Just wondering if you can help me, I am about 90% sure of the DORE program but my husband is unconvinced of its results, we have done Neurotherapy in the past which is very similar and that is why he is unsure.

There doesn't seem to be much feedback in relation to DORE and ADD/ADHD even from DORE, of course they say they have had huge improvement but I need some real feedback from real people.

Our option is drugs and this is our last resort to keep our 13 year old drug free which has always been my absolute aim but due to school pressure I need to know positive/negative feedback so we can weight up whether to go through with it or not.

Also, how long out of DORE would be really useful too, they say it is permanent, am a little worried about that one too.

And, how long is involved each day, is it just 10 mins twice a day or is there extra stuff.

This is fairly urgent because we dont have much time, he is below Grade 6 standard 3/4 of the way through Year 7.

Any help would be extremely appreciated and helpful.

Thank you, Rainbow.
:)

Hi Rainbow!! I am a Dore mom and very happy about it. Rather than me try to put it all in a nutshell, you ought to come over to the "Positve Experience on Dore" thread as there are many moms going thru it now. Also, there is another thread you ought to read called "Dore and Personal Experience". Anyway, very good info on both these places....several folks have said they decided to do Dore after reading all our posts.
10 min. twice a day is what it takes.
Miss Ellie's daughter is 2 years post Dore and it is permanent. She was very far behind her peers when beginning the program (tested with a low IQ and even had traits of autism), was on it 18 mo. and was totally caught up to her peers 9 mo. after finishing the program. She continues to function like the totally normal child she was meant to be!! She is socially and academically right on target now. The rest of us are still doing Dore ....once in a while another 'post Dore' mom pops in and they report such excitement with their children's new found abilities.
Hope to see you over there on the other thread!!

Hi Rainbow! I will try to answer as best from our perspective of AD/HD and Dore. I'm not sure Dore is very similar to the neurotherapy you had your son on. I"m sorry, I cannot recall if you had said it was some kind of neurofeedback, was it the videogame thing? If so, then no, it's not similar, there are much different things going on. Dore gives the vestibular system a workout.

Here are my thoughts on Dore with ADHD and my son, which is why he went in, and also to sort through some reading-comprehension issues. If the innattention/focus is caused by the cerebellum, then yes, it will definitely help. I have done a lot of reading of the literature, and this can be one place where the cause lies. But it is not the only cause. You know that my son tested very low on the neurotrasmitter dopamine, which is probably the biggest issue for him with his attention/focus for him. So far, some things are much better ADHD-wise, (executive functions, organizing) and he is not done with the program, so more things may sort out, but post-Dore, he will still have some issues with innattention/focus/motivation because of low dopamine. The neurotherapies, as far as I understand, will not affect neurotrasmitter levels. At the initial evaluation, they told me that he was a borderline ADHD candidate for the program as well, so we went in full well knowing that some change may be minimal in that area, but even a small permanent change would be helpful, so we went ahead.

The initial neurological evaluation will give you more information, and at that point you can make another decision at that point to move forward or not. In a funny way, because my son's scores were already comparitively high, I was a bit dissappointed there may not be much to work on, you know? But, if you son goes through, and his scores are lower, then, that would be a good thing, meaning there is a lot of improvements to be made, and a lot of progress, in my line of thinking.

The changes made by the neurotherapies are permanent. Once those neuropathways are built and established (and they know this by the 6-weekly neurological evaluations) they stay put.

It's just 10 minutes, twice a day, sometimes less, like 7 minutes. They don't necessarilly need to be am and pm, they just need to be 3-4 hours apart minimum.

For ADHD specifically, progress seems to be a bit slower for most, and the attentional issues tend to kick in at their peak near the end of the treatment. With DS being a borderline participant, they told him about a year would he be on the program. But, I don't think severity of symptoms makes for the time frame either, so don't go by that.

If you do decide to medicate as a buffer, participants can go through the program while on their meds, and many find that partway through, the meds can start to be reduced.

Hope that helps some, Rainbow.

Hi Rainbow,

We've been on the programme since beginning of July and so far have had the initial assessment and one follow up.

We have not seen much change yet but it's early days. We saw a worsening in behaviour and in the scores in the first follow up, but were told that was to be expected.

The exercises take only 10 minutes 2 x daily, and my son is extremely cooperative with them. It has to be said that this is an exception with him, but I put it down to a lot of work we did up front, explaining to him that we would only do this if he really, really works with us. We watched the video together and talked through the programme in detail.

