Learning Disabilities, Mental Illness, Vestibular System
I want to get some things straight. I have been writing posts about
learning disabilities and other related disorders because I want to
help other overlooked and misdiagnosed learning disabled people to be
understood. I don't believe that a person can possibly understand a
learning disabled person if he or she is not learning disabled nor
doesn't have a close relative that is learning disabled. There is a
negative view about mental illness too. Some people think that if a
person has a mental illness, then that person is dangerous even if
they have depression and anxiety which is very common. I find that
rather ignorant and ridiculous. However, it does bother me that there
are people who get away with crimes because of mental illness
including a man who only got 12 years for shooting and stabbing my
mother because he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. There are lot of
people with mental illness who aren't violent, and they are even
peace-loving. I even knew a schizophrenic lady who is very
intelligent, sweet, loving, spiritual, artistic, creative, and
idealistic. She is a great cook too, and I did notice that people
complimented her on her cooking. I even remember somebody complimented
her in how she prepared Mexican food even though she's a vegetarian.
She is a highly sensitive person that believes in natural healing.
Psychiatrists ignored her requests to not take psychiatric medication.
Honestly, I didn't feel that she was schizophrenic, but she did seem a
bit too idealistic. She thinks the world is a wonderful place, and I
feel that the world sucks and the majority of people treat each other
like crap. She also might have appeared eccentric because she didn't
shave her legs, but a lot of women in Europe don't shave their legs.
She might have believed in European traditions. Should an American man
be in a psychiatric ward for wearing a kilt which is native to
Scotland? I saw a woman who talked trash to a man who was wearing a
kilt. She told him to take off his skirt. I may be idealistic, but I
have enough sense to know about the reality of cruelty in our world.
My idealism is about believing that we should all love each other
because we are all human and all connected through God, and that was
highly influenced by my multiethnic ancestry and pantheistic beliefs.
I believe that a mental illness can give a person a strong sense of
compassion. The mentally ill person often feels like the misunderstood
underdog, and so he or she wants to reach out to people who are
suffering from situations that are not even remotely like theirs but
share a common denominator that includes not feeling that that they
fit in, being ostracized, and being stigmatized. That's why a lot of
them become Psychiatrists and Psychologists. However, some of those
people project their mental health issues onto other people. Other
mentally ill people don't want anything to do with the conventional
mental health field, and so they end up as Astrologers, Numerologists,
Alchemical Hypnotherapists, Jungian Psychologists, and other
alternative counselors. A lot of them might find that their beliefs
cause them to have conflict with what is real and what is not real
when it comes to "hallucinations" which might actually be religious
and spiritual experiences. Would a fundamentalist Christian
psychiatrist think a Roman Catholic woman is crazy for having visions
of the Virgin Mary and the saints? Would a Roman Catholic psychiatrist
believe a Native American man is crazy for having shamanic visions?
Would an atheist believe a mystic is crazy for his visions? I believe
so, and that is why I would never want to be a conventional mental
health practitioner. I don't want to be forced to diagnose nor give
referrals for people to be diagnosed with psychotic disorders when
they just have spiritual or religious perceptions. If I was found out
by colleagues and superiors that I "underdiagnosed" "schizophrenic"
people even though they reported "hallucinations" which I believed
were religious or spiritual experiences, then I could be held
accountable for the deteriorations of the people's mental health even
though they may actually be having spiritual or religious
break-throughs. Additionally, my own mental health would be
questioned, and I would end up being examined and eventually diagnosed
with a psychotic disorder because of my own spiritual and religious
beliefs. I might be prevented from working in the conventional mental
health field which could actually turn out to be a blessing for it
might ultimately lead me to alternative counseling in which I have the
freedom to take people's religious and spiritual beliefs into
consideration.
I suspected that a lot of learning disabled people have been
misdiagnosed with mental illness because of my own experiences. It is
not like I just figured that I have a learning disability because I
read things about it. I was taken to specialists which included a
neurologist when I was 3 years years old because of my speech and
coordination problems. I had speech and coordination therapy before I
even started elementary school. Like a lot of Dyslexics, I was both a
late talker and walker. In the book, OVERCOMING DYSLEXIA, Dr. Beve
Hornsby says that 60 percent of Dyslexics were late talkers and that
20 percent of Dyslexics were late walkers. I had 3 years of special
education that included intensive phonics and multisensory instruction
until the 3rd grade. Since then, I haven't had any special help but
still had problems that included poor short term
memory,absentmindedness, oversensitivity, disorganization, directional
confusion, reading comprehension problems, and other things that are
common in Dyslexics even though I ended up being a B average student
from 6th to 9th grade. Even during those times, I felt stupid because
of my past spending time in a special ed class and being called
"retard" by normal kids. When I was in 5th grade and riding on a
Sunday School church bus, an older fellow mulatto kid who knew me from
my early childhood years rubbed it in about me being handicapped even
though I was already in mainstream education class and didn't have the
speech and coordination problems that I had before the 3rd grade, and
I was even getting good grades. Then I sadly realized that the past
doesn't go away, and that I will always be "the retard." That is how I
used to think until I learned about learning disabilities last Spring.
When I was in 2nd grade, I knew a girl who was also in special ed
class, and her name was Ginger. I don't know why she was in special
education class, but it is possible that she was Dyslexic like me. She
didn't have any speech problems like I had. She was the first girl
that I ever had a crush on. She would always sit next to me until the
cafeteria monitors separated us because we had to sit with our
classmates, and she wasn't in my class. She actually disobeyed the
first time that she was told to not sit at my table. She went into my
classroom when she wasn't supposed to, and that's how I found out her
name. I admit that I was so shy that I didn't bother to ask her name.
