Cambridge researchers discovered that no particular area of the brain caused learning difficulties. They found that weak connectivity between different regions of the brain may be the reason why some children struggle.

The study revealed that the brain is organized in hubs, like a transit system or a social network. Children who had well-connected brain hubs either had very specific cognitive difficulties, such as poor listening skills, or had no cognitive difficulties at all. By contrast, children with poorly connected hubs—like a transit station with few or poor connections—had widespread and severe cognitive problems.

The severity of the learning difficulties was strongly associated with the connectedness of brain hubs, suggesting that the connectivity between these hubs plays a key role in passing information between different areas of the brain.

At Mind Performance Center in Foley, Dr. Doug Brown uses a Functional Medicine approach to determine if there’s an underlying cause for the child’s behavior such as hormone imbalances, vitamin deficiencies and other physical problems that can lead to brain imbalance symptoms. Ruling out those underlying causes, Brown assesses the brain pathways that may contribute to the behavior. He develops an individualized treatment plan using pathway rehab to restore the correct pathway in the brain. As nerve connections improve, the brain can inhibit inappropriate behavior.

Brown goes beyond simply treating the obvious sensory issue and looks at what’s happening in the brain, treating what he calls central integration disorder (CID). CID is the process that allows the brain to take in all information and turn it into memories, emotions, plans and actions.

To learn more about treatment for behavior disorders or how Mind Performance Center can also help with dementia and resistant depression, book an appointment online.