present in a specific setting, the circumstances of that setting should be suspect.  For example, if the child does well in all of his classes except one or two those classes should be evaluated.

Characteristics of hyper kinesis vary among people.  Some of these symptoms can be correlated with the cause is found by applied kinesiology examination.

1. Movement is consistently excessive for the activity being accomplished.  The child's hands and legs are constantly moving; he has a tendency to rock and dance, the constant wiggles in shackles.  This overactivity is sometimes seen in very early life when the child beats his crib, Max's head, and are heavily rocks his crib.

2. Aggression towards his peers and parents is the child's nature.  He is compulsive in his disruption of others activities; when obviously causing an interruption, he cannot be diverted from the action.  He is a compulsion to touch everything and everyone.  His acts of aggression are often dangerous to his own safety, but he is incapable of recognizing the danger.

3. Unpredictability.  It is difficult to determine how the child will react in a specific situation he is impulsive and may react differently at different times.  He is highly excitable, especially when something does not go as he wishes.

4. In patients.  The hyperkinetic child has many demands that must be met quickly.  He sometimes cries for no apparent reason and becomes frustrated very easily.

5. Short attention span, with inability to concentrate.  The hyperkinetic child rarely completes a project, in his capability of sitting quietly through school, meals, or TV programs is very limited, even though he may be enjoying the activity.  For examples, the child may be enjoying a television program but cannot sit still to watch it.  He gets up, moves to another chair, sits on the floor, goes back to his original seat - continually moving about throughout the program.

6. Poor coordination.  The child is often considered clumsy in an attentive to what he is doing; however, closer observation shows that he cannot coordinate the right side of his body with the left.  Bought new clothes and generally dressing is difficult.  He has difficulty in writing and drawing because his eyes and hands fail to function harmoniously.  He may be poor in sports, such as catching and throwing a ball and will frequently bump into objects.

Poor coordination extends to thought processes.  The child may mean one thing and say exactly the opposite he may be told to do something yet he does exactly the opposite this is not a failure to obey; it is confusion within the thought processes.

7. Poor sleep habits.  The child is usually a restless sleeper who does not want to ever been.  He will wake off into the night.  Many hyperkinetic children cannot get enough sleep for their body's needs.

Cause and Treatment

Many children diagnosed as ADHD are given stimulant medication to make them more compliant and manageable.  Sometimes other psychoactive drugs are added to the stimulants.  Children with ADHD usually have a normal or above average IQ but drugs may suppress them at the expense of their imaginations, creativity, and overall enthusiasm for life.  Many historically creative people would today be classified as ADHD.  

There is no single approach that is inclusive to treat hyper kinesis.  A thorough examination of psychology and function is necessary to find the cause of the problem.  The examination should begin with a history and then include a general health examination.  The more specific items that apply to hyper kinesis are found in an applied kinesiology functional examination that follows the general health examination.  

As found that applied kinesiology diagnosis, there are three basic reasons the child is hyperkinetic.  When one or more of these positive factors is found and subsequently treated, he returned to normal of hyperkinetic children is exceptionally good without the use of drugs.

Neurologic Disorganization

There are specific steps of development through which the nervous system progresses to function at an optimum level.  This development takes place step-by-step throughout the maturation of the baby and young Child.  There is a stage during which the two sides of the body begin to work together.  This is known as developing bilaterally, accomplished when the child is crawling on hands and knees.  Walking should not be encouraged until the child wants to walk.  When bilaterality is developed walking is appropriate, and right or left dominance develops.  This correlates with the right or left handedness of the body.  Sometimes the child does not progress properly through the stages, and the two sides of the body fell to function in an organized manner.  Dominance of hand, foot, I, and here may be disorganized.

When there is an adequate neurologic organization, there are many factors of dysfunction that can contribute to hyper kinesis in the child.  His eyes may fail to function together to transmit a proper visual image to his brain for a correct interpretation. This can cause difficulty in perceiving his environment, resulting in perceptual difficulties.  Other types of neurologic disorganization may cause his extremities to network together when walking, running, catching a ball, and generally orienting his body in space.

