Mark has ADHD...

Mark was having difficulties in school. His mother reports that he was colic as a baby, never slept well at night and was always very active. There were many times he even managed to get out of his cot himself. When he was in play school he was very active and never stayed at any activity for any length of time. He rarely sat down. At six years of age he was still not doing well in school. He had great difficulty staying on his seat for activities such as reading or in tasks that required cooperation. After a short period he would slide off his chair and start crawling on the floor like a lizard. His mother described him as 'whirl wind' that arrives on the scene when he attempted to join other children playing. He has great difficulty "fitting in" and has very few real friends. He finds it very difficult to pay attention to other children or adults, especially adults in authority and is always " butting in". Mark can hear the "grass grow" according to his mother and used to be very sensitive to certain sounds, the hoover for example.

Mark has recently been given a diagnosis of ADHD.

Many children who are overactive are attempting to stimulate an under active vestibular system. We know that the vestibular system is involved in receiving information from the senses, and is also involved in coordination, balance, muscle tone and a sense of body awareness. A well-integrated fully functioning vestibular system is necessary for us to live in harmony with ourselves. Some children with ADHD are also hypersensitive to sound as Mark is, that is they hear too much with their bodies, which can be very painful. Many of these children learn to tune out because they are overwhelmed by sound while other children become very active roll around the floor or move from topic to topic rapidly.

For most of us our language centre is on the left side of our brains. For us to listen to ourselves and to listen to others it is better to be Right Ear Dominant. This is because the right ear has a shorter, more direct route to the language centre of our brain.Being right eared dominant means that we can pay better attention because information arrives faster at the language centre in the left hemisphere of our brain, whereas being left eared dominant means that there is a delay and an extra journey taken for the information to arrive.

At Cluas we have trained Listening Therapists and we provide 1:1 or 1:2 therapist / client ratio where appropriate. Using classical music and the Electronic Ear as researched by Dr. Alfred Tomatis, an individual listening program was designed for Mark. Mark's individual auditory training program for use with the Electronic Ear, which included listening to classical music and his own voice through a microphone, retrained his ability to analyze sounds and his listening. The Electronic Ear using filtered and gaited music also works on the vestibular system and retrains the right ear to be dominant which has helped his concentration.

Mark is now a lot less sensitive to sound and his mother reports that he is a lot more amenable and willing to do little chores when requested, something that never happened before. He now listens longer and tends to complete more tasks in class. In school while he is still active he is much more cooperative and a lot calmer in class. He has recently made two new friends and fights a lot less with his sister.