What is ADHD?

I am often asked by parents if their child has ADHD because their behaviours correspond to the kind of behaviours which are assessed for the ADHD condition. Basically ADHD is unique to every person that has it but there are some overlapping traits that form the diagnosis of ADHD. These include impulsive behaviour, this is acting without any due consideration of the consequences. Being very active, constantly fidgeting and also failure to complete tasks and being easily distracted. Presenting these symptoms regularly over a period of time generally leads to  a diagnosis of ADHD.

 

However certain developmental stages of a child’s growing up and which are quite natural and necessary, do tend to throw up the same type of symptoms at the time . Anything from the ‘terrible twos’ to adolescence is going to run up similar scores on an assessment scale  and can be alarming to parents.

Compare this to a story of ‘Hyperactivity’ with other behavioural complications in an interview that I did for my radio show. This was with a lady who lived in a village, she felt the local school did not understand or help her with her son’s behaviour. Her neighbours shunned her and their children were not allowed to play with her son. The vicious cycle built up around this situation and created greater complications with the behaviour. Her partner did not understand or support her in the difficulties and blamed her for not controlling the lad. In fact her would deliberately go and buy the child sweets with the additives in that she had identified as contributing to the problem. She couldn’t go out to do the shopping as he would try and strangle her when she was driving. When she got to the supermarket he would run amok and she would often have to leave without the shopping, only to go home and be on the receiving end of her partner’s displeasure at there being no food in.

This young man went on to trash three houses that she lived in and many a time she grappled with him, trying to take the scissors out of his hand when he was attempting to stab her and at the same time kicking her. The home was always a dangerous place as he would often try to find something to harm himself or others with.

The worst part of it all was the loneliness and having no one to connect with. The relationship with her partner eventually broke down. Listen to the interview here.

This is rather an extreme example of how bad the situation can get but it certainly gives you an idea of what parents go through in trying to cope with the impact of this condition.

Press play and listen to her story

 

 

When I suggest using behavioural charts to either parents or teachers I usually hear a groan and they say “Been there done that – Got the tee shirt – They don’t work.”

I know where they are coming from with this point of  view but I have spent a lot of time researching and understanding why these charts don’t work and what the powerful ingredients are in the ones that do. The result is  that I have developed a system which is very effective and works  very well as part of the HET programme.

First of all why traditional behaviour charts don’t work:

·         OK – behaviours are clearly not defined and linked to the rewards

·         Parents or teachers are inconsistent in their expectations of these behaviours

·         Parents give in – anything for a quiet life

·         Most charts don’t have a behaviour redemption facility – a buy back when we blip move! ( and we all do that –how many have relapsed on a diet or giving up smoking for example?)

·         Most charts don’t provide a facility for communicating emotions around desirable and undesirable behaviours

·         Usually the chart isn’t tailor made to your child’s individual needs and challenges

·         Most charts do not reward responsible life style choices and other positive behaviours – they just focus on the negative

Now, having identified the reasons why all of these types of charts do not work, HET has put into  place, a very powerful structure to assist parents in defining a framework for success with their child rather than an ongoing daily battleground.

Also I have found the HET approach to be invaluable where the battle ground gets heavy going when ex partners separate and one partner tries to wind up the other by feeding them with additives in their diet that the other partner wants to avoid for example.

So what is it that HET has that scores over the other types of charts:

·         It builds on the consultation process and setting targets in Stepping stone 1 so that everyone agree what the desirable and undesirable behaviours are and contract together to support the chart.

·         The child is given clear reminders and directions to keep them focused on the incentives rather than the consequences

·         The chart is flexible and adaptable to each child on the programme.

·         The chart contains a ‘buy back’ facility which encourages other positive behaviours from your child.

·         The chart encourages better life style choices which are covered in the HET programme like diet and nutrition, taking the remedies, being part of the PHEW programme, completing Eco therapy projects, green exercise etc.

·         The chart uses a communication system via emoticons to give the child a language to express feelings about the situations that cause the behaviours other than the behaviour itself.

Ok the theory sounds good but does it work?

Well, this structure has evolved with HET practitioners over the years and more importantly with families themselves, listening to their feedback and what they wanted, what worked for them and what didn’t work for them and the result is stepping stone 2 – all about how to put this system in place.

Why don’t you try it and find out? You have our support to help you!

 

At this point I will hand you over to ‘G’ – I have obviously removed any other reference to the family to respect confidentiality but here is an example of a very successful behaviour chart system we used for this family with a daughter with ADHD and an example of one of the weekly charts she produced with the family.

 

 

 

 

Every day I am asked what are  effective and safe natural remedies for ADHD? This is the question that every parent wants answering before they make decisions following a diagnosis of ADHD about whether or not to put their child on conventional medication. When faced with this question I always encourage parents to find out as much information as they can about all the choices that they have – the decision is then an informed choice. That after all is what HET is all about especially in helping the young people on the programme to make those better life choices for themselves.

OK, so let’s look at a couple of definitions here. Alternative therapies means that you follow the programme instead of taking the conventional medication and complementary means that it will fit alongside any conventional medication without causing any side effects or drug interactions with the medicine that your child is on.

