After years of psychiatrists reporting that ADHD stimulants are safe and effective, in February of this year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), announced that all ADHD drug manufacturers must warn the public that the drugs can cause serious psychiatric and cardiovascular problems. These problems include heart attack, stroke, mania and even sudden death. Parents of children with ADHD were left with the agonizing decision of what to do. Is it safe to keep their children on these potentially harmful medications? What would happen to their children when they take them off these medications? Is there a safe alternative?

Dr. Paul E Dennison believes there is a healthy and safe alternative. A solution that is already being used in classrooms, workshops and homes throughout the world for not only helping with ADHD, but also helping with other learning and reading challenges, stress reduction, and overall better health and well being. The profoundly simple Brain Gym activities offer tremendously positive results and often eliminate the need for dangerous prescription drugs completely. For parents looking for an alternative to starting or continuing a medicine regime, this can be the answer they longed for.

Dr. Dennison recommends that you consult your family physician before commencing an exercise program. Dennison has found that most doctors will welcome the Brain Gym movement program as an alternative, as no one really knows the true harm done to those who do take the prescription drugs. Dennison believes that ADHD is an insufficiency in the ability to focus attention and to tune out distractions, one that can be illuminated by processes that integrate the functioning of the brain and the body, which is exactly what the Brain Gym Program does.

As a professional educator and a pioneer in the field of applied neuroscience and a world authority on cognitive skills and reading achievement, Dennison has done extensive field studies in this area. During the last twenty-five years, Dr. Dennison has taught workshops in movement-based learning in more than fifteen countries, being presented with numerous honors, including the Reading Excellence through the Arts (RETA) Award from the International Reading Association. He has also written eight books, including his latest, Brain Gym and Me: Reclaiming the Pleasure of Learning. His books have been distributed through eighty countries’ bookstores, with a total sold of over 415,000 copies. These books have also been translated into more than forty languages.

What makes the Brain Gym special?

• It reactivates whole brain function via the intimate connection with body movement.



• It achieves the necessary focus of attention with activities that relax the tendon-guard survival reflex and help children feel safe in their body.



• Sometimes one Brain Gym session can help a person do linear and recognition tasks simultaneously, thus overcoming the reading impediment labeled as dyslexia.



• Children will naturally enjoy reading, as good stories activate the imagination.



• Children learn to read words other writers have put together to express their thoughts, emotions, and observations, starting with the writing of their peers.

• Music and dance.



• Tapping things out.



• Developing active listening.



• Receiving visual, kinesthetic, and tactile input simultaneously.