The Dyslexia Doctor by Liza Marie Kelly

The Dyslexia Doctor The Incredible Scientific Progam based on Simple Body Movements that

cured my Son’s Dyslexia! by

Judy O’Donnell

Judy O’Donnell is a selected author whose quality of information, presentation and style of writing meets the grammatical standards required by the publisher’s commitment to produce digital nonacademic books and educational material to the level of EXCELLENCE for leisure and general readership.

Published by Spellbound Success Publications 2013

MEDICAL DISCLAIMER: This publication is based on the experience of the author only and her research. Its advice should not be taken as any alternative whatsoever to the expertise of registered medical practitioners and educational specialists. At all times, you should check with your medical advisor and educational experts before any corrective program is undertaken and seek his/her agreement beforehand. No responsibility whatsoever can be attributed to the author or publisher in this regard and at all times a medical and educational opinion from appropriate specialists must be sought before embarking on any corrective treatment or program.

COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER: The author wishes to make it absolutely clear that her copyright for this publication is held only for her personal story, her son’s responses to the scientific questionnaires and progression on the program. She cannot be held responsible for any inaccuracies in the published information which is from personal recall only. All intellectual property, scientific data, questionnaires, methodology, research and specialized knowledge in this area must be attributed at all times to the institute and experts named at the end of this book, or to their primary source material resources where appropriate, and which are unknown to the author. This publication comes with the highest possible recommendation and commendation for the named institute, and all further enquiries from the public must be referred to them for verification, full information and advice.

Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................. 4 Chapter One – Our Family Life ............................................................... 7 Chapter Two – What is Wrong with Greg?........................................... …11 Chapter Three – Greg, Sue and the Program .................................................... 16 Chapter Four – The Neurological Questionnaire ................................... 21 Chapter Five – Reflex Names and Testing ............................................. 31 Chapter Six – Greg’s New Program……………………………………….………….47 Chapter Seven – Greg gets a Gold Star!..................................................51 Chapter Eight - Final Thoughts and Resources: The Dyslexia Doctor………………………………………………..54

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to the Dyslexia Doctor whose revolutionary scientific method cured my son’s dyslexia in 1992. Your work has not been recognized internationally as it should have been – I hope this publication corrects that phenomenal injustice.

Introduction Today, my son Greg is 28. He is a loving husband and father who holds down a highly lucrative design job in the automotive industry. 20 years ago, things didn’t look so good because at the age of eight, Greg was diagnosed with severe dyslexia. My husband, Jack, and I went through a maelstrom of emotions, fears and despair as we sought to understand WHAT this meant, and WHY it had ‘happened’, and then HOW in God’s name we could find a solution. We have three children, and Greg is the middle child. I am a yoga teacher of 20 years and have always had great interest and passion for Mind/Body/Spirit. This includes all aspects of health – physical and mental, obviously. Jack is still a corporate guy who puts sport as his number one priority in his free time. When the kids were young, every weekend he took the two boys (the youngest was a pretty pink princess!) hiking, mountaineering, sailing and swimming depending on the season, and we were a copy-book happy family. 20 years ago, very little was known about Dyslexia and Specific Learning Difficulties. There was a very evident taboo around the fact that a child could not read or write properly, and the reason I am writing this book so many years later is that I am ASTONISHED that the method I am about to describe to you has not become mainstream in more elementary schools. Its scientific research has grown exponentially since the early scientific experiments of the late 1970s. In the early 1990s when Greg was treated, 4 © Judy O’Donnell 2013. All rights reserved.

the method was only 16 years old. Scientific books, detailed journals and periodicals have been written ever since which now absolutely substantiate those early inklings I had of an impending MAJOR discovery in understanding and treating Dyslexia and Specific Learning Difficulties (Disabilities). In two, decrepit, old cardboard boxes that have lain unpacked in my cellar, I have now uncovered the following information from my precise, handwritten notes which I present to you with the promise that this approach and method worked 100% for my precious son. In this book, I give you the name of the dyslexia doctor who runs an EXTRAORDINARY institute which has been treating dyslexic children for over 30 years. I will describe the physical and psychological tests that Greg had to perform to ascertain if he had a weakness in his Central Nervous System. (He loved every minute of the testing because it was fun). You will see with me how my son’s complex physiological and psychological profile indicated his inability to perform normal physical and mental tasks at the age of eight. I will also let you have all the questions that I had to answer about my pregnancy, his birth, his early walking, talking and eating habits. I hope very much indeed that this information is of great value to you, and it drives you onwards to do your own research and to contact the institute now so readily reachable today via email which in those ancient days of yesteryear, did not exist. 5 © Judy O’Donnell 2013. All rights reserved.

There IS a program that can help your child overcome specific learning difficulties. It worked for my son, and for countless other children using the same system. It also works for adults who have coped or found coping methods and mechanisms with these intangible difficulties and peculiarities all their lives. It gives me such personal joy to bring this information to you , because Jack and went through the endless, sleepless and tortured nights worrying about Greg’s unpredictable and unknown future – dropping out of school, juvenile delinquency, depression – believe me, we know all about that. You do not need to worry, kids are much tougher than we think and create coping mechanisms - but you do need this information to add to your research data, and you need this information as of yesterday. So everybody, let’s sit quietly and talk about Specific Learning Difficulties and a certain remedial program … Many blessings to your children,

Chapter One Our Family Life Some 20 years ago, Jack and I were on vacation in the south of England marveling at how happy we were. He had just taken a promotion to oversee a major computer project at the start of the internet boom, and we had just recently moved house to a more expensive area. Our three young kids, George, Greg and Natalie were in the private British school system with Jack’s company picking up the tab. George was ten, Greg seven, and Natalie, our precious little pink princess, was turning five. The boys seemed to settle in their new school really well with new buddies, sport and school-work, until we started to notice that our younger son, Greg, seemed to be showing signs of distress when he returned home after school. Always the noisy, life-and-soul of the party, Greg was the typical middlechild. He was strongly competitive with his older brother, and teased his baby sister mercilessly. He had always been sloppy, obstructive and argumentative giving Jack and me a hard time, but he had the biggest sunshine heart and a super mega-watt smile that lit up the room like a 7 © Judy O’Donnell 2013. All rights reserved.

firework display, and we never doubted his innate intelligence, although it took the form of messy, creative and wacky projects that his more focused and disciplined brother could not understand. We just thought that all our wonderful kids were different, and this was family life in all its infinite, hair-raising, crazy and delightful variety. Slowly, it became obvious something was not right with Greg. He became withdrawn, anxious, weepy, and his nightly bed-wetting became more frequent. He would throw tantrums to avoid going to school, and the school nurse would ring me at least once a week to tell me he was coming out of class sick with headaches. Jack and I knew he had a problem, but we did not know where to start. Was he being bullied at school? Was he feeling ostracized? Was he frightened of the teachers? George could not give us any idea either to explain his brother’s change of behavior, although he himself saw it but he could get nothing out of Greg. I think it is fair to say he was as perplexed as we were because he loved his brother. It was unfathomable and alarming. I think the most disconcerting aspect at the start of this shift in behavior was the extent of his change in personality over such a short time – in only a couple of months. To find your boy convulsively sobbing on his bed after school, instead of heading out into the yard to kick a ball with his brother, marauding through the kitchen hurling his clothes on the floor, and grabbing cakes and cookies by the bucket-load on the way out, is profoundly shocking.