After I went to another school in the 3rd grade, I lost contact with
her and finally ran into her at Sunday School at Evangelistic
Christian Center when I was in 5th grade. It was the first time that
I went to that church, and it was the weekend before Christmas (I
started going to the church because I was afraid to tell the man "No"
when he asked me if I wanted to go to Sunday School right in front of
my mother. He had come to home to see if any kids wanted to go to
Sunday School. I didn't want to look like I was a bad kid. I ended up
going to that church for 3 years. I gave up on Christianity shortly
after I learned about the theory of evolution back in 7th grade.)
Talk about a wonderful Christmas present. I gave her all my candy,
and I exchanged phone numbers with her. I learned about her ethnic
background - French and Japanese. She was of mixed ethnic parentage
like me. She looked White with long straight sandy brown hair and
green-blue eyes. You could tell that she was part Oriental because of
her slighly slanted eyes. She and I received the Holy Ghost together
at the church. Christians believe that the Holy Ghost gives you the
ability to speak in tongues. I stopped believing in that since I gave
up on Christianity. Ginger ended up moving to New Jersey, and so I
was a bit sad. I didn't have contact with her again until I was in
12th grade. A friend of mine gave her my phone number, and so she
called me. It was the first time in 7 years. I wanted to cry with
tears of joy. She told me that she wanted to be a special education
teacher, and I admired her for that. I have to admit that I felt
intimidated. I didn't want to be reminded about my special education
days which I didn't talk about to her. She didn't see me as retarded
even though she knew that I was in special ed when we first met. She
even admired me for the poems that I had written and even told me that
I should get them published. She really had a rough life. She had a
history of sexual abuse by her stepfather and she was very promiscuous
which didn't really sit well with me because I was a virgin back then
and wasn't interested in premarital sex. She told me that her father
was killed in an accident when she was 1 year old. She was hanging out
with gang members and drinking a lot. She even got kicked out of her
home for being drunk and arguing with her stepfather, and so I lent
her some money to help her out. She never paid me back. I lost touch
with her after I joined the navy.
A lot of gifted learning disabled fall between the cracks. They can
just get by as just average and even B average students in spite of
their learning disability, not doing all their homework, and not
studying much. They may have uneven report cards and uneven
standardized tests. They do exceptionally well in some things and very
poor in others. Parents and teachers will often think that they aren't
applying themselves. That's how I was as a student. High sensitivity
is even a common trait of the gifted too. A lot of gifted children get
misdiagnosed with ADD/ADHD.
When I was a special ed student in the 1970's, Dyslexia was thought to
be only a visual processing disorder which involves reversals, but now
Dyslexics are thought to have a phonological deficit and to have some
auditory processing problems. That means that a lot of Dyslexics
without visual processing disorders were not even diagnosed and even
misdiagnosed. A lot of learning disabled people don't get diagnosed
until their adult years. Recent research from this November reveals
that Dyslexia is a multisensory disorder. Research from 1999 revealed
that Dyslexics have problems with auditory processing when it comes to
rapid series of sounds. Dyslexics can improve their reading skills
that they can be average to even above average in reading skills.
Dyslexics' reading problems can even be prevented if there is early
intervention by the age of 6 years old. There is even research that
Dyslexics can have inner ear problems that causes their Dyslexic
symptoms. Visual processing problems are in a small percentage of
Dyslexics. Dyslexia is not just seeing things the wrong way.
Dyslexics might even just have a different way of thinking. According
to the book, THE GIFT OF DYSLEXIA by Ronald D. Davis(a Dyslexic
himself), Dyslexics think in pictures and in 3-D. That's what I do
all the time. There is research that shows that Dyslexics are picture
and 3-Dimensional thinkers. There is also research that shows that
Dyslexics' have equal-sized hemispheres of the brain while
nonDyslexics have left hemispheres that are larger than right
hemispheres, and that can explain why Dyslexics are very rightbrained.
Maybe I should get my brain scanned to see if my brain is like those
Dyslexic brains because I am very rightbrained myself. THE MIND'S EYE
is a book that is much written about the imaginative thinking of
people with learning disabilities that include Albert Einstein, Thomas
Edison, Winston Churchill, William Butler Yeats, Leonardo Da Vinci
,General George Patton,and Michael Faraday. It also describes the
symptoms and traits of the learning disabled in much detail.
From the book, IN THE MIND'S EYE by Thomas West
Spontaneous and Demand Language
Children with Dyslexia or learning disabilties often have trouble
speaking on demand - that is, when an immediate verbal response is
required by the social situation. They are caught unawares "on another
intellectual plane," to use Galton's words. However, these children
may have little difficulty with what is called "spontaneous language,"
that is, language initiated by the speaker when the speaker is fully
ready to speak. In the MISUNDERSTAND CHILD, Larry B. Silver provides a
description of this anomaly:
Children with a specific language disability usually have no
difficulty with spontaneous language. They do, however, often have
problems with demand language. The inconsistency can be quite
striking. A youngster may initiate all sorts of conversation, may
never keep quiet, in fact, and my sound quite normal. But put into a
situation that demands a response, the same child might answer "Huh?"
or "What?" or "I don't know." Or the child may ask you to repeat the
question to gain time, or not answer at all. If the child is forced to
answer, the response may be so confusing or circumstantial that it is
difficult to follow. She or he may sound totally unlike the child who
was speaking so fluently just a minute ago. This inconsistency or
confusion in language behavior often puzzles parents and teachers. A
teacher might put a child down as lazy or negative because he or she
does well when volunteering to speak or answer a question, but won't
answer or says "I don't know" when called on. The explanation could
lie in the child's inability to handle demand language, but
contradictory behavior like this makes sense only if you know about
the disability.
