February 2003

Accelerated neurodevelopment allows us the ability to
maximize and use our intellectual, physical, and emotional strengths simultaneously.
When accelerating brain power, daily tasks such as working, studying, and sports become easier to do and manage. The brain is functioning at optimal levels and is able to make quick attentional shifts on demand.
This is the state of mind that peak performers call "the zone" and is accessible at will.

If interested please contact us.

FAMILY EXPERIENCES

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In a continuing series of family life experiences we see through a father's eyes how he got his son back. 22 Year Old: Closed Head Injury, Depression, Anxiety We have a 22 year old son. He experienced multiple closed head injuries. His symptoms were frustration, anger, severe depression, confusion and anxiety. 3 years, 13 drugs, 6 doctors and 2 clinics later we still had not found any hope. During those three years we had been introduced to Dr. Cripe through NACD. As he continued to struggle with the same symptoms, we made a call to Cross Roads. We knew what we heard from Curtis made sense. It was hearing that things could be turned around without medications. It was reading the website and understanding in laymen terms time proven analysis and therapy. During his time in the program areas of his brain that had not functioned for years, were unlocked. He began feeling like a new person. His confidence began rising. His dreams of the future began to take hold. His empathy of other people began growing. His cognitive reasoning skills were flourishing. His ability to read more than a sentence and remember what he read developed. He carried on in depth meaningful, life sensitive conversations with us without frustration. Due to the nurturing environment that is at Crossroads, I have my son back. Curtis tested, skillfully diagnosed and set my son on a path of treatment. He took an interest in him as a person. He coached him. Encouraged him in his strengths. Helped him know how to manage his weaknesses. Dr. Grout is a tender woman with healing hands. She was able to set my son on a diet regimen that helped his thinking to become even clearer. She performed acupuncture to assist in the healing process. She monitored his physical condition during the entire time at the Institute. My son has gained back years that have been lost to these Closed Head Injuries because of these two doctors and the staff at Crossroads. He has experienced healing, not masking. He is able to function with confidence and is returning to a life of adult responsibility and purpose. The people and the results he encountered at Crossroads have impacted his course of study and the purpose he is pursuing in his life.

CDC Study Finds Autism To Be Less Rare ATLANTA (AP) - The rate for autism in five metropolitan Atlanta counties is vastly greater - by a rate of about nine times more - than studies on the neurological disorder previously have documented, federal researchers say. In the largest study of its kind in the country, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studied 289,456 children in Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett counties and found autism at a rate of 3.4 per 1,000 children, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. About 1,000 children had autism or related disorders. Previous studies, conducted in the 1980s and 1990s, said that autism was much more rare, only afflicting children at a rate of .04 per 1,000 children. The Atlanta study is much closer to a CDC-sponsored study released in 2001 of New Jersey children that found an autism rate of 4 per 1,000 kids. ``Autism is more common today was previously reported,'' said Dr. Marshalyn Yeargin-Allsopp, a medical epidemiologist with the CDC. ``From the standpoint of a physician or a teacher or a professional, ... you will see more children with autism and should recognize the criteria for (autism) behavior with children.'' But the CDC stopped short of saying that autism was on the rise in metro Atlanta, primarily because there is no national data available and there have only been four autism studies conducted in the United States. Autism is caused by a neurological disorder that can severely impair social and behavioral skills. The CDC study looked at information from schools and treatment centers on children with developmental disorders. The data is from 1996 and it will be used as a baseline that will be compared against a second, upcoming, study that will use data from Atlanta students in 2000. Researchers in the metro Atlanta area also plan to examine how autism is caused. The CDC is providing funding for a dozen other states to determine autism rates in their areas. Angela Collins, president of the Autism Society of America's Greater Georgia chapter, said she hopes the research will help raise awareness about autism. Her 10-year-old son has autism and Collins said she's received strange looks from other adults after they've seen her son's behavioral disorders. ``Maybe now we won't be looked at as parents with 'bad parenting' skills,'' Collins said. ``Most individuals with autism ... have unusual behaviors and they can behave in such a way that's 'not acceptable''' to mainstream parents. ``I was looked at as I had 'horns on my head,''' she added. ``That's very hurtful.'' In the Atlanta study, researchers found the autism rate was no different among black and white kids. But the rate varied by age, from 1.9 per 1,000 children for 3-year-olds to 4.7 per 1,000 for 8-year-olds. ``Younger children have lower prevalence rates than older children since many young children may not yet have come to the attention of professionals,'' the CDC said. The CDC said the Atlanta study's higher autism rate compared to previous studies may only be a reflection of better awareness of the neurological disorder that can severely impair social and developmental skills. Media coverage, classification of autism for special education services and even research that suggests some children with autism respond well to early educational intervention may have contributed to the rise in the case rate. ``It remains unclear whether specific environmental, immunologic, genetic or unidentified factors also have contributed to these higher reported prevalence rates,'' the CDC said. Vaccine critics gaining allies at Legislature Healthy News Stephanie Lee, a stay-at-home mom from Finlayson, Minn., says she believes routine childhood vaccines caused her 2-year-old daughter's death. Dr. Karen Effrem, a former Park Nicollet pediatrician, campaigns against vaccines and the Head Start education program as threats to children. Alternative-medicine practitioner Jerri Johnson of Eagan, a former nurse, now says she believes her former profession ignores vaccine risks. All three are part of a loosely organized movement that is gaining political momentum. They believe routine childhood shots, including polio and tetanus vaccines, seriously harm many kids who get them. These vaccine critics, who have sporadically lobbied Minnesota legislators to weaken school immunization requirements, suddenly are better connected at the State Capitol. A longtime ally, Rep. Lynda Boudreau, R-Faribault, is now chairwoman of the House committee overseeing health policy. Other legislators are taking an interest, too. Meanwhile, state health officials and doctors are becoming alarmed. "If vaccination rates drop, these diseases will come back, and they will come back with a vengeance," said state epidemiologist Dr. Harry Hull. But Boudreau and other sympathetic legislators are encouraged. "I'm not convinced we need more vaccinations," said Boudreau, the new head of the Health and Human Service Policy Committee. "Shouldn't we prove there is a risk to the public before mandating a vaccination?" Boudreau's committee will hear testimony Monday on a Health Department plan to require two new school or day-care vaccinations: one for chickenpox and another for pneumococcal bacteria. The chickenpox vaccine is required for schoolchildren in about 35 states. The opponents Vaccine critics are an unlikely mix of individuals. Effrem, the pediatrician, opposes programs such as Head Start because she says they "usurp parental authority." She became concerned about vaccines after her own reading indicated that vaccine risks were greater than what public health experts said. Johnson, the Eagan nurse, practices homeopathy, which is based on the premise that extreme dilutions of natural substances can cure disease. She's active in the Minnesota Natural Health Coalition, an alternative medicine advocacy group. Advocates also include Leo Cashman, a Minneapolis man who campaigns against mercury dental fillings and fluoride in water, and Holly Henson, former host of the "Big, Bad Movie" on KSTC, Channel 45. Henson said she believes vaccines are used by the government to thin the population. Others are parents who believe their kids were harmed by the shots. Lee's daughter, Lily Lee Doherty, was 2 when she died of a seizure in October. Lee said doctors have told her that Lily's death was not linked to vaccines and that the child may have had a cell disorder. Lee said her daughter's seizures began after she got her shots. She said doctors brushed off her concerns. Ilona Kearney of Hibbing started speaking to other mothers about vaccines after her son Bryan Kearney died at 4 months in 1981. Doctors told her the cause was sudden infant death syndrome, but Kearney keyed in on the two shots that he had had that day. "It's our feeling that the shots led to our son's death," Kearney said. All of these critics say they are not trying to ban vaccines. Instead, they oppose new requirements and favor development of safer vaccines and better tracking of any reactions. Blaming vaccines Dr. Richard Andersen, an infectious disease expert at Children's Hospitals and Clinics in the Twin Cities, sympathizes with parents who have lost a child or are raising one who is disabled. But he cautioned that parents may unfairly blame vaccines when tragedy strikes. While vaccines are not perfect, Andersen said, the scientific evidence overwhelmingly shows that the benefits far outweigh the risks. Public health officials point out that such major organizations as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that children get the shots. But vaccine critics "really want doctors to convey only the misinformation they believe," Andersen said. "If I go on the Internet, I can find someone in California who claims their child's left arm fell off because of a vaccine," he said. "If that's what they want me to convey to patients, I won't do it." Hull said any side effects and injuries already are tracked closely. While vaccination rates in Minnesota remain among the highest in the nation, he worries that critics will undermine public confidence in vaccines, and the result could be that these diseases will once again cause deaths. Statistics for reaction rates vary widely depending whether they're coming from critics or public health agencies. For instance, the CDC says the side effects are usually minor, limited to fever or swelling at the injection site; critics say the reactions are more serious. Less controversial are the death rates for vaccine-preventable diseases. They include 1 in 20 for diphtheria -- the "D" in the DTaP (for diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussus) vaccine. At the low end is 1 in 3,000 for measles, one of the "Ms" in the MMR (for measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine. Shannon Duffy Peterson of Sleepy Eye lost her 5-year-old daughter Abigale Peterson to pneumococcal pneumonia in February 2001. Peterson said her physician didn't explain the pneumococcal shot's benefits, and she replays in her mind Abigale's last well-child check. "I wish someone would have told me these are deadly diseases and that she needed to get the shot," she said. At the Capitol Vaccines surfaced as an issue in the Legislature about five years ago, mostly in the House. This year, Sen. Becky Lourey, DFL-Kerrick, said she expects legislation in the House and Senate to limit the Health Department's vaccination plan. Other measures that may come before the Legislature could require better notification to parents about their right to avoid vaccinations or about the risks of vaccines. Rep. Thomas Huntley, DFL-Duluth, who serves on Boudreau's committee, said vaccine critics have gotten more numerous and more organized. "They have been particularly active in testifying before the Legislature and lobbying legislators," Huntley said. "And most legislators respond to people who come in and talk." In the Senate, the committee overseeing health issues traditionally hasn't been too critical of vaccinations. Now, it has several new committee members interested in the issue. At a Health Department briefing Thursday on the new vaccination rules, committee members spent two hours asking health officials often-pointed questions about the need for vaccines, their risks and how to get the public involved in vaccine decisions. Lourey, chairwoman of the Senate Health and Family Security Policy Committee, said she welcomes the discussion. "I want to know more about what the department is doing for families who see their children responding negatively to an immunization," she said. "Plus, the information that [says] families don't have to continue vaccinations just isn't there." FIRST NATUROPATHIC PHYSICIANS APPOINTED TO MEDICARE COVERAGE ADVISORY COMMITTEE For the first time, two naturopathic physicians, (ND's) have been appointed to the Medicare Coverage Advisory Committee, a group convened under the Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Joseph Pizzorno, Jr., co-founder and President Emeritus of Bastyr University and Dr. Pamela Snider, Associate Dean, Public and Professional Affairs at Bastyr, join a committee of 100 individuals representing a wide range of scientific and medical professions. They are charged with advising the Centers on effective and appropriate medical services that are covered or eligible for coverage under Medicare. 