Apr 29, 2026 | I'm a Parent, I'm a Teacher, ILT Blog
Has your child been labelled as ADHD? If so, you may have felt relieved to have someone make the diagnosis because it explains the challenging behaviours you’ve been dealing with over the years and you’ll be offered a course of therapy to hopefully lessen the symptoms. You know that you’re not alone because so many other families have a child (or even an adult member) with the same challenges.
Most children are labelled by family doctors, neurologists, pediatricians and psychiatrists. Some of them are initially ‘diagnosed’ by teachers, psychologists, school counsellors or nurses. If so, you should be careful because many of these helping professionals are not trained to diagnose mental disorders, and ADHD falls into this category. But even if a medical person makes the diagnosis, there may be a problem because ADHD is not a disease. Too often, the ‘diagnosis’ is made by a professional because they have no idea of what’s really wrong with the child.[1]
Before you stop reading because you feel irritated by the denial of the problems you’ve faced for so long, let me assure you that we understand the difficulties of dealing with ADHD children. That is, children who really have this disorder. ADHD must be the most frequently incorrect diagnosis on the planet. We agree that in these cases, you and the child need help and drugs that might be given seem a blessing because the situation lightens and comparative peace reigns in your home (and the classroom). But even then, is this the long-term solution? No.
We know that drugs do not ‘cure’ ADHD. In many cases, they don’t even help very much. This is largely because many, many children who carry the label are incorrectly diagnosed. There is no test for ADHD. There are no blood analyses or brain scans that will reliably ‘prove’ the existence of the condition. The ‘test’ usually consists of teacher, parent and perhaps another involved person completing a questionnaire and the doctor listening to a description of the child’s behaviours. These days, doctors are so used to children presenting with symptoms that are associated with ADHD that they seldom bother to probe very deeply for something that may underlie these symptoms.
One mother complained that her son was prescribed Ritalin for so-called ADHD but this boy was diagnosed with subclinical diabetes after having been on the brain-altering drug for some years. His symptoms were caused by the very real medical disorder. Here are some more case studies[2]:
Debbie, aged five, was tiny and delicate. Her mother, however, describes her as a ‘mean little girl’ who has temper tantrums and screaming fits. As a baby, she cried continuously, slept very little, refused to nap and banged her head on her crib. Now in nursery school, she’s run away from school twice. Her teacher despairs over her out-of-control behaviour and recommends medication. Debby’s first doctor agrees.
Fortunately, Debby’s mother demands a second opinion. This, more thorough examination, uncovers a defective blood vessel between Debby’s heart and lungs, preventing a normal flow of oxygenated blood to the brain. Surgery corrects this serious and potentially fatal condition. Almost immediately, Debby’s behaviour improves, her tantrums stop, and her teachers begin praising her academic achievement.
Less startling but no less telling is the case of Mandy. She is a very bright little girl who struggled to optimize her excellent academic potential because of several irregularly functioning sensory-motor systems. This led to disorganized information reaching the brain, leading to her being unable to follow instructions, organize her thoughts or express herself in writing. She was restless and irritable, prone to talking out in class and disrupting others. A Connor’s questionnaire ‘proved’ ADHD.
Mandy’s mother put the diagnosis on hold and sought the help of Integrated Learning Therapy (ILT). We uncovered the areas of neurodevelopmental delays and addressed them through a home-based movement programme. At the beginning of the following school year, I requested that her new teacher complete the Connor’s questionnaire again to see if the areas of improvement were reflected in her classroom behaviour. Her mother reported to me that the teacher refused to do so, saying that Mandy showed absolutely no behavioural or learning problems and was a star learner.
A teacher’s opinion is not based on medical or neurodevelopmental knowledge. A quickie medical evaluation and a prescription for a drug is an extremely limited and temporary solution. The children on drugs tend to be calmer, more focused and easier to live with, at least in the short term. But, these drugs are NOT benign and their benefits are questionable.
The real tragedy is that masking children’s symptoms merely allows their underlying disorders or neurodevelopmental irregularities to continue and, in many cases, become worse. ADHD children don’t simply outgrow their symptoms. Instead, many grow into troubled teens and adults.
If you have a child with all the signs and symptoms of ADHD, don’t give in too soon. Try to find a medical specialist who specializes in ADHD and understands possible underlying medical conditions. ILT practitioners may also be useful in that they can check for neurodevelopmental causes of your child’s puzzling and difficult behaviours.
Image supplied by Freepik.
[1] Dr Sydney Walker, MD. The hyperactivity hoax. St Martin’s Paperbacks, New York.
[2] Dr Syndey Walker, MD. Op cit, p.11.
Apr 22, 2026 | I'm a Parent, I'm a Teacher, ILT Blog
For some time now the health profession has realised the incredible importance of the connection between our guts and brains. This means that for children to learn easily and efficiently we need to take care that their digestive systems are full of ‘healthy’ bacteria. These are also known as probiotics and with this knowledge, sales of probiotic supplements have risen considerably in the past years.