To look into his eyes and see despair and confusion instead of a cheeky blue-eyed twinkle and ‘catch-me-if-you-can!’ expression made my heart plunge into the depths of my soul. He was not in physical pain because that would have been tangible and obvious, and he would have told us sharply and very loudly, leaving us no doubt he was hurting somewhere. So, what the hell was wrong? We took him to the regular doctor for a check-up who gave him the allclear, and told us it was just boys throwing tantrums, and it can be the early shift of hormonal activity before the onset of puberty. At seven? I thought that was more related to girls, and I was not at all satisfied with the prognosis. I thought it was ridiculous – there had been a dramatic change in personality and behavior, this was not a few unhappy molecules of testosterone that had gone a.w.o.l. Something was not right with my child and I knew it. I took him to the eye-doctor to check his sight. It was perfectly normal. He could see long distance i.e. the blackboard and the soccer goal, and short distance i.e. reading and writing. There was nothing opthalmically wrong with the measurements of his long and short sight whatsoever. My husband and I have always prided ourselves on the strength of our family unity. We both come from loving and supportive families with open-hearted transparency and affection in all domestic matters and concerns, and every week we would set aside an early Saturday evening together to talk about the matters of the last seven days with the 9 © Judy O’Donnell 2013. All rights reserved.

children. We would sit on cushions on the floor with the kids and ask them to talk about whatever came into their heads. In that way, Jack and I could gauge what was going on…and as a rule, it became a sloppy, boisterous affair with everybody shouting to be heard about soccer, racing bikes, Cinderella shoes and Barbie dolls. Thoroughly 100% normal. Jack and I would then go out to dinner to discuss anything that had come up, put it on a slow back-burner and enjoy time to ourselves as husband and wife. Thoroughly 100% normal. What I am saying here is that there was NO WAY our boy was traumatized by something going on within the family unit. Categorically no way. So that was ruled out. I decided it must be some nasty element in the classroom, and that some kid or kids were giving him a hard time, or maybe even the teachers who had an attitude against him or us for some imperceptible reason. I made an appointment to see Miss Harris, Greg’s Class Teacher.

Chapter Two What is wrong with Greg? Miss Harris was a lovely young, caring and gentle woman to my greatest relief, and she welcomed the opportunity to talk to me about Greg. I found tears welling up and flooding out as we sat down at a school desk to share our concerns. She came straight to the point. Greg, who was just turning eight, was well below average in reading and spelling, in fact he was bottom of the class by a large margin. He was very disruptive during lessons playing the wise-guy joker, and was becoming a real troublemaker to the extent that he was bullying some of the younger kids in the school playground, and other parents were lodging complaints about him.. He forgot his schoolwork regularly, was appallingly untidy and clumsy; he could not remember his way around school and seemed to have difficulty with ball games, and with skipping and hopping, and clapping along in the music class. I was so devastated, the blood drained from my face and I thought I would pass out. This woman was describing our beloved, beautiful son who was the light of our family life. I didn’t recognize this vile, horrible, obnoxious kid. Ours was loud, loving and lively in every way. The class bully? Please dear God, no, not Greg. There had to be a mistake, an explanation at least.

Miss Harris obviously saw I was deeply shocked and offered me a glass of water. Somehow I found my voice which emerged as a croaking whisper. I didn’t know where to start. I could hardly look the woman in the eye. For some reason, I felt deeply humiliated and ashamed – that I had done something profoundly wrong in my parenting. The obvious place to begin would have been the bullying, but my brain could not handle that, so I asked her to give me specifics about his poor performance in literary and writing skills to delay the shock, and to maintain my shaky composure. Greg, she told me, had great difficulty with simple reading and spelling tests. He could not recognize words he had read before, even if he had to pronounce them through slowly with his finger moving along the page. Even after he had managed to read something through, he did not always understand what he had read. It was as if all his energy went into the task of deciphering the code, without understanding the meaning of what he was reading. His concentration was terrible and he did not pay attention, and that is when he would decide to fidget, tease another child, or throw his book or pencils on the floor, or hum, tap his foot or produce any other disruptive behavior. He could not remember the alphabet, the days of the week or the names of the months, and he mostly got his letters round the wrong way, still confusing a ‘d’ with a ‘b’. He was extremely slow in completing any written task and often missed out two or three words while copying.

Well, so what? For God’s sake, he was only just approaching eight, I fumed inside. I am being told my son is an illiterate retard. Surely it was just a question of time, every child is different – each has his/her own rhythm. I mentioned this politely to his teacher, and she reminded me again that Greg was the bottom of the class, and way below average for his age.

She then moved on to the question of his clumsiness. He would regularly trip over in the school yard, hurting himself and did not seem to be able to walk in a straight line – had I noticed? Well, actually no, I hadn’t. He was called ‘Butterfingers’ and ‘Klutzy’ by the other kids because he always dropped the ball when it was thrown to him; he could not kick a soccer ball at all, and Miss Harris said she had observed that he did not seem to understand what to do when asked to hop. What? Hop? Ridiculous. You lift one leg up and jump around on the other. What did she mean he did not understand? As for the soccer ball, I had to ask George when I got home. I hadn’t noticed that either. I could no longer avoid the issue. “Miss Harris – the bullying?” “Mrs O’Donnell”, she said, “Before we go any further, is any member of your family or relatives dyslexic?” Dyslexic? What on earth was that? Wasn’t it something to do with left and right, with a stigma that nobody talked about in polite society? Dyslexic? Word-blindness, right?

Remember in those days in the late 1980s and early 1990s, very little was known about dyslexia and it was not that prevalent because it had a large stigma attached, a little like epilepsy used to have. Children with learning difficulties then, and in previous generations were called stupid and dumb, and learned to deal with it – if they ever did. So, even if there had been any dyslexia with us or in an earlier generation, I would not have known necessarily because it would have been hushed up, and when I later asked Jack, he said the same. Neither of us could remember anyone in our extended family – an eccentric old Uncle Tom or a crazy Aunt Ruth - suffering from reading difficulties. Today, things have radically changed and it has become very commonplace in schools to discuss and assist children with Specific Learning Difficulties or Disabilities, one of which is dyslexia. Thank dear God, it must be said. I think the angels in heaven were looking straight down on us in 1991, because to our incredible fortune, Miss Harris told me that her youngest brother had exhibited the EXACT same change in behavioral and personality patterns at the age of eight when he was diagnosed with dyslexia – which, she told me, is far more complex than simple wordblindness. The bullying starts as a reaction to the child’s self-esteem and confidence plunging because he/she feels so stupid and hopeless. She had recognized these symptoms in Greg, not only because she was an elementary school teacher, but because her own brother had gone through it!

Miss Harris herself was an archangel because before I left, she told me not to start the debilitating rounds of educational psychologists or doctors because she felt too much emphasis on what was NOT right might be detrimental to Greg’s development, and that could compound all the difficulties. She gave me the name of a therapist who was using a new remedial system from an institute founded in 1975 by a doctor conducting research and assisting children with SLDs. His system was being developed from research and programs used to treat and teach braindamaged children to function. Psychologists. Doctors. Brain-damage. She gave me the name of a lady called Sue.

