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Q - I have a 13 yr.old daughter who has been diagnosed with both ADD & ODD. She has been medicated for six years as her behaviors were so violent, dangerous and disruptive. After all other forms of treatment that we were aware of were exhausted. The ADD we can handle but the ODD derails any progress we make. Does your program have any effect with ODD?
A - The treatment of ODD involves behavioural as well as neurological therapies.
Typically, the ODD child has a deficiency at the back of the brain
associated with problems with quieting as well as an imbalance in the
frontal regions associated with the oppositional predisposition. We work
closely with parents to implement behavioural programs as well. The ADD is
the least of the problem, as you note, whereas the ODD behaviors can be
severe. It is also important to note that head injury can give rise to
behaviors that can mimic ODD such as poor social regulation, poor impulse
regulation, aggressive and rage behaviour. The first step is to have a brain
assessment to determine the exact nature of the problem. Neurotherapy in
conjunction with behavioral therapies have been successful in markedly
improving the behaviour of the ODD child. |
Q - Our eight year old son is moderately autistic and speech delayed, for the last four years he has received ABA therapy. He hasn't made any significant advances in the last year.
Can you please help him.
A - The first step is to contact our offices to set-up an initial brain
assessment to determine the exact nature and location of the problem(s).
Subsequent neurotherapeutic treatment focuses on improving the problematic
areas in the brain as identified in the initial intake assessment. To
schedule an appointment call our offices at 604-608-0444. If you are not in
the Vancouver area or cannot come to our clinic call our reception at the
same number and we may be able to recommend a qualified practitioner in your
area. |
Q - My son is 9 years old, was diagnosed as ADHD in kindergarten. He is now taking Biphenton, which seems to be working. The problem is, my son has been obsessed with diapers and pull-ups since he became potty trained at age 3. He used to steal them from my friends who had younger children. Recently, he has been stealing them from somewhere (assuming school as he has not been anywhere else that he would have access to them). When he gets to his grandparents house after school, they tell me he locks himself in the bathroom for about an hour, or 4 or 5 times consecutively. When grandma goes into the bathroom, there is a used pull up in the garbage. He refuses to answer any questions in regards to the diaper. He hasn't brought any home at all in the past 4 years. Why would he be doing this?
A - There can be many reasons why you child developed this obsession. However,
given that he has not been symptomatic for four years, I would assume that
the condition has remitted and you should leave well enough alone. |
Q - My son, age 10, has trouble with reading, writing and math. His social & cognitive skills are quite high. We have done tutoring, vision therapy and the Tomatis program all of which have helped enormously, and he is in a great school so has lots of confidence and works in a multi-age setting. Do you think he would benefit from your program? Are the sessions difficult in any way for the child?
A - Neurotherapy can be profoundly helpful with ASD at all levels of severity.
In addition to neurotherapy we often recommend adjunctive treatment programs
such as the ones you describe. To determine the areas of inefficiency in
brain functioning the first step is to make an appointment for a brain
assessment. Based on that assessment we can determine the areas in which
neurotherapy can be helpful. Generally, the sessions are very enjoyable for
the child. They have the opportunity to play a video type game with their
brain. Somewhat more demanding protocols are often introduced later in
treatment in which the child is required to perform a task during
neurotherapy treatment. Such tasks may include reading, writing, holding a
conversation on a specific topic and the like. If the child is having a
problem with one of these tasks, reading for example, the session could be
difficult and tiring although as the tasks are introduced gradually the child does not react to
these more demanding sessions in any distressed manner. |
Q - I have 2 sons one active one sluggish, both have learning issues, ADHD and ADD with neurological disorder. How do we access your help?,What cost?I live in Victoria B.C and am a working single mom of 4.
(name withheld)
A - When clients live at some distance from our clinic they often come in less
frequently for multiple sessions. Unfortunately there are no neurotherapists
in Victoria that we can recommend. The treatment costs vary depending on the
level of service required. For less serious problems such as ADD most of the
treatments are $105 per session. Specialized treatment that may be required
from time to time vary from about $130 to $150 per session. These
specialized sessions may include remediation for reading or written output,
parenting skills consultations and the like. The initial intake assessment
is $180. Our services are covered by many extended medical plans and are tax
deductible medical expenses. Be cautious of franchise like practitioners who
offer one-size-fits-all treatments. They are generally NOT
licensed/certified in the Province (and therefore their fees are not covered
by extended medical nor tax deductible) nor certified to practice
neurotherapy. |
Q - I have a child in my care that has been diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, Narcotics Abuse Syndrom, and ADHD. She is 10 years old and is on concerta medication for the ADHD, but even with that is very impulsive, has learning problems and has to have a one on one aide in order to get any work done in school. Is there any help through neurotherapy?? How long would the process take and how much would it cost?
A - Neurotherapy can be very helpful with these conditions. Degree of
improvement depends on extent of brain compromise and areas affected. FAS
and NAS always implicate the frontal regions of the brain thus affecting
impulse control, mood volatility and oppositional behaviors. Treating FAS in
particular can be a long process because of the damage to brain. The
estimate of how many sessions is difficult until we see exactly the nature
and severity of the brain dysfunction. Parents generally persist in
treatment as long as continued progress is observed. However, we are
certainly in the range of 30 plus sessions for these conditions, although
parents generally notice improvement after 5 or so sessions. The treatments
average about $115, most are at $105. Extended medical plans cover some of
the costs. |
Q - Hello,
My son has a problem with learning.He has never been diagnosed with ADD or other disoder.
Probably the problem is that our family made two immigrations and our son changed many schools.