That is exactly how I have always been. It got me seen as not paying
attention by teachers. It made me thought of as being stupid by fellow
students. I made me thought of as having a thought disorder by
psychiatrists. The whole misunderstandings made me really fed up.
Bottom line: People judge levels of intellect and sanity from a
person's speech.
According to the book, THE BIPOLAR CHILD, learning disabilities and
high sensitivity are common in Bipolar children. That confirms my
suspicions that a lot of highly sensitive and learning disabled people
are being diagnosed and even misdiagnosed with mental illness. A lot
of people with ADHD are being diagnosed with Bipolar, and ADHD/ADD
often have comorbidity with learning disabilities and sensory
integration disorder. According to the book, THE OUT OF SYNC CHILD,
sensory integration disorder often gets mistaken for psychological
problems. According to the book, UNDERSTANDING DEVELOPMENTAL DYSPRAXIA
by Dr. Madeleine Portwood, Dyspraxics can be insomniac, stressed,
depressed, anxious, and indecisive. They can have difficulty planning
and organizing their thoughts. They often have poor memory and may
keep forgetting and losing things. Dyspraxia has links with ADD/ADHD,
and they may daydream and wander about aimlessly. If you look at these
symptoms and traits,you'll notice that these are traits of diagnosed
schizophrenics and bipolars. There is high comorbidity with ADHD and
psychiatric illness in Dyspraxics, and there is often a clinical
diagnosis of Depression made.
A lot of people believe that learning disabilities are caused by
psychological problems, emotional problems, poor parenting, or just
plain laziness. Learning disabilities are real, and if a learning
disabled person is misunderstood, then that person can greatly suffer
because of ignorance. A lot of the traits and symptoms that I read in
the DSM-IV-TR, Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, seem
like traits and symptoms of highly sensitive learning disabled people.
How many learning disabled people are afraid to do things in front of
people and be evaluated?. Many of them are like that. Shrinks call
that Social Anxiety Disorder. I wonder how many shrinks ask their
socially anxious patients if they have a history of learning
disabilities. None of them asked me. That's for sure. Dyslexia and
Inner Ear Expert, Harold N. Levinson , who has 2 Dyslexic children of
his own, pointed out that many educators and clinicians often
overlooked and/or denied Dyslexia's presence - especially of
reading-score-compensated cases-and would use such poorly understood
diagnostic labels as stupid, lazy, spoiled, immature, undisciplined,
bad, and even retarded. The use of these terms emphasized the
underlying presence of professional frustration and ignorance. 25
years of research into the nature of Dyslexia, and the analysis of
over 25,000 causes, have led Dr Levinson to conclude that most
Dyslexics feel dumb, despite being smart; hence the title of one of
his books, SMART BUT FEELING DUMB which is the book that I had
recently bought, read, and most of all - identified with. I totally
felt like I was reading about myself that I felt a mixture of relief
for finding out there is people that have a clue about what I have and
anger at the people who labeled and misdiagnosed me in ignorance. A
lot of Dr. Levinson's psychiatric patients turned out to be Dyslexic.
His research has led him to recognize the existence of an unfortunate
psychological equation that links Dyslexia with feelings of stupidity,
ugliness, and klutziness or lack of coordination - feelings of
inadequacy often resulting in social withdrawal, shyness, depression,
alcoholism, drug addiction, criminal acts, and years of fruitless
psychotherapy. I can definitely relate to those things except for
alcoholism, drug addiction, and criminal acts. Both of my parents had
all those issues.
from the book, SMART BUT FEELING DUMB by Dr Harold Levinson
The stuff in parentheses are my own remarks, not Dr. Levinson's
Dyslexia is a commonly recognized as a learning disorder characterized
by reading, writing, and spelling reversals. Despite the growing
attention this elusive disorder has received since it was first
recognized in 1896-97 by two English physicians, W.P. Morgan and J.
Kerr, dyslexia has remained a scientific enigma, defying most attempts
at medical understanding, diagnosis, prediction, treatment, and
prevention.
Researchers and clinicians were unable to comprehend and define the
dyslexic disorder - unable to understand its wide range of fluctuating
educational, medical, mental, and emotional symptoms
Clinicians and educators were incapable of simply explaining to
patients and their families the various underlying mechanisms
affecting reading, writing, spelling, speech, direction, grammar,
concentration, behavior, balance, and coordination. Few, if any,
recognize fully the depths to which this disorder penetrated the very
soul of its victims. Dyslexia was naively viewed as if it were merely
a severe reading disorder characterized by reversals.
Not recognized was the agony, suffering, humiliation, and despair
experienced by patients and their families
(My mother and I definitely went through that. My humiliation from my
experiences as learning disabled in special ed class have made me very
humble and keeps me from teasing and bullying other people and putting
them down. I get angry when I see any handicapped people being teased
and bullied or any people for that matter. I strongly believe in
treating others like I want to be treated. Experiencing life as
learning disabled actually made me easily empathic, compassionate and
sympathetic.)
Not recognized was the fact that dyslexics frequently compensate, thus
becoming normal or superior readers, and that a variety of
educational, psychological, and IQ tests could not diagnose or rule
out this disorder.
