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Attention Deficit Disorder?
Based on the work of the HANDLE Institute, ILT holds a view that differs from the one implied by the "diagnosis" of ADD that is made of so many children. This diagnosis usually implies that the child has a deficiency, or "lack" of attention. HANDLE contends that no one has an attention deficit. Rather, everyone is always attending to something, and individuals who show difficulties in sustaining attention may be blocking certain types of stimulation and seeking others; they may have difficulties adjusting attention flexibly to meet varying demands from the environment. Therefore, a more accurate name for this set of behaviours is Attentional Priority Disorder (APD) , and the condition is neither hereditary nor irreversible. It is possible to incorporate information gleaned from the evaluation session to discover where a specific individual's attentional priorities lie. Usually the answer is found in one or more of the interactive neurological sub-systems and APD can thus be treated at its origin, yielding permanent changes in the nervous system. That is, by resolving issues that focus the child's attention to more basic and pressing needs, such that those needs are met, the child can be freed to attend to social, academic, and other demands from the environment.
While there may be genetic predispositions to neurodevelopmental disorders, such disorders arise not through heredity but rather through interactions with the environment. Drugs are not used as part of the treatment programme so symptoms are not masked but instead problems are treated at their root causes.
Common patterns of APDMost people who have difficulty sustaining their attention and/or adjusting easily to the demands of changing situations show irregularities in specific neurodevelopmental functions on both input and output levels.
- On an input level, there are frequently signs of:
- hypersensitivity to at least one modality such as touch, vision and/or sound;
- weakness in the vestibular system which supports and regulates such functions as listening, eye functions, balance, knowledge of where our bodies are in space, muscle tone and so on.
- On an output level, individuals with APD may demonstrate:
- insufficient integration between the two sides of the body and brain
- immature reflex integration and irregularity in differentiation of movement/response