Chapter Three Greg, Sue and The Program Now, I need to make something clear. I am not wasting your time or mine in explaining all the different aspects and nuances of SLDs. There is a VAST and PHENOMENAL body of knowledge, literature, scientific research studies, school programs and educational reports today written by leading scientific and educational experts in their fields. You will know about these, and you can research them yourself at your leisure. I am not any of the above experts and do not profess to be, and I repeat – things have dramatically improved in the 20 years since Greg was 15 © Judy O’Donnell 2013. All rights reserved.

treated. I am just presenting to you a system that worked for my son that I found in Great Britain in 1991. This system has been vastly and dramatically expanded with proper scientific trials throughout schools in Europe with phenomenal success, and I notice from their website, they hold annual training seminars for international participants. What I am going to do is to take you through a detailed analysis of Greg’s malfunctioning as it was seen by his therapist, Sue, and how it was corrected over a period of 12 months using simple movements, because I want to devote the rest of this book to giving you this information. Our first appointment with Sue was after school on a Tuesday. I was told to allow between 60-90 minutes for this first consultation where the concept of the program would be explained, and a comprehensive case history would be taken including details of the pregnancy and birth, etc. right up to the present time and Greg’s symptoms. Greg would then be asked all about his likes and dislikes – well, frankly, it sounded like fun. It was! Sue was a charming woman of about 40 with three kids older than mine, and her middle son had gone through the program which is why she had trained. She said it was the most fascinating program she had ever come across for children with SLDs because it was so revolutionary in its approach, and many of the mothers at that time were training as therapists because of its future implications for the treatment of SLDs, etc. She told me she had astonishing success rates for dyslexia! She made me a cup of coffee, poured Greg a juice, and we were off! Sue explained that she would be treating Greg for Neuro-Developmental Delay (NDD) which is the name given to the under-functioning of the 16 © Judy O’Donnell 2013. All rights reserved.

Central Nervous System (CNS). Research by the Institute of NeuroPhysiological Psychology (INPP) in Chester, England had shown that children with learning difficulties and behavioral problems are often diagnosed with an immature central nervous system, and the learning problems start to become apparent in early school life, because of the increased pressure on the child at this time. The symptoms of NDD are any of the following: hyperactivity, rebellious or comical behavior, language difficulties, poor memory, poor impulse control, bad physical coordination, poor sports abilities, difficulties with visual perception, bed-wetting and travel sickness. The causes of NDD (failure of the CNS to fully mature) is normally attributable to pre-natal difficulties, or to a severe illness in infancy, and/or hereditary factors. Sue went on to explain that more precisely, NDD is a therapy designed to test for the presence of infant reflexes which should have been modified by the brain into adult postural reflexes during early development. When a child is born, it cannot consciously control any activity, and infant (or primitive) reflexes ensure its survival until the age of 4-5 months, when these are normally transformed by the brain into adult postural reflexes which help us to read, write and think clearly. Infant reflexes had been studied extensively for 60 years1 by neurologists and pediatricians, many of whom acknowledge that the existing presence of reflexes may cause problems for the growing child. It was however, the application of this idea of aberrant reflexes to SLD 1

60 years in 1991 – now 82 years in 2013

children that was relatively new, and its remedial program so astonishingly successful. Sue told me that the research for this program was only 16 years old,2although the concept of Neuro-Developmental Delay (NDD) was internationally accepted. NDD Therapy was extensively used in the Swedish School System where over a thousand teachers then had already been trained in its detection. Internationally, hundreds of professionals including psychologists, psychiatrists, pediatricians, speech therapists and teachers had also been trained. I was absolutely hooked within the first 10 minutes. Sue told me that to reduce NDD to the normal levels of the age of the child, normally it would take maximum 12 months. Most children are through within nine months, and are usually taken on for treatment from aged eight onwards. Greg had turned eight the week before. I asked her to give me an example of how an aberrant reflex could be affecting Greg’s performance in school, and she gave me the following example in great detail, which I think is of enormous value to understand how this system works. One of the major reflexes developed in the womb and used by the infant up to the age of six months is the Asymmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex (ATNR). To elicit this reflex, the infant is placed on its back and its head 2

Again, 38 years as of today

gently turned to the right. As the head turns to the right, the right arm and leg extend - and the left arm and leg bend. This is reversed when the head is turned to the left. The ATNR is important in the birth process as the baby works its way down the birth canal, and it is important in developing binocular vision because the fingers of the extended hand (on the same side as the turned head) act as a focal point. But by six months, this reflex should be inhibited by the brain and at eight months, the opposite reflex should be in place – the Transformed Tonic Neck Reflex (TTNR) – where when the baby turns his head to the right, his left arm and leg extend, and right arm and leg bend. Now, if the TTNR does not develop, the child cannot crawl – simply because he cannot bring his arm back to his face (because of the persistent ATNR). Crawling is a VITAL stage of development for coordination, balance and visual perception. The child with the residual ATNR will have feeding difficulties, because as the hand raises to the mouth, the head will want to turn away and later in school, poor hand-eye coordination and possible writing difficulties may occur because the child’s head will want to turn away from the proximity of the pencil. This child may also grip the pencil in an unusual way, with much tension in the writing hand and arm to override the reflex – causing shoulder pains and headaches.

This reflex alone can cause all this trouble, so clearly a child with a cluster of persistent reflexes could easily reach an overload situation and cause it much distress. Absolutely, UNBELIEVABLY MINDBLOWING, I am sure you agree! I still get excited after all these years when I re-read this information. Do you understand why I had to write this book for you? Stay with me now …let’s move on to the questionnaires.

Chapter Four The Neurological Questionnaire Sue asked me what exactly was happening with Greg. What were his ‘presenting symptoms’? I simply said dyslexia because I did not know any better. I mentioned he was fidgety, aggressive, and clumsy; he had directional problems (getting lost in school) and had reading and writing difficulties. He had poor concentration and bad physical coordination. Later, I found out that these fall under different categories, namely dyspraxia, ADD, ADHD, for example. We then moved to specifics, I have put my own personal response with regard to Greg in italics. Sue scored each of Greg’s responses with a 0-4 rating. 1.

Any history in the family of SLDs?

Sue was looking for a genetic connection, or a hereditary predisposition. None known. 2.

Did I have any problems during pregnancy? Or high

blood pressure,

severe stress, excessive vomiting or suffer

a possible miscarriage? Did I smoke, drink alcohol, take drugs? Did I have a bad viral infection? This is to seek for anything that could harm the unborn baby. Preeclampsia, Rubella, Toxoplasmosis. Stress in the mother can affect fetal brain development, and can lower the level of testosterone in the womb which is vital for embryonic development. I had a very bad ear infection early on in the pregnancy. I never drank any alcohol or smoked through my pregnancies, and I have never taken drugs. No excessive vomiting, no threat of miscarriage either.

Was Greg born on time? Or was he early/late? This was to see if he was under or over-cooked in terms of

development. Greg was 10 days late. 4.

