What to do if your child has learning difficulties?
by Sylvia on 04/04/09 at 5:47 am
photo by Pingu
Today I went to an interesting lecture by June Webb of Focus on Individual Learning Pte Ltd about what to do when your child is having difficulties at school. Too often they will be labeled with disorders like dyslexia, Attention Deficit Disorder ADD), or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and are prescribed medication. However, according to June there may be other reasons for your child’s under performance which could be better helped by appropriate exercise and attention.
Possible reasons for difficulties
There may be physical issues in the following areas:
- Retained Primitive Reflexes
- Auditory processing
- Visual Processing
Retained Primitive Reflexes
This refers to the primitive reflexes we all learn as children, like crawling. Nobody teaches us how to do it, we simply do. Some of these reflexes are later discarded since we no longer need them. One example of this is the fist reflex or holding reflex (officially called the Palmar reflex). This was very important for our ancestors (apes) who had to have a good grip on the tree branches they moved around in. Nowadays we no longer need these skills and most people will lose this really firm grip.
You can do a small test. Make a fist and have a look at it. Where is your thumb? Is it inside or outside your fist? Most people will have it outside the fist which is more productive for us. Those children that have retained that strong hold and still have their thumb inside the fist (like most babies will), have retained some of their primitive reflexes. Some of these children may find it hard to hold a pen. This in turn can lead to problems in writing which might delay them in their development. Below are some more examples of what may happen if a primitive reflex is retained.
- A retained Fear Paralysis Reflex: this can lead to a child that is fearful and very sensitive to new situations. They also tend to withdraw.
- A retained Moro Reflex can lead to a high sensitivity to light, sound, touch or stress. This child may find it difficult to control their emotions.
- Retention of the Asymmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex can lead to difficulties walking and concentration.
- A retained Spinal Galant Reflex can cause bed wetting, an inability to sit still and concentrating problems.
- The retained Tonic Labyrinthine Reflex can lead to disturbed balance and problems with hearing and seeing.
- Retention of the Palmer Reflex can lead to difficulty with writing and fine motor activities.
- A Retained Infant Planter Reflex can cause the person to curl up their toes, resulting in issues with walking, balance, twisted ankles and shin soreness.
- Sucking and Rooting Reflexes, when retained, can lead to problems with chewing, eating and speech.
Auditory Processing
Sometimes it can appear as though a child is not hearing properly. But when you take him / her to the doctor, their hearing appears to be just fine. However, standard tests do not test for HOW a person is hearing. His hearing may be unbalanced or they may hear in different frequencies. This may result in the child closing off in class or show ADD behaviour (he will appear to be dreaming or is drowsy). For another child it may result in ADHD (overactivity as he is constantly stimulated or disturbed by noise).
Visual processing
What we have discussed for auditory processing may also be the case for visual processing. There seem to be some issues with seeing but when tested the child has perfect 20 / 20 vision. Again, you will need to look at HOW the child is seeing. It needs to be determined whether the eyes are working as a team. Do they have a proper midline? Some children are bothered if there is no proper light in the room which can cause them to lack focus or can result in exhaustion.
For children that suffer from any of the above mentioned imbalances, reading and / or listening may be harder and there may be concentration problems.
So what can done?
There are things that you can do to assist with these extra challenges. If you have an issue with retained reflexes, vision or hearing, it can make life more challenging. I like the way June described this. “they carry some extra stones in their wheelbarrow. What you can do with therapy is make that load lighter, you get rid of some of the stones”.
Retained Primitive Reflexes
There are several exercises that you can do to improve or discard some of these retained primitive reflexes. One of the programs offered at Focus on Individual Learning is an INPP Movement programme to inhibit primitive reflexes and promote postural reflexes. It comprises a series of specific physical exercises based on the natural movements a child develops in their early years. The exercises help correct any delays in earlier development and retrrain formative reflexes that support progress.
