21. Spelling and Memory

I’ve already been to the Dore Centre in Cardiff for an initial assessment, and two members of staff say I’m suitable for the programme, but I’m concerned they may say I’m not suitable when they assess me further because I’m good at spelling and I’m sure I could easily remember loads of animals in a minute. Actually let’s try that:

The girl on The Tonight Programme could think of 22 animals within a minute on her first attempt, and six months later she got 28 animals within a minute.

Wow! It was a lot harder than I thought. I got 25, but I think I said ‘Tiger’ twice. So I’m not that good at all!

I’m deliberately not going to practice that, or when I do get to go on the programme, my results won’t be accurate. Or maybe they can give me a list of something else to think of that makes me think on my feet.

Maybe I’m deluded about spelling as well. I remember I often got high scores at school, but there was no pressure. I’m only good at spelling if I write the word down. Most of the time if a word looks wrong to me, it is wrong. But then if a word looks wrong, wouldn’t that be using the creative part of the brain? And not the cerebellum? I can always cope with diagrams much better than text.

And I always have a real problem when I’ve mistyped something. I go back and because the word is unrecognisable, I don’t know which letters to change, and for some reason I have to close one eye to see it properly (though my sight’s fine).

I always type ‘form’ instead of ‘from’, which is ironic, because I hate forms! Every ‘from’ you see will have been amended from ‘form’!

I’ve watched these spelling contests, and the kids on there are so fast! I’d have to think for a second or two in between each letter. And they say the word at the beginning and at the end really fast – I definitely can’t do that. Whatever happens I’m hopeful that the Dore Programme can sort me out!
www.dore.co.uk

20. My Biggest Ever Goof

The undercharging camera story (from yesterday’s post) gets worse: When I was a student, I was working in a camera store and it was the last Saturday before Christmas, so the shop was packed with impatient shoppers. To look at their faces petrified me because I hate keeping people waiting, and I couldn’t cope with the stress.

A lady said she wanted a camera for her husband for Christmas for about £100. So I showed her three and she opted for one for £119.00, the Canon Sureshot Telemax, that had its own little box, carrying case, strap, two batteries, two films and two little photo albums all included in a large kit box.

Our computers always added the .00 on the end of the price because all the products were rounded up to a pound. So I keyed the price into the credit card machine the same as I’d keyed into the computer; 119, but it only registered £1.19.

I went off for two weeks for the holidays, completely oblivious. When I came back I was told that the shop had contacted the bank, the bank had rung the customer and left a message on the answerphone. The husband then heard it, so he now knew what he was getting for Christmas.

An angry wife came back to pay the difference. Then Christmas day arrived. The husband, (probably) opens his wife’s present first, because he knows what it is, and wants to photograph the kids opening their presents. He knows he has everything in the kit box to start taking photos immediately.

So he removes the wrapping, opens the kit box, takes out the two little photo albums, the two films, the two batteries, the strap, the carrying case and …an empty box. On Christmas eve, the staff had done a stock-take and found a lonely little Canon Sureshot Telemax sitting on a shelf with no home. The shop gave her the camera and a £10 gift voucher, but she’d been under no obligation to pay the full amount even if the camera had been in its box.

So let’s recap: I charge £1.19 for all those goodies? Even without the camera, it’s still a bargain if you ask me. Who says I’m not talented? When I goof things up, I do a proper job.

19. You Know You Have ADHD When…

• You forget you take sugar in your own tea
• You leave your shopping on the bus
• You dump your fella and post your own (last) key through his letterbox, instead of his
• You mix Jerry Adams up with Jerry Hall in your university interview – but still get in
• You charge for postage after weighing your item on Ebay, before you’ve wrapped it up
• You turn up a day early for a job interview
• You have to pay the taxi fare in postage stamps
• You don’t have any right angles on the bathroom cabinet you made in Woodwork
• You turn your house upside down looking for the sunglasses that are on your head
• You charge a customer £1.19 for a £119.00 camera
• You look up a word in a dictionary, get distracted by other words, and forget the word
• You become a photographer because most books on the subject are full of pictures
• You omit two pints of vegetable stock from your home made vegetable soup
• You have to sit on deck on the cross channel ferry, in the rain, watching the horizon
• You have to buy a replica of your expensive camera because you lost the charger
• You get 240 mph when working out the speed for the 4 minute mile
• You’re caught tucking toilet rolls in the door of the fridge – I was being harrassed, OK?
• You can’t find your time management book; ‘Getting Things Done’
• You write down the patient’s name from a Hand X-ray; ‘RT Scaphoid’
• You crash into an empty, parked police car and tell them it was a stupid place to park

