'I know my child is bright but she seems to be struggling with school work'!

The statement above is sadly quite typical, parents often intuitively know there child is more capable than the school records and exam results shows.  Schools and universities have always been competitive environments but today with increasing economic pressures and new political ideologies our children are being processed with uniform expectations, those that fit these expectations will to some degree thrive while those that don't may feel alienated. You don't need to be a psychologist to know that such feelings of academic failure is going to affect your performance and mental well-being contributing to a negative cycle of under-achievement and low self esteem.  Our experience has taught us that children do not under-achieve because of belligerence but rather the real cause is to be found in the way they process, or fail to process, information.  The reason why some children may experience difficulty with reading, maths and other learning issues is certainly not because they lack intelligence but is to be found in how their brains attend to and process information. The most common problems associated with basic learning skills are listed below, its is worth remembering that for the majority of these disorders one does not simply grow out of them as they tend to accompany us into adult life.  That said, if recognised they can be successfully treated with neurofeedback.

Common disorders that impact on schoolwork

• ADD & ADHD (attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity)
• Dyslexia,Dyscalculia & Dysgraphia (difficulty with reading, maths and writing)
• General learning disability (non specific problems affecting cognition i.e. minimal brain dysfunction)
• Performance anxiety (stress)
• Depression
• Tourette's Syndrome (motor and or vocal tics)
• Autistic Spectrum Disorder (problems with understanding social meanings)
  
• Migraine
  

Although the above labels have clinical utility they can be deeply disconcerting for parents mainly because they lack information and understanding to make sense of these conditions in terms of behaviour.  From our perspective the above labels are of secondary importance as our focus concerns how particular portions of the brain are functioning in terms of the electrical activity that groups of brain cells (neurons) produce.  These signals can be measured by their speed (frequency) and energy (amplitude) and compared to normative data to determine whether the brain's activity is likely to be working optimally or otherwise.  This assessment forms the basis of all brain training regimes which through the process of neurofeedback gives the child the opportunity to make changes to the brain's functioning simply by inhibiting undesired brainwaves while rewarding those that are beneficial.  The whole process is done by learning to relax and letting the brain unconsciously obtain the rewards set by the computer.  To better understand how this process works with ADD please click the above tab for more information.