Moving Beyond ADHD

by Rita Edwards - A Drug-free Holistic Direction to Whole Brain Integration

I hate taking pills. I am always forgetting to take them, and then I take them at the wrong times. I choke on pills and so I avoid them if I can. I love my life, so I avoid using drugs and toxins in my body.

So when a mother recently asked me if there was a drug-free way to deal with ADHD, I fully understood her dilemma. I would be hesitant to give my daughters a drug if I knew of an alternative way to deal with their ailments.

If I knew that the “ailment” was in fact a developmental delay, I would use my knowledge about reflex integration, sensory integration, core muscle integration, brain integration, cranial sacral integration and nutrition to work with my children.

Did you know that ADD is a completely different syndrome to ADHD?

Yes! They are different syndromes!

ADD and ADHD are at different ends of the spectrum of whole brain integration.

Even though there are similarities in the symptoms, I believe that the causes are different.

I believe that ADD and ADHD are developmental delays in the integration of two important, yet little known reflexes. There is an imbalance in how the system is processing information. Each of these imbalances is the result of poorly integrated reflexes.

So why medicate two different sets of behaviours with the same medication?

Can you integrate a developmental delay with medication?

Are primitive reflexes checked by your doctor before he prescribes medication? Are these primitive reflexes checked?

Why medicate at all if it is a matter of integrating these reflexes? What if you knew how to check these reflexes for yourself?

If you knew how to identify the symptoms and understood why your child needs to act like he does?

What if you had a programme to work with for thirty-six weeks that you knew would work? That people around the world are using successfully?

Would drugs still be your choice of intervention? Especially scheduled drugs that are in the same category as cocaine?

What if you knew that both ADD and ADHD are based on stress, and that stress keeps you pinned down in lower level behaviour for survival? Which means that you have little opportunity to develop those parts of your brain that give you the skills to make the right choices? What if you knew that there are movements that can encourage higher level development, and that they are easily accessible and usable? Movements that help you to regulate your levels of activity and concentration?

Would drugs be your choice of intervention then?

What if you knew that you could work with your own child and bring your child back into balance by using movements to get the brain integrated?

If you have been giving your child Omega - 3 Fatty Acids, or some other amazing new supplements, then - Well Done! You have been making a start on taking back your power to deal with your family needs in a natural drug - free way. Parents instinctively know what their child needs.

One of the things that most parents want is the bottom line.

Will this work for my kid? There are so many things out there that have addressed particular aspects of ADHD.

So why this book?

Moving Beyond AD(H)D – A Drug Free Holistic Direction to Whole Brain Integration is my contribution to raising happy, healthy, normal children.

I have looked at all my resources and all the information that I have gathered over the past thirty years while working with children and adults with AD(H)D. I looked at how I have worked with these kids and adults. I realised that I had brought together the most effective treatment techniques from sensory integration, occupational therapy, cranial sacral therapy and educational kinesiology. I have combined all this information into a user friendly way for the parent and teacher to assist the child presenting with an AD(H)D imbalance without using drugs.

A number of Brain Gym® Consultants in Cape Town and other parts of the world where I have taught this work are using this combination of techniques. They are finding that integration time is much quicker. Children integrate more fully and higher levels of integration are achieved more efficiently. This means that kids are moving beyond their ADHD labels quickly and effectively without drugs. They are retaining what they learn much easier. They are becoming more of who they are born to be!

In this book, I would like to share some of the current theories of why your child presents as ADD or ADHD, and to provide appropriate tools that you can use to assist your child using a drug-free direction.

This book will give you, the parent, caregiver or teacher, the means to work more effectively with integration of your child’s system, rather than suppression of the symptoms, so that whole brain learning can occur. When you know how to find the cause and how to integrate the symptoms, the need for medication diminishes.

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