Children who are inattentive, easily distracted, quickly tire of what they are doing, have problems organizing their activities and controlling their impulses are considered to be suffering from attentive deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

According to experts this is a genetically conditioned disorder which often causes deficient professional and educational accomplishment and is a life long handicap. If there are problems of attention without hyperactivity the condition is called ADD. In Sweden , treatment, for these children and their parents consists primarily of supportive measures, Medication with stimulants such as Ritalin is recommended only in severe cases. In the United States on the other hand Ritalin and other stimulants are the treatment of choice and nearly 10 % of American children are treated with such drugs.

However there is no scientific evidence that ADHD is genetically caused and in the year 2000 the American Pediatric Association concluded that there is no convincing scientific proof that ADHD even has biological causes.

You can have another angle of approach on attention deficit disorder and how it can be remedied by studying our smallest children. Normal children around the age of one year, who are allowed to move around freely and are not forced to sit in baby sitters or car chairs for long periods have a similar behaviour to that of children with ADHD.

They move around, cling and climb and have problems sitting still. They do not follow instructions and have problems organizing their activities and controlling their impulses and they are easily distracted. However, unlike children who are labelled as suffering form ADHD, normal children manage to overcome their attention disorder and hyperactivity all on their own as they grow older. How are normal children different from children who develop ADHD and what secret knowledge, unknown to the experts, do they have that enables them to prevail over their attention problems?

The brain of the infant has not matured. In the new born baby only the brainstem functions properly while the other parts are made use of only to a small extent. Before an individual is able to bring into play all of its brain the nets between the nerve cells of the brain must develop by growth of branches from the nerve cells and the nerve fibres must develop an isolating sheath of myelin. This maturing of the brain takes place all through childhood and the very first year is the most crucial period which lays the foundation for later development. It has been estimated that every minute in the life of a new born baby 4,7 million new nerve cell branches are created in the brain of the infant.

But this process does not happen by itself. The brain needs stimulation from the senses for the branching off and the myelinization to occur, especially stimulation from the balance, the tactile and the kinaesthetic senses. The baby gets such stimulation by being touched and rocked by its parents and by continually making rhythmic baby movements on its own. Such movements develop in a certain order according to an inborn program with individual variations. Turning around, crawling on the stomach, rocking on hands and knees and crawling on hands and knees are some important milestones in this development. The stimulation the brain of the infant gets from such rhythmical baby movements during the first year of life is fundamental for the future development and maturing of the brain.

In children who have not got sufficient stimulation of this kind the maturing of the brain is retarded or impaired. Such retarded development can appear as attention disorder with or without hyperactivity.

The American scientist Paul McLean has studied the development of the brain in reptiles, mammals and humans. According to McLean , the human brain consists of three layers that surround the brainstem, which he also calls the fish brain because it roughly corresponds to the brain of the fish. These layers surround the brainstem like layers of an onion.

Next to the brainstem is the reptile brain which corresponds to the brain of the reptiles. In humans the reptile brain is called the basal ganglia, one task of which is control our postural reflexes, i.e. our ability to stand and walk and keep our balance. The reptile brain must also inhibit the primitive reflexes which are inborn, stereotyped movement patterns controlled by the brainstem. The primitive reflexes constitute the movements of the foetus and the newborn infant and must be transformed into the postural reflexes in order for the child to be able to rise and walk and keep its balance. The basal ganglia also regulate the level of activity of the child and ensures that the child is not revved up most of the time.

Outside the reptile brain is the mammalian brain or the limbic system, that controls our emotions, memory, learning and play among other things.

On the outside is the neocortex or the human brain. Signals from the sense organs must reach the neocortex and be processed there in order for us to be aware of what happens around us and to be able to act consciously. The very front part of the neocortex, the prefrontal cortex is of crucial importance for our judgement, attention, power of initiative and control of impulses.

When we are born all parts of the triune brain have been set up but are not yet working properly. In order for all the parts of the brain to function as a unit they must be developed and linked up to each other. This is achieved by the rhythmic infant movements that stimulate the growth and the branching off of the nerve cells and the myelinization of the nerve fibres.

The infant needs to have sufficient muscle tone in order to be able to move around and stimulate the linking up of the different parts of the brain. Also, for sufficient muscle tone to be established, the infant must be touched, hugged, rocked and allowed to freely move around. Such stimulation sends signals from the sense organs of the tactile, balance and kinaesthetic senses to those centres of the brainstem, the task of which is to regulate muscle tone. If the baby gets insufficient stimulation from these senses the muscle tone of the extensor muscles will be low. This may cause difficulties for the baby to lift its head and chest and move around, further reducing the stimulation from the balance, tactile and kinaesthetic senses, leading to a vicious circle.

