The Childhood Development Center of San Antonio® is dedicated to raising our children’s function so they can get the best out of their educational opportunities and truly enjoy their relationships with parents, siblings, and friends. Childhood development is a process that every person undergoes, and that development is a continuum that lasts our entire life. Some people are incredibly functional and others are completely dysfunctional. Most of us are somewhere in the middle: very functional in some areas and not so much so in others. When areas of dysfunction are identified in young, or older, children then we can intervene to improve those areas. At times these areas of dysfunction may result in a diagnosis of attention deficit disorder, hyperactivity disorder, autism, tourrette’s, and others. These resulting dysfunctions often lead to responses from teachers, parents, and friends that then create adverse behavioral changes in the child and within the child’s various relationships.

U.S. statistics for 2006

92% of the people with autism in the United States today were born after 1980.
84% of the people with autism in the United States today are under the age of 21.

Our approach at Childhood Development Center of San Antonio®

The human nervous system is unlike that of any other animal in many ways. We are born very undeveloped, as opposed to animals like deer that can stand in a few hours and run not long afterward. Our nervous system develops later, and this development is driven by sensory input: our body learns to orient us in space and then to move us with thought development related to that movement. Some children do not develop appropriately, for a variety of reasons, and the resultant lacking in development creates dysfunction. This is explained in a little more detail below.

In reference to medications, studies show that in ADHD medications can improve behavior, sometimes dramatically. This can have tremendous value, especially when the alternative means an inability to stay in class and achieve an education. There are side effects with the use of medications, though, and the decision to use medications is a personal decision that parents make with the help of their medical doctor. However, research shows that function is never changed with medications. This means that whatever dysfunction that is responsible for behavioral changes will still be present when the medication is stopped, regardless of how long the medication is taken. Also, medications are non-specific, meaning if given to a child with a right brain deficit both sides of the brain will be effected equally by the medication.

At Childhood Development Center of San Antonio® our purpose is to identify specific areas where development has not occurred fully and then effect development. This is done through area specific exercises. The results are monitored and the exercises are changed depending upon results. This is a process best referred to as the brain coherence approach. The goal of this approach is to make changes for a lifetime, changes that allow for full participation in education and social opportunities. Our goals:

Some more specifics:

ADD: Attention Deficit Disorder primarily has to do with a right hemisphere dysfunction. There is often decreased parietal function which ordinarily focuses our attention on objects or relevant circumstances.

HD: Hyperactivity Disorder is usually a right brain dysfunction in which normal inhibition of nondirected or inappropriate movements, including inappropriate behavior, is diminished. However, a dyslexic having trouble reading and therefore concentrating on reading in class, or an attention deficit disallowing a child to focus on the matter at hand, may both appear as a hyperactivity disorder when actually there is another dysfunction.

ADHD: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a combination of the two above. In most cases, one aspect presents more strongly than the other.

Dyslexia: is primarily considered a left brain disorder. The left hemisphere is responsible for language processing, math processing (dyscalcula), and fine motor control.

Autism: is a more severe right brain disorder with specific characteristics. Repetitive movements and speech are common (loss of subconscious inhibition of inappropriate action). Difficulty in self awareness, including awareness of one’s own body, makes it difficult for autistic children to put themselves in someone else’s place. Autistic children are often referred to as disconnected.

Results expected include an improvement in function regarding academic performance, behavior control, and age appropriate socialization.

Treatment Protocols

Because every child is different and every developmental disorder has its own set of unique causation and characteristics, every treatment is individualized.

Most treatment protocols are quite intensive and last from six to nine weeks, with a wide degree of variance depending upon the needs of the child. One can imagine that a severe autistic presentation would be addressed differently than a mild dyslexia presentation. Additionally, the individual treatment plan will be altered according to the child’s response.

Assessment and specific neurologic rehabilitation is done in the office every visit, and additionally there is daily “homework” which consists of specific exercises and remediations. Homework is changed on an almost daily basis as the child’s function improves to address the most recent relevant development needs.

WISC – The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children is a good parameter for judgement of pre-treatment versus post-treatment function. This test can often be done at your child’s school, and if not available at school then many private education related groups will have the test available. Also, because it is done outside of our office the change in function after completion of treatment is very objective.