How do the Parents of Children with Psychoneurological Disorders Describe These Ten Basic Symptoms?
For information on testing your child with Psychoneurological Disorders, contact Dr. Paul Cates at 828-435-0670 .
Here are common term used by parents we have worked with:
1. Hyperactivity or Hypoactivity. “He’s constantly on the go.” “His motor is always running.” “He’s always into something.” “He’s like a little devil.” “I don’t know where he gets that much energy.” “He’s like a bull in a china shop.” “He’s lazy.” “He just sits around.” “He seems to lack energy.” “He runs down toward the end of the day.”
2. Poor Coordination. “He is so clumsy.” “We can’t have any breakable items around the house.” “We never make it through a meal without spilled milk.” “He gets so frustrated because he can’t catch a ball like other kids.” “He’s simply uncoordinated.”
3. Impulsiveness. “He just doesn’t think before acting.” “You never know what he will do next.” “He has a terrible temper.” “He can’t keep a friend because he is such a bully.” “His actions are unpredictable because his mood can change from one minute to the next.” “He’s so accident prone, he’s like a walking accident looking for a place to happen.”
4. Short Attention Span. “He’s a dreamer.” “He can’t concentrate on one thing for any length of time.” “He can never finish a homework assignment.” “He’s a classroom clown.” “He gets such poor conduct grades because he will not conform in the classroom.” “His teacher says he is unteachable because he will not pay attention in class.”
5. Perceptual Disabilities. “He can’t enjoy sports when playing with other children.” “He says he won’t do something when he really means he can’t do it.” “I think he’ll never learn to read.” “He never has learned to work even a simple puzzle.” “Sometimes, he writes letters backwards or upside down.” “He can’t tell the background from the foreground.” “He pays too much attention to detail.” “He can’t tell differences between the words he hears.”
6. Specific Learning Problems. “He does pretty well with most of his subjects at school, but he just can’t learn to do his arithmetic.” “He’s a non-reader; his younger sister can read far better than he can.” “He says he hates school.” “The other kids call him stupid and dummy.” “He seems slower to learn than our other children.” “He can’t spell at all.”
7. Emotionally Highstrung. “He’s so easily upset.” “He’s like a cry-baby.” “He’s not able to cope with normal ups and downs.” “He goes to pieces at nothing.” “He has a dozen panic buttons.” “He is quick to fly off the handle.” “When he doesn’t get his way, he sulks or pouts or has a tantrum.”
8. Speech Disorders. “He mumbles so, you can’t understand him.” “We didn’t think he would ever start talking.” “He twists his words or stutters.”
9. “Soft” Neurological Signs. “He eats with either hand.” “We can’t tell if he is going to be right or left handed.” “He still can’t bathe or dress himself.” “His handwriting is poor.” “He keeps repeating an act over and over again.”
10. Orientation Problems. “He never knows what day of the week it is.” “He gets lost on the way home from school.” “He has not learned how to tell time.” “He doesn’t know his left from his right.”