Myomancy ADHD, Dyslexia and Autism

Learning Difficulties: Future Directions

The DORE Program has helped many thousands of people in Australia and around the world since its humble beginnings in the garage of Wynford Dore, the founder of the controversial program. The remarkable rise and success of this program is now only surpassed by its even more dramatic demise. For the clients and staff involved in the program this is a catastrophic conclusion.

As a former staff member I feel that it is a real shame that the DORE centres have closed. They operated with a high level of integrity and dedication. Staff were passionate about the program and genuinely caring towards the clients. I saw excellent results in many cases when I worked there a few years ago. Though most clients were on the program much longer than 12 months they weren’t charged any additional fees. For all the success of the DORE program there was, in my opinion, some critical limitations.

One area of limitation included a lack of advice on general health and nutrition. Since exercise was their main focus and they were doing a lot of very time consuming tests there wasn’t any time for consideration of diet. A more holistic approach, however, is more likely to help a greater number of people.

Another major problem, I believe, was inadequate stimulation from some of the exercises. Somatosensory based exercises, for example, stimulate the cerebellum through musculoskeletal receptors. Any restricted motion particularly in the spine, hips or ankles would therefore limit the amount of stimulation. Many of the clients I observed had terrible postures and would have had multiple restrictions. This may be one of the reasons some alternative therapies such as chiropractic have, at least anecdotally and in some small published studies, demonstrated improvements in mood, behaviour and concentration.

Opponents of the program point to a lack of research but this in not necessarily true. The cerebellar developmental delay hypothesis was in part based on the ground-breaking work of Jeremy Schmahmann. Dr Schmahmann found that the cerebellum influenced cognition and behaviour in addition to coordinating movement. fMRI and EEG studies have also found that Autism, ADHD and other psychotic illness strongly correlate both to undersized and under functioning cerebellums. The DORE program did perform research and was intending to continue to do so but the area of learning difficulties requires far more resources than DORE could provide.

If nothing else good comes from the closure of DORE, the government must realize the enormous need for non-drug based interventions (i.e. developmental based therapies). At times a centre was being opened nearly every second month just to meet the demand. Many clients traveled large distances, even as far as Hong Kong to have assessments every 6 weeks.

The now unfortunate clients of the DORE program seem destined to be left to their own devices, to again sift through the diverse range and often competing approaches to learning difficulties. Though there may not be an immediate solution for these people, there could be a longer term solution.

There needs to be a national forum supported by the government and a broad range of practitioners with the specific objective of achieving a consensus on managing and treating learning difficulties and related conditions. It should also act as an unbiased resource providing extensive and detailed information on all the different types of therapies. Unfortunately the learning difficulties therapist and research community is dispersed and largely un-connected. Groups are often very ‘patch’ protective as they compete for limited funding.

There also needs to be institutionally based research facilities that provide opportunities for collaboration between multiple professions and practitioners. The ability to readily combine different specialties would radically enhance the clinical effectiveness of research currently being conducted.

Lack of consensus of the causes of behaviour, learning and attention difficulties and therefore the appropriate therapies and the inevitable lack of funding has limited the application of developmental therapies. Many relatively small therapies such as Brain Gym, sensory integration therapies and biofeedback, for example, have remained the tools of only an impassioned few. Preliminary discussions are underway to develop a new national forum on developmental therapies and establish collaborative research facilities.

As a practitioner with a passion for the area of behaviour, learning and attention difficulties I know there are many like minded professionals that would be very keen to support the former clients of DORE. There may be research trials investigating developmental therapies that they might be able to be a part of without having to invest any money. There are also a few support groups where they can get more information.

The loss of DORE isn’t the end of the road for those with learning difficulties. My advice to those affected, both the suffers and their families, is to do what you can to seek out other therapies, they each can be of some benefit, keep as far as possible hope for the future and in the mean time get good nutrition into your bodies, exercise and find joy, support and love from those around you.