18. Why Create This Blog?

I need to be self employed because of health reasons. I have a bad back, and lots of other pain, which I’m certain is TMS (Tension Myositis Syndrome, an idea pioneered by John E Sarno MD, which I won’t try to explain here. See reviews for his book, 'The Mindbody Prescription' on Amazon, but ignore the one by the person who clearly hasn’t read the book).

Although I’m a photographer I want to work from home more so that I can control my working conditions more easily. I started off wanting to learn web design, after studying modules in Film and Graphic Design on my Photography course, and Web Design on a Post Graduate course.

I found that I knew what looked good, and what didn’t, but I was struggling with the technical aspects. So from web design, I got into internet marketing, though I still have a lot to learn, and I’m struggling with that too. One of the first and easiest steps is to publish a blog, on any subject you want. As I write this I have no comments from readers on any of my posts, but slowly I’m learning how to drive traffic to the site. And when I know what I’m doing I’ll have my own sites with their own domains on other subjects.

At the moment I’m really frustrated that it’s taking me so long to learn it all, but if I hadn’t spent so much time online in the past few months, I wouldn’t have discovered I had ADHD, and whatever other learning difficulties I have; I wouldn’t have found out about Sarno’s work, etc. So I think I’m lucky and very pleased to be on the right road at last.

At first, I thought ‘What will I write every day?’ (you have to post every day to be listed in the search engines, at least until you get lots of people linking to the site) And now you can’t shut me up! I’ve spent all morning writing the next five posts – (or is that the last five?!)

Oh, and for people in the UK, no I don’t stay up all night posting. The times displayed on the blog are EST in the US, so they’re 8 hours behind us.

Once I become interested in something, I become really interested in it! So the Dore Programme is what I want to promote, until I can go on it myself, then I can document my real progress, instead of just being a wannabe! I think it’s because it’s such a new and relatively unknown drug-free treatment, that has had astounding results and could literally change the lives of millions of people – that I feel I have to promote it!

www.dore.co.uk

17. My Song About Frustration

Having learning difficulties means that even the most mundane days can be stressful. I wrote a song about my personal frustrations in 1988 when I was going through a really bad depression. Of course I thought I was the only person in the world who felt like that.

I saw happy people around me and wondered how they could cope with a normal life, with so many demands made upon them. Family members, friends, colleagues, employers all telling you what to do. I got angry when I saw job vacancies that said, “Must be able to work under pressure”.

‘Why?’ I’d think, ‘Why should anyone have to put up with that kind of stress?’ Pressure doesn’t necessarily mean stress for everyone, but I couldn’t understand this. A normal day was immense pressure for me, as I got so many interactions wrong.

I’ve written lots of songs, since I was twelve, some of which I still like, but the tune to this one is particularly hideous, so you’re not missing much by just seeing the words:


Scream

Everybody
Seems so organized
How can they be
So easily satisfied?

They always say
The right things at the right time
Straight away
They always notice the signs

Where do they go
When they have their off-days?
And how do they know
How to behave?

Where do they find
Happiness? Don’t they have dreams?
And how can they smile
When they want to scream?

16. The Dore Centre on TV

The Dore Centre (then known as the DDAT Centre) was featured on The Tonight Programme with Trevor McDonald in the UK in 2002.

If you’ve not yet got your free DVD, get it from www.dore.co.uk and on there is a copy of The Tonight Programme.

The research was referred to as a ‘revolutionary breakthrough’ for dyslexia. And that’s all the researchers were trying to do at first. But as I said earlier they found that development of the cerebellar function helped with a lot more problems too. Almost everything we do involves balance or co-ordination.