If you do the programme, please make SURE you take your husband along for the initial assessment. You will need his support and taking him to the assessment should take care of that. My dh was sceptical till the assessment, but totally on board after that.

Some of the exercises are actually fun, while others are almost torture to him as he has a lot of trouble with his balance and eye tracking.

The people we have met at Dore are all extremely friendly, helpful and professional. The two testers we met (two different centers) were both psychologists. I have phoned several times and they always return calls and help with whatever questions I have had.

Like Frazzle, my kids scores were quite high at the outset and he has a capillary problem in one eye, so that we were told we might not see huge progress. They were very honest about that.

Love the photo of your samoyed, we used to have one of those when I was a kid..

come and visit us in the dore support thread.

Kathiella

Thanks so much everyone, I will definitely come to the dore support thread.

Kathiella, yes he is cute, Storm is his name and Storm is his nature, they are so faithful but, so much trouble when they are younger, he once reduced one of my rose bushes which was 6 foot high to stump level in 1/2 hour and ate my standard gardenia so glad he only eats shoes now, oh and wood, our verandah is suffering.

Thanks Frazzle again, you are a star. Have read that info you emailed me, I will go through and read little bits at a time, you are amazing, how ever do you keep such detailed info up.

Thanks for all the info Amypaige, I am actually going to get my husband to sit down and read all this on this thread, he will go along with what I want but it needs 100% from both parties, I wont get that I know from him until we see real results.

You know the funny thing is is that my son has settled down at school with only fish oil, he has been so good at school the last 3 weeks even he is saying he doesn't know what has come over him and I am sure the school think he is on Ritalin or something but he isn't, we took him off Synaptol and from there he is better, a bit ratty at home and says inappropriate things but other than that not a huge problem.

Thanks again for replying, Rainbow.

Hi Rainbow - we were in the same position as you last year (last resort, medication). We were adamant we didn't want to go down this road if we didn't have to (my son isn't destructive - academically delayed, delayed speech, inability to sit stlll - he was diagnosed with ADHD, but query dyspraxia).

Dore is a lot of money, and it certainly made us think long and hard about whether to do this, but in the end I spoke to the Head of the Balsall School Study and he told me they had had good results from children with ADHD. He said for those children it didn't work for, it was because they hadn' been doing the exercises, so it is important both you and your child know you need to do these twice a day every day, probably for 12-18 months, maybe longer, depending on the problems of your child.

My husband too had reservations, but is gradually coming round - he can't deny the change in my son after 8 months - he is a different child. His speech is maturing, he interacts with others better and is much happier. Also his end of school year tests improved far above what an average child jumps up to. These tests were done in May, so I was very pleased with this result.

I wish you luck Rainbow. Come back and let us know what you decide.

Thanks Bugalug (love the name), after I get Mark to read all this info he will say yes to anything just for peace and quiet.
Will be a regular on the DORE thread so hope to read you there.

Thanks again, Rainbow.

Hi Rainbow, just to add to the replies above - I have two sons on Dore, one for ADHD and one for general improvement of coordination/ eye tracking for reading. They have been doing it for 7 months and have both noticed improvements in themselves with regard to ease of eye tracking and reading [they both read on holiday for pleasure! and this has continued since we have been home, despite the fact that they now have access to the telly again]. We have also definitely noticed behavioural improvements in Luke, although he still does have a long way to go. The main difference so far is that when he kicks off [like he did today because he accidentally slept all day and missed some things he wanted to do] he is now able to explain his frustrations to us and so it doesn't end up in a massive screaming row like it used to. Also, things blow over much faster.

I definitely recommend reading both threads, including the now closed one, and then joining us on the open thread. Look forward to seeing you there!
Helen

Hi Rainbow....and if you are not overwhelmed with the two Dore threads and are looking for answers to 'ratty behavior' and 'inappropriate comments' ie...disrespectful behavior, check us out on the Love and Logic thread under Parents of ADD.

>The neurotherapies, as far as I understand, will not affect neurotrasmitter levels

Who knows?

To me with some knowledge of neuroscience, a change in brain organization certainly will affect neurotransmitter function. I mean, it is being re-regulated every second. The extent of the change is unsure but some of the subjective results reported by people completing the programs here and elsewhere do speak to me of improved dopaminergic functioning.

Trying, this question you opened up here, I think, deserves a thread all it's own, so I made one here.

http://www.addforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=466797#post466797

I'd like to see more conversation and thoughts on this, so come on over!