Was Gregâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s birth a normal vaginal delivery? Normal deliveries are supposed to prepare the baby for the

Galant are reinforced by the baby working its way down the birth canal. Forceps, a CS, breech etc. can interfere with the normal developmental processes. Greg was a forceps delivery. I also had 5 epidurals. 5.

Was the baby normal in weight and size?

Greg was normal. 6.

Were there any problems with sucking, feeding or colic? Difficulties with sucking and feeding can indicate an undeveloped

rooting and sucking reflex. If these same reflexes last too long after a few months, this can interfere with the more mature movements required for chewing. No. Nothing noticeable with my boy here. 7.

During the first six months, was the baby very still?

This is looking for an infant who is under-aroused, or has poor muscle tone. This could be indicative of NDD. No, Greg could not have been called still. 8.

Between the ages of 6 and 18 months, was the baby very

demanding, active, needing very little sleep and was he very noisy with non-stop yelling? Looking for an indication for ADHD – they have a history of bad sleeping. Just generally looking for evidence of NDD.

This describes Greg completely. He ticked all these boxes. 9.

Did your child rock violently when he could sit up and

stand? To the extent the buggy or cot moved? Rocking is normal, often increasing just before a new skill is learnt, and definitely before learning to creep. Violent rocking however can indicate lack of stimulation or sensory attention, like children in orphanages or people in mental institutions. Yes. Greg rocked violently in his cot. 10.

Was he a head-banger?

This can indicate a high level of internal excitation, or extreme frustration. Yes. He banged his head on the floor in fury. 11.

Was he early or late in walking? (before 10 months or

later than 16

months?)

To walk means the proof of the arrival of certain postural reflexes (i.e. inhibited primitive ones). A child late in taking his first steps may show signs of late motor or vestibular development. Greg walked just before his first birthday. Normal. 12.

Did your child crawl (on his stomach like a commando)?

Creep on his hands and knees? Or did he ‘bottom hop’? or ‘roll’?

Children who do not crawl and creep have high incidence of SLDs. Crawling and creeping are vital to motor development. Greg did not creep for long, if at all. 13.

What age did your child learn to talk? They should be speaking a few words with meaning by 12 months,

and phrases by 24 months. Speech depends on many development factors: tongue and

swallowing, proper hearing, correct control of the mouth, integration of the breath, etc.

Greg was quite normal here. 14.

Did he have any serious illnesses with high temperatures

convulsions? A very high temperature can damage the CNS. Illnesses such as whooping cough, scarlet fever and meningitis, etc. No.

15.

Any signs of eczema, asthma or allergies? This is to do with histamine release. Children who have retained a

Moro

Reflex seem to be more susceptible to allergies. No. Greg had nothing of note here.

16.

Any adverse reaction to the childhood immunization

No. Greg was normal. 17.

Were there any difficulties learning to dress himself? Sue was checking for both gross and fine motor-skills; the ability to

use

two limbs independently; to tell the difference between left and

right (shoes and socks), and to establish a sense of direction. Also, doing up

buttons which involved using the eyes at near-point, and then for

shoe- laces; the ability to cross the midline using bilateral integration to follow

a sequence.

Greg could not figure out the buttons on his school shirt, and with shoes 18.

it was 50/50. Did he still suck his thumb after the age of 2? She was looking for an uninhibited rooting and sucking reflex.

Sucking

also draws near objects closer into focus, and blurs the

distant world. It might show a child who has difficulty in visual near convergence later on. Oh boy. Greg was still sucking at 8! 19.

Was Greg still wetting the bed? This can be linked to a residual spinal Galant reflex. The pressure

of the pajama elastic at the waistband level can stimulate the Galant. Yes. He was still bedwetting, and more frequently now with the stress of

failing at school.

20. Did Greg get sick in the car while traveling? Motion sickness; looking for a mismatch of signals from the vestibular and visual apparatus; underdevelopment of the latter. Yes. Greg was often unwell in the car.

21.

Did your child have difficulty in reading in the first two

years of

elementary schooling?

The visual system is dependent on the maturation of the postural reflexes

and inhibition of the primitive reflexes. Children who cannot

hold themselves well posturally often are immature in the oculo-motor skills required to read. Reading itself is closely linked to physical abilities as the vice-versa. Yes. Greg had problems. 22. Were there any difficulties in first two years of elementary school in

early writing, and then cursive

writing? This is specifically to check if the hands and eyes are working together.

Some children can move their eyes to read, but cannot move

their eyes AND hands to write (visual-motor integration). When I mentioned to Sue

that Greg appeared sometimes to be

ambidextrous, she said that this was

considered a developmental

delay because of the failure to establish right or left dominance. Yes. Greg had problems. 23. Did he have trouble reading a regular clock, not digital? This is a spatial skill. Children who have underdeveloped posture and balance often are late in telling the time from a regular clock.

Greg was a little too young to verify this, as this occurs normally between the age of seven and nine. On his eighth birthday, however, he still did not have a clue.

24. Did he have difficulty learning to ride a two-wheeled bike? She was looking for immature balance and coordination; for postural

control and motor ability, and also permitting the body to

move its right

and left sides independently (bilateral integration). The

retention of

primitive reflexes and non-emergence of the

appropriate postural

reflex to replace them are often indicators of an

inability to ride a two- wheeler. Yes. Greg could not ride a bike at the age of eight. 25.

Did he suffer from Strep Throat, Ear and Nose

infections? Was he bronchial? This can affect the auditory mechanisms, and therefore balance in the

inner ear. The ear drum could have been affected through

infection, reducing sensitivity and creating difficulties in understanding the teacher. If the teacher raises his/her voice, the child can be intimidated and

become anxious.

Medication for the above can affect a sensitive child also exacerbating the problem. No. Greg was healthy in that way.

26. Did he have difficulty catching a ball? The eyes need to track a ball as it arrives, and must be able to converge

precisely. If the ball arrives unexpectedly, a retained Moro

reflex may cause the child to fling his arms back. The same applies with kicking a ball. The child has to have developed good control of balance on one leg combined with the swing of the other, may be

and this might indicate the eye movements and balance

immature.

Yes. Greg was a butterfingers, and could not kick a ball properly (confirmed by George). 27.

Does he have difficulty sitting still? Does he have ‘Ants-in-

the- Pants’? This is again to do with mastery over balance and control. Apart from boredom and difficulty holding attention, this could indicate immature postural development and presence of retained primitive reflexes. Greg had a termite’s nest in his pants. He never sat still. 28. Does he make regular and numerous errors when copying straight

from another book?

This checks for immature eye movements as previously explained. Yes. Greg scored maximum on this!

29. Does Greg put letters back to front, or omit letters and words

altogether?

Although eight is the age when this should have stopped, this can depend

on left-handedness because western script is much easier for

the right- hander. Beyond eight, this is usually a sign of a type of dyslexia which

could show difficulty in spatial skills, general ocular

immaturity and auditory malfunctioning in the inability to distinguish particularly vowel

sounds. Also locating the sounds coming from the

teacher can endorse a conclusion of spatial and orientation malfunctioning. Yes. Greg scored another maximum. 30. Does your child over-react if there is a sudden noise or movement? She was looking for a retained Moro reflex which is the flight or flight

reflex which should be inhibited within the first few months

of life. Also

to ascertain any middle-ear damage through infection,

as an over-reaction

to noise can explain hypersensitivity in ADD and

ADHD children. No. Not really. Greg seemed to be fairly normal. My daughter, Natalie,

was far worse!