(I wasn't able to read until the 2nd grade. Just recently scored in
the Superior range in Reading Skills and Very Superior Range in
Writing Skills on the Basic Skills Test for Veteran's Vocational
Rehabilitation. I still have problems with short term memory when it
comes to reading though. I have to read over and deeply concentrate or
use picture thinking before comprehension occurs. I don't like to read
long books in small print. I tend to lose my place easily. I also tend
to get stressed and confused from reading words...especially in bright
or flourescent lights. I noticed that I do that a lot on tests. It is
essential for me to take a break from reading. I am very picky when it
comes to reading material. I also read a lot of nonfiction books
without going from beginning to end or I will end up bored. I often
begin at the middle of a book. )
Not recognized was the fact that dyslexia could be a consequence of
ear infections, mononucleosis, post concussion syndromes, or multiple
sclerosis.
(I have a history of ear infections. My mother even told me that she
had to take me to the hospital when I was a baby because of a serious
ear infection. My mother also has a history of serious ear
infections, and she does have Dyslexic symptoms)
Not recognized was the fact that dyslexia may be associated with a
wide range of more serious surface disorders, such as mental
retardation, cerebral palsy, and deafness.
Not recognized was the fact that hidden dyslexic component of the
above disorders could be effectively treated medically for the first
time, resulting in an overall improvement in both the hidden and
surface disorder.
Not recognized was the fact that almost all the previously existing
assumptions and convictions pertaining to this disorder were found to
be in error.
Not recognized was the fact that most phobias and many so-called
mental, emotional, and psychomatic disturbances were caused by the
same physical disturbance underlying and causing dyslexia
(Learning disabilities are common in Bipolar. I get the manic and/or
"slight thought disordered" label from shrinks, and a lot of it has to
do with my rapid,rambling, and loose Dyslexic speech which Dr.
Levinson talks about in his books. I also get very nervous and anxious
when I am around health professionals, and I am just highly sensitive.
Being labeled as depressed and anxious is fine with me, and that is
what I felt from my living as a learning disabled person who feels
dumb. I asked to be diagnosed with Anxiety and Depressive Disorders
just like my mother, but being labeled other mental disorders is
terrible- they are way off base. . People who talk rapidly or rapidly
under situations that cause anxiety and nervousness aren't necessarily
manic nor ADHD. A lot of rappers would be labeled manic or ADHD. A lot
of them have that rapid fire way of doing lyrical expression. People
who run fast aren't ADHD nor manic. I was a very fast sprinter since
junior high school too. Fast sprinters aren't necessarily manic nor
ADHD. If that was so, then Olympic track athletes have the greatest
amount of mania and ADHD. Carl Lewis and Jesse Owens would have been
seen as the most manic and hyperactive people.)
Not recognized was the fact that many so-called Freudian slips of the
tongue, pen, hand, mind....were really Dyslexic slips.
(I often make Freudian slips...even when I type in chatrooms and in
discussion forums....a lot of people who make a lot of Freudian slips
of the tongue are seen as being stupid....President Bush is one
example...maybe he's Dyslexic)
Not recognized was the fact that no traditionally accepted theories
and concepts of Dyslexia had ever been scientifically validated.
Not recognized was the fact that no theory could explain and encompass
the improvements resulting from all other theoretical approaches:
optometric, occupational, educational, psychological, chiropractic and
temporomandibular-joint (TMJ), allergic, and nutrition therapies.
If the inner ear and cerebellum are responsible for coordinating,
inhibiting, and/or releasing normal reflexes, and
If some reflexes are poor inhibited and coordinated among dyslexics,
and
If some anxiety and motion-sickness release mechanisms are
"abnormally" triggered in dyslexics, and
If the cerebellum or inner-ear system is an "organ" whose prime
function is inhibition, according to Nobel prize winner Sir John
Eccles,
Then might not a dysfunctioning inner-ear or cerebellar system with
failure in inhibitory power result in the release of old, primitive,
reflexes, i.e. universal phobic responses?
This reasoning can explain how universal phobias may occur without any
external trauma or trigger. It also accounts for the universality of
these fears and their complete independence of specific patterns of
childhood rearing and personality profiles. Needless to say, external
triggers may, under traumatic circumstances, also precipitate the
release of corresponding universal phobias. Thus, for example, an
attacking dog or a bee sting or a hissing snake may resonate with and
trigger the release of a corresponding phobia.
Incomplete Psychiatric Assumptions
Most clinicians, psychiatric and otherwise, assume that a disorder is
psychologically or emotionally determined if obvious physical or
physiological factors cannot be found. In the absence of a clearly
defined physical basis for a disorder or symptom, psychoanalysis and
psychiatrists quite naturally propose the presence of unconscious,
unseen, intangible emotional or mental mechanisms. Unfortunately
errors have been made.
Just last weekend, I put my writings about misunderstood learning
disabilities along with online information about learning disabilities
in a folder and gave it to the psychiatrists for them to read. I told
them that I want them to understand me, and so I asked them to read
the material. I even read the difference between Dyslexic speech and
psychotic speech from SMART BUT FEELING DUMB to a psychiatrist. I even
showed my CAP test results which shows my scoring in the 98th
percentile in both Word Knowledge and Language Usage portions of the
test. I showed the letter from the Western Career College Admissions
advisor that said that I scored 190 out of 210 on the assessment test.
I wanted to show that I am not stupid nor incompetent. I am one of
those types of people who goes out of his way to get his point across.
That's why I always bring my own DSM-IV-TR with me in order to point
out things to them like showing irritability is listed under Anxiety
and Depressive episodes and not just under Manic episodes. I bring
papers and read them to psychiatrists about highly sensitive people
and show that there is even a seminar class for highly sensitive
people here in Sacramento that is conducted by Dr. Debra Moore. I also
show my books about highly sensitive people which were written by Dr.
