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Dan aged 7 years was brought to see me with a diagnosis of Dyspraxia.
There was no history of dyspraxia, dyslexia etc. in the family,
the pregnancy went to full-term but some help was needed with the
delivery. No foetal distress was reported and all
the developmental milestones were met with the
exception of bladder control which was a little
late.
No problems were evident until Dan had to do things for himself
when it became clear that he had a dressing dyspraxia.
That is, left to his own devices Dan could not work out what to
put where and in which order. He had always been a bit clumsy
but increasingly this became a major problem in his life. It seemed
as though he had real problems fitting himself into his environment.
He had always been a poor sleeper with difficulties
getting off to sleep and aroused from it by any sounds in the house.
Once at school more problems became apparent as he took
everything literally and he could not place a drawing or
indeed writing within the confines of the page.
On examination Dan demonstrated major problems with his
cerebellum (the little brain at the back) being totally
unable to perform a series of simple tests. Also, further
testing demonstrated that the cerebral hemisphere on the
opposite side to the cerebellum that was grossly under functioning
was also functioning well below par. This frequently is
found and is termed a diaschisis.
Following a session of treatment at the clinic using physical
therapy to afferentate (send messages to via the nerves)
the left cerebellum, he was sent home with a very simple
yet neurologically challenging exercise to perform twice
a day for ten minutes for two weeks.
At the following visit his mother reported that the dyspraxia
had dramatically improved, his strength
had increased and he was managing to do all the things
he had struggled with before.
Bladder problems, in particular bed-wetting, are common
features associated with developmental delay. In the younger
age group of boys this is remedied very quickly, older boys
(past puberty) and girls taking a little longer.
It is essential to realise both in terms of understanding
the child’s problems and in providing the right treatment
that dyspraxia is a symptom of an underlying problem and
not a disease in of itself. This basic fundamental fact
is the reason why there is so much confusion over these
childhood complaints and so little effective treatment.
An associated problem with both ADHD and some dyspraxias
is in the relationship between the cerebellum on each side
and a brainstem nucleus, namely the inferior olivary nucleus.
A loop exists between nuclei in the cerebellum, the upper
brainstem, the inferior olivary nucleus and back up to the
cerebellum. The loop is essential to the timing of events
and should be equal on both sides at around 8-12Hzs. An
imbalance in these timing loops has been implicated in ADHD
and certain dyspraxic symptoms.
Recently a computer generated program has been produced
that over a relatively short space of time can re-set the
timings of the cerebellar/brainstem loops and restore the
temporal sequential balance.
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