48. I told Paul O’Grady He’s Got ADHD!

I just sent an email to tell Paul I think he has ADHD! How cheeky am I?

He, like me, took ages to learn to drive, and now he says he cannot use an earpiece on live TV. That is what convinced me, because that entailes concentrating on two things at once, and requires a good working memory. Jerry Hall once had the same problem when they made her wear an earpiece, and she was trying to interview someone at the same time.

I said that it was just my humble opinion of course, and I also told him to get Toyah on the show to tell him how she was cured – she’ll sort him out!

I never realised it before, but that explains why Bert is always at the back of the audience telling Paul to hurry up, because they can’t let him know any other way! I think it’s nice that they make that provision for him – it proves how popular he is, but if he can’t use an earpiece, they can’t force him, can they?

But I wish I could see the outtakes of them trying!

www.channel4.com/paulogrady

47. Still No Change with the CD

Well, my Volume 2 CD is going to arrive any day now, and I'm just keeping the faith here, because I can't honestly see an improved difference at all.

I was ill for a few days, and missed two days' listening to the CD, but seeing as the promo material said it should make a difference after only six days, I didn't think I'd ruin it by missing only two days.

I've listened to the CD twice a day for a minimum of 20 minutes, for nearly a month now - and nothing! In fact I'm even more tired than usual, and have a slight headache, but I've actually been sleeping ok the last week. Could be a mild bug, I suppose.

Stephen did mention a 'nice' headache from using the CDs. Is there such a thing? Any headache is bad news for me, because it stops me from working. I do hope the CDs are not making me sleepy, because then they would be doing the opposite of what I want!

Like I said; I'm keeping the faith.

46. Another Cure For Dyslexia

I've recently received an email from the Dore Centre promoting the work of Professor David Reynolds of Plymouth university. Read more here.

It looks like the infoirmation highlighted in the Tonight programme form 2002, so I don't think it's new information, but there are still many people who don't know about it. Anyway, don't be fooled by the very young looking professor - I've met him and that photo has got to be at least 10 years old!

45. Still As Daft As I Ever Was!

Well, it's been over a week now since I started using the OptiMINDzation CD Vol 1, and I've been listening for 20 mins in the morning, and 20-60 minutes every night. And I can honestly say I haven't noticed a difference in brain function. But then, maybe I'm not the best person to judge.

I've also been staying up late nearly every night, so probably not the best experimantal conditions. I did listen to the CD on my headphones whilst falling asleep.

On one part of the literature, Stephen Pierce wrote that you should try and concentrate on the pulsing sounds. No chance! That lasted about eight seconds. But he did say earlier that you should be totally relaxed, so those two would be a contradiction for me. I also have been reading and learning stuff, and am still slow as ever, but I ain't giving up yet.

44. OptiMINDzation Volume 1

Ok, I received the CD yesterday, and listened to it last night and this morning. I, of course, read the literature first that came with it that included advice on the best supplements to take for optimum brain function. I was pleased to discover that I'm already taking five out of the seven supplements recommended. I was then reminded that I hadn't noticed a difference in brain function since I first started taking them them, about a year ago (!) But then I have terrible difficulty sleeping.

I won't take the other two supplements just yet, because if they work, how will I know if the results are due to the supplements, or the CDs?

On to the CD. I put my headphones on as Stephen recommends, and relaxed in my comfy office chair. Immediately the low frequency pulsing sounds started, and I thought the CD was making the CD ROM drive rattle, as I could also hear higher frequency sounds outside the headphones, but when I removed the headphones, I couldn't hear the rattle, so that was part of the recording too.

I became more and more relaxed, and I'm not sure if that was due to my assocociating continious noise with sleep (I have a dehumidifier on at night to drown out ambient noise, as I'm such a light sleeper). I became so relaxed that I had to get my exercise mat and lie down.

Then I found a blanket and after what I thought was half an hour, I sat up and looked at the screen. I was listening via Windows Media Player, and it said two minutes had passed. I'd played the whole hour long CD and it had started again! So I must've fallen asleep. I don't know whether that's a good thing or not in regards to improving brain function, but if it improves my sleep, I'll be happy. But then, improved sleep would definitely improve brain function anyway.

It's still too early to tell whether it worked, but the good news is: I didn't hate it!

43. Brain Entraining

Stephen Pierce speaking at the World Internet Summit UK 2005 where he won Best Speaker Award.

The other day I received an email from Internet Marketer Tom Hua promoting Stephen Pierce's new product about brain entraining, from www.OptiMINDzation.com . It claimed to rid me of all my symptoms of ADHD by listening to audio CDs that have specially created sounds that scientifically stimulate the brain to work more efficiently.

