ADHD Awareness Month: Case Study

Marisa and Danny contacted The Key Clinic in December 2019 to address their son Jack's attention difficulties, challenging behaviour and its impact on his academic and home life. His parents' desperation was clear during the initial consultation so we collected all of the information we could to determine which assessments were going to be the most appropriate and identify where his difficulties were coming from.

We were soon introduced to Jack, a sweet and highly energetic boy who was only 8 years old at the time. He came into the clinic, bouncing off the walls, asking a lot of questions and playing with every object in sight. It was clear from his behaviour in the clinic and the results of his assessments, that he would benefit from our therapies but the order in which these were to be completed was a key factor to guarantee a successful outcome.

Jack began with a 10 day course of Key Auditory Therapy to address his hypersensitive hearing that was contributing to his attention difficulties and they started to notice the effects of this about 6 months while his auditory system continued to reorganise. Within this time, we attempted to start Jack’s neurodevelopmental movement therapy programme however, we soon realised that his system was far too hyper to engage in a slow, movement based practise. So, we paused this and began his biomedical intervention to investigate the root cause of his hyperactivity.

According to the studies conducted by Dr. Walsh, a biochemist who founded the Walsh Institute, 70-90% of children diagnosed with ADHD have an imbalanced zinc:copper ratio and, according to different studies on gut health, other appear to have an adverse reaction to milk and gluten. However, this can only be determined via specific biomedical tests so, following a consultation with our biomedical team Jack underwent the necessary tests. The results identified a number of significant biomedical imbalances that were contributing to Jack’s symptoms including an imbalance of zinc:copper and elevated peptides (the molecule that forms when an individual is unable to break down the proteins in gluten and dairy). A protocol was subsequently created to address these imbalances with the main aim being to calm Jack’s system down.

The biomedical protocol was initially met with much resistance, due to the amount of change that it incurred but with support and perseverance, Jack’s system successfully calmed down in order for him to begin his neurodevelopmental programme and address the immaturities in his nervous system. Jack performed brilliantly throughout his neurodevelopmental programme that we began during the Covid-19 lockdown. Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, Jack channeled his intensity into mastering the exercises and took full reigns of his programme, at times choosing to practise the exercises 1:1 with a practitioner over zoom without parental support.

Jack is now largely free from the symptoms that were identified prior to beginning his journey at The Key Clinic and he is now free to be himself and thrive in his own, unique way. As a clinic we are proud of Jack and his family for coming together and persevering through the process and we look forward to supporting his sister through her programme that is due to start very soon.

Hear what Marisa and Danny had to say in the above video. To find out more about our ADHD therapies contact The Key Clinic team today.