It was bulling and different stuff and I think he wasn't able to concentrate on his studies.He was worry one.He has excellent marks at the beginning and started to read first from others in the class. Then he had back problem,doctors couldn't diagnose him,they said everything OK.He couldn't walk,stayed at home,didn't go to school,became depressed as he was isolated.Now he is in a better health,going to GYM,but doesn't know what to do,low self-esteem.Can't go back to school,saying that I never liked to study and wasn't good in it,which is not true.
His father also was controling and critisizing.
I want that our son will find himself and will sturt to study.I've encouraged him to go to psycologist,but he never wanted to go,he wants to do everything by himself and he will be in September 20years old.He did work a few months with his father,but didn't like that job and wants to find something,but I don't know when.It's hard for him to start anything especcially he doesn't have a high school diploma.Parents both have Masters degree.
I don't know where and how to find any help.It's happened to him at age 16.I was helping and supporting him always,but he needs to want to do thing by himself,I can only suggest.
He wants to do something interesting in life,but can't find.He says,when I'll find something what I like I will go to study.From one side,from other side -I'm not good with studies,I have ADD.
So,probably if he says that he needs to be diagnosed,but he doesn't want to go anywhere.
Teachers always told me that he is very good with writing,writing poems;speaking,he should go to broadcasting.He did like to write,but now nothing.Only different interests on internet and he really knows a lot in different subjects.
Please suggest something if you can.
Many regards and thank you in advance,
(name withheld)
A - We see many clients with backgrounds similar to that of your son. As you
suggest, there appear to be several problems contributing to his difficulty
in finding himself. He probably has some learning difficulty, perhaps one of
the many forms of ADHD. His moving around during his formative years
probably also contributed to feelings of insecurity and perhaps he isolated
somewhat from peers thereby reducing social learning that takes place with
peer interaction. Bullying is extremely serious and can have major negative
effects on a child's development and capacity for learning. Bullying often
results in emotional trauma that affects a brainwave associated with ability
to retain information.
All of this is speculative, of course, and the only way to definitively
determine the exact nature of the problem is to do a brain assessment. The
assessment will identify the brain areas that are problematic that can then
be corrected with neurotherapy. When dealing with young adults with these
problems, such as ADHD, we also have problems with self-esteem, lack of
self-confidence, depression, and the like resulting from long experience
with untreated learning disorders and the legacy of the bullying. Hence, in
addition to some neurotherapy to correct the brain inefficiencies some
behavioural therapy would be needed to help correct the psychological
problems. Some career counselling is usually also recommended to help the
young adult find a career path. First step is to make an appointment with a
licensed and certified neurotherapists and have a brain assessment to
determine the exact nature of the neurological difficulties. |
Q - I am currently doing the Pace program with my son who is 8 years old. They are now reccomending me to change to Samonas. This is all rather costly and I'm losing confidence that we are going in the right direction. Are you familiar with the Pace program or Samonas? Are we wasting our time with either of these programs?
Thank You.
A - Both of these programs have merit, but it depends are the reasons you are
using them. In general, we find that these programs as well as tutorial
programs in general are most useful AFTER the child has had some
neurotherapy to correct brain inefficiencies. Tutoring, for example, if
markedly more useful when the child is no longer struggling with
neurological problems. Often with neurotherapy, these programs are not
required at all. The Samonos program is less effective as compared with
neurotherapy which is far more efficient. It sounds from your question that
the Pace has not been very effective. It may be that your child has some
neurological inefficiencies that are not readily corrected by Pace. If that
is the case I would also doubt that Samonas would be much better. The most
efficient system is to have a brain assessment to determine exactly what
inefficiencies are causing the problems and correct those with neurotherapy.
Adjunctive supportive treatments often include sound programs and/or
tutoring but after the child is able to benefit from these programs because
the brain inefficiencies have been corrected. The harmonics we use in my
clinic have been designed to influence specific brain activity at specific
sites. We prescribe these harmonic after it has been determined with
brainwave assessments that the harmonics do, in fact, show brainwave
changes. If you just wish to use a harmonic that will help with focus, Omni (available at soundhealthproducts.com ,
is very helpful.
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Q - It is my experience that ADD and ADHD do not really exist. A very large company in Switzerland invented the disorder in order to sell volumes of Ritalin to sell and have made billions of dollars since. Is this disorder not just normal child activity as Erikson would suggest. How do we buy into this marketing ploy.
A - I agree. Everyone has some cognitive inefficiencies and when there are several or some that are more severe it interferes with child's ability to attend and or sit still. We optimize brain functioning, with neurotherapy, to reduce the troubling aspects of the inefficiencies. As you suggest, we are medicating the normal behaviour of children, more so for the boisterous and male, which is an outrage. |
Q - We have an appointment in May for our son who is turning 7 and has been diagnosed with ADHD together with ODD and has not been medicated nor will be. My extended health coverage through the BCMA will be covering some of the visit costs but my question is if it is determined after the initial consultation that neurotherapy will help (and after reading the Q&A page I understand that there will be quite a few sessions) is there a timeframe in which these sessions need to be completed in and how is it decided how many sessions will be needed? Also, do these sessions include any sort of behaviour modification counseling with the child and parents?
Thank you
A - Much depends on the type of ADHD that we are dealing with. Some forms
respond very quickly with minimal need for behaviour therapy or work with
parents. Other forms, particularly with older male children, can take many
sessions and the behaviour modification component is major and central to
successful treatment. Generally it is important to do the first 1/3 to 1/2
of the treatments fairly close together, once per week, and after that we
spread them out to every 2 weeks then once per month and so on. We will be
able to be more precise about treatment parameters after the initial intake. |
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