When the baby is unable to move around freely too little stimulation is conveyed to the neocortex via the reticular activation system (RAS) of the brainstem. The task of this system is to arouse the neocortex. When there is insufficient arousal of the neocortex the child will become sluggish and inattentive to sensory signals. Moreover the nerve cells and the nerve nets of the neocortex will not develop properly.

The cerebellum is also important for the linking up of the brain and for the power of attention.

The task of the cerebellum is to make our movements rhythmic, coordinated and smooth. From the cerebellum there are important nerve connections to the prefrontal cortex and the centres of speech in the frontal lobe of the left hemisphere.

At birth the cerebellum is undeveloped and it grows substantially after the age of six months. The rhythmic baby movements develop the nerve nets and nerve cells of the cerebellum and its connections to the frontal lobes. That is one reason why the rhythmic baby movements are so important for the linking up of the frontal cortex and the development of the power of attention and the speech.

The fact that the nerve nets of the brain have not developed and the different levels of the brain have not been linked up explains why infants do not behave like small adults. Infants are not good at maintaining their attention and concentrating on a specific task or controlling their impulses due to the fact that the nerve nets of the neocortex and especially the frontal lobes have not developed.

Infants have problems regulating their level of activity and normally by the age of 10 -12 months they move around most of the time and find it difficult to sit still. One task of the basal ganglia is to regulate the level of activity. Since the basal ganglia have not yet developed properly and are not linked up with other levels of the brain, most normal babies are hyperactive at this age.

On the other hand, babies who are not able to move around sufficiently due to low muscle tone or other circumstances get too little stimulation of their neocortex and frontal lobes and will become sluggish, hypoactive, inattentive and late to develop.

As we have seen the experts consider ADHD to be genetically caused. An alternative explanation would be that it is a delayed or thwarted maturity process of the brain. For some reason the brain of the child has not got sufficient stimulation from the senses for the nerve nets to develop and the different parts of the brain to link up.

This may be caused by many circumstances like prematurity, brain injury inflicted during delivery, hereditary factors or disease. Such factors may cause the infant to omit important steps of its motor development, in that way hampering its motor development and the maturing of its brain.

Lack of stimulation from those closest around the child, being left alone without tactile or vestibular stimulation or forced to spend its time in babysitters and car chairs instead of moving around on the floor will also prevent the brain from maturing properly.

As has been shown, attention deficit problems and hyperactivity are common features in infants and children who have been identified as suffering from ADHD. In both groups there are many signs that the basal ganglia do not function properly, i.e. difficulties to regulate the level of activity, active primitive reflexes and balance problems.

It is also common that children with attention disorder have an inability to make simple movements in a rhythmical and smooth way, which indicates that the nerve nets of the cerebellum have not been properly developed. Since the cerebellum is of crucial importance for the proper functioning of the frontal lobes this inability can be an important contributing factor behind attention problems and impulsivity.

Many children with ADHD have low muscle tone and shrunk up posture causing shallow breathing and insufficient arousal of the neocortex. Such children may alternate between hyperactivity and passivity, the hyperactivity being a way to stimulate the neocortex by moving around.

Many children with ADHD have an active Moro reflex. This is a primitive reflex which is normally integrated before the age of six months. If it remains active the child is easily disturbed and hypersensitive to impressions from the senses, for example the visual, auditory and tactile sense and they have a heightened level of stress. These children are easily distracted and quickly get tired especially in noisy surroundings where they may either act out and become disturbing or may withdraw into themselves.

As has been shown there are many similarities between infants and children with ADHD both regarding behaviour and immaturity of the brain.

One must therefore ask if children with ADHD or ADD can improve by imitating the rhythmic movements that infant spontaneously make. As a matter of fact such a movement training has been used in Sweden for more than 25 years.

Rhythmic movement training has been developed by Kerstin Linde and is founded on the natural rhythmic movements of the infant. To be effective these exercises must be done daily for 10-15 minute. The exercises are done in lying or sitting position or on hands and knees.

The sensory stimulation caused by the rhythmic movements stimulate the nerve nets of the brainstem, cerebellum, basal ganglia and neo cortex to develop. This causes attention and concentration to improve and hyperactivity and impulsivity to decrease.