But is this necessary? Humans have always needed a healthy gut so where did our ancestors source the bacteria for their gut microbiome? Certainly not from bottled pills or liquids bought from a pharmacy.
One interesting study was published in Frontiers in Microbiology. It revealed that a medium sized apple supplies about 100 million bacteria. These are found in the flesh of the apple, not the skin and represent a huge number of different types of bacteria – mostly those we need for health.
Significantly, most of the microbes seem to be centred in the core of an apple – perhaps because this is the most fibrous part of the fruit, and the bacteria feed off fibre. The seeds had the most bacteria of all.
So if you peel and core the apples you feed to your children (and yourself), you are throwing away 90% of the bacteria. This should stop and make you think. Why throw something away only to turn around and try and replace it with some or other pill?
Plenty of people eat an apple in its entirety. Try to cultivate this habit yourself. Munch the core and seeds along with the flesh and eat the well-washed skin too. Fibre is good for our guts.
The moral of this story is that fresh produce probably supplies us with probiotics. Those of us who really strive to eat a balanced diet full of fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds probably don’t need to spend money on bottled microbes.
Image supplied by Freepik.
Apr 15, 2026 | I'm a Parent, I'm a Teacher, ILT Blog
As we are all aware, a baby’s brain is very undeveloped at birth, owing to the relatively small size of a newborn’s head. In fact, the newly born child has all the brain cells (neurons) he will ever need but they aren’t able to communicate with each other very efficiently. In order to do so, they will need to lay down myelin, which is a fatty layer created through use of different neural pathways and serving to insulate the neurons. This layer causes the brain to ‘grow’.
One of the most important developmental stages in these early days is for the infant to do what is necessary for these neurons to connect to each other. Eventually, he’ll end up with neural networks that are needed for learning and living. These networks provide us with the ability to learn language, interpret sound and vision, control emotions, think and remember. The quality of the brain cells themselves and the way they connect to each other will determine whether that individual grows up with an average or a really smart brain.
Some of this will depend on the child’s genes but a great deal will depend on the environment you provide and in which the child will develop. It’s not true that clever parents will automatically have clever children. Academic success and intelligence are hugely reliant on a growing environment that is characterized by lots of love, little stress, mental stimulation and a good diet.
Mental stimulation is not provided by mindless facts. Many children can learn to count, recite the alphabet, give correct answers to learned questions and so on, but these don’t indicate a good brain. Essentially, as Dr David Perlmutter points out in his book (see reference below), the goal of parent’s interactions with their young children should not be what the children learn but how they learn it. Stay away from activities that dull their brains, deaden their senses and put them at risk for later learning difficulties.
It’s better for a developing brain to learn what letters and numbers represent rather than being able to spell or count. In order for this to happen, they need to learn their shapes and understand that letters and numbers are symbols that carry meaning according to their shapes.
It’s also important that the connections being made by the neurons are firmly cemented in place. For this to happen, children need repetition of incoming mental stimulation. Most seek this out automatically by insisting that parents reinforce learning. Most of us know how a child will demand the same story over and over again, or be happy to watch the same film again and again. This is a good example of how children learn and how they strengthen the connections in their neural networks.
Here’s one example of a brain-building activity given by Dr Perlmutter that will help the child to learn the meaning of numbers:
For a child beginning at around age 12 months: Find a puzzle containing pieces shaped from numbers 1 to 10. Fitting the numbers into their correct places allows the child to experience the ‘feel’ qualities of numbers, which helps to ingrain the picture of the number into their brains. You can enhance her experience by showing her what a particular number represents. For example, when she puts the number 2 into the correct place on the puzzle board, hand her two small balls and say “Two.” Every time she puts back another puzzle piece, add balls to her collection until the puzzle is completed. This paves the way for early recognition of the symbolic nature of numbers. This is far more beneficial than simply teaching the child to memorise counting from one to ten.
Acknowledgement is given to Dr David Perlmutter who wrote the informative book Raise a smarter child by kindergarten: Build a better brain and increase IQ up to 30 points. Available from Amazon books.
Image supplied by Freepik.
Apr 7, 2026 | I'm a Parent, I'm a Teacher, ILT Blog
When working with children who show some visual problems, for example, not being able to follow a moving object easily or whose eyes don’t converge or diverge appropriately, Integrated Learning Therapy (ILT) practitioners usually begin a helping programme by first testing for irregularities of the vestibular system (situated in the inner ear) and then working to improve vestibular functioning before turning their attention to the visual system. Why is this?