Elaine Aron. I also wanted to let them know that I should have never
been diagnosed with Bipolar or any other mental disorder in the first
place. Depression and Anxiety are the only disorders that I can
relate to, and my mother was diagnosed with those disorders too. Those
were the disorders that I wanted treatment for in the first place. I
was never even given a psychological test, and they definitely don't
have any diagnostic tests. They didn't test me for pyroluria which
pulls Vitamin B-6 and Zinc out of the body and causes excessive mood
swings. They didn't even do an MRI on me. I didn't even do a writing
sample to show that my thoughts are organized. They just went by my
speech. They even noted in my record that my intelligence is average,
but they never gave me an intelligence test. You cannot judge a
person's intelligence from the way they talk. I even read that people
with Williams Syndrome have good speech skills but they have mental
retardation. If they did that to me when I was a little kid with
speech problems, they would have noted that I was mentally retarded. I
recently asked about getting psychological testing done so I can prove
to those people that there is nothing wrong with my thinking except
that I am learning disabled which I also asked to be tested for. I
was told that they will look into that. I want to make sure that I
get the learning disability documented in my medical records and make
copies so I don't have to put up with more ignorant B.S. I wish that
I had the documents of the findings of my speech, auditory processing,
and coordination problems that were recorded before I started
elementary school. I might fly all the way to New York to see Dr.
Harold Levinson and get diagnosed with Dyslexia and get treatment for
it. I would even volunteer to be listed in one of his books. I am a
perfect example of a misunderstood Dyslexic who has went through a lot
of misfortunes because of ignorance, and I am definitely smart but
feel dumb. I can get my story out and help other Dyslexics. I do
intend to tell my story to other people including community newspapers
and magazines in my area like the Sacramento News & Review. I want to
show how the shrinks messed up. If a depressed woman, who was
misdiagnosed with schizophrenia, can write a book educating
psychiatrists about the misdiagnosing of mental disorders, then I can
write an article talking about how learning disabilities can be
misdiagnosed.
Source: THE OUT OF SYNC CHILD by Carol Stock Kranowitz, M.A.
THE SMOOTHLY FUNCTIONING VESTIBULAR SENSE
The vestibular system that tells us where our heads and bodies are in
relation to the surface of the earth. This system takes in sensory
messages about balance and movement from the neck, eyes, and body;
sends those messages to the central nervous system for processing; and
then helps generate muscle tone that allows us to move smoothly and
efficiently.
The vestibular system tells us whether we are moving or standing
still, and whether objects are moving or motionless in relation to our
body. It also informs us what direction we are going in, and how fast
we are going.
The receptor for vestibular sensations are in the inner ear - a
"vestibule" through which something like a carpenter's level. They
register every movement we make and every change in head position -
even the most subtle.
What stimulates these receptors? Movement and .....GRAVITY!
According to Dr. Ayres, gravity is "the most constant and universal
force in our lives." It rules every move we make.
Throughout evolution, we have been refining our responses to
gravitational pull. Our ancient ancestors, the first fish, developed
gravity receptors, on either side of their heads, for three purposes:
1. to keep upright
2. to provide a sense of their own motions so they could move
efficiently, and
3. to detect potentially threatening movements of other creatures
through the vibrations of ripples in the water.
Millions of years later, we still have gravity receptors to serve the
same purposes - except now vibrations come through air rather than
water.
In addition to the inner ear, we humans also have outer ears as well
as cerebal cortex, which processes precise vestibular and auditory
sensations. These sensations are the vibrations of movement and of
sound.
Nature designed our vestibular receptors to be extremely sensitive.
Indeed, our need to know where we are in relation to the earth is more
compelling than our need for food, for tactile comfort, or even for a
mother-child bond.
In her book, SENSORY INTEGRATION AND THE CHILD, Dr. Ayres explains:
The vestibular system is the unifying system. It forms the basic
relationship of a person to gravity and the physical world. All other
types of sensation are processed in reference to this basic vestibular
information. The activity in the vestibular system provides a
"framework" for the other aspects of our experience. Vestibular input
seems to "prime" the entire nervous system to function seems to
"prime" the entire nervous system to function effectively. When the
vestibular system does not function in a consistent and accurate way,
the interpretation of other sensations will be inconsistent and
inaccurate, and the nervous system will have trouble "getting
started."
Whew! What a heavy load! Isn't it astonishing how something you may
never have heard of before has such a profound and pervasive
influence? As the background for all the other senses, the vestibular
system gives us a sense of where we stand in the world.
THE OUT-OF-SYNC VESTIBULAR SENSE
Vestibular dysfunction is the inefficient processing in the brain of
sensations perceived through the inner ear. The child with vestibular
dysfunction inefficient at integrating information about movement,
gravity, balance, and space. She may be oversensitive to movement, or
undersensitive, or over-and undersensitive.
The child may not develop the postural responses necessary to keep
upright. She may never have learned to crawl and creep. She may be
late learning to walk. She may sprawl on the floor, slump when she
sits, and lean her head on her hands when she is at the table.
As she grows, she may be awkward, uncoordinated, and clumsy at
playground games. She may fall often and easily, tripping on air when
she moves, bumping into furniture, and losing balance when someone
moves her slightly off the center of gravity.
As eye movements are influenced by the vestibular system, she may have
visual problems. She may have inadequate gaze stability and be unable
to focus on moving objects or on objects that stay while she moves. At
school, she may become confused when looking up at the chalkboard and
back down to her desk. Reading problems may arise if she hasn't
developed brain functions imperative for coordinating left-to-right
eye movements.
