I spoke to a headmaster of a school recently about Neurotherapy as an alternative form of treatment for ADD/ADHD, referring to these children’s restlessness. His reaction was: O YOU MEAN THE FOX TERRIER CHILDREN!, referring to the activity level of a Fox Terrier, forever barking, stirring, being energetic, running around in circles purposelessly, chasing nothing.
Does your child…..
- Irritate the teacher and other children in the class?
- Throw classmates with chunks of rubber and paper?
- Climb up the roof and fences to test your nerves?
- Does a wheelie on his back wheel whilst turning around to see your reaction?
- Play with the other siblings until they cry, with the excuse that it’s just a game?
- Or scare people and watch their reaction?
- Picks a fight or sets other children’s anger alight so that they start to fight about something they don’t really understand, and then he walks off innocently?
- Acts as the class clown or wisecrack?
- Focuses on being sarcastic and sometimes mean?
- Makes inappropriate sounds?
- Acts out like a daredevil testing the limits?
- Gets excited by exercises such as bungee jumping and other activities that can cause injury or get him into serious trouble?
- Engages in activities where he obviously did not do any forethought?
Why do they engage in conflict seeking activities, are hyperactive, restless, and irritate others?
This is a way to stimulate the inactive or sleeping brain, which means that they normally suffer from an under arousal. They don’t plan to do these things. They have this unconscious need for stimulation. They try to keep the brain awake.
Individuals suffering from ADD/ADHD turn on their brains by causing turmoil. To get their parents or spouses to yell, may increase the activity in their prefrontal lobes and help them to feel more tuned in.
If you stop to provide the stimulation (in other words react to them by shouting, yelling or over reacting) their negative behaviour will decrease. So, don’t react to their message that conveys the message: “ let’s have a problem”.
How do we stop this game playing and auto-reaction? Psychotherapy with both parents and the child is one way of managing the problem. Neurotherapy addresses the basic problem. The lower frequencies that the ADD/ADHD brain produces are inhibited and the more productive frequencies that help us to concentrate, attend, focus, and being alert and calmer, are rewarded, so that we produce more effective brainwaves.
DR A Peche’ (0823356133 / 011 6756138)