Auditory Processing
If a child does not follow up an instruction in class it may not necessarily be that he is disobedient. Rather, he may not have registered the instruction and only heard half the message. If you are aware of this happening to a particular child you can repeat the message for him or check in with him to make sure that he understood the instruction. As a therapy, a Digital Auditory Aerobics program is offered to promote balanced reception of the sound frequencies involved in language.
Visual Processing
There are special vision therapists that work with the muscles around the eyes. They can teach a child to use these muscles in a better or correct way to get a more balanced vision.
So before prescribing your child drugs or accept that they have a ‘disorder’, go for a consultation to see if any of the above applies to your child. If you would like more information about the services of June and her team here in Singapore, then you can visit her website for more information. Share you own experiences below.
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tahira sufi
Apr 5th, 2009
I have a four year old who has recently been diagnosed to have these retained reflexes by a trained lady in kinesiology and sensory integration. I found your article very helpful and I really hope now that after years of waiting for him to go on to the next stage of development [he is four] that he will be able to be helped by a program. I am in greater manchester uk so if there is any center that you canrecommend that is near me who work in this field then please let me know
Sylvia
Apr 5th, 2009
Thank you Tahira for your message. Good to hear that you have found help for your son and that you found this article helpful. I don’t know any centers in that area but when I find out about one I will let you know. Wishing you good luck with his program.
lisa tang
Apr 16th, 2009
I have a 8 year old boy suffering visual processing disorder had went to dr zoran for some eye exercise but somehow still doesn’t really help him. He seem to be falling behind in his school work.
How can your team help? Are you an education therapist?
Sylvia
Apr 16th, 2009
hi Lisa,
No, I am not an education therapist. The above is just a report of a lecture i attended by June Webb who helps these kinds of children. I would suggest contacting her. A link to her website is listed above. Wishing you the best of luck.
June Webb
Apr 17th, 2009
It was great to see that the talk I gave was useful and I would like to thank Sylvia for sharing her thoughts about it on her website.
Tahira…you are almost next door to the place you need to go. The Institute of Neuro physiological Psychology in Chester, UK, is the ‘home base’ for programmes to resolve retained reflex difficulties. Their website is inpp.org.uk.
Lisa, sorry to hear Zoran’s work has not yet been as effective as you hoped. If you would like to meet for coffee one morning perhaps we could discuss some of the possible reasons and find you a solution. Please call me on 98354030.
chris
Apr 17th, 2009
hi can dislexia or neurofibrermatosis cause bedwetting
June Webb
Apr 18th, 2009
Hi Chris,
I do not believe that Dyslexia can cause bedwetting. I’, afraid I have no information about neurofibrematosis,
Certain retained reflexes can be associated with bed wetting, such as Spinal Galant reflex. Check with the INPP website for practitioners in your area.
Matt
Apr 23rd, 2009
Our 6 year old son was a bed wetter as well as prone to accidents throughout the day. He was assessed by an educational psychologist in Canada who suggested a 20min/day exercise program designed to inhibit primitive reflexes set to poetry which she gave us on dvd. He has had no wetting problems since three weeks into the program and his reading has improved impressively as well. We are so thankful we found this treatment after years of trying to figure out how to help him.
Sylvia
Apr 24th, 2009
To June: Thank you for your comments and assisting our readers.
To Matt: Thank you Matt for sharing your experience here.
Tina Risp
May 7th, 2009
Hello – Please can you give me addresses to go to in Singapore re Visual processing difficulties?? I have tried Zoran but the waiting time for the initial assessment and possible lessons afterwards is too long. Thank you very much in advance. TR
June Webb
May 7th, 2009
Hi Tina,
as far as I am aware Zoran is the only option. I believe that one of the learning centres occasionally has someone coming up from australia, but don’t have any details to offer regarding schedules or feedback regarding proficiency. From my experience I would say that Zoran is worth the wait. He often can organize cancellation appointments if you leave your number with his receptionist and can be available at short notice.
Tina Risp
May 7th, 2009
Ok thank you for your feed back