It’s simple. Children develop like a house being built. Builders start by ensuring a firm foundation and only after that do they begin putting walls, windows, doors and finally the roof in place. This analogy explains human development too. We need a foundation that gives us well functioning, early developing systems. These include sensory systems such as tactility, a sense of smell, taste and the all-important sense of balance and movement, conveyed to the brain by the inner-ear, or vestibular system. All later developing systems depend on these systems for support – something like the strong man in the circus, who holds up other acrobats. If he falters, they will all fall down.
In this example, the vestibular system takes the role of the strong man. Accordingly, development and functioning of (amongst others) the visual and auditory systems will rely on the optimal functioning of the vestibular system.
We are well aware that the vestibular and visual systems are intricately linked. While the inner-ear is extremely important for the development of balance and coordination, it also determines eye movements and our ability to live in a stable visual world. One way the visual and vestibular systems work together is via the vestibular-ocular reflex (VOR). When movement of the head is sensed by the vestibular sensors in the inner ear, the information is processed by the central nervous system. Signals are sent to the eye muscles which cause our eyes to move in the opposite direction. The result is a stable image on the retina.
Stimulation of the vestibular system can enhance eye movements and bilateral integration. While ILT seldom recommends fast movements, we can see the effect of movement on the eyes when observing a child with strabismus (a ‘squint’) or other binocular vision disorders. Many of us have had this experience – a child with a strabismus starts jumping on a trampoline and when he or she looks up, the eyes are straight. Sounds amazing but actually is explained by the connection between the visual and vestibular systems.
So working on an underdeveloped or irregularly functioning vestibular system can ultimately help a child’s visual problems – so often implicated in school-related tasks.
The key lies in gaining a thorough understanding of the child’s systems. Once we understand which are failing to support the child’s learning, it becomes possible to ensure firstly that the foundations are in place. Once this has been achieved, higher level systems can be encouraged to improve in functioning.
In this way, ILT looks for the underlying causes of learning difficulties.
Apr 1, 2026 | I'm a Parent, I'm a Teacher, ILT Blog
Just like we don’t all grow in height at the same rate, we have different rates of neurodevelopment. This means that the brain develops over time and reaches certain levels of development at different stages of childhood. That doesn’t mean that a child who is a little behind in development will be doomed for life.
Mild delays in development are usually the result of an immature nervous system (which consists of the brain, spinal column and all the nerves carrying messages from and to parts of the body). Here are some signs that can help you identify whether or not your child is a slower developer. Remember that all children may show one or more of these signs. Slow developers will usually show several.
- A history of ‘late bloomers’ in the family
- A premature birth
- Physical or emotional problems in the early months (including a stressful pregnancy)
- Chronic diseases such as asthma, upper respiratory diseases (e.g. ear infections, tonsillitis), viruses and so on.
- Difficulty with social skills: taking turns, sharing, communicating with peers. A child who seems to prefer younger children may be showing a need for more time to catch up
- Difficulties with coordination: skipping, hopping, catching a ball, climbing stairs, cutting, colouring-in.
- Overflow movements shown when a child moves body parts that don’t need to be engaged during a particular movement, e.g. arms flapping when he climbs stairs, tongue moving during colouring-in, feet moving while engaging in a task. This is fairly common in pre-schoolers but shouldn’t be obvious in older children
- Delayed language development
- Difficulty paying attention, easily distracted, struggles to sit still
- Seems overly impulsive for age
- Thoughts are unrealistic, e.g. avoids a situation by believing it will go away if ignored. Typical of slightly older children who avoid homework!
- Birthday is later in the year than most classmates. Boys especially may lack readiness if they are six months or more younger than the majority in their class.
If you are concerned that your child is struggling to adapt easily to school because of suspected neurodevelopmental delays, it is important for you to check this out with an ILT practitioner.
[1] With thanks to Jane Healy, author of ‘Your child’s growing mind’.
Mar 25, 2026 | I'm a Parent, I'm a Teacher, ILT Blog
Are you one of those parents who dread an oncoming birthday party, with tables overflowing with sugary goods? Does your child show hyperactive behaviour or even symptoms of ADHD after eating a lot of sugar?
While your child certainly may show an increase in energy or excitability after a party, it seems that sugar doesn’t cause long-term problems. Paulo Graziano, a researcher at the Centre for Children and Families at Florida International University (FIU), says that there is no evidence to show that sugar causes ADHD.
However, nutrition does play an important role in children’s feelings and behaviour. A balanced diet does support skills like paying attention and resisting impulses. Good nutrition is simply essential for children’s physical, emotional and cognitive health, says Madeline Curzon, who studies how nutrition relates to children’s thinking and behaviour at FIU. She points out that glucose, a form of sugar, is a brain fuel but fruits, vegetables and whole grains are better sources than sugared treats or drinks.
The answer: teach your children to occasionally enjoy a sugar treat but to understand why healthy foods are important. Bear with the excitable behaviour that may follow a ‘sugar overload’ but know that it won’t last forever.
Image supplied by Freepik.