HET is safe and simple and effective so it fits into both categories.

I can suggest a number of therapies that can have an impact and improve the situation for your child: Bach Flower Remedies will help their emotional reactions. Good diet and nutritional supplements will help considerably in identifying food sensitivities which affect behaviour.  Following a physical health and fitness improvement programme will redirect excess energy productively and create a feel good factor. Introducing core issues formulas will dissolve stumbling blocks of past experiences. Universal Frequency Therapy will identify and release negative patterns that we run as part of a life script. Family dynamics can be changed eliminating a lot of the stress around living with a child with ADHD issues. Techniques for learning to relax help calmness and improve sleep patterns. Providing cellular support for healthy growth is vital in young people. All of these approaches form HET into  a particular sequence of therapies which is very effective, more so than if each approach is just introduced in isolation.

More than thirty years working in the educational system has identified where the system falls down in providing good educational practice which is designed for young people with ADHD to succeed in. This is addressed in a ‘bridging curriculum’ of natural outdoor HET eco therapy projects which runs alongside the HET therapies input and integrates children with their families, into mainstream education.

I have worked for many years in setting standards in both the education system and the complementary health sector, (as both a national educational advisor and also as the national Training and Development officer for the British Complementary Medicine Association). Part of my remit was in  evaluating the effectiveness of programmes for individuals, these practices have been introduced to HET. All practitioners follow a training programme which is a NOS – a National Occupational Standard in complementary therapy.

HET is perfectly safe and simple to learn as a tool box for life. It has no side effects with any drugs at all. It is also interfaced with how we learn, how the experiences of life shape the reality of our lives through our  emotional responses, core, issues, negative patterns, dynamics that structure the way we think, feel and create our life around us. This incredible simple and powerful HET tool is at the very leading edge of scientific understanding in a branch of science called NEUROSCIENCE. Not only healing the blocks along the life journey but also providing a new way of learning, seeing and creating our life around us.

This  step by step journey, that has now been made directly available to families is designed to be followed each month over a year. Each step along the way introduces a new alternative remedy for ADHD and other complex behavioural problems, which is so safe and so simple that it can be used in any situation and with any age.

 

 

I have been recently putting in some support for a family who are pursuing the alternative to ADHD approach through HET. They haven’t got passed  putting in place the reward chart incentive structure and if you have done this stepping stone, you may recall me saying that it is usually the parents that break the contract?

When this happens, it brings to light one of the underlying problems in the child’s behaviour. The whole thing hinges around consistent boundaries and the expectations around this.

STRUCTURE – it is structure that puts into place consistent boundaries. You cannot have expectations of your child’s behaviour if your child doesn’t know what to expect as a result of those behaviours. If you are feeling that the programme isn’t working for you and your child. The first port of call is the incentive scheme / reward chart.

Who is breaking it?

Have you taken something away from your child, for example a privilege  or a toy?

Broken a promise?

Or failed to reward something by not celebrating the success? However small, a success is a success!

Your child cannot go wrong with their part of this system. It  should be agreed quite clearly what the rewards are (they are written down as part of the contract between you )– they can only achieve them or chose not to achieve them, and it is your direction which drives them to the desire, which is reinforced by  their success and to actively motivate them to work towards it.

The forum on the website allows you to post any comments or questions you may have about how to get this part of the HET process working with your child. You can even post the successes on your own page. This is helpful as I had one despondent Mom say to me that her child ripped up the reward chart so it wasn’t working – Try keeping a record of it on the site – no –one can argue with that!!!

Perhaps you may need to look at how realistic your goals were in the first place. Start off with the simple easily achievable steps first. You can then expand on them at a later date once you’ve got the flow going. You renegotiate then and write another contract any time you want. This system is so flexible and designed to fit in with your child's needs and where you want to go with their behavioural responses.

Celebrating your child’s participation in the HET different techniques you are shown can be included in the reward chart system with awarding extra tokens for success. This is such a powerful stepping stone on the journey to natural alternatives for ADHD.

 

 

Ruby and Daisy - the snow friends with behavioural problems!

Well, I have been asked by those who know me, what is ‘SNOW FRIENDS’? What am I doing back here? And what’s going on?

 

So, I thought I’d blog it all for ease….

Snow Friends is about teaching someone to taste snowflakes for the very first time……

I have recently returned to the West Midlands in the UK after spending a year in Glastonbury. I was asked by a friend to set up a family retreat there based on HET to help families and children in crisis. Accompanied by Ruby, my little second rescue boxer dog and two very dear visionary friends– we set out to make it happen!

 After an endless 365 day run of 19 hour days – Everything was in  place including an international award for rediscovering your heart – for the empowerment and inspiration of young people.

The facility was happening! including an animal sanctuary for the HET PET programme where the animals could share regular stories and updates with children and families on line. And that is where I met Daisy, my  little rescue black German Micro pig. She came to be with me and Ruby at the animal sanctuary. She had her own webcam which kind of went out of action when she trashed her room (sorry, her pen) one day  and like Ruby, she regularly shared her stories and helped children and families who visited her online.

