A CHILD OF 8 YEARS WITH PROBABLE
PROBLEMS
Summary.
A new case of probable trouble of the brain
hemispheric dominance, with above all groundless repetitive opposition in a
child of eight years, right-handed, with Attention Deficit Disorder with
Hyperactivity Disease, is described in extent
Theoretical
and research bases
The Italian TV
News reported a rather curious public case that I referred under News.
Male,
right-handed, eight years old at the
first visit.
The opposition
behaviours are reiterated, incomprehensible and they irritate deeply the
parents. Somehow he seems he wants to provoke this irritation. He is jealous of
the little brother.
The mother has had
a depression since the fifth month of pregnancy. The delivery was at due time,
with normal weigh, but with wound umbilical cord around the neck. He had
pathological neonatal jaundice.
There was a delay in the language acquisition.
Currently he shows a modest degree of convergent squint, and not due to
refractive anomalies, he has rare night bedwetting, he seeks much chocolate.
When asked to
answer without thinking on: Which is the
opposite of the red, he answers: Blue.
Therapy (daily
doses by oral via) starts with
The first checkup, after about a month of drug therapy.
His verbal
sentences are completed. He does better his homework. Only three bedwetting
episodes happened. Often, he goes on to sleep in the grandfathers' home.
Second checkup about four months later from the first visit.
He presents a
better control of his hyperactivity, for which is less in motion. "Less
hysterical" said his mother, by referring to his groundless opposition
behaviours, which went down. Now he is
even lesser jealous of his little brother.
Some provoking
behaviours always resist. He shows more willingness to do his homework. The
night bedwetting is increased. The convergent squint is less evident. In past,
he had teeth grinding, and now he shows
filed teeth.
Third checkup, at a little more than four months from
the preceding one and to over seven months from the beginning of the therapy.
The only answer he
knew "I do not " and he
provoked to do him beaten. The mother called me by telephone and I advised her
to skip the 125mg of glutamine to be taken at noon and to anticipate the return
from the holidays.
Gone back home by
the sea, in a few she was reassured. At school, now he did better, more quiet. The attention is
improved, but it always lasts short time. He has fewer opposition behaviours
and no bedwetting was reported.
The convergent
squint is missing. Now he is not so provocative. His mental age now nearly
parallels his chronological age.
Therapeutic
variation (daily doses):
Fourth checkup, to a few less of four months from the
last, and to exactly a year from the starting of the therapy.
At home he
returned to have little more opposition
from about a month, in coincidence with the spring awakening of the nature, a
resentful fact since the same days reported by other patients. He did bedwetting only twice in four months. At
night he wakes up once a time, otherwise
he sleeps. Squint has been definitely
missing.
He verges on the
elusion of any obstacle. The little spring regression of the opposition
behaviours he had at home frightened the mother, mindful of what happened in
summer holidays at the sea resort. The fail of any regression at school has reassured her.
His mother
reported two risk factors: wound umbilical cord about the neck and pathological
neonatal jaundice. There was a meaningful following: a delay of the verbal
language. There are two actual symptoms: A more doubtful one, the night
bedwetting, and one more sure, the modest convergent squint not of refractive
origin, signal of an altered situation in
a part of the midbrain, room of the motor nucleus of the third pair of
cranial nerves.
For what
concerns a suggested prevalence of the
opposite half-brain for some functions, an excessive "The Contrary
Mary's" temperament, seems a frame of reference very suitable (Cocchi,
1994 ).
The suppression
mechanism of the opposite engram seems nearly fully inefficient, with the
result of such strong negativism (stubbornness?), which remembers that of many
mentally retarded or some psychotic adults (Cocchi, 1994).
In it there were
both these aspects, but in addition there
was a chromosomopathy (
A depressive mood
alteration is not evident, but symptoms such as the jealousy of
his little brother and the provoking habit, drive us to think about it. The
last symptom, the provoking habit till
to exasperate his parents or to be beaten by them seems a symptom of
compensation. It makes use of an adrenergic peripheral and cortisol incretion,
and leads to suggest an "endogenous"
depression with a brain noradrenergic deficit.
The amantadine, a
dopamine agonist and therefore a noradrenaline agonist, since the dopamine is
the precursor of the noradrenaline, could be accounted for the reduction of these provoking
behaviours. These ones, by themselves, do not seem to have anything to do with
a possible reverse dominance for some brain functions.
It leaves however
the fact that opposition and provoking behaviours seem to go with the same step, both perhaps linked
to stress situations (eg. sea climate, and spring seasonal variation). It
then reinstates the suspect that is a relationship between stress and possible
reverse brain dominance, temporary, stable or stabilized.
The case of this
child seems then a stabilized reverse dominance, but not fully stable, since it
can be modified with drug therapy.
A possible
interpretation of this new behaviour is that currently the child has foresees
both the engrams, that positive and that negative, but he is not still sure
that the choice of the positive engram is the better one.
Surely one could
even forward other explanations, but it
seems to me that this is the more functional, the more coherent with the
child history, and the one that owns a
greater logical sense. Followings, if any, should confirm or deny this
interpretation, which opens small slots on the understanding of the so called
"always undecided " characters.
This is new case
of a probable trouble of the half-brain
dominance, with, above all, groundless repetitive opposition, in a right-handed child of eight years, with Attention Deficit
Disorder with Hyperactivity.
The character of
the child is switching from a "safety phase," based on his opposition
behaviours, transformed itself into in a phase of insecurity, at least in the
classroom. Although he is working well,
the child continuously asks his teacher for confirming him how he is going
right.
References.
Cocchi R.: Defective hemispheric dominance and
cognitive behaviour: Speculative considerations. lt. J. lntellect. lmpair.
1994, 7: 19-27.
Cocchi R.: Temporary reverse dominance of some brain
function in a man aged forty-six. On www.reversebrain.org,
2001.
Cocchi R.: A girl aged ten with Smith-Magenis syndrome
and possible reverse brain dominance of some brain functions. On www.reversebrain.org, 2001.
Cocchi R. Three young persons with problems of reverse
half-brain dominance. On www.reversebrain.org,
2002.
On Internet on April 2002. Copyright by
Renato Cocchi, 2002.
renatococchi@libero.it