There was a lot more to it than that, but hey - I have ADHD (!) - that was all I could understand!

There's a different CD every month and each costs $30 + $12 posatge to the UK, so it costs about £22 a month. The sales letter was compelling and seemed to be backed up by lots of scientific references, and it mentioned cerebellar function which I know a bit about. I decided to buy as I trust Stephen (I've photographed him speaking at two seminars) and because of the depth of evidence in the sales letter.

As always with the most reputable internet marketers I can cancel anytime, and get a full refund, so if they do turn out to be complete ballony, I've only lost the postage cost.

Considering I was saving up £2000 for a year's treatment on the Dore Programme, I had to consider this alternative first. And Stephen, if it works on me - it'll work on anyone! I promise I'll be your best testimonial, because I've had no end of learning problems, poor memory and bad communication all my life.

Let's keep our fingers crossed. My first CD should arrive from the US soon.

42. Stephen Fry's Bi Polar TV Documentary

I watched with intrigue Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive his documentary on Bi Polarity recently on BBC2. I was diagnosed with possible cyclothymia, which is a rapid cycling form of Bi Polar, as I can have every emotion known to man in one day.

I can now add Richard Dreyfuss as a famous person with 'ADD' in his own words on Fry's programme. Dreyfuss has Bi Polar too, and I have long suspected the two can either be connected, or confused with each other. It is reported in many places that Winston Churchill had symptoms of ADHD, and it states here that he was reported to have manic depression. I continue to search for evidence of this, but an awful lot of the people I meet with Bi Polar also have many ADHD symptoms, in my humble opinion.

41. Can Green Tea Improve Your Memory?

I've been getting lots of emails from Tesco Diets lately (I always have Tesco deliver my groceries after ordering online - it saves so much time).

But today they sent me one that was quite interesting. I'm all for improving my health in as natural a way as possible, so whenever I learn of the benefits of a certain food, I try to include it in my diet (my downfall is cornflakes and muesli which are actually full of sugar).

Tesco say:
"Researchers at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne have released a new study detailing how green and black tea can actually improve your memory. Dr. Ed Okello and his team have located compounds in the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant, which produces green, black and oolong teas, which block the activity of brain chemicals that are associated with memory decline."

Anyway, there are long words involved so I'll let you go and check out the Tesco link for yourself Here.

40. Which came first; Depression or ADHD?

I found this report about depression that says:

The hippopotamus (!) (hippocampus) in our brains is smaller in people with depression (the part that deals with learning and memory) which would imply depression may come before ADHD, and I thought depression only came about in ADHD people because of the low self esteem and communication problems they have.

I suppose it could be both. Love the bias towards antidepressants in this piece, but how can something that makes you fat, also make you less depressed? - that's my logic anyway.

The disadvantage of a sufferer learning that their brain is different to everyone elses, in my opinion, is that they may be inclined to believe there is nothing they can do to help themselves. I have met so many people with depression who blame their illness for everything, instead of trying to improve their lives. I truly believe I have combatted depression myself without taking any drugs at all, and I plan to write a book about it.

39. What is ADHD?

This is probably the best account I've found of my own ADHD, whilst I've been 'surfing the net':

Imagine living in a fast-moving kaleidoscope, where sounds, images, and thoughts are constantly shifting. Feeling easily bored, yet helpless to keep your mind on tasks you need to complete.

Distracted by unimportant sights and sounds, your mind drives you from one thought or activity to the next. Perhaps you are so wrapped up in a collage of thoughts and images that you don't notice when someone speaks to you.

For many people, this is what it's like to have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD. They may be unable to sit still, plan ahead, finish tasks, or be fully aware of what's going on around them.

To their family, classmates or coworkers, they seem to exist in a whirlwind of disorganized or frenzied activity. Unexpectedly - on some days and in some situations - they seem fine, often leading others to think the person with ADHD can actually control these behaviors.

As a result, the disorder can affect the person's relationships with others in addition to disrupting their daily life, consuming energy, and diminishing self-esteem.

See the whole article here at:

http://www.nativeremedies.com/focus_for_adhd.shtml

technorati tags:ADHD, ADD, Attention, Deficit, Hyperactivity, Disorder, self, esteem, behaviors, distracted, frenzied, activity, disrupting

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38. More To Prove?

It is well documented that many people who have learning difficulties go on to be very successful. But is their success despite their difficulties? Or is it because of their ADHD?

