Dyslexia does not have to be a life sentence

By Sarah Warley

The Key Clinic specialises in neuroplastic healing techniques for many childhood and adult difficulties, including Dyslexia. Techniques are cutting-edge, drug-free and have lasting results.

Launched by psychologist, Sarah Warley, the clinic has the aim of unlocking the potential of children who are struggling with learning and behavioural problems, either at home or at school. The Key Clinic uses a multi-disciplinary, integrated approach – based on a cutting-edge understanding of neuroscience – to find the right key to unlock your child’s potential.

With diagnoses of Dyslexia becoming more and more common, most people are completely unaware that there is much that can be done to treat the underlying causes.

Once a diagnosis is made (or even suspected), the regular approach is to try to find ways around the problem. So, for example, a child might be asked to wear glasses with coloured lenses, or to sit at the front of the class, so they can concentrate better. They may be told to simply give up on trying to write and use a keyboard instead. However, all these are merely compensation methods which do not aim to understand or treat the underlying causes of Dyslexia.

There are many studies which show a clear link between immaturities in the nervous system and Dyslexia. When we are born, our brains are only 20% developed and it is through a series of repeated baby, or ‘primitive’ reflexes, that the brain matures within the first year of life. This makes much of what we do later on happen easily, as if by autopilot. However, for 95% of those diagnosed with Dyslexia, this process never fully happened. In particular, a reflex called the ATNR got stuck and did not properly inhibit, as it should have, by the child’s first birthday. This creates an invisible dividing line vertically through the body which makes horizontal eye tracking and hand eye tracking extremely difficult. The eyes ‘jump’ at the midline point when reading and this is what causes words to appear to jump on the page and for people to skip lines etc. The vertical separation also goes through the brain, so the two hemispheres cannot properly communicate with each other. This is why those with Dyslexia often have mixed laterality and why, more recently, we have discovered difference in the development of the eye’s retina between each side.

Most importantly, Dyslexia can be successfully treated through a series of neuro-developmental movements, which give the nervous system a second chance to develop. These need to be carried out for 5 minutes a day over a few weeks/months, until any remaining primitive reflexes have fully inhibited and the system becomes fully matured. We have frequently had children losing their diagnosis completely this way.

Another contributing factor to Dyslexia may be the way in which a person hears. If they have ‘dyslateral hearing’ – in other words, they swap from one ear to the other ear in order to hear different parts of language, this can result in Dyslexic symptoms. This is because sounds entering the left ear take longer to reach the part of the brain which processes language than sounds entering the right ear. So, imagine I say the word ‘CAT’, someone with dyslateral hearing may hear “ACT’, because the A sound was heard by the right ear and got there before the ‘C’ which was heard by the left ear. The child writes this down in their book and they are told they have Dyslexia – but they are merely writing things in the way in which they hear it. Again, this hearing anomaly can be corrected with a 10-day course of Auditory Therapy, which retrains the ears to hear more accurately.

Over time, people learn ways to compensate for their eyes not being able to track smoothly and/or their ears hearing things the wrong way round. However, all this sucks up vital cognitive energy, making them feel exhausted and often resulting in headaches, particularly after school. The worst part is that they are chronically achieving far less than they are actually capable of and leaves them feeling stupid – even though they are perfectly smart! The longer-term effects are a severe denting to their self-confidence, which is the main symptom of those with Dyslexia.

This is why it is so important to get the word out there that Dyslexia does not have to remain a life sentence and that there is much that there is much that can be done to overcome the symptoms.

These symptoms do not need to be a life sentence. It is possible to give the nervous system a second chance to develop. We have frequently had children losing their Dyslexia diagnosis completely after treatment.

To book your child in for an assessment at The Key Clinic, call 01635 761565 or email admin@thekeyclinic.co.uk

www.thekeyclinic.co.uk