'Dyscalculia' adds up to everyday problems USA Today News By Greg Toppo Dyscalculia, or difficulty with math, is a learning disability similar to dyslexia, or difficulty with reading. Also known as developmental arithmetic disorder, it affects 2% to 6.5% of elementary school-age children in the USA and can remain a lifelong problem, according to the National Center for Learning Disabilities. Among those with dyscalculia, some can develop math phobia, or a fear of math, because of bad experiences with math or in math class, or simply because of poor self-confidence in the subject. In the USA, such students are generally not excused from classes but are given tutoring or placed in classes that aren't as intimidating. Marilyn Burns, a nationally known math educator and author of Math: Facing an American Phobia, says most people who fear math ''never were taught in a way that they could make sense of something that makes sense.'' Like Viviana, the Italian high school junior whose psychological problems with math allowed her to skip math class, people with dyscalculia are often good at other subjects. But they often have trouble with everyday math such as balancing a checkbook or figuring out a restaurant tip. They also might have a poor sense of direction, have trouble reading maps or sticking to a schedule and find it difficult to keep track of rules or scores during a sporting event. Educators suggest that parents of children with dyscalculia help them by reading math problems out loud, getting children to visualize the question. They also should try to apply them to real life and use things such as beans or blocks that kids can hold. Using rhymes, rhythmic devices or music also can help. Frank Wang, former chairman of Saxon, which publishes a highly regarded line of math textbooks, says Viviana probably didn't get enough help mastering the basics. ''I would bet you anything it's because she did not have a good, solid grounding in the foundations,'' he says. Wang, who had such strong math phobia as a child that he didn't want to go to school, says he studied to become a mathematician to show he could do the work. Now a math professor at the University of Oklahoma, Wang says he sees the problems that poor teaching can cause. ''Their problem is not with calculus -- their problem is with algebra and trigonometry." Mapping cortical change across the human life span Elizabeth R. Sowell1, Bradley S. Peterson2, Paul M. Thompson1, Suzanne E. Welcome1, Amy L. Henkenius1 & Arthur W. Toga1   1. University of California at Los Angeles, Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, Department of Neurology Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons Department of Psychiatry New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York We used magnetic resonance imaging and cortical matching algorithms to map gray matter density (GMD) in 176 normal individuals ranging in age from 7 to 87 years. We found a significant, nonlinear decline in GMD with age, which was most rapid between 7 and about 60 years, over dorsal frontal and parietal association cortices on both the lateral and interhemispheric surfaces. Age effects were inverted in the left posterior temporal region, where GMD gain continued up to age 30 and then rapidly declined. The trajectory of maturational and aging effects varied considerably over the cortex. Visual, auditory and limbic cortices, which are known to myelinate early, showed a more linear pattern of aging than the frontal and parietal neocortices, which continue myelination into adulthood. Our findings also indicate that the posterior temporal cortices, primarily in the left hemisphere, which typically support language functions, have a more protracted course of maturation than any other cortical region. Rett Syndrome: A New Understanding of Neurological Disorders By Jennifer Wider, MD Society for Women's Health Research While the gene responsible for Rett Syndrome was discovered in 1999, only recently have researchers realized the potential for the finding to shed light on this and other neurological disorders. This pivotal research, along with lobbying efforts by actress Julia Roberts, has brought this once obscure disease to the political and scientific forefront. Since the discovery of the gene by Huda Zoghbi, M.D. and colleagues at Baylor College of Medicine, researchers have been working towards potential therapies and screening techniques. Rett Syndrome occurs predominantly in females, affecting one in every 15,000 girls worldwide. Children with the disease will develop normally for the first 6 to 18 months, achieving anticipated developmental milestones, and then will begin to regress as their motor and cognitive skills cease to mature. The mutation responsible for Rett Syndrome occurs on the tip of the X chromosome in a gene that researchers have named the MECP2. A child with the disease experiences marked neurological deterioration because components of the gene are responsible for normal brain development. The disorder affects males and females differently because the mutation is located on the X chromosome, causing an uneven gender distribution as girls have two X chromosomes and boys have one X and one Y. The effects of the faulty gene can be offset in girls, to some extent, because the normal X will compensate. Thus, affected girls have the symptoms of the disease, but can survive the mutation. The Y chromosome in boys cannot compensate for the X chromosomal mutation and the defect is usually lethal. The disease is seen almost exclusively in girls because male pregnancies generally self-abort. Those affected appear normal at birth and into the first year of life because, "The protein product of the gene is not needed by the nervous system until the neurons mature," explains Carolyn Schanen, M.D., Ph.D., Head of Human Genetics Research Programs at the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, DE. In other words, symptoms will only become apparent when the brain cells are mature. Once neurons or brain cells begin to mature, sufferers will experience emotional withdrawal, loss of previously acquired speech and motor skills, delayed head growth, and, as the child ages, characteristic hand gestures, breathing abnormalities and walking problems. Ultimately, Rett Syndrome leaves affected girls dependent upon wheelchairs and only able to use eye gestures to communicate. "It is important to note that the gene discovery has revealed that a subset of patients with several other disorders, such as mild mental retardation and psycho-affective disorders, have mutations in MECP2," said Dr. Zoghbi. The association with more common diseases like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder has led to a better understanding of the function and development of the human brain. Now, researchers can look for ways to normalize the defect at the cellular level. Before the gene discovery, Rett Syndrome was often a clinical diagnosis made at the age of 7 or 8. Children would pass from one office to the next, misdiagnosed by doctors who failed to recognize the perplexing symptoms. Now, they can be treated earlier and taught to retain skills before they lose them. Rett Syndrome occurs spontaneously in most girls and the risk of a family having a second child with the disease is very low. "Many families want a prenatal diagnosis," according to Dr. Schanen. In the past, "Some families even terminated pregnancies because of female gender. This is no longer an issue because genetic testing is a major assurance." A genetic counselor can be consulted for families who already have one daughter with Rett Syndrome, but routine screening is not recommended because there is currently no effective treatment. Doctors are looking forward to a wide array of treatment alternatives for Rett Syndrome and the associated diseases. According to Dr. Zoghbi, "When effective therapeutic options become available, newborn screens can be put in place to identify affected individuals so that therapy can be started before most symptoms appear. Such early intervention holds the promise of better outcomes for at least some of the features of this class of disorders." In working towards early intervention options, researchers have also begun to understand the significant role sex plays in varied congenital genetic disorders. Experts discussed Rett Syndrome and other disorders at the March 2002 scientific advisory meeting "Sex Begins in the Womb", hosted by the Society for Women's Health Research and Stanford University School of Medicine. When you read the next article please read it carefully to understand why we are seeing so many "new" diseases, syndromes and dysfunctions. We hope that this will also make you think twice as you watch all those pharmaceutical commercials that are so prevalent now on TV...you should ask yourself, "Is this for something real or manufactured?" Ultimately it is each individual's responsibility to understand "what" they put into their bodies and especially "why". -Crossroads Institute.- Drugs Companies 'Inventing' Diseases Healthy News DRUG companies were yesterday accused of helping to invent a new medical disorder known as female sexual dysfunction to build new markets for their products. An editorial in the British Medical Journal argued that over the past six years, researchers with close ties to the pharmaceutical industry have been developing and defining the disorder at industry- sponsored meetings. The most recent gathering was sponsored by the company Pfizer, which in 2001 reported sales of Viagra worth 1.5 billion dollars (pounds 960 million). Journalist Ray Moynihan said a milestone in the making of the new disorder was an article in an American journal in February 1999 which suggested that 43 per cent of women aged 18-59 have a female sexual dysfunction. But leading researchers have raised serious concerns about this figure, describing it as misleading and potentially dangerous. The figure of 43 per cent comes from a 1992 survey of 1,500 women who were asked questions including whether they had suffered a lack of desire for sex or anxiety about sexual performance for two months or more during the previous year. If women answered yes to just one of the seven questions they were classed as having sexual dysfunction. Several experts had said that portraying sexual difficulties as a dysfunction will encourage the prescription of drugs that change sexual function, when attention should instead be paid to other aspects of a woman's life. Dr Sandra Leiblum, professor of psychiatry at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, believes real dysfunction was much less prevalent than 43 per cent and that changes in sexual desire were normal. "I think there is dissatisfaction and perhaps disinterest among a lot of women but that doesn't mean they have a disease," she said. Dr Mitra Boolell, medical director for Pfizer, said: "We do not invent disorders." He said, following a World Health Organisation meeting in 1992, papers were published which included Female Sexual Dysfunction in the International Classification of Disorders. "It is a very common condition that can effect 40 per cent of women," he said. "It has a big impact on the quality of life for people who suffer from it." He said it was common for the industry to sponsor meetings, but this did not mean experts lost their independent judgment.