That was it! By the end of this first questionnaire, I knew we had struck gold. I was absolutely 100% convinced that Greg had some kind of neurological blip which I hoped could be corrected, but I did not know for sure, or indeed, how.

Let me move on now to the physical testing …

Chapter Five Reflex Names and Testing

ur next appointment was the following Tuesday after school deliberately timed so that Greg would be a little tired and Sue could see what happened when his coping system started to break down. She told me to put him in shorts and

a T-shirt because she needed to see his elbows, knees and ankles. I should allow about 3 hours for the physical. Again, she scored a 0-4 rating. Just to remind you again, I am writing from my notes which are 20 years old. For sure, in the interim period there have been major advances in the understanding of SLDs and NDD, and extensive scientific explanations presented. I will just give you an outline of what Sue explained to me and how she tested for aberrant reflexes. I will give you all the necessary information for you to make your own enquiries at the end of this book.

MORO REFLEX Emerges 9 weeks in utero, is fully present at birth and

should be inhibited by 4 month of life, and replaced by the Startle Reflex. The Moro Reflex is an involuntary, physical reaction to a perceived threat - like a trip-switch. It is considered the first ‘flight or fight’ mechanism. Greg lay on the floor on his back with his arms and legs resting. His shoulders were elevated by a cushion, and his head was held in Sue’s hands, just about 2” above the cushion. Sue then told him that when he felt his head drop, he should pull hands across to his chest in a clasp. Sue dropped Greg’s head gently to about 3” below the cushion. Sue was looking for any inability to bring his arms inwards, or a slight delay. Specifically, she was watching to see if his arms would flay out, all of which would indicate the presence of the uninhibited Moro. Greg’s arms flayed right out, and he felt disorientated and upset. MORO PRESENT.

PALMAR REFLEX Emerges 11 weeks in utero, fully present at birth and

should be inhibited by 3rd month of life, replaced by the pincer grip. This is the ‘grasp’ reflex which, if not inhibited, affects manual dexterity (holding of pencils, and general activities with the hand). Speech can also be affected as this reflex is connected with hand to mouth movements.

Sue had Greg stand in front of her with his arms stretched out in front as if carrying a tray. His palms were up, and she stroked across each palm with a small artist’s paint brush. She was looking for any sign of movement of his fingers curling inwards in response to the stimulus. Greg said it tickled, but there was nothing obvious. PALMAR ABSENT. 3.

ASYMMETRICAL TONIC NECK REFLEX (ATNR) Emerges 18 weeks in utero, fully present at birth and

inhibited around 6th month of life. One of the important reflexes as I explained

at the start of this book.

The ATNR in utero provides the continual movements in the amniotic

fluid, and is used to work the baby’s way down the birth

canal. When the head is turned to one side, the arm and leg of that same side extend, and the limbs on the other side flex. Non-inhibition of this reflex will prevent the child from crawling along

with cross-lateral fluidity. Also, later in learning to walk – as

the child

turns his head, the limb on the same side will straighten and

the child will

lose his balance, producing a homo-lateral walk like a

robot (and causing

teasing from the other kids). The child may have

difficulty crossing the midline and have poor handwriting and ocular ability, particularly

regarding symmetrical drawings on paper.

Sue stood Greg in front of her, and she stood behind. His arms were straight out in front at shoulder level, and his hands drooped and relaxed at the wrists. She told him she would turn his head to the right and left, and wanted him not to move his arms.

She then moved his head to the right – paused for a few seconds – came back to the midline - paused for a few seconds - and then turned it to the left. She repeated this a few times. She was looking to see if Greg’s arms automatically followed the direction of his head. Greg’s arms swung into position like a flag to the wind. ATNR PRESENT BILATERALLY 4.

ROOTING AND SUCKING REFLEXES Emerge 24-28 weeks in utero, is fully present at birth and

should be

inhibited by 4 months of life.

A gentle touch of a baby’s cheek or the side of the mouth will elicit a

response where the baby turns in the direction of the stimulus, and

opens

his mouth to prepare to suck.

A retained rooting reflex may cause problems in feeding solids, and a

remaining suck reflex will prevent the tongue from developing the important movements for swallowing. This can be present in

school-

children who dribble excessively, and also because

underdeveloped sucking mechanisms affect manual dexterity because of involuntary

movements of the hands (Babkin Response). Also

obviously, speech

problems may become evident.

Sue asked Greg to stand in front of her, facing her. Rooting Reflex: She took the same artist’s brush and stroked from the outer part of the lower nose down across to both corners of his mouth - she repeated this a couple of times. She was looking for any movement or twitching of the mouth in response to the stimulus. Also, she watched his hands to see if there was any accompanying movement (Babkin Response). No. Greg did not twitch anywhere. ROOTING REFLEX ABSENT For the Sucking Reflex: with the same brush, she stroked in the area beneath the nose and central upper lip. She was looking for involuntary pursing of the lips (like a whistle). No. Greg did not twitch at all. SUCKING REFLEX ABSENT 5.

SPINAL GALANT REFLEX Emerges 20 weeks in utero, is actively present at birth

and should be inhibited from 3-9 months of life. Found in the lumbar region of the

spine.

One of the important reflexes and is thought to be integral to the birth process. Stimulation to the right of the lower spine will cause the infant to

arch away from the stimulus, with the curve of the arch

around the point of touch - in other words - he will bend his right leg upwards

towards the

stimulus and pull his left side away.

This reflex is associated with poor bladder control and bedwetting in

children over five. Also – so obviously – sitting in the classroom

will cause

fidgeting because any pant elastic on the waistband, or

the back of a school chair could elicit the response (and they may suddenly need to

pee in class). This will all affect his/her attention

and concentration –

particularly if the poor child thinks it is going to

urinate uncontrollably! It

may also affect posture like a limp, etc.

Sue asked Greg to lift up his T Shirt, and get down on all fours like a table. She took her artist’s brush, and stroked down his back a halfinch from the right side of his spine from shoulder to the lumbar area. She repeated the same on the other side. She looked for a hip movement outwards to the side of the stimulus. Greg jerked his hip out on both sides. SPINAL GALANT PRESENT BILATERALLY 7.

TONIC LABYRINTHINE REFLEX (TLR) FORWARDS Emerges in utero – known as flexus habitus (position of

the foetus in

the womb). Present in birth and inhibited at 4

months of life. TONIC LABYRINTHINE REFLEX (TLR) BACKWARDS Emerges at birth, inhibited from 6 weeks to 3 years. Very important vestibular reflexes elicited by the movement of the head forwards and backwards. If this reflex is still retained when the child starts to walk, because of the movement of his head he will always ‘trip’ his balance mechanisms and cannot find his secure center of gravity when

he walks. So, without the knowledge of ‘where he really 36

is’, he will have

difficulty in determining polar opposites in terms of

positioning – left and right, up and down – the feeling is very similar to how the Apollo

astronauts appeared to us in space.