The programme features Wynford Dore and his daughter Susie, who was a guinea-pig for the treatment. Initially participants are assessed to see what they can and can’t do. They are asked to spell and remember lists, among other things.

They are strapped onto a balance machine, that was developed by NASA, to test their balance disorder. (I know I’ll fall when I get on there!)

We are shown some of the balance and co-ordination exercises that need to be repeated for ten minutes, twice a day. They include throwing and catching beanbags and walking in a circle around a chair, and we are told about how eye tracking is important, as people with dyslexia don’t read easily from left to right; their eyes wander all over the place.

The cameras followed three sufferers of dyslexia over a six month period, and watched them benefit from the programme. I was interested to learn that the (then) ‘Last Government Report’ found that 1 in 5 school children, and 70% of all offenders have a learning difficulty. Wow - That’s an awful lot!

Professor David Reynolds (then of Exeter University) is former Head of the Government’s Numeracy Taskforce.

He studied the effects of 50 dyslexic children and over six months their reading performances improved three times as much as 50 average children. Their writing and spelling also improved.

The programme concluded with the founder, Wynford Dore expressing his next ambition;
“We should not consider denying this type of help from every child and every adult that would benefit from it.”

And two of the children whose spelling, reading and writing improved imensely, express their astonishment at finding the repetition of what seemed to be ‘fun’ exercises, was responsible for their improvement in academic areas.

For years, children have been pumped full of drugs that at the least have stripped them of any personality. This still goes on today, and it is due to total ignorance.

I often wonder what my life would have been like if my family knew I had ADHD and dyspraxia. I guess I have to remain thankful that things happened as they did, as I too could have been one of those poor zombified creatures.

At the presentation last week in Cardiff I met several people who had come to know about the Dore Centre after watching The Tonight Programme. I may be mistaken, but there is a good chance I saw it too. More and more things are falling into place. If I did see it at the time, I would have simply thought that it was a great idea for people with dyslexia – not me!

15. All the Posts on this Blog

BTW, to view all the posts from one month, on one page, click on the Month in 'Archives', then read from the bottom up!

For some reason, they're not all listed on the right hand side.

14. Daydreaming

I have always been a daydreamer. When I was five years old my school sent a letter to my Mum to say they would no longer have me at school dinners, because I’d still be sat chewing my food, at the end of the second sitting, when I’d gone in with the children on the first sitting. So I had to go home for lunch.

I got quicker at eating my food, but never stopped daydreaming. I used to hate myself because of it, but one of my ambitions is to write a successful screenplay, and I’ve discovered that all writers need to daydream, or how else would they think of things to write? I’m in the process of trying to allocate periods to be creative, but as yet have been unsuccessful in stopping myself from ‘drifting off’ at inappropriate times, such as when getting ready to go out – hence why I am always late.

Whilst online researching, I’ve found that learning a second language later on in life is widely believed to keep Alzheimer's at bay. Part of this research says that when you are daydreaming, your brain is in its most relaxed state, and doesn’t have enough stimulation, ie; the failure to tax the brain can be the culprit of deterioration; the old ‘If you don’t use it, you lose it’ theory.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/healthmain.html?in_article_id=362218&in_page_id=1774 Keep learning to keep your brain young.

So I need to listen up! OK, so I reckon I’m still allowed to daydream as long as it’s not time wasted. For example, whenever I have an idea for a film plot or dialogue, I write it down in my infamous ‘Screenplay’ book. One day, I hope I’ll put them all together and actually write a complete screenplay. But for now they are separate little bite sized chunks of waffle filling three A5 lined notebooks.

Since adulthood I always believed my daydreaming was as a result of the mental abuse I had every day from my mother. I thought it was my way of escaping the psychological trauma of my constant battles with her, and my futile efforts to get her to love me. But could it have been due to ADHD? If concentration is so difficult, then it would make sense that I felt I needed to ‘switch off’.