Vestibular dysfunction may also contribute to difficulty processing
language - a great disadvantage in every day life. The child who
misperceives language may have problems learning to communicate, read,
and write.
Many types of movement provide a calming effect. The out-of-sync
child, however, can't always calm herself because her brain can't
modulate vestibular messages. Neural activity that organizes movement
is either stuck "on," or turned off. Difficulty moving in an organized
way interferes with her behavior, attention, and emotions.
The vestibular sense gives us information that is necessary for many
kinds of everyday skills:
Gravitational security
Movement and balance
Muscle tone
Bilateral coordination
Auditory-language processing
Visual-spatial processing
Motor planning
Emotional security
from the book, SMART BUT FEELING DUMB by Dr Harold Levinson
Four Major Inner-Ear Functions
1. THE GUIDED - MISSILE FUNCTION
It acts as a guided-missile computer system - guiding our eyes, hands,
hands, feet, and various mental and physical functions in time and
space. Thus, a disorder within this system may deflect our eyes while
they reflexively and automatically fixate and sequentially track
letters, words, and sentences while we read. The dyslexic's reading
process is characterized letter, word, and sentence fixation and
tracking difficulties, requiring compensatory slow reading, finger
pointing, the use of cards, etc. What's more, the resulting visual
scrambling will trigger the insertion and omission of words, the
illusion of new words formed from word parts separated by unseen
distances, etc. Frequently words will be experienced as blurred or in
movement, requiring compensatory blinking and squinting in order to
restabilize as the drifting input.
In as much as the tracking is coarse and jerky, the reading process
becomes tiring and unpleasant. Often these discoordinated or clumsy
eye movements, mistakenly referred to as apractic, keep retargeting
the same words in a sentence over and over again, a process clinically
labeled ocular perseveration.
If the hand holding a pen is misguided in space, our writing will look
"discombulated" or "dysgraphic". Most often the writing will drift
off the horizontal line if unlined paper is used and if concentration
and effort are not used to extraordinary degrees.
If our hands, our feet, or our speech mechanisms are not accurately
guided in space and time, a wide range of discoordinated, clumsy acts
or "Freudian slips" will occur ("dyslexic slips").
2. THE SENSORIMOTOR FINE-TUNING FUNCTION
The inner-ear system also acts like the vertical and horizontal knobs
on a television set. fine-tunes all motor (voluntary and involuntary)
responses leaving the brain and all sensory responses coming into the
brain.
If voluntary motor responses leaving the brain are improperly
finetuned, one's motor acts become discoordinated and imbalanced,
resulting in delayed speech; impaired ability to walk; difficulty
tying shoelaces, buttoning buttons, zippering zippers, holding and
using writing implements; and speech disturbances, such as slurring
and stuttering.
If voluntary motor responses leaving the brain are improperly
fine-tuned, then toilet-training delays may arise, as well as such
symptoms as bed-wetting and soiling.
If the sensory input to the brain is properly fine-tuned, then this
input will drift or scramble. The thinking brain, however bright,
receiving drifting, scrambled input will have difficulty with
interpretation, memory, and concentration. If the drift is 180
degrees, then reversals occur, both for incoming and outgoing signals.
Even a genius watching and/or listening to a drifting input (or a
drifting TV channel) will have great difficulty remembering and
concentrating on the picture seen and heard. Variations in the
drifting will account for variations in the degree of clarity. Some
segments will be seen and heard clearly, while others will only
partially be seen and heard, and others will be completely blurred
out, resulting in compensatory guessing and even illusions.
If this very same genius is asked about the content of what he
observed on the TV show, he will not be able to answer too many
questions. And if this genius is unaware that his difficulties are due
to the drifting of the TV's image, then he will instinctively feel
stupid, regardless of his IQ. In fact, the smarter he is, the more
frustrated he will become and the dumber he will feel.
Most of the time, compliments make bright dyslexic kids feel worse.
These kids know they are not able to grasp, remember, and reproduce
information as well as their classmates or as well as their instincts
and feelings tell them that they should. Reassuring these children
that they are smart when they instinctively feel frustrated and stupid
often makes them feel worse. They feel they are being lied to in order
to make them feel better, to make them feel less stupid. Thus they
conclude that they really are dumb; otherwise the compliments and
reassurances would not be necessary.
In other words, bright dyslexics are instinctively aware of the many
difficulties they have, and therefore react with feelings of
stupidity. Although reassurance does not reverse feeling stupid - and
in fact, may seem to heighten it - it is nevertheless crucial because
it keeps dyslexics going and striving until compensation occurs - if
it occurs.
Criticism, on the other hand, is felt very deeply, for it their gut
feelings of stupidity, resulting in a deeper sense of inadequacy.
How can teacher help but view these children as "stupid,"
"indifferent", and "defiant," especially if the teacher is viewing and
judging them as if from the backside of the TV set? If, by analogy,
the teacher does not see or hear the drift, he or she will naturally
assume that the child is watching and listening to a simple, clear TV
picture. Thus, the teacher cannot comprehend the resulting errors and
learning disabilities. Moreover, the child is watching and listening
to the drifting TV channel will lose his concentration and become
distracted and restless. He'll want to get away from this frustrating
input and change TV channels - to those coming in clearly.
By analogy this experience is very similar to how one reacts to motion
sickness. Instinctively, one wants to eliminate the input,either by
fight or flight.