Brain Hemispheres, Emotions and Autism Spectrum Disorder Belgium Study Discovers Interesting Results We all know that we have two sides of our brain that work in conjunction with each other. And we often hear people say "I'm a left-brained person" or "I'm a right-brained person". It is often true that one side or the other seems to be dominant in most people. For instance a successful accountant probably is left-brain dominant and an artist is most likely right brain dominant. But what about our emotions and our emotional reactions? Is it fair to say they are only being processed on one side or the other? The January 2003 issue of "Neuropsychology," published by the American Psychological Association, has an interesting article about a study done in Belgium by psychologists interested in how emotions are processed by our minds. They actually looked at blood flow velocity, via ultrasound equipment, to the brain and concluded that in dealing with emotions we are very much whole-brained. The left side focuses on the "what" of the emotion and then the right side goes to work on the "how" as in, how it feels. At Ghent University, Guy Vingerhoets, Ph.D., Celine Berckmoes, M.S., and Nathalie Stroobant, M.S., knew that the left-brain is dominant for language, and the right-brain is dominant for emotion. But what happens when the brain is processing emotional language? Participants in the study, while hooked up to the ultrasound machines, were asked to listen to a set of messages that had been recorded for the study. The sentences were ones that actors spoke in two ways. One way was factual without inflection and the other way was with the appropriate emotional tone for the emotion being expressed. For instance, "She loved the flowers he sent her," was said once without inflection and once with the emotional tone of happiness and joy. The ultrasound revealed much. When the sentence was said without emotion the listeners focused on the words being said and identified the emotion accurately. The left-brain function picked up and showed increased blood flow and activity. The left-brain processed what the emotion was and correctly identified it. But when the same sentence was repeated with feeling and emotion an interesting thing happened. The right-brain activity increased as expected BUT the left-brain did not cease or slow its activity. The brain as a whole processed what the emotion was and what the proper reaction to that emotion would be. It took both sides of the brain to correctly connect with that specific emotion. What could this mean in terms of autism spectrum disorders? Consider a condition such as autism. People with autism consistently have problems with processing other people's emotions and in addition to that, they struggle with conceptual issues. That is definitely a sign of right-brain malfunction either in how the brain is processing the information or in the ability of the Corpus Callosum to network the two sides together. Thus when the tone of voice or inflection comes up, the right-brain may not be rising to the occasion to work in tandem with the already functioning left-brain. "Understanding emotional prosody," says Vingerhoets, "appears to activate right hemispheric brain regions." However, the left-brain stays active to categorize or label the emotion -- as befits its dominance in language processing. "Even if you pay attention to the 'how' information," says Vingerhoets, "you can't help hearing the semantic content, the 'what' of the message. We do this all the time; we are trained in it." Obviously this has tremendous clinical implications for many issues such as tumors, lesions, strokes and other brain disorders. As Vingerhoets said, we are trained it in, but we are trained by observation and as we grow up from children to adults. A child, who is autistic and is unable to understand the subtle clues given by tone of voice because the right brain is not functioning as well as it could, is at a tremendous disadvantage in communicating. The receptive part of communication will be hampered by the inability to notice and understand the finer nuances in speech and the expressive part will be unable to project concepts via emotional content in the speech. That also brings up the question about the unique ability of many people with autism as far as artistic and musical ability. If the right brain is not increasing its functioning, how does that explain so many painting, playing music, drawing and engaging in other activities that involve right-brain activity? Perhaps the problem will be found in the Corpus Callosum. The connective tissue that unites right and left-brain function may be impaired in some way as well. This would also be interesting when taken in conjunction with the fact that 75% of autistics are male. The point of study here would be that the Corpus Callosum in males is smaller and less functional than in females. Is it possible that this tissue within the brain deserves a study that is more intensive? Much more research will need to be done but it is clear that we are more than a right hemisphere and a left hemisphere. We function as a whole as the two halves of us ratchet up their functions to mesh with each other. And that is exciting; no matter what side of the brain you think with! The effectiveness of Neurotherapy in the treatment of ADHD Behavioural Neurotherapy Clinic Jacques Duff. MAPS; MAAAPB; AMACNEM; MASNR Presented at the 2nd International Mind of a Child Conference Sydney April 2002 and at the Eastern Metropolitan Region Student Wellbeing Conference.June 2002 Research over the last 30 years has confirmed that excessive slow brainwave activity is the most common finding of electroencephalographic (EEG) abnormalities in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Learning difficulties [12]. Quantitative EEG (QEEG) studies have confirmed and extended these findings. In the Early 1970s Prof. Barry Sterman at UCLA and later Prof. Joel Lubar at Tenessee University developed Neurotherapy, an EEG operant conditioning technique that specifically targets these EEG anomalies and attempts to retrain them by learning through operant conditioning. This paper provides an overview of Neurotherapy research and its effectiveness in permanently redressing ADHD symptoms in over 80% of subjects. Background Over the last decades, the worldwide increase in the incidence of substance abuse, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) anxiety, depression and mental illness in general has caused great concern to health authorities and the public. Genetic interactions with our "modern" diet may be at the root of this epidemic and effective treatment may require that we treat the root causes by promoting better diet and self regulation rather than treating the symptoms with medication. Faced with the task of improving the behaviours of children with neurodevelopmental disorders we have chosen to adopt a holistic approach. We first attempt to rectify intestinal dysbiosis, leaky gut and malabsorption, this aspect is handled by a GP member of the Australasian College of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine (ACNEM) at the clinic. Second, we stress the importance of a balanced diet with a paleolithic-like profile. Third, we supplement the diet as required with amino acids, Omega 3 fatty acids and associated micronutrients. Fourth we use Neurotherapy, based on QEEG findings, to redress any abnormalities in slow/fast brainwave ratio in the EEG. Finally, when the biology is normalised, to the extent that it can be, we apply Behavioural and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy supplemented with Behavioural, Educational and Metacognitive strategies as required. This paper focuses on the key aspect of this approach: The effectiveness of Neurotherapy in the treatment of ADHD. Neurophysiological factors and brain dysfunction Chronic behaviours are the result of both biological predisposition and learned environmental interactions encrypted into neuronal firing patterns. Hence while changing a person's microbiology may improve the potential for normal brain function, altering higher order learned behaviours, may require that the learned neuronal firing patterns be modified. By repeatedly challenging dysfunctional thinking patterns and changing them through cognitive restructuring and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Psychologists are effectively reprogramming neuronal firing patterns. However when a disorder is underpinned by a neurophysiological dysfunction, directly retraining brainwave patterns by operant conditioning of the EEG has been shown to be a more effective method of reprogramming neuronal firing patterns. This has been demonstrated in ADHD [24-33], depression [34-36] and post-concussion syndrome [37-39]. Research in psychophysiology over the last 30 years supports the view that thalamo-cortical and cortico-cortical oscillations are responsible for the timing and transfer of information between various structures in the brain, and that disruptions in their regulation are responsible for a range of brain dysfunction and consequently mental disorders [40-44]. There is a wealth of evidence that psychiatric disorders are related to specific dysfunctional brainwave patterns identified in the QEEG [4, 12] QEEG is the statistical analysis of neuronal activity recorded from the surface of the scalp. In 1988, Dr. E. Roy John, and his research team at the Brain Research Laboratories at New York University Medical Center, published in Science the seminal work in computer-assisted differential diagnosis of brain dysfunctions using QEEG (neurometric analysis). Building on that work, John and Prichep and other research teams since have created an objective evaluation system that is highly sensitive and specific for assessment and interpretation of brain dysfunction [4]. Several researchers have suggested that Neurotherapy could be used to redress the dysfunctional brainwave patterns identified by QEEG neurometric analysis . There is a wealth of evidence indicating that over 80% of subjects in studies to-date are able to change their brainwave patterns towards normal and consequently normalise the associated behaviours IQ scores and academic output. Neurotherapy in the treatment of ADHD Using a 19 channel QEEG recording, Chabot and colleagues were able to discriminate replicably ADHD versus normal children, with a sensitivity of 90% and a specificity of 94% and ADD versus specific learning disorders with a sensitivity of 97% and a specificity of 84.2% [8-11]. Their most common findings were of generalised or focal theta/alpha excess mostly at frontal and central sites. Monastra and colleagues found that the power ratio of theta/beta measured at the vertex (CZ) was able to distinguish their large sample of ADHD children from normals with a Sensitivity of 86% and a specificity of 98%. Researchers have suggested that Neurotherapy may be the treatment of choice to target the theta and alpha excesses, for example. Neurotherapy is an operant conditioning paradigm developed in the Seventies by Professor Barry Sterman of UCLA. Sterman successfully trained cats to increase brainwave activity by operant conditioning of the EEG. The cats were rewarded for producing SMR Rhythm (12- 15Hz) over the sensorimotor cortex in a study of brainwave activity [48]. Subsequently when NASA commissioned Sterman to investigate the seizure causing effects of Hydrazine fuel, it was discovered serendipitously that the same cats were highly resistant to seizures. A series of published studies followed which indicated that Neurotherapy (EEG operant conditioning or EEG Biofeedback or Neurofeedback) was highly effective in reducing seizure incidence in humans [49-58]. Since the 1960s, research in neuroscience, psychophysiology and clinical practice in universities and clinical settings have shown that through Neurotherapy (EEG biofeedback) patients can be taught to restore self-regulation in the brain by retraining their brainwave patterns. A more recent improvement in Neurotherapy protocols is in the use of QEEG Neurometrics to identify the specific brainwave patterns that need to be redressed. Neurotherapy methodology During Neurotherapy, real-time QEEG is displayed on a computer in the form of a game, and the patient is given contingent audio-visual rewards for producing less Theta and more Beta waves. There is now significant evidence in the literature, which suggest that most ADHD children can learn to produce a brainwave pattern with more normal theta/beta ratios. Thresholds are set so that the child is rewarded (audio-visual rewards, points and tokens) when the middle ship is winning the space race. In other words reward is contingent on increasing beta (15-18Hz) and suppressing theta and muscle activity. Effectiveness of Neurotherapy in the treatment of ADHD and LDs. Improvements in theta/beta ratios of ADHD subjects following Neurotherapy have been found to correlate significantly with a number of empirical and subjective measures. Studies have reported improvement in impulsivity, attention, response time and variability of response time scores