The rhythmic movements also increase the muscle tone of the extensor muscles that straighten the back and keep the head in an upright position. Body posture, breathing and endurance will improve and the neocortex will be aroused by stimulation via the brainstem, which will improve attention and concentration.

The rhythmic movement training will stimulate the cerebellum and its nerve paths to the prefrontal cortex, which also will improve attention and concentration and diminish impulsivity.

The rhythmic training also stimulates the basal ganglia to mature and integrate the primitive reflexes, which facilitates the ability of the child to regulate its level of activity and be still.

Two case reports illustrate the effects of the rhythmic movement training in attention disorder. The first case shows how muscle tone, body posture and attention improve in a child suffering from crippling attention disorder without hyperactivity. In the second case not only attention improves but also impulsivity, distractability and hyperactivity.

Olle was five years old when he visited Kerstin Linde for the first time. He suffered from a chromosomal aberration and had developed very slowly. As an infant he was very tired and sluggish and lying on his stomach he had not the strength to lift his head until he was eight months. He never learnt to walk and had remained sitting, totally shrunk up without being able to move around. His muscles were extremely limp, especially those of his legs. He could not hold his head in an upright position. He was unaware of his surroundings and had not even noticed the dog of his family. He did not react when he was held or hugged, he did not meet his parents´ eyes and he hallucinated a lot. He did not react when he hurt himself. He never protested and just swallowed the food he was given.

The medical profession had given the parents no hope that Olle would ever improve.

Kerstin Linde instructed his parents to do rhythmic movements ( rhythmic movement exercises ) with Olle every day.

During his contact with Kerstin Linde, which lasted less than half a year the following is some of the considerable progress he made.

Olle’s muscle tone improved and after a couple of months he was able to hold his head in an upright position and stretch his back. From being totally passive he became very active. He started to make rhythmic baby movements on his own, especially rocking to and fro on hands and knees. He crawled around the apartment on hands and knees pulling down everything he could and putting things into his mouth. He started to make various sounds. He paid attention when his parents called his name and he started to play with his little brother and with the dog. His hallucinations decreased end ha started to react when he hurt himself. He got a will of his own and protested when he was given food he did not like and was very determined when he wanted something.

Anna was ten years old when she visited Harald Blomberg for the first time. She had great problems concentrating and sitting still. She was easily disturbed and her endurance was poor. She had no problems reading but her handwriting was very poor. Mathematics was most difficult for her and she had her own assistant teacher during mathematics lessons. If her assistant was absent Anna used to do nothing but run around disturbing her classmates.

She was very impulsive and did not pay attention when spoken to or follow instructions. This was especially problematic during gym lessons, which she did not want to attend. She had great problems with her classmates. The girls in her class used to tease her and then she would run away and hide.

Anna had several active primitive reflexes. The spino gallant reflex was very active which caused her great difficulties to sit still and wear tight clothes. Her Moro reflex was active which made her easily disturbed and contributed to her hyperactivity.

Anna did rhythmic exercises at home 10-15 minutes every day for more than a year. She visited Harald Blomberg every month to get new exercises to do. In addition she got special integrating reflex exercises, that her mother helped her to do.

After five months training her self confidence and power of attention had increased. She could concentrate better and her schoolwork, especially mathematics, had improved. After another few weeks she was first in mathematics. She managed gymnastics much better and was eager to be present. She especially liked long jump and high jump.

A few months later, after the school holidays, school went well. She no longer needed her assistant teacher and had no problems in her relationship with her classmates, who had stopped teasing her.

After slightly more than a year´s movement training she could sit still without problem and had no problems with tight clothes. Her power of attention was adequate and she had no problems to concentrate. Her endurance was good and she no longer was easily disturbed.

Harald Blomberg, M.D, specialist in psychiatry and with more than 15 years experience of helping children with motor problems, attention disorder and learning disability. He teaches classes of rhythmic movement in Sweden and many other countries. His level one class is Rhythmic Movement Training and primitive reflexes.

In this 2-day course the participants will learn the basicsof the rhythmic movement training: how rhythmic exercises can be utilized to regulate muscle tone, stimulate the cerebellum and the neocortex, especially the frontal lobes in order to improve attention and control of impulses. The course also includes a survey of the most important primitive reflexes and how to integrate them with rhythmic exercises.

No previous knowledge required