The retention of the TLR prevents the next set of postural reflexes to

occur – the Head Righting Reflexes - which hold the head in

position and

govern eye movements.

Typical signs of a child with a retained TLR Forwards are: 

Bad forward slumped posture



Bad sense of balance



Dislike of sports



Bad hand-eye coordination



No sense of time



Travel sickness



Visual difficulties

Typical signs of a child with a retained TLR Backwards are: 

Bad balance and coordination



Jerky movements with the limbs



Often walking on tip-toes



Problems with spatial orientation



Travel sickness



Visual difficulties as above

Sue asked Greg to stand in front of her with his back to her, with feet together and arms straight down along the side of his body. She asked him to close his eyes. She gently pulled his head slightly back, ensuring she was in position to catch him if he lost balance. She held his head gently backwards for 10 seconds, and then moved it forwards to look (with closed eyes) at his feet. Again, she held this position for 10 seconds, and then repeated the two movements about 5 times or 6 times. Sue wanted to see if Greg lost balance, made any compensatory movements to lock himself into position – the locking of the knees is a give-away, and the digging of bare toes into the carpet. Yes. Greg started to collapse forwards and lose balance backwards. When he realized, he locked his knees and tensed his legs tightly to stop himself. TLR PRESENT FORWARDS AND BACKWARDS 8.

SYMMETRICAL TONIC NECK REFLEX (STNR) Emerges 6-9 months in utero, inhibited by about 11

months of life. This is an interim, bridging reflex as it helps the baby get up off the floor on to its hands and knees (i.e. working against gravity). Retention of this

reflex prevents the child from creeping. Often he/she will

walk like bear,

i.e. on their hands and feet or bottom-shuffle, locking

the elbows or

raising the feet.

ability to creep and crawl and later comprehension of a written language. Primitive tribes that do not allow their children to creep along the ground because of danger in the jungle – snakes, insects, etc. produce children who are far-sighted because they are not allowed to focus on anything close to hand – in other words, when a child creeps, he develops his near-sightedness.3 These tribes can neither read nor write (although it could be argued, they don’t require to do so). The point is – obviously if our children have not crawled properly, there may be major problems with ocular development. Remember, Greg was given the full okay by his eye-doctor for long and short sightedness, he was NOT checked for his ability to copy from far (the blackboard) to near (his writing book)! Some symptoms of a residual STNR are: 

Slumping at the school desk (and at the dinner table)



Walking like an ape



When kneeling on the floor with body upright, legs splay into

a W position 

Clumsy and messy



Difficulty learning to swim. Unsynchronized movements –

prefers

to be underwater

Sue had Greg get onto all fours on the floor, and into the table position with his head looking downward at the carpet. She asked him to lower his head slowly and gently to look between his legs at his toes. She asked him to hold this for 10 seconds, and then to raise his head slowly 3

I have no idea of the source of this information. I may have found it myself or Sue may have told me. I am hoping the specialists listed at the end of this book will give you the author’s name of this study. Fascinating.

to the start point, and continue onwards and upwards to look at the ceiling. Greg repeated this 5 or 6 times. She was looking to see if he bent his arms at the elbows or raised his toes when he looked down, and if he locked his elbows and bent his knees as he looked up. Yes. Greg locked his elbows on the way up and bent his knees. STNR PRESENT. 9.

LANDAU REFLEX Emerges at 2-4 months of life, inhibited by approximately

36th – 42nd

month.

This is not a real reflex, but is another bridging mechanism to tighten up the muscle tone, inhibit the TLR and encourage development of

ocular/vestibular-motor skills. An uninhibited Landau may show

the

presence of a TLR, as well as preventing the child from skipping

and hopping because he cannot flex his leg muscles at will. Sue had Greg lie on the floor on his stomach, with his hands at shoulder position, nose on the floor, legs and feet together pointing downwards. She asked him to lift his head and arms off the floor, arching his back like a cobra. She was looking to see if he lifted his legs off the floor as he raised his upper body. Yes. Greg’s legs joined in unison. He looked like a canoe. LANDAU PRESENT. 10.

AMPHIBIAN REFLEX 40

Emerges 4-6 months in the neonate, should remain uninhibited for

life.

This is a reflex which SHOULD be present. If it is not fully formed, the

child cannot cross-pattern when it is creeping and crawling. This

will affect future gross-muscle control for sports, etc. and also may result in a homologous walk like a camel. Greg lay on the floor on his back, hands along his sides. Sue ensured he was feeling relaxed, and she gently lifted his right hip, and then his left. She then repeated exactly the same test when he was lying on his stomach. She checked that the knee on the same side as the elevation of the hip bent gently. No. Greg’s knees remained locked when lying on his back. AMPHIBIAN REFLEX PARTIALLY ABSENT 11.

SEGMENTAL ROLLING REFLEXES Emerge 6-10 months in the neonate. Should remain

uninhibited for

life.

These are the reflexes used by the young baby to turn over on its front by

rolling laterally. It needs to use its shoulders and knees to

work in

synchronization to accomplish this, and if the Segmental

Rolling Reflex

is not present, it cannot turn over.

Sue asked Greg to lie on his back and to stay relaxed. She positioned herself at the top of his head, and gently lifted his right shoulder to turn him over to his left. At the mid-point, she flipped him over. She repeated this with his left shoulder, flipping him to the right. She was looking to make sure his knee on the same side as the shoulder bent as she reached the midline, and as the flip-over happened, that his arm on the same side came too. Yes. Greg’s roll-overs were fine. Segmental Rolling Reflexes – PRESENT 12.

LABYRINTHINE HEAD RIGHTING REFLEXES (LHRR) OCULO-HEADRIGHTING REFLEXES (OHRR) Emerge 2-3 months in the neonate. Remains uninhibited

for life. These are very important reflexes which if fully present, keep the child’s

head level regardless of what is happening with its lower

body – rather

like water always remaining level and horizontal. The

child therefore

always knows where it is in space. If the OHRR are

underdeveloped, the

ability of the child to fix its gaze onto a page and

follow a sentence can be

severely impeded. The test for these two

reflexes is essentially the same,

but for the LHRR the eyes are closed.

OHRR TEST: Greg sat on the floor with his legs stretched out in front of him, his hands resting on his thighs. His back was straight and Sue asked him to look at a small ping-pong ball she had placed on a low shelf about 6 feet away at eye-level, and asked him not to lose sight of the ball.

She then pushed him gently at different angles forwards, back to midline, backwards, back to midline, to the left, back to midline and then to the right, back to midline. She did this about 3 times, pausing a couple of seconds between movements. LHRR TEST: This was identical, but after viewing the ping-pong ball, Sue asked Greg to remember where it was in space, and close his eyes. She then repeated the above exactly. Sue was looking to make sure the head corrected itself when pushed in the 4 directions to different degrees of angle. If the head flopped, or attempt to over-compensate in the other direction by straining the neck implies an absence or partially formed Head Righting Reflex. Obviously, if the results for the LHRR are dramatically worse, this indicates that the eyes are correcting a basic vestibular imbalance and innate space disorientation. Interestingly, Sue also told me she was looking out to see if either leg extended on the same side as the right/left swing – this would indicate a presence of an uninhibited ATNR. FURTHER TESTS: 1.