on Continuous Performance Tasks (TOVA) [63-68]. In addition, there were reductions in hyperactivity and impulsivity on behaviour scales, increases in attention and cognitive skills in Individual Achievement Tests scores, and increases in IQ scores [26, 33, 68-72]. Overall, results of several studies indicate that Neurotherapy treatment is effective in over 80% of cases in significantly reducing the undesirable ADHD symptoms, and the effects appear to be permanent [70, 73-76]. In many of the studies cited, the ADHD subjects were on psychostimulant medication at the start of the study. In all of the studies where medication was involved, the subjects were able to reduce their stimulant medication or completely come off the medication by the end of Neurotherapy treatment [63, 66, 70, 74, 77]. Critics have rightly pointed out that other "non-specific" causes may be responsible for the observed effects, since no double blind placebo controlled studies of Neurotherapy have been carried out to prove that the observed outcome are indeed due to Neurotherapy treatment effects. While the preferred double blind method is well suited to the investigation of the effectiveness of medications, it is not applicable to client intensive psychotherapies for ethical and practical reasons. However many outcome studies, including controlled studies, lending support to the effectiveness of Neurotherapy have been published in peer reviewed journals and suggest that Neurotherapy should be viewed as a scientifically viable treatment for ADHD with results capable of permanent remediation of symptoms [47, 76]. The January 2000 edition of Clinical Electroencephalography, was entirely devoted to Neurotherapy. The editorial opinion by Neurology Editor, Frank Duffy M.D. stated: "The literature, which lacks any negative study of substance, suggest that Neurotherapy should play a major therapeutic role in many difficult areas. In my opinion if any medication had demonstrated such a wide spectrum of efficacy it would be universally accepted and widely used."[78] The most effective treatment methodology may be one that uses a multidisciplinary team approach, where medical, nutritional, psychophysiological and psychological approaches are tailored to the individual patient presentation for the benefit of the patient. The challenge in this new century is for healthcare professionals to seek to understand each other's perspectives and to freely cooperate with each other to promote the best treatment outcome for their patients. Brain Reorganization For years scientists thought most brain development stopped after a "critical period" in the first few years of life. Recent research on monkeys and other animals shows that the brain continually and dynamically reorganizes itself, even in adulthood. This finding helps explain how learning occurs and may lead to ways of improving recovery from learning disabilities, stroke, and other brain disorders through drug treatments or special "brain exercises." Old brains can learn new tricks. For years, scientists believed that connections between the brain's nerve cells, or neurons, develop by early childhood and then become fixed throughout life. In the last decade, however, animal research has revealed that brain areas routinely adjust the way they process information and retain the ability to take on new functions during adulthood. The new findings: * Reveal how human experiences and physical disorders affect the brain. * Provide insights into the development of dyslexia and other learning disorders. * Offer hope of improved recovery from injury, stroke, and brain disorders through drugs or training regimens. During early development, genes prompt the brain's neurons to form trillions of connections. These connections are fine-tuned by the neurons' electrical activity: useful connections are maintained or added, while others often disappear. Early experiments showed that many brain functions have a "critical period" during which most of this fine-tuning takes place -- usually the first few years after birth. Scientists once thought that, except for areas involved with memory, brain functions are usually stable after this time. In the 1980s, researchers made a surprising discovery. When nerve impulses in one finger of a monkey were blocked, the part of the brain that previously responded to touch at that finger began over several months to respond to signals from surrounding fingers. The deprived brain regions began responding to different nerves. This helps explain "phantom pain," in which people with part of their body amputated report intense feeling in or near a missing arm or leg -- usually when a nearby region is stimulated. Scientists also found that many brain regions' functions were organized differently every time they were examined. This happened even in brain areas unaffected by experiments. Changes in organization also followed limited damage to nerves for vision and hearing. This suggested that all brain areas continually adapt to changing signals. Scientists are still uncertain whether adult brain reorganization results from formation of new connections or strengthening of existing, previously unused connections. A loss or increase of neuron activity in a certain area may let normally silent connections gain the upper hand and win more brain territory. Understanding the brain's ability to dynamically reorganize itself, even in adulthood, helps scientists understand how patients sometimes recover brain functions damaged by injury or disease. While the brain can't grow new neurons, new neuron connections can emerge with surprising speed. Even learning to read by Braille can increase the brain territory responding to fingertip stimulation. Scientists are now looking for ways of making reorganization more likely to occur. Proteins called nerve growth factors are being tested in humans to see if they prompt brain reorganization after stroke and other disorders. Since reorganization seems to be influenced by neural activity, scientists are also testing special "brain exercises" designed to help the brain remodel itself in beneficial ways. Brain reorganization may also contribute to the symptoms of some diseases or slow recovery. Since the brain adapts to underlying problems, it must re-adapt once the problems are removed. Understanding how these changes occur may lead to ways of preventing damage and speeding recovery in learning disorders, stroke, and other nervous system diseases. When nerve stimulation changes, as with amputation, the brain reorganizes. In one theory, signals from a finger and thumb of an uninjured person travel independantly to separate regions in the brain's thalamus (left). After amputation, however, neurons that formerly responded to signals from the finger respond to signals from the thumb .

Understanding Special Education Laws and Rights Frequently Asked Questions Even though parents receive a copy of special education rights and responsibilities at least once a year, often there is confusion about interpretation. Here are some recurring questions and answers about the protections offered under Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). What is FAPE? Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and its regulations require school districts to provide a free appropriate public education (FAPE) to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability. FAPE refers to special education and related services that are provided at no cost to the parent, meet state education standards, and are consistent with your child’s IEP. Eligible students, aged 3 to 21 (in most states) or until they graduate from high school with a regular diploma, have a right to FAPE. FAPE doesn’t mean the best possible education is offered at public expense to your child. Courts have defined “appropriate education” as a basic floor of opportunity. In other words, while IDEA guarantees equal opportunity, it does not guarantee a specific level of achievement or even a regular high school diploma. When you and the school disagree on the meaning of “appropriate,” communication becomes extremely important. Because appropriate is based on your child’s IEP and the progress she’s made, FAPE is determined on an individual basis. When making this decision, the following will be considered: growth on standardized tests from year to year, classroom performance, attendance, behavior, progress on goals and objectives, and report card grades. For example, imagine your child with LD has made year for year progress on tests and achieved her IEP goals and objectives but got a D on his/her report card. If s/he received the low grade because s/he skipped classes and didn’t turn in homework, then his/her disability may not have been the cause of the poor grade. So it’s quite possible s/he has received FAPE. Aren’t all kids with LD entitled to FAPE? To be eligible, a child with a disability must meet one of the 13 (and in some states more) eligibility criteria and because of the disability need special education services to benefit from the general education program. If the IEP team decides your child meets these two requirements, then an IEP is developed. Even though the team, which includes you as parent, agrees your child has a disability, if she doesn’t require special education services, then s/he is not eligible and has no legal entitlement to FAPE. What does LRE mean? Federal special education laws and regulations require FAPE to be provided in the least restrictive environment (LRE). Since LRE is a relative concept, what is considered LRE for one child may not be LRE for another. The IEP team must consider how to educate your child alongside kids without a disability to the maximum extent appropriate for both. The IEP team identifies the services your child needs to reach his/her goals and objectives and how they’ll be provided. Since special education is a set of services, rather than a specific place for your child to go, the general education classroom is considered the LRE for most kids. That means your child spends most of his/her school day in general education with “push in” or “pull out” support from the special education staff. In other words, your child’s IEP may be implemented in the general education classroom or in a different classroom. IDEA also requires that a range of placements be available. Besides instruction in general education, other options for receiving special education services may be considered, including special classes, special schools, home instruction, and instruction in hospitals and institutions. Considering all IEP components, the IEP team must decide which one of these settings is the LRE for your child. How can I get the district to pay for private school? As a parent, you want the best for your child, to maximize his/her potential. However, since there's no "cure" for LD, your child may struggle throughout school and progress at a different rate from his/her peers. The effect of a learning difference on a child's rate of learning, coupled with high parental expectations, can cause a child to feel pressured and home-school relations to be strained. When communication breaks down, you may feel the public school isn’t doing enough or the teachers just don’t understand your child. That may lead to disagreement over your child’s rate of learning and what s/he’s entitled to. The frustration that results may lead you to consider other alternatives, including private school. While it may sound good to you to have your child educated in a school in which all the other kids have LD, be aware that such a private school legally may be considered a more restrictive environment because s/he’ll have little, if any, access to nondisabled peers. In other words, your child will be educated only with kids who are considered to have a disability. Therefore, the setting may not be considered the LRE because there’s no opportunity to work and play with nondisabled kids. In order to get placement in a private school at public expense, you’ll need to show your child was denied FAPE. In 1982, the Supreme Court of the United States set the standard that a child must receive "meaningful” (more than “trivial”) benefit from his/her education. Public schools are expected to provide some benefit, not maximize your child's potential or offer the best services available. This has been referred to as the requirement to “provide a Chevrolet, not a Cadillac" education. In other words, school districts have to provide basic services — access to general education curriculum — within a clearly stated budget that comes from public tax dollars. Deciding how much benefit your child has received from school can be difficult because you and the school may have different standards and expectations. The outcome of a case heard before the 5th Circuit (affecting Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas) in 1997 encouraged a look at these questions to decide if your child’s IEP is “reasonably calculated to provide educational benefit”: * Is his/her program individualized on the basis of her assessments and performance levels?   * Is s/he receiving her program in the LRE? * Are services provided in a coordinated and collaborative manner? * Are positive academic and nonacademic benefits demonstrated? To evaluate educational benefit from year to year, compare your child’s individual and group standardized test scores; class papers, projects, and tests; report card grades; and progress on IEP goals and objectives. Also consider his/her social skills, behavior, attendance, study skills, and work habits and how they may affect his/her classroom performance. Do regular reports keep you informed of progress at school? If you decide to pursue legal recourse, these will all be taken into consideration in deciding whether your child has received educational benefit or has been denied FAPE. Of course, parents always have the right to enroll their child in a private school at their own expense. Some independent schools may offer partial scholarships or other financial assistance. Why won’t the school use the teaching method I want? As a parent, you may have heard of a specific methodology that sounds just perfect for your child. Perhaps a friend gave a testimonial or you saw an advertisement about a certain program. But the school turned you down when you asked them to use this method to teach your child. Generally, this is because courts have given schools the authority to choose the methodology for educating children with IEPs. If your child is making progress in school, then the teaching methods being used are considered to be appropriate. If you can show that your child has not received FAPE, then the district may have to consider using the methodology you favor. But you’ll probably need to have independent assessment data showing your child is not receiving educational benefit and recommending the specific methodology. When is the district required to provide an IEE? By definition, an independent educational evaluation (IEE) is conducted by a qualified professional who is not an employee of the school district. Parents may request an IEE paid for by the school district when they disagree with the school district’s special education evaluation. In other words, these steps are necessary prior to asking for an IEE: * You agree in writing to allow district staff to assess your child. * Results of the assessment(s) are reported to you. * You disagree with those results. In response to your request for an IEE, the district must take one of two actions: * Provide the IEE at public expense, or * Initiate a due process hearing to show the district’s evaluation was appropriate. In the first situation, if the school district agrees to provide an IEE at no cost to you, they may do so in a variety of ways, e.g., give you names of individuals who are qualified to assess, suggest a state-supported agency (such as a diagnostic school), or even arrange to have an employee of another school district do the evaluation. In any case, certain conditions, qualifications of evaluators, and standards spelled out in IDEA must be met. If the district agrees to provide an IEE at public expense, it doesn’t necessarily mean they will pay for an assessment by a professional whom you heard about from friends or one linked to a specific methodology or program. In the second instance, the district requests a due process hearing to show its assessment followed standards for evaluation and was conducted by qualified individuals. The Hearing Officer has an option to order an independent evaluation. However, after hearing testimony from both sides and reviewing records, if he decides the district’s evaluation was appropriate, then the district does not need to pay for an IEE. Parents always have the option of obtaining an independent evaluation at their own expense. The school district is obligated to consider the results of such an assessment at an IEP meeting. However, giving consideration to the report doesn’t mean the school has to agree with the results or accept the recommendations made by the professional who did the assessment. Often there may be agreement or overlap between school and independent evaluation, and this should be pointed out to you. If the school does use new information from the IEE to develop your child’s IEP, they may be responsible to reimburse you for a part or all of the evaluation cost. Should I consider filing for due process? If you feel you’re at an impasse with the school district, you may think about your right to due process. Usually it’s wise to consult with a trained advocate or attorney knowledgeable about special education law to help you evaluate the case before filing for due process. Are there any other steps you could take first? Is your case based on facts or on feelings and frustrations? What are you trying to achieve for your child? Are these goals realistic? Do you want to commit the time, energy, and expense to go forward? To make these decisions, a thorough review of all of your child’s records is important. You may already have copies of this information, but if not, you can ask the school district to review and/or provide copies of your child’s educational records. However, if the school makes copies for you, there may be a charge. If you decide to proceed with mediation and/or an administrative hearing, be prepared for a somewhat demanding process. After a lengthy procedure of reaching a settlement with the school district, one dad commented that he’d rather have a root canal than participate in due process again! Most states have some form of mediation, generally viewed as a “win-win” strategy, available. After you and the district have each presented your side, a trained mediator will help you reach agreement — generally some sort of compromise. By prioritizing objectives ahead of time, you’ll be able to focus on what’s really important for your child. Each side may have to give a little, but you’ll both have control over the final decision because it has to be mutually agreed upon by you and the district. An administrative or “fair” hearing resembles a court proceeding. One at a time, you and the school district will be asked to present your side of the case to an Independent Hearing Officer (IHO), often an attorney trained in special education law. There are specific rules to follow regarding inclusion of written documents, testimony and cross-examination of witnesses, and other procedures. Because the final decision is made by the IHO on points of law, not emotion, it’s usually best for you to be represented by an attorney. The process can last much longer than the 45-day timeline — often 90 to 200 days — because of delays related to getting additional assessments and finding mutually convenient times for lawyers. The cost can run into the thousands of dollars per day for attorney fees and experts. If the IHO rules in your favor, you may recover some or all of the fees you’ve paid. However, if the IHO rules in favor of the district, you are responsible to pay your own costs. And remember, in either decision, the school district pays for its attorney and experts and that money comes from the general fund — monies which are used to provide for all children in the school district. The result of many cases is that parents prevail on some issues and the school district on others, so that neither wins the case on all points presented. The decision can leave both parties dissatisfied with the outcome. So before deciding to go to a hearing, you may want to try one more time to communicate your concerns about your child’s special education program with school district personnel. ©Schwab Learning 2002   Understanding Special Education Laws and Rights (Neighborhood Legal Services (NLS) (Legal Services Offices of NLS) are not-for-profit agencies within the United States that provide free legal services to low income and to disabled people as well as provide technical and support services) You've read your copy of rights and responsibilities in special education, talked to other parents, and even looked up more information on the Internet. You think that you have a pretty good understanding of what your child's entitled to, but when you talk to the special education administrator he tells you something different. You feel like the public school's not making enough effort to help your child. How do you know what you can realistically expect? How do you get what you want for your child? Laws and Regulations Part of what makes everything so confusing is the way the legal process works. First, the U.S. Congress passes the law. For example, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was reauthorized in 1997. At that time, some of the federal laws relating to special education were strengthened, while others defined areas which were not addressed in the previous version. Next, the U.S. Department of Education writes regulations to help explain the law. The public was asked to give input, and a lengthy process followed. The regulations for IDEA finally became part of the federal code and made available in 1999 -- two years after the law passed. Meanwhile, each state has to make sure its laws are in compliance with federal law. This meant that new laws had to be passed by state legislators in order to be in compliance with IDEA. While states must offer at least what the federal government requires, they may choose to provide more. After laws are passed in each state, the respective Department of Education develops its regulations that give more information about the law. So now we have state regulations, as well. The parents' rights and responsibilities you receive apply specifically to your state. Sometimes they include more than the federal government requires, but never any less. Your state may actually provide more for your child than a neighboring state or the federal government. For example, federal law requires services until the age of 21 for eligible adults -- those who haven't graduated from or otherwise completed high school. Most states explain what 21 means and when services will cease. But the state of Michigan has chosen to make services available to eligible students until the age of 26. So if you move from one state to another, you may find services to be different. But wait -- there's more. The Courts If there's disagreement over the outcome of a fair hearing, part of due process procedures, you or the school district may appeal to a state or federal court. When the court interprets the law and makes its decision, it sets a precedent for future cases. And this is often where issues become complicated. You may also need to know about court decisions that affect your state or the states included in your federal court circuit. Sometimes cases have gone all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, and those rulings apply to all of the states. What It Means There may be a breakdown in communication between you and the school because of differing information about all the laws, regulations, and relevant case law affecting special education. In some cases, you may have more knowledge than the educator, but it's also possible that you have only parts of the information. For example, you may have heard about a certain method of teaching that sounds great for your child. And when you went to school and asked to have that method used, the school said no. What you may not know is that the Supreme Court decided that the choice of teaching methodology is up to the schools. To pursue this issue, you'd probably have to go through the legal process, considering all the facts of your individual case, to prove that the school's methods resulted in minimal or no progress for your child. Then you may be able to pick a specific method of teaching. There's no "cure" for LD, so kids often struggle throughout school and progress at a different rate from their peers. The effect of a learning disability on a child's rate of learning, coupled with high parental expectations, can cause a strain on home-school relationships. As a parent, you want the best for your child and that may lead to disagreement over what free appropriate public education (FAPE) means. The courts have said that a child must receive "some benefit" from his education, but schools don't have to maximize your child's potential. (That's what's meant when you hear that the schools have to provide "a Chevrolet not a Cadillac" education.) Communication with Schools It's really important to keep the lines of communication open. Since your child may have a few more years to go in the system, or you have other kids who go to the same school, it's crucial to maintain a positive relationship with school personnel. Let the school know you want to work in partnership with them. Remember that you have responsibilities, as well as rights. * Don't be afraid to ask questions. How do they know that your child is making progress? What do the standardized test results mean? What's working for him? How can you help at home? * Share information with schools. * When you talk to school personnel about your rights, be sure that you aren't stressed about other life issues and have plenty of time to share information and listen. * Write down the issues ahead of time so that you can cover all your concerns