Could it be that they feel they need to prove themselves more than most people? There’s no bigger incentive in my opinion, to prove people wrong after being told you’re useless at something. I pulled out all the stops to prove someone wrong because they had embarrassed me in front of my classmates.

My history teacher Mrs Harris, told me in front of thirty other kids, that I’d never pass History ‘O’ Level at sixteen, and that I’d be a loser all my life! So I studied hard, and I could just about remember all the information, as long as my memory was jogged by being given the titles of each section. So I had to cheat in my history exam, by having the names of battles of treaties on price stickers on the inside of my hand. I still only scraped through with a C though, because I couldn’t write fast enough. I’m still working on the second part of what she said!

Richard Branson is famously dyslexic, and yet was an entrepeneur at school, selling Christmas trees. Well it beats Geography! As stated in the ‘Tonight’ Programme about The Dore Programme 2002, a UK government report says 70% of all criminals were found to have learning difficulties, so it is possible that sufferers can go one way or the other; great success or complete failure. Well I’ve tried the failure part, and I’m a bit bored with that now. And anyway, I still need to prove Mrs Harris wrong!

37. Some High Achievers With ADHD or LDs

To Name But a Few:

Ansel Adams - Ann Bancroft (the explorer) - Alexander Graham Bell - Harry Andersen - Hans Christian Anderson - Beethoven - Harry Belafonte - Col. Gregory ‘Pappy’ Boyington - Terry Bradshaw - Richard Branson - George Burns - Andrew Carnegie - Dale Carnegie - Jim Carrey - Lewis Carroll - Prince Charles -
Cher - Agatha Christie - Winston Churchill - Bill Cosby - Tom Cruise - Salvador Dali - Leonardo da Vinci - John Denver - Walt Disney - Kirk Douglas - Thomas Edison - Albert Einstein - Dwight D. Eisenhower - F. Scott Fitzgerald - Malcolm Forbes - Henry Ford - Benjamin Franklin - Robert Frost - Galileo - Danny Glover - Tracey Gold - Whoopi Goldberg - Georg Frideric Handel - Valerie Hardin - Mariette Hartley - Ernest Hemingway - Mariel Hemingway - Milton Hershey - Dustin Hoffman - Bruce Jenner - "Magic" Johnson - Samuel Johnson - Micheal Jordan - John F Kennedy - Robert F Kennedy - Jason Kidd - John Lennon - Carl Lewis - Meriwether Lewis (Lewis & Clark) - Abraham Lincoln - Frank Lloyd Wright - Greg Louganis - Steve McQueen - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Napoleon Bonaparte - Gamal Abdel-nasser - Sir Issac Newton - Nostradamus - Ozzy Osbourne - Louis Pasteur - General George Patton - Pablo Picasso - Edgar Allan Poe - Rachmaninov - John D. Rockefeller - Nelson Rockefeller - Anna Eleanor Roosevelt - Pete Rose - Babe Ruth - Nolan Ryan - Muhammed Anwar al Sadat - George C Scott - George Bernard Shaw - Will Smith - Tom Smothers - Socrates - Suzanne Somers - Steven Spielberg - Sylvester Stallone - Jackie Stewart - James Stewart - Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Nikola Tesla - Henry David Thoreau - Alberto Tomba -Vincent van Gogh - Russell Varian - Jules Verne - Werner von Braun - Lyndsay Wagner - Robin Williams - Woodrow Wilson - Henry Winkler -Virginia Woolf - Stevie Wonder - F. W. Woolworth - Orville Wright - Wilber Wright - William Wrigley Jr. - William Butler Yeats

sources:
http://www.schwablearning.org/articles.asp?r=258

http://borntoexplore.org/famous.htm

http://www.oneaddplace.com/famous.htm

http://www.kpinst.org/famous.html

http://adhdtexas.com/famouspeople.htm

36. Dustin Hoffman

I keep trying to search for evidence of successful people with ADHD, and there are no shortage of websites, but being the pragmatic so-and-so that I am, I want proof!

Just a list of names is not enough for me, although if I had time I’d read the biographies of all the names listed to find my own evidence. When I was at uni we’d be in trouble if we didn’t reference the source of every fact we included in our essays – and quite right too, so that the reader could see for themselves that we haven’t just made stuff up. But the internet isn’t quite so strict, of course.

It is documented on several websites that Dustin Hoffman had learning difficulties. I love Dustin Hoffman and wanted to find evidence of this, so I asked on a popular message board if any of his fans knew if it were true, and what their source was. I had a range of replies, from people implying that ADHD people were retarded, to posts saying that the ‘facts’ must be true because people who put up webpages MUST do their research! HA!