Or was it because I was always creative? After all, Robert Frost and Frank Lloyd Wright both got into trouble at school for daydreaming. See http://borntoexplore.org/cramond.htm

Stop Daydreaming! - pick up your free DVD at:
www.dore.co.uk

13. Childhood Problems Part2

When I was a child, whenever someone asked me a question, I would often say ‘Pardon?’ and they would repeat the question. This was an automatic strategy I’d come up with to not only think of an answer, but to give myself time to process what I’d been asked.

My mother knew I wasn’t deaf, but she didn’t realise why I did it. She either assumed it was just a bad habit I’d formed to annoy her, or she realised I was stalling her, but was too impatient to put up with it. She would often shout ‘Repeat what I just said!’ which I always could, parrot-fashion, but still not necessarily having registered what it meant. Then she’d tell me off for pretending to be deaf, and ask me why I did it, but I didn’t know why. This happened an awful lot and the constant reprimanding had a very negative effect on my self esteem.

I was once in trouble with a deputy head teacher for producing sloppy work, and I tried to explain to her that I was slower than the other children because my brain worked differently to theirs. She threw her head back and laughed, saying ‘Nice Try!’ or something similar, because she knew I was intelligent, and couldn’t believe I was slow.

At the time I was flattered that she thought I was intelligent, but very frustrated that she didn’t believe me. She threw my Maths book down on my desk (my worst subject) and said ‘Paula, I wouldn’t have you in my class’. Her conclusion was that I was lazy, and I even started to doubt my own beliefs, and believe that she was right.

Although I remember this incident in detail, similar misunderstandings would happen on a daily basis. I guess I often said and did things that contradicted my intelligence. So people would believe I was deliberately being difficult. I was labelled as a naughty child. So then what happened? Of course I had to live up to my reputation.

12. Childhood Problems

Though I tried often, I could never do handstands or cartwheels (and still can’t). This along with not being able to ride a bike as quickly as other kids, I’m told is a form of dyspraxia.

I never thought I was dyslexic, as I was always good at spelling and grammar, but have always been incredibly slow. And ask me to fill a form in, and it will take me a long time to read and understand it. Also, I’m hopeless at reading out allowed, and jump ahead of myself reading words the wrong way round. So this is a problem dyslexics have. Often I will read words from the line above or below the line I’m reading and end up making up a sentence of my own! I once knocked on the wrong door because I was looking for 45 Salisbury Rd, and the sign at the end of the street said;

Salisbury Road
leading to
Park Road

For some bizarre reason I read it from the bottom up - as ‘Park Road leading to Salisbury Road’ - and they were four-inch high letters! So I also walked a lot further than I needed to – story of my life!

I never mastered Maths especially Algebra, because they were sums within sums, and I kept forgetting why we started the main sum in the first place. I failed Maths O level at 16, but took it up at nightschool at 23, but only turned up for three lessons. I then took it up when I wanted to teach at 32, and again gave up after a few weeks.

Even now I often read the first few pages of a book then give up. Sometimes I force myself to read a chapter a day, and I’m not allowed to change books until I’ve got to the end. But a chapter a day can mean you spend a whole month reading a book. I’m way too slow at everything.

If you think my writing in this blog seems ok, I do it in Word first, and have to rewrite it at least five times. And thank heavens the software lets you edit afterwards.

11. Dore Presentation Part2

(I wrote this on Wednesday, but Blogger's server was poorly so I couldn't post)
Can you believe it? Only a day later and the notes I made last night make very little sense. I couldn’t write fast enough and now I can’t seem to remember most of it. I wish I could have recorded the presentation. I’ll try and remember as I go along!

Founder and chairman, Wynford Dore started off by asking members of the audience what the biggest problem they or their children had with learning difficulties. Answers came back such as Low Self Esteem, Frustration, Depression and Mood Swings, followed by clumsiness, poor short-term memory and concentration.

All these were found to be much more devastating than not being able to read or write properly. And yet that is all Mr Dore wanted to do initially. His daughter had attempted suicide and he needed to find a solution to her reading difficulties soon.

But he never thought that the exercises his research team produced would also help in so many other areas. We heard from a young boy, Josh and his Mum, Louise, about how the Dore programme not only improved his school work, but had improved his confidence and co-ordination so much that he was now the third highest in the UK in his age group at Taekwondoo.