and not feel frustrated at the end of the meeting. * Use starter phrases such as, "It's my understanding that..." or "What can you tell me about..." or "I think that..." * Take someone with you to be a second ear. * Make notes as others are talking, and clarify any points that are unclear. When your child reaches the age of 18, rights will transfer to him. So he needs to be included in discussions as much as possible to understand his rights and responsibilities before he becomes 18. Support and Assistance To fully understand your rights, you may need to get more information. * Become involved in school by volunteering in a classroom, so you'll be able to see what the expectations are for your child's peers. * Attend PTA meetings, Parent Advisory Committees, and Community Advisory Committee meetings. * Identify people and places you trust -- educators who know your child, other parents with similar experiences, the local library, the Internet -- where you can go for help. * Contact your state department of education, or consult with professional organizations that specialize in special education. * If you speak to advocates or attorneys, make sure that they're knowledgeable about special education law, not some other specialty. After all, you wouldn't go to an ear, nose, and throat specialist when you're concerned about your teenager's acne. Due Process Procedures If you feel that you're at an impasse with the school, seek out mediation as a "win-win" strategy. You and the school may each have to give a little, but you'll keep control of what's decided. In a fair hearing, you and the school district each present your side of the story, but the final decision is made by a hearing officer on points of law. Time to Support a Good IDEA: Special Education Funding on U.S. Congress Agenda National Education Association: IDEA Funding Coalition Proposal Special Education Expenditure Project: Results reports National Governors Association: Joint NGA/CCSSO Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Policy Position The quality of special education services for 5.6 million public school children hangs in the balance, as the U.S. Congress begins deliberations on how much federal funding it will allocate in fiscal year 2004 to states and local school districts to implement the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Adequate federal funding for IDEA in current budget negotiations is especially important in light of drastic cuts in education budgets at the state and local levels. The 2004 budget process will begin in February when President Bush releases his budget, and Congress will begin its budget deliberations in the spring. Why is federal funding for special education important? Each year, Congress decides how much money it will provide local school districts to implement IDEA. The intent of IDEA (originally passed by the U.S. Congress in 1975 as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act) is to ensure that all children with disabilities will have access to a free, appropriate public education. When it was drafted, this landmark legislation also included a federal funding provision of 40 percent of the national average per-pupil expenditure (APPE) for each special education student. The “40 percent” commitment, frequently referred to as “full funding,” was expected to cover 40 percent of the additional costs to local school districts of providing special education. However, the federal government has never met its 40 percent funding commitment. Current allocation for IDEA stands at just 17 percent of what was promised in 1975. Over the past 26 years, this funding shortfall has cost state and local governments approximately $311 billion, requiring local school districts to pay more than their fair share of the cost of special education. Congress has provided rather substantial increases in IDEA appropriations in recent years. But even at the current rate of increase, funding would not reach the 40 percent level for another 33 years! To make matters worse, states and local school districts across the country are currently facing major budget deficits that could result in even greater cutbacks in services for special education students. In fact, a report released in November 2002 by the National Governors Association and the National Association of State Budget Officers found that states are now confronting the most dire fiscal situation since World War II. Increased class size, teacher salary freezes, and inadequate funds for instructional materials are just a few of the ways that schools will be forced to deal with their shrinking budgets. Students with learning disabilities, most of whom spend the majority of their instructional time in general education classrooms, will be disproportionately impacted by reduced spending in both general education and special education. The educational progress of these vulnerable learners will suffer when school staff who provide needed supports and services are asked to do more with less. How can parents help? Every major national education group, including the National Parent Teacher Association, the National Education Association, and the American Federation of Teachers, has called on Congress to provide adequate federal funds to support IDEA. Recently, the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers issued a joint policy position stating that “Federal funding must be increased to meet the original federal commitment of 40 percent of the average per-pupil expenditure.” To date, Congress has failed to respond, continuing its 26-year history of insufficient support for education of students with disabilities. Many elected officials respond only to issues raised by their constituents, so every message is important. Many voices are needed to urge Congress and the Administration to address this long overdue funding shortfall and meet its obligation to our local schools. Without such action, millions of children will fail to receive the school supports and services that they need, and deserve. To contact legislators to urge adequate funding for IDEA, visit the Web site for the National Center for Learning Disabilities Legislative Action Center at: http://capwiz.com/ld/home/

Brain Rehab The Journal of Neuroscience An enormous amount of data uncovered over the years has found that the brain can routinely adjust and rewire its communication circuits. Now several recent studies take this finding one step further. The research provides evidence that focused physical rehabilitation strategies can tap into the brain's flexibility and help pump up a reorganization of its networks so that people can regain some movement functions lost from a variety of disorders including, stroke, spinal cord injury and dystonia. Try curling your hair, tying your Nikes or washing the dishes with one hand. Not easy. Yet many people face similar obstacles every day. A neurological ailment or injury has harmed the brain's communication circuits that aid their movement, hampering the ability of these men and women to use a limb. Fingers, an arm or leg remain weak. Grasping or walking suffers. Treatments for the impairments have been limited. Typically, therapy centers on teaching methods to better use good limbs. But now, following much animal and human research, patients may soon have more beneficial options. New physical rehabilitation techniques specifically designed to exploit the brain's flexibility, and possibly rework its communication circuits, show promise in aiding some movement woes. Although still in early stages, the investigations may lead to: * A better understanding of the brain's ability to adapt. * Creative approaches to treat a wide range of disorders. In the past two decades, an enormous amount of data showed that the brain's circuits did not cement in place with age, as was previously believed. In fact, throughout life the brain routinely adjusts and rewires. Recently, scientists tried to take this finding one step further by seeing if they could use focused physical rehabilitation strategies to tap into this flexibility, rework networks and help damaged brains. Some of their studies indicate that patients who lose some movement in a limb from a stroke may benefit. A stroke, which occurs when a blood vessel bursts or clogs, can create an area of brain damage that harms the networks that aid movement. One key study examined monkeys who received a small stroke that impaired their ability to carry out precise finger movements in one hand. An intense rehabilitation program was administered to the monkeys that included two parts, restraint and physical training. The restraint portion involved securing the good hand in a special jacket. This forced the animals to use their impaired hands to make it through the day. The training portion required the animals to practice movement tasks with their bad fingers. The program appeared to prevent some detrimental brain network changes that typically occur after stroke damage. It also seemed to trigger some positive reorganization of networks. Human work also shows that the techniques may hold benefits. A recent study found evidence that a similar format of intensive physical rehab reworked the brain and helped stroke patients regain partial movement in their impaired arms. Next, researchers plan to conduct a study on more than 200 stroke patients to better understand how the strategy (see image) affects the brain, how it compares to no treatment and if benefits are long lasting. In addition, scientists are testing focused physical rehabilitation strategies for other types of movement problems. One technique for patients who have lost voluntary leg movement from spinal cord injuries is designed to aid walking. An overhead lift partially supports the body, allowing for intense step-training on a treadmill. Special training procedures for those with a condition that causes the hand to cramp up, known as dystonia, also are under intense investigation. Dystonia is thought by some to represent the negative side of the brain's flexibility. Overuse of the fingers, say when a musician continuously plays the piano, may cause the brain circuits to negatively reorganize and freeze up finger movement. Studies indicate, however, that intense exercise regimens can help people regain movement. One report also noted that training appeared to return the brain circuitry to a more normal state. If the work pans out, researchers hope that these and similar strategies for a variety of other human ailments will improve quality of life. This year researchers will conduct an in-depth study of a rehab technique in a large number of stroke patients who lost some movement in one of their hands. For two weeks they will wear a mitt that restricts movement of their good hand. This mitt prevents coddling of the bad hand and forces patients to use it more to carry out day-to-day tasks. For at least six hours a day, they also will intensely practice functionally important movements, such as grasping objects. The tasks are believed to tap specifically into the flexibility of the main brain area that controls movement, the motor cortex. If all goes well this area will reorganize its circuits and reinstate some of the patient's lost movement functions. A review of electrophysiology in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: Event-related potentials Clinical Neurophysiology Robert J. Barry, Stuart J. Johnstone and Adam R. Clarke Objective: This article reviews the event-related potential (ERP) literature in relation to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD). Methods: ERP studies exploring various aspects of brain functioning in AD/HD are reviewed, ranging from early preparatory processes to a focus on the auditory and visual attention systems, and the frontal inhibition system. Implications of these data for future research and development in AD/HD are considered. Results: A complex range of ERP deficits has been associated with the disorder. Differences have been reported in preparatory responses, such as the contingent negative variation. In the auditory modality, AD/HD-related differences are apparent in all components from the auditory brain-stem response to the late slow wave. The most robust of these is the reduced posterior P3 in the auditory oddball task. There are fewer studies of the visual attention system, but similar differences are reported in a range of components. Results suggesting an inhibitory processing deficit have been reported, with recent studies of the frontal inhibitory system indicating problems of inhibitory regulation. Conclusions: The research to date has identified a substantial number of ERP correlates of AD/HD. Together with the robust AD/HD differences apparent in the EEG literature, these data offer potential to improve our understanding of the specific brain dysfunction(s) which result in the disorder. Increased focus on the temporal locus of the information processing deficit(s) underlying the observed range of ERP differences is recommended. Further work in this field may benefit from a broader conceptual approach, integrating EEG and ERP measures of brain function.