If a child can't play hooky or change his channel in school by means
of distracting mechanisms, he'll fight. If his anger and fight are
inwardly directed, he'll become depressed and give up. If his anger is
acted out, he'll be viewed as a behavior problem with disruptive
tendencies. Children will sometimes unconsciously behave in a manner
that provokes authorities to suspend or expel them from school, thus
attempting to get out of a most frustrating and humiliating situation.
At other times, underlying guilt associated with feeling stupid and
inadequate will trigger mechanisms that invite punishment and
consequently alleviate guilt - a most unfortunate cycle. If, on the
other hand, a child tries to avoid the frustrating drifting channel
altogether, he'll be labeled as a "school phobic."
In order to understand all the variations and compexities of the
dyslexic disorder, one has to carry the TV analogy a few steps
farther.
Pictures the brain as a giant TV set with millions and millions of
specific channels. Imagine each separate event as being independently
processed on its own wavelength or TV channel. Thus, one channel may
drift while another remains fine-tuned. One channel may drift mildly
vertically while another drifts horizontally. One channel may drift
from right to left while another drifts from left to right. On and on
the possibilities go, accounting for the diverse combinations of
symptoms seen from patient to patient and from sample to sample.
Futhermore, the fine-tuners may vary in function from moment to
moment, depending on a series of known and unknown variables and
circumstances. Spontaneous variations in the fine-tuning mechanisms
may result in corresponding variations in symptoms from time to time,
most often beyond the individual's control. Allergies, seasonal
influences, foods, sugars, even changes in humidity, altitude, and
barometric pressure may trigger signal-drifting, accounting for
regression and symptomatic changes.
3. THE COMPASS FUNCTION
The inner ear is also a compass system. It reflexively tells us
spatial relationships such as right and left, up and down, front and
back, east and west, and north and south. If this compass system isn't
working efficiently, one must use one's brain to devise such
consciously directed compensatory methods as wearing a ring or a watch
on one hand, or recalling which hand has a scar or was broken or was
used to pledge allegiance.
This compass system directs all body functions: sensory, motor,
speech, thought, even biophysical patterns. Moreover, one sequence may
be misdirected or scrambled while another remains unaffected or
compensated for and is seemingly unaffected.
4. THE TIMING AND RHYTHMIC FUNCTION
The inner ear also acts as a timing mechanism, setting rhythms to
motor tasks. A disturbance within this system may result in difficulty
in learning to tell time and sensing time. Frequently, dyslexic
children do not know before from after and can't sense whether a
minute, an hour, or several hours have gone by. Accordingly, dyslexic
individuals may become "compulsively" late or early. Speech timing may
be off, resulting in slow or rapid talkers and even dysrhythmic
talkers, or stutterers.
The inner-ear system - better yet the cerebellum or brain of animals -
enables us to rapidly process and maintain the sequence of all
sensorimotor signals by adaptively slowing down or inhibiting the rate
of transmission speeds. A failure in this and related functioning will
result in, and thus readily explain, the series of typically reported
speed and motion illusions. Thus, for example, dyslexics typically
report seeing cars moving too fast, hearing speech too rapidly to
normally interpret without extra time or repetition, experiencing
themselves and other stationary objects in motion or vibrating
(oscillopsia), etc. A similar failure to regulate the speed and order
of motor signals will often result in difficulties with rapid or
reflex balance and coordination tasks, speech and writing included.
In many ways, these timing or temporal disturbances are analogous to
the spatial illusions in which dyslexics report seeing objects smaller
or larger or reversed - symptoms called micropsia, macropsia, and
reversals, respectively. Accordingly, I came to view dyslexia as an
inner-ear-determined spatial-temporal and sensorimotor dysfunction in
equilibrium with compensatory vectors.
Any combination of these inner-ear functions may be impaired.
Similarly, any mechanism may be compensated for, or even
overcompensated for. By recognizing that the impaired mechanisms
underlying dyslexic symptoms are in a dynamic equilibrium with
compensatory factors, a concept of symptom formation evolves in which
each symptom is viewed as a result of opposing forces, dysfunctioning
versus compensatory. If gifted functions are also taken into
consideration, as are self-corrective versus regressive forces, then
we have truly arrived at the concepts needed to understand dyslexics
and their fascinating disorder.
The above-described inner-ear mechanisms and concepts have resulted in
the first comprehensive explanation of why and how the various
theories about dyslexia and their corresponding therapies, including
my own, work or do not work.
I believe that the a vestibular dysfunction or inner ear dysfunction
can cause Dyslexic Syndrome. I don't believe that it causes all cases
of Dyslexia. I believe that it causes language disability that overlap
with sensory integration disorder, coordination problems, attention,
and/or hyperactivity problems. I am very certain that I have a
vestibular dysfunction.
I will point out symptoms and traits of schizophrenia that that seem
like Dyslexic symptoms
page 300 in DSM-IV-TR
disorganized thinking has been argued by some to be the single most
important feature of schizophrenia. Because of the difficulty inherent
in developing an objective definition of "thought disorder," and
because in clinical setting inferences about thought are based
primarily on the individual's speech, the concept of disorganized
speech has been emphasized in the definition of schizophrenia used in
this manual. The speech of individuals with schizophrenia may be
disorganized in a variety of ways. The person may "slip off the
track" from one topic to another ("derailment" or "loose
associations"); answers to questions may be obliquely related or
completely unrelated ('tangentiality"); and rarely, speech maybe so
severely disorganized that it is nearly incomprehensible and resembles
receptive aphasia in its linguistic disorganization ("incoherence" or
"word salad"). Because mildly disorganized speech is common and
nonspecific, the symptom must be severe enough to substantially impair
effective communication. Less severe disorganized thinking or speech
may occur during the prodromal and residual periods of Schizophrenia.
page 306 in DSM-IV-TR
Associated physical examination findings and general medical
conditions. Individuals with Schizophrenia are sometimes physically
awkward and may display neurological "soft signs," such as left/right
confusion, poor coordination, or mirroring.