Sadly there were  high overheads involved in running the place. The man in charge of the project decided he didn’t want us there after a year – and that he could  use  our polytunnel in a more profitable way….So me, the two visionary friends, Steve the techie and Allan the PHEW coach and Ruby the  boxer dog came back with another vision. We still meet up every day to work on taking the vision out online.

So a dedicated team together has reshaped the vision to provide support on line and over the phone for families with children with behavioural difficulties in their own homes and bring the Willow Bridge expereince to them. Also we’ve provided a way to help people retrain and gain empoyment in helping families in this way, enabling their own visions to happen like ours did.

The whole Willow Bridge is coming on line in he next few weeks with loads of practical new projects like our Eco therapy programme and the Allan’s PHEW, Green exercise web work outs for training kids as Olympian family coaches and Steve the techie’s challenge – ell him what you want this website to – his challenge is to do it (Hee Hee -  kept him pretty busy there!)

Yesterday I heard that Daisy, our Micro Pig, who is now lodging at a neighbouring farm is pining for her friend.

And that dear friends is the inspiration behind the Snow Friends Project…. This original programme which was inspired by Ruby who came with me to work with HET and children who had been excluded from mainstream schools has now grown ino a ‘FRIENDS REUNITED’ project that can help families get access to HET stepping stones and at the same time help our HET trainees to gain experience of helping families through the programme under supervision during their training….. all this at the same time as helping those who become part of the snow friends project to create personal happiness in their lives through interacting with our holistic programme.

I am so looking forward to hearing how everyone gets on – through our blog facility on here!

 

I have recently launched the snow friends project, which you can see on this site. The aim is to get the retreat back - so one of the things that I have done is to join up with Ed Dale's thirty day challenge. This is ll happening on facebook - so you can join me there.

However i need teams of 7 people to help me launch the snow friends project - each subscription is a stepping stone download to a family needing help and a credit  towards our training HETs

Anyone who is interested in social networking of like minded people out there - like a challenge?

Lin

Blog:

I work personally with many children with behaviour problems and their  families and each family story is a unique story. The reasons are many why they are experiencing the problems they do  – Take for example a young man  who reached the national headlines – he was 12 years old and weighed 20 stones. His self esteem and image was so low that he become school phobic because of the comments and abuse hurled at him each day. His story became a successful weight loss story with lots of love, care, support and encouragement from his HET therapist, who is also a school nurse!

Toby’s  problem had a root cause – the break-up of his parent’s relationship – both he and his mom would comfort eat together and mom would over compensate for Toby with food substitutes – to Toby, love = Food!!!

Until the root cause was healed – Josh would always have a weight issue through his life, running a programme of self hate and looking for self love through obsessive food intake of foods that were processed with additives and sweeteners which are known to have detrimental health effects and create behavioural problems in some cases.

Needless to say Toby had no motivation to participate in any exercise due to his PE experience a school of abusive comments and being laughed at. In fact Toby was motivated to do very little other than sit at home watch TV and play on the computer all day – and eat!

A HET therapist will start their support programme, firstly by carrying out a questionnaire to help find the acceptable and unacceptable behaviours. These are then agreed with everyone working with the child and some goals and targets are greed and set with everyone concerned. A contract is made with everyone through which the child can earn rewards and incentives and defines consequences. This ensures consistent boundaries and is adaptable to every single child on the programme. We then support the emotional state through Bach Flower remedies. Then we look at lifestyle, health and well being through diet, nutrition and fitness levels. Then we look at core issues, negative patterns, early influences and dynamics, learn relaxation methods and cellular support. All this is learned alongside an eco therapy programme which supports  understanding of the HET approaches and forms a bridging curriculum between family, school and the community.

Join me for regular updates of a day in the life of HETwoman on twitter.

Well finally the world is waking up to the fact that throwing medication at children who have been labelled with ADHD is not the answer. Professors and doctors are now coming out of hiding to agree that the benefits of these types of medication have long been overstated and in fact some of the side effects  include eating and sleeping disorders and even death in extreme cases, for children. Ritalin or methylphenidate type medication is now being  prescribed for children in their infancy.

 

With such bad press behind the traditional medical approach to treating a condition which no – one really can explain, there is a huge rise in the number of people seeking natural alternatives for remedies to support children diagnosed with ADHD.

Because there is no clear shared understanding into the causes of ADD and ADHD, the route to follow in looking for natural remedies can sometimes be fraught with decision making as to what can be the best way forward.

The Holistic Educational Therapy (HET) Programme has a 9 year proven track record of success for supporting children and their families with this condition. ADD ADHD  prevents children from achieving their true potential  within the educational system. This approach has been commended in the UK  by OFSTED and heralded by a government department (DfES) as a “flagship of excellence” in it’s field.

The programme covers a comprehensive package of natural remedies, behavioural management strategies and a programme of learning materials which can be individualised to suit each child. Layer by layer HET supports the individual concerned with behaviours, emotions, core issues, negative patterns, sensory perceptions on a tactile, visual or auditory level ( which can be hyper or hypo exaggerated with individuals with this condition).

The programme has consistently demonstrated in excess of 85% success rate and is safe and effective for any age range.