I have to tell you guys about these CDs I listened to today. I went to Wichita to sign books and get to tell the Wilsons thanks for being awesome in person, and also so my daughter could hand out bookmarks. It seemed like maybe not enough reasons to drive six hours, but I still wanted to go.
However, God totally brought the right information my way, and I’m so thankful! I’ve really been praying about my son, trying to figure out how to help him and understand him better. He just seems to have such a hard time with LIFE. He’s very bright, but often frustrated or upset. If you’ve read my book, you’ll see that mentioned a bit, but I didn’t really want to dwell on it because it was only a piece of the picture and I didn’t feel like enough of an expert about it to write too much about it.
But I got the CDs from the other keynote speaker (other than Todd) at the Kansas convention today because they were about attention issues. Actually, she talks about four ‘gates’ to learning that can be blocked. Her name is Diane Craft and she’s in private practice, has done training with college students and teacher in-services, so she really knows what she’s talking about.
She mentions four “learning gates” that can be blocked:
- 1. Visual Processing (reading/eye tracking)
- 2. Writing (hand/eye)
- 3. Auditory Processing
- 4. Attention/ Focus
Oh, and she’s a nutritionist! Which is so awesome that she’s approaching things from having worked with 3,000 kids and how to help them through supplements and therapy to get them off medication where possible. Love that.
So, I thought my son showed several of the symptoms, but his main issues are the Writing one, and then the Attention/Focus one big time. It was like she was describing everything about my son, even things I didn’t know were related: Symptoms Sensory issues (socks drive us nuts, tags in clothes, etc.), attention and focus issues, takes a long time to do his work, easily distracted, LIKE EEYORE, depressed/mood swings, sugar causes foggy brain/spacyness, forgets three step directions, anger issues and I think there were some more.
Anyway, I just kept nodding my head as she went through the list.
Causes / Treatments I would like to do
- 1. Weak myleanation in brain –> DHA fats, so fish 1/week and cod liver oil daily? (need to read her diet plan about how to get this in all my kids. Orange juice?)
- 2. Weak connections between hemispheres –> brain integration / midline exercises (need to read over these on her site & print out) [I think this is like that Brain Balance program.]
- 3. Low serotonin (this is what Ritalin corrects) –> supplements ( Magnesium +?)
- 4. Gut issues (yeast/fungus overgrowth) –> anti fungal (grapefruit seed extract in capsules) and probiotic 3x/day (mixed in with food) for 3 months. (related to moodiness/depression) She gives the details of brands and protocol; I haven’t gotten that far yet.
Basically, I hope to work this summer on a good diet plan for our family (not weight loss, just healthy diet), and this confirmed to me that the whole family might benefit from a GAPS or gluten-free diet, not just me. I still need to research and finish listening to the CDs to figure out my exact plan, but I’m so encouraged to finally know that there is actually something wrong and with some nutritional work and exercises I am confident we’ll see improvements.
I already knew what a huge problem sugar was for my son, I just didn’t understand the chemical reason behind it or know what to do about it other than avoid sugar.
I am going to a Classical Conversations Practicum next week, but I know that for a while, I don’t actually care about the academics right now. I want to help my son get healthier and get a firmer foundation laid for his sweet little brain and body so he can focus better. He tries so hard, and does a good job, but it’s an awful lot of work for him. I’m hopeful some of these things will help.
But, the reason I’m telling you this is, if you are a parent of a child in elementary school that’s struggling or you think they might have some attention/ADHD/visual tracking/anger issues/etc. this is a fantastic CD to get. It’s only $7. Then, you can get one of her other talks (there are 5 more) to see what to do about your child’s specific issues.
http://stores.diannecraft.org/Detail.bok?no=59 This is ordering from her web site, not the exact CD I heard, but it looks like pretty much the same thing, only not crammed into 45 minutes, so probably even better.
Here’s her web site: http://www.dianecraft.org .