Brain scan clues to 'memory marvels' Health Dec. 2002 There is nothing special about the brains of people with the amazing ability to remember long sequences of letters or numbers, say scientists. Instead, they conclude, their unusual talent is all down to a simple technique called "mnemonics". Scientist Dr Eleanor Maguire of University College London looked at the brains of eight people who were leading contenders in the "World Memory Championships". This event involves the memorising of random sequences of thousands of numbers, epic poems and hundreds of unrelated words. Although psychological tests on such competitors have revealed nothing out of the ordinary, Dr Maguire put her subjects through a brain scanner to see if there were any physical differences between them and ordinary people. And she found no significant gulf between their minds and ours. List of numbers She concluded, in a paper in the journal Nature Neuroscience: "Superior memory was not driven by exceptional intellectual ability or structural brain differences. "Rather, we found that superior memorisers used a spatial learning strategy, engaging brain regions such as the hippocampus which are critical for memory and for spatial memory in particular." Mnemonics works by taking apparently meaningless information and adding a meaningful tag to it. The oft-quoted example of a technique used by memorisers to remember numbers is to imagine a familiar route, and, in their imagination, place objects relating to the number or letter in question at various waypoints. When it comes to recalling the information, a mental march along the route will reveal the objects or events that hold the key. Increased activity In fact, the study found that, in the brains of top memorisers, there was increased used of three areas of the brain linked to mnemonic type learning. Dr James Elander, from the University of Lancaster, told BBC News Online that the findings correlated with the results of other studies into this area of memory. He said: "If you use the right technique, with a lot of application and hard work you can improve your memory. "It certainly doesn't look like it's a question of neurological machinery." CREB And Memory Society for Neuroscience In the complex process of memory formation new research is making one family of molecules stand out in the pack of players. Many believe cyclic amp-response element binding protein and its cousins are essential for the process of sealing memories in the mind. They hope that zeroing in on the molecules will lead to therapies that manipulate memory. New drugs would boost memory or possibly dissolve traumatic recollections. A drug that velcros the elements of the periodic table in your mind for the big exam. A fountain of youth cocktail that counters the decline in memory seen in many people over age 50. Or a therapy that erases the persistent recollections of a childhood trauma. Antidotes dreamed up in a sci-fi flick? Maybe. A more interesting notion is that forms of these compounds may become a reality over the next decade or so. Currently researchers are focusing most of their hope on the development of a treatment for severe memory deficits. The optimism stems from mounting evidence that shows the molecule cyclic AMP-response element binding protein (CREB) is one of the cornerstones of enduring memories. While many memories last the equivalent of a finger snap, some are promoted to long-term status. Perks include a pass into our mental library that remains valid for days, weeks or longer. Long-term memories help us recognize a familiar face in a crowd or remind us how to hit a serve during a tennis match. Scientists recent discoveries that CREB is involved in the memory process are leading to: * New memory-targeting treatments that scientists believe will be tested in humans within 10 to 15 years. * A greater understanding of how CREB and related gene-regulating proteins interact to build lasting memories. Studies of the sea slug offered the first hints that CREB had a stake in memory. In 1990 researchers snipped out a set of the slug's nerve cells, or neurons, that are involved in memory storage. They found that adding a CREB-disrupting compound halts the molecular long-term memory process. This sign of CREB's involvement in memory launched a series of studies that deciphered the process in sea slugs, and in organisms that are capable of forming more complex types of long-term memories. Research revealed that CREB has two family members -- the CREB activator and the CREB repressor proteins. The activator's agenda is to promote long-term memory formation. The repressor fights to forget the memory. In one study, scientists found that they could either speed up the formation of memories or block them by altering the levels of repressor and activator. Normally, following 10 training sessions with a short rest in-between each one, fruit flies retain the information that an odor signals that a shock is coming. Flies with extra activator had a souped-up memory ability. They could secure a lasting memory after only one lesson. Flies that over-produced the repressor, however, could not form a specific long-term memory, even after many training sessions. Researchers found that alterations of activator and repressor levels also affected the memories in rodents when they had to complete more complex tasks. For example, in one test mice had to rely on lasting memories to locate a hidden dock in a pool of water. In another, they had to choose a meal that matched the smell of a fellow mouse's breath. Researchers found that mice bred to produce low levels of CREB activator could not properly create the long-term memories needed to carry out tested assignments. Some researchers believe, however, that the deficit may not have simply resulted from the defective molecule. Developmental problems also may have arisen due to the technique used to cripple CREB. But another study used a different method to impair CREB in rats and found similar results. The researchers also pinpointed the hippocampus as one of the brain areas where CREB exerts its power. Mature rats had their CREB activity disrupted, solely in the hippocampus. In turn they showed a deficiency in long-term memory function. Currently, scientists are testing a large number of existing drugs that may be able to enhance memory by affecting CREB in rodents. Illustration by Lydia Kibiuk Scientists believe that the process of creating lasting memories begins when the neuron's endings, or dendrites, receive signals (1). The signals induce reactions involving protein kinase A, which in turn set off CREB activator in the nucleus (2). The jump-started CREB protein activates genes in the cell's DNA. The genes are transcribed into messenger RNA (3) which is used as a blueprint to produce proteins that secure a memory (4). Copyright © 2002 Society for Neuroscience

Language evolved in a leap: Conflicting needs may have driven rapid development of communication. 22 January 2003 PHILIP BALL Speakers want few words; listeners want many. Language probably leapt, not crept, from squeaks to Shakespeare, two physicists have calculated. Human communication, they propose, underwent a 'phase transition', like solid ice melting to liquid water. The richness of human languages is a fine-tuned compromise between the needs of speakers and of listeners, explain Ramon Ferrer i Cancho and Ricard Solé of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. Just a slight imbalance of these demands prevents the exchange of complex information, they argue. So languages between those of present-day humans and the limited signalling of some animals cannot really exist. There must, at some point, have been a switch from rudimentary to sophisticated language. This contrasts with some linguists' view that language evolution was a gradual affair in which new words accumulated steadily. Greek or grunt A language that conveyed all information unambiguously, say Ferrer i Cancho and Solé, would have a separate word for every thing, concept or action it referred to. Such a language would be formidably complicated for the speaker: the green of grass, for example, would be represented by a totally different word to the green of sea, an emerald or an oak leaf. But it would be ideal for the listener, who wouldn't have to work out any meanings from a word's context. Ideal for the speaker is a language of few words, where simple, short utterances serve many purposes. The extreme case is a language with a single sound that conveys everything that needs saying. Some might suggest that teenagers prefer this kind of minimal-effort tongue that forces others to figure out what their grunts actually mean. Ferrer i Cancho and Solé have devised a mathematical model in which the cost of using a language depends on the balance between these conflicting preferences1. They calculate the properties of the lexicon that requires minimal effort for different degrees of compromise, from exhaustive vocabularies to one-word languages. They find that the change from one extreme to the other does not happen smoothly. There is a jump in the amount of communication, from very little to near-perfect, at a certain value of the relative weightings of speaker and hearer preferences. Human languages, say the duo, seem to sit right on this sudden change. When it happens, the frequency of word usages develops a distinctive mathematical form, called a power law. The power law disappears on either side of the communication jump. It has been known since the 1940s that human languages do indeed show just this kind of statistical distribution of word usage - the social scientist George Kingsley Zipf spotted the power-law behaviour. But it has never been satisfactorily explained before, although Zipf himself speculated that it might represent some kind of "principle of least effort". References 1. Ferrer i Cancho, R. & Solé, R. V. Least effort and the origins of scaling in human language. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA

Eye's Light-Detection System Revealed BALTIMORE, Jan. 14 (AScribe Newswire) -- A research team led by Johns Hopkins scientists has discovered that a special, tiny group of cells at the back of the eye help tell the brain how much light there is, causing the pupil to get bigger or smaller. The findings, which appeared in the Jan. 10 issue of Science, largely complete the picture of how light levels are detected in the eye. "This tiny group of cells, together with rods and cones, are the bulk of the eye's mechanisms for detecting levels of light and passing that information to the brain," says King-Wai Yau, Ph.D., professor of neuroscience and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. The team previously had shown that this set of retinal cells, all of which contain a protein called melanopsin, are naturally sensitive to light. They also showed that the cells connect to the brain in such a way that they are poised to control how the pupil reacts to light and how animals adapt to day and night. The new work proves that these melanopsin-containing cells, a subset of so-called retinal ganglion cells, are in fact a working part of the body's light-detection system and complement the light-detecting role of rods and cones, which also convey information about the color, shape and movement of objects. "Rods and cones provide high sensitivity to light, allowing the pupil to constrict, but melanopsin-containing cells seem to be crucial for completing the pupil's response in bright light," says Samer Hattar, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in neuroscience at Johns Hopkins. "Without melanopsin, the pupil fails to constrict fully, even in very bright light." First authors Hattar and Robert Lucas, Ph.D., of the Imperial College, London, measured how small the pupil of each of two kinds of "knockout" mice became when exposed to known amounts of light. One set of mice were missing the gene for the melanopsin protein, the others lacked rods and cones. In mice without melanopsin, only rods and cones send light to the brain, and in mice without rods and cones, only retinal ganglion cells do so. In normal mice, the pupil becomes the size of a pinhole when exposed to very bright light. The pupils of "rod-less/cone-less" mice got just as small, but in mice without melanopsin, the smallest attainable size was three times larger than in other mice, the researchers found. Importantly, they also proved that, even without melanopsin, retinal ganglion cells still develop and connect to the brain in the same way, underscoring that the decreased pupil response is due to melanopsin's absence. "In the olfactory system, knocking out certain proteins changes the way the system is wired to the brain, and that easily could have been the case here," says Yau. "Melanopsin is clearly involved in light detection in these retinal ganglion cells, but it is not crucial for their development or connectivity." At this point the scientists can't rule out a third contributor in the eye's light detection system, but report that combining the responses of the two sets of knockout mice matches the pupil response of normal mice very well. "Any other factor in detecting light is of minor importance, at least for the pupil reflex," says Yau. The U.S. researchers were funded by the National Eye Institute and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The researchers in England were funded by the U.K. Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and Hammersmith Hospital Special Trustees. Authors on the paper are Hattar and Yau of Johns Hopkins; Lucas and Russell Foster of the Imperial College, London; and Motoharu Takao and David Berson of Brown University. Visualization can make dreams real Healthy News ATLANTA _ "If you dream it, you can achieve it" is an oft-heard motivational motto. And, it sounds good. But is it true? Can you truly turn a dream into reality? More specifically, if your dream is a new job or career, can you really achieve it? Many career coaches, strategists and advisers answer this question with a confident '`Yes!'' ``If you can imagine something, you can make it happen,'' says Vikki T. Gaskin-Butler, who holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and works with Samaritan Counseling Center of Northeast Georgia in Athens. ``When we tap into our brainpower, we can live in that world of `make-believe' and make it true,'' Gaskin-Butler says. ``We can make it reality ... (if you) qualify reality as achieving your dreams and goals. That's what I mean in terms of making things happen." Many people do that regularly, though they may not recognize it as such, says Gaskin-Butler. ``Ultimately, I believe that when you've achieved your goals, you've imagined something and then figured out how to do it,'' she says. ``But some people don't realize that's what they've done.'' Guided imagery and visualization are techniques that some ``dreamers'' and their advisers employ to reach their goals. ``World-class athletes use these techniques all the time to win gold medals in their sports,'' says executive/career coach Deb Weiler, who herself competed in international sports. These athletes know, Weiler says, that half the battle in reaching their goals is mental preparation. That's where visualization comes in. ``Visualization makes use of the right hemisphere of the brain,'' explains executive coach Bob McDonald, who holds a Ph.D. in psychology. ``The right hemisphere of the brain is where a lot of the creative work of the mind goes on. A lot of people feel they are not really creative. That's not true; it's just about how to access it. ``The right hemisphere works holistically,'' McDonald continues. ``It pulls a lot of things together and, a lot of times, (they are) things that don't logically come together. Creativity is pulling things together that logically don't belong together.'' By contrast, the left hemisphere of the brain is the logical hemisphere, says McDonald. During visualization, ``In effect, you're shutting out the left hemisphere,'' he says, and freeing your mind's creativity. McDonald, who is co-author of ``Don't Waste Your Talent: The Eight Critical Steps To Discovering What You Do Best,'' has included in the book several visualization exercises. He also works one-on-one with clients. Visualization is a powerful tool, Gaskin-Butler says, because it can be used to remove the layer or layers of left-brain-inspired obstacles that would hinder pursuit of the dream. ``Visualization helps people remove that layer of `I don't believe this can happen; it won't happen; it can't happen,' '' she says. ``It's about imagining what you want to do and imagining doing it successfully. And, you imagine the obstacles as well, but you imagine that you overcome them.'' The place to start is to discover what the career dream is, Gaskin-Butler says. Then, you look at where you are now. ``Where are you in relation to that dream? How close are you to achieving the dream now?'' are questions Gaskin-Butler says she explores with her clients to help them map what they have to do to accomplish the dream. To encourage the imaginative freedom that is the basis for visualizing a dream's realization, Gaskin-Butler says, she first has her client sit in a comfortable chair or recline on a couch. Then, she will have the person do some breathing exercises or some other type of relaxation technique. Next, she will begin a guided process of helping the person envision the pathway to the desired job. This gets very detailed, she says. For example, she has the person visualize himself or herself walking through a day, imagining and then describing in detail how they see themselves eating breakfast, getting dressed and driving to work. They image and describe what the building and office look like, who they work with, what they are doing and so on. Clients ``imagine themselves doing the things that will help them fill in the gaps between the reality of where they are now and getting to where they need to go,'' Gaskin-Butler says.

