New Harvard ADHD Research Supporting a Cerebellar Origin is Reviewed by Dr. Harold Levinson
New York, NY (PRWEB) December 05, 2013 -- Dr. Harold Levinson, who is credited with initially proposing the cerebellar-vestibular theory of dyslexia or Learning Disorders (LD) and related ADHD, reviewed a new Harvard ADHD study that supports cerebellar origins for ADHD. As he explains, "This well conducted and highly important study highlights the important role of the cerebellum, man's lower brain, in ADHD. It also reviews the crucial role of the cerebellum in functionally interacting with the entire cerebral cortex or higher thinking brain and most other important brain structures.”
Although most investigators of ADHD have focused exclusively on the frontal cerebral cortex, these researchers having obvious clinical experience have been able to explore and provide a more holistic perspective of this disorder consistent with all the available data. Levinson further claims, "They are only a step away from scientifically also explaining the many other overlapping or comorbid disorders found complicating ADHD, such as dyslexia, other learning disorders, anxiety and mood disorders, as well as imbalance and dyscoordination or dyspraxia. These disorders significantly overlap ADHD because they all stem from a common cerebellar origin."
Dr. Levinson's studies date back more than four decades. They encompass the combined insights derived from his diagnosis and successful treatment of more than 35,000 individuals with ADHD and dyslexia - most having overlapping disorders. All were found to have dysfunctioning of the inner-ear and its supercomputer, the cerebellum, which is the lower reflex brain of man and the highest brain of most animals.
This dysfunction manifests clinically as impaired balance, coordination and rhythm-- resulting from a signal-scrambling impairment of the motor system. Although interactive cerebellar and cerebral cortical involvement in both ADHD and dyslexia has been more recently verified via brain imaging studies, an explanatory holistic theory remained elusive to many.
To explain all the symptoms characterizing his ADHD patients, including their overlapping disorders and neuroimaging findings, Dr. Levinson developed a simple theory compatible with Noble Laureate Sir John Eccles' cerebellar research: The inner-ear and cerebellum were reasoned to act as fine-tuners to the brain. They fine-tune all motor signals leaving the brain and all sensory signals entering the brain. ADHD results when the frontal lobes of the thinking brain and other vital structures which modulate attention, planning, activity and impulse control...fail to normally respond to, or compensate for, the distorted signals received from a dysfunctioning cerebellar-vestibular system. Distorted signals may even secondarily impair or arrest frontal lobe functioning while triggering compensatory neuroplastic changes elsewhere. Overlapping dyslexia-related symptoms result when reading and other brain processors also fail to modulate cerebellar-determined scrambled signals.
ADHD and dyslexia were found by Levinson to respond favorably to any therapy that effectively decreases cerebellar-determined signal scrambling (eg. cerebellar stabilizing/enhancing anti-motion sickness medications, sensory-motor integration, tinted lenses, etc.) and/or modalities which enhance cerebral cortical and related brain compensation. The latter compensatory therapies include stimulants, cognitive enhancement and conditioning as well as bio-feedback.
About Harold Levinson, M.D.
Formerly Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at New York University Medical Center, Dr. Harold Levinson is currently Director of the Levinson Medical Center for Learning Disabilities in Long Island, New York. He is a well-known neuropsychiatrist, clinical researcher and author. His "highly original" research into the cerebellar-vestibular (inner-ear) origins and treatment of dyslexia and related learning, attention-deficit/hyperactivity and anxiety or phobic disorders has evolved over the past four decades. Initially supported by Nobel Laureate Sir John Eccles and other outstanding cerebellar neurophysiologists and inner-ear scientists, Levinson's research has more recently been independently validated worldwide by highly sophisticated neuroimaging brain studies. For more information, call 1(800) 334-7323 or visit http://www.dyslexiaonline.com.
Dr.Harold Levinson, Levinson Medical Center for Learning Disabilities, http://www.dyslexiaonline.com, +1 516-482-2888, [email protected]
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