And excelling in sport as well as in the classroom is quite typical in many children on the Dore Programme. Josh wasn’t an isolated case. This appears to have been a fortunate ‘side effect’ of people who had the drug free treatment!

Mr Dore also described how the working memory in a person with learning difficilties is so much more diminished than in a normal person. And how affected people are often thought of as lazy, when the opposite is true, because they have to work so much harder just to retain simple information.

He said the bigger the library, the busier the librarian. The more creative you are, the more unorganised information in the brain, the busier the cerebellum, that processes the information.

Later the cost issue came up. Around £2,000 for a years treatment, or £90 per month for two years on installments. He expressed his frustration at his campaigning for free treatment for all school children falling on deaf ears within the government. Everyone he speaks to says ‘we need proof’, but they want to look at this proof on a piece of paper in less than 10 seconds; they’re not prepared to take time visiting the centre or speaking to parents, headmasters and professors who have seen first hand how amazing the results are.

When someone questioned the cost, Wynford Dore said that and if anyone feels that the treatment hasn’t worked, there is a full money back guarantee. No-one has ever needed it though.

Professor David Reynolds told us that he was very cynical to begin with and wanted to see results, whether or not the programme worked. He was not only pleased with the positive results, but very impressed to discover that the results were permanent, and that the children who were furthest behind to begin with, caught up the most. In fact they were performing better than their age peers who had never had learning difficulties.

Aha, there you go – I obviously took in more than I thought - I’ll probably think of more things tomorrow!

All the speakers had plenty of time for everyone with questions at the end, and Trevor Davies, the headmaster from Solihull, was very helpful in tracking down Dr Roy Rutherford to answer my questions.

So the conclusion for me personally was; I need to do the programme as soon as possible! But it’s a Catch 22 situation; I’m trying to make a living with Online Marketing so I can pay for the programme, but I need to do the programme so that I can easily learn Online Marketing!

Thanks to the two mums from Rhwbina, Jane and Kim who kindly gave me a lift home!
www.dore.co.uk

10. Dore Presentation

Wynford Dore (white shirt) speaking with Presentation attendees

Tonight I went along to the presentaion for adults in Cardiff. My main objectives for the evening were to find out if vertigo could be cured by the Dore Programme, hear the founder, Wynford Dore speak and hear former Dore attendee, rugby star Kenny Logan speak.

The bad news is that no, the Dore Centre cannot cure vertigo - And Kenny wasn’t there. I was also informed by two of the speakers that my cerebellum exercises would need to be more structured in order to work properly. (I needed to be told!)

However, I was very pleased with the information I got. I asked my question about vertigo, and was directed to Dr Roy Rutherford who is based at the main DDAT (UK) Centre in Warwickshire, who said vertigo symptoms may be reduced by the Dore Programme but not cured completely. He also said that vertigo was not a symptom of ADHD, as it is a condition on its own. I was confusing vertigo with ‘balance disorder’ in my earlier post (now amended to Travel Sickness), and they are different. I may just have a balance disorder, which could be treated, so that's good news.

Headmaster, Trevor Davies kicked off the evening by telling us how pupils at his school benefitted from the Dore Programme. Then Wynford Dore, the founder, went into more depth of what his researchers had found.

Professor David Reynolds, Professor of Education at the University of Plymouth also spoke, and all three speakers answered many questions at the end.

Wynford Dore was very helpful, and he didn’t mind me taking his photo. I had several questions asking him to elaborate on certain points from the presentaion and he said he would send me further information.

I’ll type my notes up tomorrow and report some of what was covered during the presentation, and learn how to add a photo!

9. The Difference Between ADD and ADHD

When I visited the Dore Centre, I was told that they are the same. I had naively thought that ADD applied to adults, and ADHD to children!

ADHD is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and I thought, “There’s no way I’m hyperactive” (because I felt so TIRED all the time!)