She then performed a visual test with a torch into his eyes, making

them track the light, then forcing him squint to see if both eyes moved to the

centre, and also asked him at what position he saw double when

the torch

came close. When he became frightened and edgy, she told

me this was

because his eyes were not working properly and were 43

under stress. The

fact he making frightened was because she had

activated the Moro

Reflex.

She threw a ball for him to catch. She made him walk along a line

on the

carpet with his eyes open, and then closed. (With his eyes

closed, it was 3.

comical!)

She made him walk heel to toe along the same line, with eyes open

and closed. She then asked him to do the same backwards! (Catastrophic!) 4.

She asked him to skip, and then to hop. She then asked him to skip backwards (Disaster – he just fell over!)

There were tests for laterality (Greg is right-handed): Sue stood

behind

him and called his name – he turned to the left. She gave him

a conch

shell and told him to listen for the ocean. He put it to his left

ear. She

gave him a glass and told him to go to the wall and listen to

the

neighbors, again he put it to his left ear. She gave him a telescope

and told him to find a bird in the sky, and he took it to his left eye. She then gave him a ‘treasure map’ and told him he was a pirate with one eye. Where was the treasure on the map? Greg closed his right eye to

find the treasure. She kicked a small ball to him, he kicked it back with his left

leg

(just!) She then told him to hop, and although he fell over, he lifted

his

right leg in flexion behind.

In other words, Greg was right-handed, but his leading eye, ear and leg were left-dominant. He had undetermined laterality – so ambidexterity is a sign of the same. 6.

Writing and copying tasks – she asked him to copy some simple

shapes

with a pencil onto white paper (deliberately white because it

reflects into

the eyes to put them under pressure), and then

introduced increasingly

more complicated forms. This is done at the

end of the physical

assessment when the child is really tired to see

what happens to his

oculo-motor skills functions when his

is depleted, and his

coping mechanisms are breaking down.

stamina

By the time we had come to the end, Greg was absolutely beat – totally wiped out. He looked pale, weak and exhausted and I just wanted to take him home. He had sure had fun doing all these tests because it felt like play, but it was fascinating to see what happened as his energy drained, and as innocuous as these tests looked, I could see they were showing a complex tapestry of malfunctioning at very subtle levels of physical, psychological and neurological behavior. I needed to integrate all this because not only was it the most fascinating scientific approach to SLDs and Child Development, but it was so awesome in its future implications and ramifications that I felt I was at the start of something very major in terms of remedial assistance for struggling schoolchildren.

Sue asked Greg and me to return to see her on the following Tuesday, when she would have had time to look over the results and to propose a remedial program. We made the appointment right then and there - same time, same place.

Chapter Six Greg’s New Program

hen we returned the following Tuesday, Greg was excited. He told me after the major physical that he was relieved about the tests because he knew something was wrong the physical had made him do things he knew he should

be able to do, but could not. He said he felt so mad in school and lashed out at the other kids because he knew what he was supposed to do, but his body would not let him, and did not perform the way he wanted it to. Boy, our kids are so adult sometimes! He said he felt really good about it all, and he liked and trusted Sue very much. “Is she going to make me better, Mommy? Will I be like the other kids now?” he asked me. “You’ll be even better, honey!” I told him. “You just wait.” With coffee and juice at the ready, Sue, full of enthusiasm as ever, sat us down and explained the results of his neurological testing for aberrant reflexes. He had a big cluster of them, and notably the important ones like the ATNR and TLR which were scored 4 – the worst. Tests on his eyes 47 © Judy O’Donnell 2013. All rights reserved.

had shown they were not working together – each one had its own idea of what it should be doing. He had had difficulty following the light of her pencil torch – i.e. holding focus. This difficulty in focusing and copying was because his eye movement was underdeveloped and he had very poor spatial awareness because both his ocular and vestibular apparatus were very immature. As he had not crept and crawled properly, he had missed a vital developmental stage which results in the maturation of these key functions in preparation for school and adult life. His very poor limb control in sport was also as a result of missing developmental stages – the residual Landau and STNR reflexes were partly to blame. His internal system was very anxious because he could not perform functions that instinctively he knew he should, so much energy and concentration were spent simply trying to cope with fundamental actions like walking in a straight line. His appalling spatial awareness resulted in his losing his way in school and his woolly forgetfulness – and all were exacerbated because he felt he was holding on tight to the weak scaffolding of his basic human functions through a raging tornado. His ‘Ants-in-the-Pants’ fidgeting and bedwetting showed a residual spinal Galant reflex, and the bedwetting was also made worse because he was so anxious after school, and the reason for the bullying and change of personality was because my beloved son could not cope with himself, and did not understand why he could not do what the other kids could. Period.

Well, I was absolutely and totally speechless. It all made complete and utter sense as I had seen for myself how Greg lurched, weaved and bobbed around her lounge colliding into furniture, spilling his juice over books, and falling over even when he was standing still. Why hadn’t Jack and I noticed this before? Well, we had – but we thought he was just clumsy and messy. Oh! The sloppy eating? Easy – that was the residual ATNR which, if you remember, when the head moves to the right, the right arm and leg extend (and the left arm flexes behind (like a fencer in position). Every time the arm flexes at the elbow to bring the hand to the mouth with the food, the head wants to turn away to the other side and extend the limbs. Food misses the target mouth, and heads for the ear! Over time, the child forces itself to override its natural instinct to turn away, and thus causes tension in the neck as it holds itself in position to feed! My God, it is so easy when it is explained like this! “And the big solution, Sue?” I smiled. She said she had chosen two very simple exercises for Greg to do. These movements, which were based on natural fetal and neonate behavior, would tell the brain to go back and do what it should have done in the early months of life, in other words, they could give Greg a second chance to secure his fundamental operating process. The secret to the exercises was to do them as slowly as possible and only once per day, and not to do them as repetitions. Once a day, and they should take no longer than 5 minutes each. The slower the better 49 © Judy O’Donnell 2013. All rights reserved.

because it gives the brain time to recognize the primitive movement and to permit the reflexes to transform or to disappear as appropriate.

Two simple exercises lasting no longer than 10 minutes per day? For goodness sake! Unbelievable. Remember how I would have felt about this… I had been practicing yoga for ten years BEFORE I became a teacher. These movements were very similar to some of the asanas I performed in my own yoga practice – easy, slow and methodical. Although I knew there were other exercises in Sue’s repertoire, for her own reasons, she selected two specially for Greg’s particular profile. She then got down onto the carpet and showed him the movements, asking me to take careful note as well. Greg was then asked to do the same which he did, I have to say, very impressively. She said she would like to see us in two weeks’ time to check Greg was doing the exercises properly, and to see if we had any questions, and then after that every 6 weeks where she would ask some questions relating to the questionnaires, and ask him to repeat some of the physical tests she had originally performed.

That was it …! All of it!