It was soon clear that I was barking up the wrong tree. I shall obviously have to wait until my screenplay’s up for an academy award, so I can ask him myself.

In the meantime I’ll have to believe them at:
http://www.schwablearning.org/articles.asp?r=258

35. Creative Writing

Another area where I’m improving is typing – although that’s speed, NOT accuracy! My typing has certainly got faster, but that’s just because I type so often. I’ve actually started my screenplay that I keep threatening to unleash on the world, but I only do one hour a day on it maximum. It’s all I can fit in. I have to stick to an hour even if most of that is thinking time – though I write ideas down all the time.

I was stuck without a pen the other day, so I rang myself up and left the idea as a message! – I often do that with songs I write, as I don’t carry a tape recorder around with me.

I have a friend who’s 80 later this year. When I told her I intend to beat Johnny Depp to an oscar she said “I wish you’d get on with it”. So I am.

Why not put an hour or two a week aside to do what it is you truly want to do? If you did the two hours together it’d just be like doing a nightschool class. You’d probably look forward to it all week.

34. Improved Concentration

I think my concentration levels are actually improving (I’m drifting off much less – I think that’s because it’s finally sunk in just how much work I have to do). I only noticed this when I had to decipher the information on my phone bill. Are they ever straight forward? I went through it one line at a time, and it made sense! I felt so proud.

I’m not sure whether this is because of all the exercise I’m getting – at least 90 minutes’ walk a day – or because of all the reading I’ve done lately – (I’m reading over six hours a day, learning Internet Marketing and reading ebooks and hard books).

Or could it be because my attitude towards reading has changed?

Previously, I’d have looked at the phone bill, and thought “I can’t understand it” and phoned the phone company up for them to explain it. Ironic eh? Not really – the number has always been free. But not now: I’ve changed from BT to NTL and the customer service number is not free. Aha! The real reason for my new found concentration!

I’ve completely given up TV. I’d throw it out, but I need it for my exercise videos. I don’t think my friends believe me, but Jim Edwards is right to call it the ‘idiot box’ – and it’s such a massive thief of time.

Do yourself a favour – sell your telly! - Stick it on Ebay and teach the kids origami or something. Then write an ebook about it!

You know it makes sense.

33. Staying Focused

I’m very excited about finally making a start at Internet Marketing. It’s been hard work over the last month to concentrate and not drift off "up in the clouds in a dreamworld" - ('Living On My Own' - Freddie Mercury). The more difficult something is, the more I drift off, and I end up reading the same paragraph 16 times!

I’ve read more ebooks, articles, forums and goodness knows what else lately, I’ve been having to take a nap every afternoon because despite having 20/20 vision, all that reading gives me a headache. It’s either my ADHD brain hurting, or it’s psychological!

Actually, I have a theory about glasses. There was a feature on 'Richard and Judy' last year that talked about how people who wear glasses exercise the muscles in their eyes less than those who don’t, so their eyesight inevitibly gets worse.

I was prescribed reading glasses when I was eight years old, and had to wear these little pink framed NHS glasses whenever I read. But I never did – because whenever I wore them I would suffer immense dizziness after only a few minutes. Later I realised I could wear them if I kept my head, and the book, very still. By that I mean I was not allowed to move my head at all – not even an inch (that is nigh on impossible by the way!), or I would get severe dizziness exactly like travel sickness.

So the result was that I had to read without glasses, and thus force my eyes to focus. Did my eyes deteriorate? No – they improved! Actually, I’m not convinced the prescription was even correct. The optician could have presumed I needed glasses when I simply couldn’t be bothered to focus on the eye test!

Well I have to be bothered focusing now - 'I don't have no time for no monkey business...'

32. Get Anything You Want!

I've been thinking about what I can do to improve my life with the resources I already have, rather than dwell on the things I don't have. This is hugely due to 'The 5 Steps To Getting Anything You Want' by Internet Marketing legend Jim Edwards.

I was both an attendee and the official photographer for Jim's Ebook Workshop two weeks ago, and it was quality stuff. I received the '5 Steps' in the post the other day and I immediately put the audios onto iTunes and listened to them on my ipod whilst on a 4 mile walk.

He says if your life is not how you want it, you are already very good at the system needed for success, because we always focus on what we don't want - so we get more of it!

I've completed the workbook, but it's evident that you need to review it daily, or you lose track of what you want. You're not allowed to say things like 'I want more money' because that creates negative images of not having any money. We should visualise what 'more money' will bring us, like a nice house, holiday or car.