When I answered the questions my Dore Centre assessor gave me, he said I had ADHD. So I said I didn’t think I was hyperactive, but we’re not talking about bodies here, are we? We’re talking about minds. The fact that I’d ticked ‘Yes’ to the questions ‘Are you easily distracted?’, ‘Do you talk over people?’ and ‘Are you impatient?’ meant that the hyperactivity bit applies to me too.

I often used to talk over people, but was shouted at for doing it when I was at university, so I’m much more aware now. The reason I did it is clear to me now when I sometimes nearly do it!

It’s because the other person is either speaking slowly and I get impatient and try to finish off their sentences, or it’s because I believe the other person isn’t listening, or hasn’t understood what I’ve said, and I feel that they need me to get them back on the right track. In this case, I’m a lot more polite than I used to be, and wait for an opportune moment to tactfully steer them back, rather than just interrupting. I also listen a lot more now. But I also do still slip up sometimes too!

A much better distinction between ADD and ADHD is available at:http://adhd.com/family/resources/fastfacts/difference.jsp?reqNavId=3.3.3

8. Travel Sickness is a Symptom

The staff at the Dore Centre say that Travel Sickness is a classic symptom of ADHD and Dyspraxia. Because the cerebellar function is under developed and the messages within the brain take longer, co-ordination and balance are heavily affected.

Travel Sickness, like Vertigo, is an imbalance in the ears that causes dizziness – NOT fear of heights (Thank you for that misconception Mr Hitchcock!) But you wouldn’t want to be up a tall ladder when you’re feeling dizzy now, would you?

The effects of the balance disorder for me are quite devasting when the condition is in full swing. I cannot be in a room with floors that are unlevel. In fact I’ve become a human spirit level, and can tell straight away.

I become so dizzy that the only cure is to lie down and go to sleep – wherever I am! In fact I once had to refloor a whole house with hand made wedges underneath the false floor, because the original floor was not level.

It turned out that one room was only one inch lower than the opposite end, and most people couldn't tell, but I was made exrtremely ill if I had to spend more than an hour in there. So it took me six weeks to do the whole house, because I could only manage two hours at a time, with a sleep in between!

The more common symptom is travel sickness, so I cannot read whilst in transit, as I have to keep my eyes on the road ahead, or on the horizon if it’s a boat. I once had to have two weeks off work due to severe travel sickness because I’d stayed in the lounge below deck on the cross channel ferry from Belgium to England; a one hour journey.

I learned that the Dore Centre can improve cerebellar function, enabling me to think quicker, and in a more logical way! I don’t know if they can rid me of my balance disorder. That would be fantastic though.

On the Tonight programme featured on the free DVD from www.Dore.co.uk they state that one of the balance machines people use at the Dore Centre ‘holds the clue to how the balance disorder might be treated’ and within six weeks most participants’ learning difficulties show improvement. I’m not quite sure whether that means my travel sickness can be eliminated completely, but I’m going to a Dore Centre presentation meeting next week, so I’ll ask them.

7. My Humble Cerebellum Exercises Part4

Back to juggling. I decided to start at such a basic level, a two year old could probably manage it! I threw a ball up only about six inches with my right hand. Nine times out of ten, I could manage that, but I did it in front of my bed, as I was sick of the 10% of times when I’d have to keep picking the blasted things off the floor.

The percentage was much, much higher with my left hand! In fact again, I was abysmal. And yet, I did improve! Slowly. Because I have ADHD my attention spans are poor at best, so I wanted to jump start things a bit. I did a search for 'How To Juggle' and found several sites with clear instructions. I was now bored with just throwing a ball up six inches, so I tried to juggle two balls. Hopeless, of course. BUT get this: after I’d been hopeless for ten minutes at juggling, I went back to humble throwing – and voila! The balls were actually going where I wanted them to! ??? Go figure!

Like I said before, it seems that when you go away and come back, the improvements are more noticeable. I wonder if the staff at the Dore Centre are familiar with this concept? I have also noticed that I throw in a much more relaxed way, whereas before my arms were working way too hard!


