ADHD and ADD Answers for Parents

In my office I routinely work with children who are having a hard time in school.  It is becoming more and more common for these kids to be diagnosed with a neurobehavioral disorder.  Regardless, of what "label" has been put on your child I want to take a few minutes to explain what is happening in your child's brain that may affect him/her throughout life if not corrected.  For parents, I know it can be frustrating when your child is not doing as well in school as you had hoped for them.  It is very important that you understand what may be causing your child's difficulties, and that there are measures that can be taken to help your child.

In children with ADHD/ADD we see that they have a "Functional Disconnection" between the two hemispheres of their brain.  For whatever reason, whether it be poor diet, vaccinations, molds, subluxations, birth trauma, etc., the right side of their brain has failed to develop appropriately.  In turn, this causes the child's left brain to over-fire.  When this brain imbalance exists, it creates an inability for your child to inhibit impulses.  Let me explain further...

I want you to think of the right brain as your brake pedal.  It helps you to inhibit impulses whether they are movements or thoughts.  Therefore when your child is sitting in class and there are noises around them, their right brain fails to categorize these noises as "trivial" and your child's natural reflexes dictate that they "investigate" the change in their environment.  This is why these kids with right brain deficits are inattentive and have a hard time focusing.  There are many other consequences of these right brain deficiencies but that is for a different day.

The important thing to note here is that your child's brain is malleable, meaning it is susceptible to permanent changes for good or bad depending on the stimulation it receives.  In my practice we focus on helping these kids by balancing their brain's activities through brain based stimulation.  Unlike many other "therapies" available for children with neurobehavioral disorders we locate the exact regions of cortical function that are failing to work appropriately and aim treatment at stimulating that specific region.  If you would like more information on the techniques I use in my office to help children with ADHD and ADD contact my office at 763-398-7770 and request my FREE DVD for our ADHD/ADD Recovery Program.

In closing, I always like to give you a practical piece of information that you can immediately apply to help your child.  I mentioned above the importance of stimulating the weak right brain in these kids.  It is equally important to decrease stimulation to the over-firing left brain.  Activities that stimulate the left brain include: TV watching, video games, and computer use.  Just something for you to consider.

Dr. Josh Huffman, D.C.