Healing hands that can touch the soul Healthy News Many people suffer from stiff and painful joints but are unhappy about taking too many painkillers to treat it. There is nothing worse than aches and pains that refuse to go away no matter what treatments are tried. More and more people are turning to alternative methods to see if they can help, often with startling results. Traditional Chinese philosophy states that health is dependent on the body's motivating energy - known as qi - moving in a smooth and balanced way through a series of meridians (channels) beneath the skin. For any number of reasons, qi may become unbalanced and lead to illness. Acupuncture is now regarded by many as a valid and effective method of treatment but, for some, the idea of needles puts them off. They might prefer one of the huge number of other Chinese healing arts. Many people are familiar with t'ai chi. Less well known is a branch of it called buqi (pronounced boochee). It differs from others in that it is a hands-off, rather than hands-on, treatment. The practitioner puts his hands a few inches above the patient's body to direct "stagnant" energy out through their hands and feet. According to the buqi method, illness is caused by negative energy, known as binqi (binchee), accumulating in the body. Binqi blocks energy channels that run through the torso. Healthy bodies expel binqi naturally but problems such as mental stress and body posture cause binqi to become blocked. Buqi unblocks the binqi and the body gets better. In buqi, the range of different binqi are considered as direct pathogenic factors. They accumulate in the intervertebral spaces, organs, muscles, tissues, joints and channels. Binqi not only accumulates in one place but can move in and out of the body. Any area of the body in which binqi has accumulated or to which binqi has moved will experience uncomfortable sensations such as cold, heat, itching, stiffness, pain, etc. As a result, that area will become weaker, there will be varied symptoms and, after a certain time, different diseases will develop. Buqi is a complete healing technique and practioners claim to be able to cure a wide variety of illnesses and ailments. After one session, the patient is given "self-healing exercises" to do at home. These are based on t'ai chi. Deborah Cosbey from Lewes, an acupuncturist for 17 years, works in the Hastings and Rye area. She has been practising buqi for about five years and says the feedback from patients has been extremely good. From her experience, Deborah has found that buqi is particularly good for muscle or joint problems, where there is stiffness or pain. She said: "My patients seem to respond positively to this treatment when other therapies have failed." Buqi uses the same energy pathways as acupuncture to rid the body of unwanted stagnation and bring in fresh new energy to revitalise and nourish the whole system. "People usually feel heat or cold or heaviness moving through their body as the blockages are being released. "It has a very positive effect and the results have been very pleasing. "I practise buqi myself all the time so that I am energised and ready to help patients in the treatment room. It works very well and the number of people interested in trying it out is growing steadily. "I have people coming to me for acupuncuture treatments and sometimes, towards the end of the session, we will try the buqi method as well. "People are interested in trying new things nowadays. If they have been trying for ages to do something about their aches and pains and nothing is working, they are more likely to agree to look at doing something else." Writer Rosalyn Lewis, a patient of Deborah's, said: "I found buqi really helped my ankle. "I didn't know a lot about the therapy but it worked which was very pleasing." Qi Gong Eased Effects of Hepatitis C Healthy News Through the simple movements and balanced breathing of the Chinese medicine technique called qi gong, Karen Fann has improved her health and the effects of the liver disease hepatitis C. Before she was diagnosed with the disease that country music singer Naomi Judd also suffered from, Fann knew something wasn't right. She had started gaining weight, was having panic attacks and often felt tired. "I didn't know why my metabolism had screeched to a halt," she said. When she found out she had the liver disease, she started researching ways to control it. Fann and her husband met with a doctor who suggested she take the drug Interferon. She knew that Judd had success with the drug, but Fann didn't like the side effects. So she decided to take a more natural approach to dealing with her problems. While on the Internet, she came across an article on acupuncture and Chinese medicine. Fann was interested in what she read and started searching for a doctor in the area. That's when she found the Healing Arts Medical Group in Memphis. Fann met with Dr. Judi Harrick, who has a doctorate degree in oriental medicine and who started her on herbs such as milk thistle and dandelion root, to help the liver. She also gave Fann regular acupuncture treatments, had her stop her intake of dairy products and recommended the qi gong class. Qi gong combines concentration with easy movements and controlled breathing. It is believed that regular practice can reduce stress, pain and the effects of sickness on the body. An article on the Web site http://www.acupuncture.com said the exercises are meant to improve health and longevity and "increase a sense of harmony within oneself and in the world." After participating in qi gong, Fann started seeing improvements in her health. Even her regular doctor was surprised. "My doctor is still scratching his head over this one," she said. "It just relaxes you. It gives you good energy and boosts your immune system." Today, Fann continues to have acupuncture treatments about every eight weeks. Part of her improved health regime includes losing 26 pounds through Weight Watchers by walking and changing her eating habits. She also believes a good attitude helped her heal. "If you're not positive about what you're doing to promote your own healing, it's not going to work," she said. "I feel better than ever now."

QEEG Neurometrics and Differential Diagnosis of ADHD Jacques Duff. MAPS; MAAAPB; AMACNEM; MASNR Behavioural Neurotherapy Clinic 2002 Quantitative EEG (QEEG) can help reveal the underlying neurophysiology associated with the symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and learning disorders, and help differentiate these disorders from other comorbidities. Excess slow wave activity is the most common abnormal finding in children with attention disorders with the thalamocortical and/or septal-hippocampal pathways most likely to be dysfunctional. The QEEG can play an important role in the evaluation and treatment of these children and adolescents by providing information that leads to better diagnosis and design of Neurotherapy treatment protocols and medication choices. QEEG Neurometrics has been shown in a number of large studies to have high sensitivity and specificity for distinguishing children with attention disorders and/or learning disorders from children without these disorders. Background Children and adults with ADHD form a heterogeneous population, with multifaceted aetiologies. After the introduction of the Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) categories in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III) in 1980, ADD and ADHD may have been used as acronyms for a range of separate dysfunctions or disabilities . A screening of 211 studies of ADHD revealed that the authors of these studies attributed 69 different characteristics to children labeled ADHD, and 38 different possible causes . At a recent summit on ADHD, the Surgeon General of the USA, David Satcher, M.D., stated, " We believe that more than 4% of the children in this country (USA) suffer from ADHD. We want to know how to better identify and refer children for treatment". The presenters at the conference agreed that no single assessment method of ADHD was definitive. Satcher indicated that once the disorder was better understood, using procedures like QEEG, the ability to diagnose would improve . Initially presented in the journal "Science" in 1988, the QEEG neurometric system was developed by Drs. Leslie Prichep and Roy John at the New York University Medical School . The database now contains the QEEGS of about 20,000 carefully screened normal subjects and various patient groups. The purpose of a QEEG neurometric assessment is to determine how various areas of the brain functionally differ from the age and gender appropriate database under eyes closed conditions. The means and standard deviations of the normative distributions in the database having been established, individual patient’s electrophysiological data can be evaluated objectively and expressed in standard deviations from the means. The basic assumption is that QEEG features exceeding two Standard deviations from the means are likely to reflect abnormality. Mathematical discriminant equations with multivariate features that characterize the EEG of normal individuals and various clinical groups have been constructed and independently replicated . Neurometrics are used to objectively assess the statistical similarity between the individual patient and various statistically-defined distinctive group profiles . Research indicate that ADHD children can be differentiated from non ADHD in ove