And you can't say 'I'm sick of being fat' because you'll only be able to visualise yourself as a fat person. You think to yourself "I'm slim, confident and full of energy!" - using the present tense is important too as it makes the image more real.

Jim gives examples of how it works for him, but to be honest, I know that when I've managed to think like that myself, I've been successful. I now realise everyone should have a system for probably everything they undertake, but most of us just wander aimlessly through life, expecting everything to just fall into place, and getting annoyed when things don't go our way.

Despite having been at college for a total of 10 years (aaagh!) I've a feeling the most important education of my life is the self taught stuff I'm doing now through books and courses by people who have actually done what they preach, themselves.

31. Other Drug Free Programmes

I’ve been neglecting my blog, but as I’ve yet to learn how to drive traffic to it, I’m just sat here talking to myself anyway for now! I have been researching, but as I said earlier I do not want to promote sites that sell or advise people to take medication for their difficulties, and there are a lot more that do, than don’t!

I’ve yet to find out if this is a competitor of the Dore Programme, but at Gifted Dyslexic at http://www.lesblind.is/aboutgifted/aboutgifted.cfm they appear to split each condition into segments, and charge £1,800 for a course of treatment for Dyslexia, then another £1,800 for the treatment of Dyscalculia, (the proper name for being rubbish at Maths!)

That’s convenient for them. I’m still on the lookout for a cheaper alternative, but only for now, as I cannot afford the Dore Programme yet.

Another Programme that was featured on GMTV recently is the www.tinsleyhouseclinic.co.uk Dr Robin Pauc’s programme is a lot cheaper, but is it as effective? His site doesn’t boast the testimonials that the Dore Programme does, but they say they can treat adults too. I’ve been advised to buy the book ‘Is That My Child?’ which I’ve ordered from Amazon.

30. Reading Age – Comprehension Age

At the Dore Presentation, Wynford Dore explained how children could score reasonably well with on their reading age but not so well on their comprehension age.

I asked Mr Dore if he could explain further as I couldn’t write my notes fast enough. He explained more about how the working memory affects the difference between the reading age and the comprehension age:

“It’s often noticed that children with a learning difficulty can score reasonably well with a reading age but far worse with their comprehension age. What we believe is happening is that many of the functions used during the process of reading have not been automatised.

Virtually everyone that goes through the Dore Programme is found to have serious problems with eye tracking, in other words they are unable to smoothly move their eyes across a line of words so that those words go into the brain in a smooth manner.

The fact that the eyes are jumping rather than moving smoothly suggests that that process has not been automatised and is, therefore, probably being controlled in working memory. The fuller working memory is with those things that have not been automatised and, therefore, should not really be there the less space is left for processing.

Thus for someone with a learning difficulty trying to read they may well be using up all their available working memory space just working out what that particular word means. They then move on to the next word and the process starts again.

The problem seems to be that after they have worked out what each individual word means they do not have the working memory capacity to retain that word and the subsequent ones in the sentence.

Thus the lack of working memory capacity will reduce the comprehension ability even though that person has been able to work out what each individual word means. It is, therefore, quite common and explainable that someone can have a good reading age but poor comprehension age.

And, of course, this makes all the difference between wanting to read for pleasure and not.” – Wynford Dore

www.dore.co.uk

29. Working Memory

I know my working memory is rubbish, because of the examples I gave in my Spelling post, and I cannot play the game ‘Answer the previous question’. If I was asked a series of questions and was required to not answer the first question until after the second question had been asked (and so on), I would fail after only one question – two if I’m lucky.

I also made a hopeless barmaid at college, because if someone wanted more than three drinks, I’d have to ask them again what the first one was.

Most people who don’t have learning disabilities can remember a substantial number of things at once, because they have automatised other tasks. However, people with learning disabilities haven’t automatised other tasks, such as reading, or hearing a sequence of numbers, so they are busy using up their working memory in order to simply process the information they are being given.

This means that there is very little available working memory left. I think of it as like using an overdraft! (something I can relate to!) I was wrong to say I have a ‘small working memory’ yesterday. I actually have the same working memory as most people, but it is being used to process information that should be automatised, so has a smaller available balance!

I once shared reading a book with a classmate, and she was finishing each page long before I was. So I asked her to read aloud at the same speed she was reading in her head, as I thought she was skipping some of the lines. Her response was that she was reading all the words, but at a much faster rate than she could speak (because it was automatised). I thought she was lying! Even now when I read, I imagine saying each word aloud.

See further information on working memory at:

http://www.learnplus.com/guides/learning-sys-memo.html
http://www.brainconnection.com/topics/?main=fa/working-memory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_memory