When neurologic disorganization is present, the messages within the nervous system are not consistent with the reality of the current situation.  Children with this problem will often say the exact opposite of what they mean, or do the opposite of what they are told.  The term switching is often applied to this nerve condition because of the characteristics switching nature of nerve message interpretation.

The child who exhibits characteristic clumsiness, inability to button assure, doing opposite of what is intended, and poor reading and writing should be considered potentially neurologically disorganized.

A common cause of neurologic disorganization is dysfunction of the craniosacral primary respiratory system.  The physiologic motion of the dural membranes covering the brain can be disrupted by the child falling and receiving a blow to the head a difficult birth can distort the cranial bones and caused dural tension.  When a child beats his head on the crib, cranial birth trauma should be considered.

Neurologic disorganization may also develop later in life as a result of injury or severe illness.  The symptomatic picture in the acquired adult condition is very similar to that of poor development of nerve organization and the child.

Blood Sugar Handling Stress

There are some who consider refined sugar to be the cause of hyper kinesis; this is not correct.  It is the inability of the body to control blood sugar levels that creates a problem.

Blood sugar level is especially important because the nervous system - especially the brain - it's extremely dependent on normal blood sugar level for optimal function.

Blood sugar levels fluctuate with meals and the types of physical and mental activity being done by the individual.  When the blood sugar levels are not controlled properly, there are times when a child's blood sugar level is good and other times when it is poor.  This is the child to his hyperkinetic during one part of the day and functions better at other times.  Mood changes usually accompany the blood sugar level changes.

Let's sugar levels are regulated by hormones from the glands within the body.  They are also very dependent upon the type of diet eaten by the child.

Treatment usually consists of nerve and energy control of the glandular system, probably dietary changes and maybe nutritional supplements.

Food and/or Chemical Sensitivity

Reaction to food or food additives can change a person's mental and physical characteristics almost immediately upon contact.  This is easily recognized when a person comes in contact with something that is out of the ordinary.  This often happens when a new medication is taken.  The person may almost immediately feel mental or physical changes and be able to attribute the problem to the medication.  Unfortunately, sometimes a person can be an almost constant contact with a certain food or food additive or some other item in the environment.  In this case examination of the person sensitivity to various substances must be done to find the offending items.

Some people are sensitive to certain food additives.  The sensitivity may be genetic in nature, which is why some children are so sensitive and others are not.  Food coloring and preservatives are the additives most commonly involved in hyper kinesis.  Sensitivity to these items can be determined through and applied kinesiology examination.  The child will usually improve rapidly after these items are removed from his diet.  It is amazing to see how quickly one goes back into hyper kinesis with even a slight dietary indiscretion.

Treatment Results

Treatment of hyper kinesis with applied kinesiology techniques usually produces favorable results in a very short time.  You must remember, however, that even though the physiological reason for the hyper kinesis is removed within a few weeks or a few months, the child is still not completely free of the problem.  Time is required for total health to be reestablished because the initial damage caused by hyper kinesis is still present.  For example, if the child is very aggressive towards his peers in the playground, they will still expect him to be the same unrelenting bully he previously was.  Consequently, they will react to him and he will probably retaliate.  Until a new report is established in the situation, there will still be problems although the proper steps for ultimate correction have been taken.

During treatment and recovery parents must be vigilant in making certain the child follows any dietary changes or other recommendations prescribed.  Especially when the child has been a major problem, it is difficult for the parents to recognize that the child is now recovering in different methods of management are needed.  The child must recognize the parental authority and the pair must apply the authority and a just manner.

It is important to treat hyper kinesis as early as possible in order to avoid the many ramifications of the condition.  Children do not usually grow out of hyper kinesis the untreated hyperkinetic child is the juvenile delinquent today any adult who cannot adjust to society tomorrow.