HERE ARE OTHER THINGS THAT YOU SHOULD BE AWARE ABOUT:
page 306 in DSM-IV-TR
Specific Culture, Age, and Gender Features
Clinicians assessing the symptoms of Schizophrenia in socioeconomic or
cultural situations that different from their own must take cultural
differences into account. Ideas that may appear to be delusional in
one culture (e.g., sorcery and witchcraft) may be commonly held in
another. In some cultures, visual or auditory hallucinations with a
religious content may be a normal part of religious experience(e.g.,
seeing the Virgin Mary or hearing God's voice). In addition, the
assessment of disorganized speech may be made difficult by linguistic
variation in narrative styles across cultures that affects the logical
form of verbal presentation. The assessment of affect requires
sensitivity to differences in styles of emotional expression, eye
contact, and body language, which vary across cultures.
page 307 in DSM-IV-TR
There is some evidence that clinicians may have a tendency to
overdiagnose Schizophrenia in some ethnic groups. Studies conducted in
the United Kingdom and the United States suggest that Schizophrenia
may be diagnosed more often in individuals who are African American
and Asian American than in other racial groups. It is not clear,
however, whether these findings represent true differences among
racial groups or whether they are the result of clinician bias or
cultural insensitivity.
page 305 in DSM-IV-TR
Associated laboratory findings. No laboratory findings have been
identified that are are diagnostic of Schizophrenia
Here is a case of a Dyslexic misdiagnosed as Schizophrenic:
BONNIE: OVERLOOKED DYSLEXIC IN PSYCHOTHERAPY from the book, SMART BUT
FEELING DUMB by Dr Harold Levinson page 31 - 32
Bonnie was twenty-nine years old when she initially consulted me for
severe depressive feelings and phobias - fear of becoming ill and
dying as her mother did, a fear of traveling and new places, and a
fear of heights. Also, she had "heard voices" intermittently during
her entire life. This symptom had led psychiatrists to misdiagnose
her as a schizophrenic, although I recognized her to have hysteria (is
a relatively mild and psychoanalytically treatable emotional disorder
in which symptoms are determined by unconscious needs and wishes.)
Bonnie has two children. Following each childbirth her symptoms had
intensified so much she required hospitalization.
I came to realize that Bonnie's depressions, fears of illness and
dying, and even her voices were all related to her mother's having
died immediately following Bonnie's birth.
Bonnie felt extremely guilty about her mother's death. Had she not
been born, she believed, her mother still would have been alive. Her
"voices" were found, upon analysis, to be related to her mother's
absence. She had always thought about her mother and conversed with
her while daydreaming, forever imagining what her mother would say in
this situation or that. She could actually hear these daydreams.
Bonnie's "voices" reflected her need to regain and maintain contact
with her beloved but lost mother.
Following the birth of each of her children, Bonnie became
increasingly depressed, anxious, and fearful. Her conscience became
increasingly harsh and intense during these episodes. Clearly, Bonnie
was suffering from hysteria, not schizophrenia.
Upon careful questioning I found Bonnie had been a poor student as a
child, had had difficulty reading, writing, spelling, and had been a
stutterer. She also admitted to always having felt stupid and
unattractive. The stuttering still persisted, as did her feelings of
inferiority. I initially assumed that all of Bonnie's symptoms were
emotionally determined and treated them all psychotherapeutically. Her
treatment was successful. She eventually raised three children,
survived two surgical procedures without emotional relapses, returned
to college, and earned master's and Ph.D. degrees. And she no longer
felt stupid and ugly.
Only in retrospect did I recognize that Bonnie's early academic and
speech difficulties, as well as her fears of heights, elevators,
needles, illnesses, new places, and driving, were manifestations of a
physically determined inner-ear disorder - dyslexia. I came to realize
that her feeling stupid and ugly were as much determined by her
dyslexic disorder as by her hysterical disorder. Even her "voices"
appeared to have a physical co-determination. Dyslexic children
occasionally compensate for their memory disorder by developing
eidetic(pertains to the faculty of clearly visualizing objects and
events that one has actually seen or heard or has thought up) imagery.
Bonnie's voices had had a compensatory eidetic quality. In fact, many
a dyslexic can actually hear the sound of the word they are reading -
otherwise the meaning doesn't sink in. They use a compensatory form
of auditory imagery to compensate for impaired of delayed visual
processing.
When I first began treating Bonnie psychotherapeutically, I had not
yet recognized the physical basis of her many symptoms. I had been
treating her only psychiatrically, not physically or holistically. I
did not yet appreciate the significance and wisdom of Sigmund Freud's
remark that underlying and co-determining all emotional symptoms is a
physical basis. The basis he called "somatic compliance."
When I finished reading that, I was like "Damn...I need to go see
this man. He even knows a Dyslexic and Hysteric from a
Schizophrenic."
I learned about hysteria too. A person who reads the bible every day
and prays every night might end up believing that he is hearing Jesus'
voice and being filled with the Holy Spirit could be a hysteric.
Also a man who lost his wife in a car accident and really misses her
so much that he dreams about her every night could end up seeing her
in waking life. That could also be a case of Hysteria. To the
metaphysical believers, it could actually be spiritual contact. Many
psychiatrists don't take metaphysical things into consideration.
There is no telling how many Dyslexics with eidetic imagery thinking
have been given the schizophrenic label.
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