Chapter Seven Greg gets a Gold Star!

ow, I am not going to labor here and give you the details of Greg’s results at each check-up. What I will say is my son took to these exercises like a duck to water. Sue told me at the end of his program that many children (and adults –

this program is for everybody) feel instinctively this is right and show enormous will-power and self-control to do the exercises every day. These children are often highly, innately intelligent and feel their systems are letting them down, and this was the case with Greg. At each check-up session from 3 months onwards, it was very clear Greg was becoming stronger from within and less psychologically fractured. He was calming down and was more focused and quiet at home. Sometimes, he even sounded more authoritative than his older brother, George. It was intangible, but it was there. His written work was becoming much neater and he started to take real pride in what he was doing, and his memory was much more reliable. He was picked for the second Soccer Team, and had started a new hobby of making model airplanes which, given his hopeless klutziness, was a small miracle.

Each time he was checked by Sue, she reminded us of his answers at his initial assessment, and we had forgotten how awful it had all sounded. When she asked me if he still had headaches, I forgot that he did have! After 6 months, he had no more. Slowly but surely, my young boy was crystallizing his operating system, and I liken it to a butterfly returning to its chrysalis because of a wing malfunction, and that is really what it was, in simple terms. After 10 months on the program, Greg came bounding out of school, hollering and waving his spelling book – Miss Harris had given him a gold star for 100% accuracy! In his book, she had asked me if I would look by to see her again. On July 2nd 1992, I went to see her just before school was out for the summer. She told me there had been such a dramatic improvement in Greg’s writing and literary skills that he had not only reached above average in class, but he was in the top five for reading and writing. The bullying had stopped completely some four months beforehand, and he was a popular member of the class. His memory problems were all but gone, save for normal eight year-old forgetfulness and his copying, drawing, letter formations and general comprehension were absolutely normal, if not slightly above. He had become a calm and valued member of the class, and they had voted him Form Captain for the next semester in September. I walked out of there so high with joy, that the only thing that has come anywhere near since that day is the graduation day of my kids and the birth of my grandchildren. Jack and I have never ceased to marvel at 52 © Judy O’Donnell 2013. All rights reserved.

this program, and we had a lot of fun testing ourselves too, because it became obvious that we had some of these reflexes, and indeed a genetic pre-disposition may well have contributed to Greg’s early difficulties. You try asking your husband to stand on one leg after dinner on a Saturday night, or asking him to find a birdie in the sky with a telescope without rocking over in laughter! After he completed the program in just short of 12 months, Greg’s life blossomed like a glorious cherry-tree. He did really well in high school with excellent grades, he then won a scholarship to study engineering, and now holds a highly paid design job in the automotive industry. When I asked him to check through this manuscript for accuracy, he handed me my beautiful new grand-daughter, Jade, and said that it was such a long time ago, he did not remember specifics at all. He DOES remember feeling he was calming down and certainly that his body was responding to his inner command. He also remembers that first gold star for spelling, and feels that was the beginning of his ascent into full potential. I want to emphasize something important here. The exercises that my son was given 20 years ago may have become modified by the institute in the interim years. There will be many new ones as well, and this is why I have not given full details of the precise movements because it is not my prerogative to do so. I do not want to give you outdated information which belongs to the research of a wonderful and dedicated institution whose method is scientific, drugless, methodical and great

fun. It absolutely worked for Greg and for countless other children who passed through their doors. So, let me give you the names of the people you need to contact to answer your questions, and set your children on the path to their magnificent and fullest potential. I can’t tell you what joy this gives me….

Chapter Eight Final Thoughts and Resources: The Dyslexia Doctor

reg’s therapist, Sue, was trained by Dr. Peter H. Blythe, the co-founder of the Institute of Neuro-Physiological Society in Chester, England (full details overleaf).

Dr. Blythe trained Dr. Laurence J. Beuret, MD in 1985 who has a practice in Arlington Heights, Illinois, US and he seems to be the only major specialist in the US from those early years. Lawrence J. Beuret, M.D., S.C. 415 West Golf Rd, Suite 12 Arlington Heights, Il. 60005 T: 847-258-4490 F: 847-258-4984 www.inpp.us

There are two therapists I have found in the US, Anna Buck: Anna Buck 11172 N Huron Street #22 Northglenn, CO 80234 T: 303 558 2154 www.annashousellc.com info.AnnasHouseLLC@gmail.com and Anna Janoura from the main INPP website, although I have no idea where she is located: Email: ajanoura@bellsouth.net Dr. Blythe and his wife, Dr Sally Goddard Blythe, have taken the Institute for Neurophysiological-Psychology to extraordinary new levels of Neuro-Developmental Delay Research and Implementation pioneered by Sally Goddard Blythe’s own wonderful commitment to helping children with Specific Learning Difficulties, and adults with the same age-old problems. I notice from their website that many new books, programs, journals and periodicals have been written since those early days when Greg was treated.

Fern Ridge Press in the US will send out a VHS or DVD for $29.95 explaining the method: Fern Ridge Press 1927 McLean Blvd., Eugene, OR 97405 T: 541 485 8243 F: 541 687 7701 www.fernridgepress.com Steiner Books may have some of the Institute’s books: Steiner Books P O Box 960 Herndon, VA 20172 service@steinerbooks.org www.hawthornpress.com I also note that the INPP offer courses for Americans, Australians and others specifically in response to increasing enquiries. Please avail yourself of this information via their website. It astonishes me that the institute is still self-funding! Maybe this is why this incredible method and research has not reached mainstream in the US and Australia. It has also occurred to me that the reason we have so many problems in the First World is because of innovative techniques in midwifery, because these high levels of SLDs are not found at all in countries with lower per capita incomes. You never hear of these problems in India or Africa where natural, drug-free, non-interventional

births are standard because there are categorically no other options. You never hear of a growing dyslexia problem in elementary schools in India! Today, many women opt for a Caesarian or an epidural to avoid a long, agonizing child-birth, and I profoundly think this plays a factor in the prevention of reflexes playing out their natural roles. You, as parents of children with SLDs today have a real chance to make a difference. If anything I have written resonates with you or your children, simply contact these specialists and talk to them. Some of you may choose to learn directly from the institute in Chester, England. PLEASE DO THIS, and start implementing these techniques into mainstream educational programs, and train therapists so that our kids can have the same opportunities to re-align themselves and reach their full potential. Please honor this British institute for the unfunded research and programs they have been conducting for over 35 years without any major recognition. I still find this unbelievable. This is PHENOMENAL information, and you will recognize this. It is a fantastic chance for parents and grandparents to address a major educational problem, and this can be input really easily. I hope very much I have inspired you, and that I can help you and your children. This has been a true pleasure to write for you, and I pray that many children will benefit greatly from the contents of this book, and the extraordinary work of the Institute for NeurophysiologicalPsychology in Chester, England. I accredit all the scientific data, questionnaires and methodology mentioned in this book to this institute, its primary material resources, and associate members absolutely, 58 ÂŠ Judy Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Donnell 2013. All rights reserved.

wholly and unreservedly. The institute’s details are given on the next page.

Blessings to our children of the future …

Judy O’Donnell

Dr. Peter H. Blythe Dr. Sally Goddard Blythe The Institute for NeurophysiologicalPsychology INPP Ltd 1, Stanley Street Chester CH1 2LR GB T/F. +44 (0) 1244 311 414 mail@inpp.org.uk www.inpp.org.uk