Attention Deficit Disorder?The common diagnosis of attention deficit (hyperactivity) disorder - AD(H)D - usually implies that the child has a deficiency, or "lack" of attention. The HANDLE® Institute, contends that no one has an attention deficit and ILT supports this view. In fact, everyone is always attending to something, and individuals who show difficulties in sustaining attention may be blocking certain types of stimulation and seeking others. They may have difficulties adjusting attention flexibly to meet varying demands from the environment. The vestibular system, which is often described as the "post office" of the brain, is usually at fault - there is a "sorting" disorder as it were. HANDLE® and ILT practitioners believe a more accurate name for AD(H)D would be attentional priority disorder (APD). This condition is not hereditary (although there may be a genetic predisposition to it) and it is certainly reversible. In the evaluation session we focus on discovering where the child's attentional priorities lie. Then, by retraining the vestibular system (the postman), the child is better able to give attention to social, academic and other demands from the environment. Drugs are not used as part of the treatment programme, so symptoms are not masked but rather treated at their root causes. Common patterns of APDMost people who have difficulty sustaining their attention and/or adjusting easily to the demands of changing situations show sensory processing difficulties, such as:
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