Although I'm learning slowly, if I were to keep up my efforts for ten minutes twice a day for a whole year, as on the Dore Programme, I'm certain that I would see a big difference.
www.Dore.co.uk

6. My Humble Cerebellum Exercises Part3

Again, despite improving at my own exercises, it seemed to be happening very slowly. I got bored and needed a new exercise. I still kept up with the fingers, but wanted a new exercise as well. So I thought again of the lady who peeled carrots with her feet, and decided to move toes that I formerly couldn’t. This was where I really got excited that I wasn’t beyond help!

I could already move the big toe on my right foot about 9mm away from the second toe, no problem at all. But I could not move the big toe on my left foot at all. I tried for ten minutes at a time every hour one Saturday. All day I willed it to move; nothing.

As soon as I got up the next day, I did it! It moved about 5mm! And it was really weird. It didn’t move at the same time that I willed it to. It moved about a second afterwards, and it moved in a slow, mechanical way – to the right and back, as if it were being operated by remote control!

The other thing I noticed, I could not FEEL it move. It was like I was watching it on film – what’s all that about?!! Even now, there’s little feeling, and it’s not as instantaneous as my right one, but a lot better. I guess I should now try making each toe dance like my fingers can!

Strangely, I’d find that I seemed to show much bigger signs of improvement at the beginning of a new session, than after continuously working hard at it. I maybe improved a small amount within a ten minute session, yet an hour later, the first exercise I attempted was a huge leap in comparison! Maybe when the pressure is off, you do better. I guess that comes down again, to being more relaxed.

5. My Humble Cerebellum Exercises Part2

As I was so abysmal at juggling, or even throwing a ball ten inches high, I decided to try a totally different task; to move my fingers individually whilst laying my hands palms down on the arms of my chair. Only one finger could move at any one time. I managed only the first, second and last finger on my right hand, and first and last finger on the left.

If I hadn’t seen a documentary on TV once about a mother with no arms feeding her baby and peeling carrots with her feet (on separate occasions of course!) I’d never have believed it was possible to train digits to do something they’re not used to! But remembering that woman spurred me on.

I became really competitive, and whenever I had a spare moment, I’d be trying to move my weakest fingers. Amazingly, after only two hours of trying to move the third finger on my right hand, I did it! All of one whole millimetre!

Within a day I could move all my fingers independently of each other, and the next day I tried moving my third and weakest fingers on both hands so that they moved from side to side, touching the middle and last fingers alternately.

This was really hard to do, but as I could see marginal imrovement each time, it was enough encouragement to continue. I had to consciously keep telling myslef to relax my shoulders, or not to tense up my whole arms! it seemed easier, the more I relaxed.

For your free DVD go to www.Dore.co.uk
Again, I don’t earn any money if you do - I guess I should be an affiliate…!

4. My Humble Cerebellum Exercises Part1

I wanted to try and emulate the exercises given to attendees of the Dore Programme, but not having done the programme myself, I had to guess what they were! I knew the exercises improved balance and hand / eye co-ordination, through repetition. They also had to be something that the subject was not used to, in order for the cerebellum to be in its full ‘learning mode’.

So I thought juggling would be the perfect trick to learn. I used two promotional foam balls to begin with, and I was the most hopeless anyone could imagine. So I went down to one, and I was still hopeless with my right (writing) hand, and worse with my left.

I was just throwing the ball up to eye level ten times with each hand, and it was like someone else was controlling my hands; the balls were going off to the side every time! I was astounded by how awful I was at it! Demoralised I gave up, but only temporarily.

Go to www.Dore.co.uk and see how it should be done!

By the way, I’m not an affiliate or anything. I’m just a very giving person!

3. The Dore Centre

How can I do the Dore Centre justice?

Wynford Dore the founder spent millions on research after he realised his own daughter was so depressed with her dyslexia, that she wanted to end her life. He was obviously willing to pay whatever price necessary to make her happy.

He found experts from across the globe to come up with a series of exercises that a sufferer of ADD, ADHD, dyslexia or Dyspraxia could do for ten minutes twice a day to improve cerebellar function (the part of the brain we need for co-ordination and balance and when learning new tasks).

I think I would have been sceptical if they hadn’t been able to provide a testimonial from Toyah Willcox. They had lots of testimonials, but I’ve been a huge fan of Toyah since the early 80s when she was the most colourful punk star in the UK charts.

And I’ve followed her career and TV appearances over the years. In my opinion, she has a great sense of humour, and is very intelligent, which makes me trust her judgement. So when she said on the free DVD that it changed her life, I just had to make an appointment. Toyah couldn’t read a book all in one go without feeling tired before she did the Dore programme. Now she reads with ease, and states that her life has improved 99%.

So why am I harping on about the Dore Centre so much? Why don’t I just join and go through the 12 month programme? Well, it’s a small matter of cost. The programme is not cheap, but then if something improves your life so much, then it’s worth every penny, right?

I have every intention of going on the Dore programme, when I can afford it. But for now I am doing my own co-ordination exercises, and whether I am doing them right, or whether the Dore Centre staff would laugh at the idea, I have noticed a significant improvement in only 48 hours. THAT is what convinces me that this cerebellum lark is no hooey!

Next time, I’ll describe my humble co-ordination exercises. In the meantime, go to their site and get your free DVD! There might be a Dore Centre near you.
www.dore.co.uk

2. Symptoms

I found out I had ADD when a friend of mine introduced me to a teacher of children with learning difficulties. She knew I had ADD before she told me! She was very diplomatic in that she didn't tell me; she gave me several resources to look at and to ensure I would do, she said she'd ask me what I thought the following week.

Of course I didn't know the significance at all. I just wanted to endear myself to her by becoming interested in a subject she taught! She gave me several books to read and several websites.

I did what was easiest and looked at the websites, then studied the list of symptoms on each. One site claimed that if you had 10 out of 12 symptoms, you almost certainly had ADD or ADHD.

I had all 12. And I had all symptoms on ALL the websites. Here are some:

Disturbed sleep
Inability to concentrate
Impulsive
forgetfulness
poor academic performance
difficulty completing tasks
being easily distracted
anti-social behaviour
mood swings
lack of organizational skills
tendencies to have allergies
interrupts others
impatience
indecisiveness
fidgets
loses things

"ATTENTION DEFECIT DISORDER ROBS MANY YOUNGSTERS OF THEIR CHILDHOOD. UNDIAGNOSED IT CAN LEAD TO A LIFE OF CRIME". Amanda Doherty, Sunday Mirror. February 13, 2000.
(she must have it - she can't spell deficit!)

But my favourite of all:

Being Late all the time - Hooray! "It's not my fault!" (in my best Applemac voice) Wish I could tell all my former teachers and employers that one!

I'm told there is no definitive diagnosis, as other things can cause the same symptoms; head injuries for one. And I wouldn't at all be surprised to learn that I was dropped on my head as a baby! Seriously. I had malnutrition when I was eight months old.

"Anyway, only thick, backwards people have Attention Deficit Disorder, right?" I thought (my ignorance knew no bounds). Maybe the list of high achievers at http://www.adhdrelief.com/famous.html will put that myth to sleep.

Winston Churchill?
Dustin Hoffman?
JFK?
Robin Williams?
Cher?
Albert Einstein?

I suddenly felt I was in good company!

1. Introduction

Hi there,

I'm Paula and at the age of 38, I find out I have almost certainly had Attention Deficit Disorder all my life.

I also have had all the symptoms of Dyspraxia too, such as terrible hand / eye co-ordination skills; It took me 11 years to learn to drive, and I had stabilisers on my bike until I was seven. Now I know why!

It went undetected for so long because I have always been good at spelling and grammar (although you be the judge!) so I was certain I couldn't possibly have dyslexia, but I'm a slow reader and there is such a thing as Number Dyslexia, which is difficulty with Maths. I am hopeless at Maths.

I have attended the Dore Centre www.dore.co.uk and have been assessed by their friendly and helpful staff, and they too are convinced I am a good candidate for their effective programme.

I'll report more about that soon, but I just want to tell you, that there is help for both children and adults, without resorting to mind numbing drugs. I felt like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders, when I found out I wasn't stupid. And you will too!