LEAP: The Learning Enhancement Acupressure Program: Correcting Learning and Memory Problems with Acupressure and Kinesiology

The Learning Enhancement Acupressure Program, or LEAP, has been developed since 1985 in conjunction with clinical psychologists, speech pathologists, neurologists and other health professionals, as a very effective program for the correction of most learning difficulties. LEAP is based on a new model of learning integrating recent concepts in neurophysiology of the brain and uses highly specific acupressure formatting to address stress within specific brain structures. The application of specific non-invasive acupressure and other energetic techniques can then resolve these stresses resulting in a return to normal function. In the LEAP model of learning Gestalt and Logic functions are not simply localised in the right or left cerebral hemisphere as in the popular Right Brain/Left Brain model of learning. But rather, each type of conscious brain function or process appears to have a cerebral "lead" function that is either predominantly Gestalt (Visuo-spatial, Global) or Logic (Linear, Sequential) in nature. These cortical “lead” functions provide a “point of entry” into a widely distributed system comprising many subconscious cortical sub-modules in both hemispheres and many subconscious subcortical modules throughout the limbic system and brainstem. While the Gestalt and Logic “lead” functions are conscious, these functions are dependent upon many levels of subconscious sensory processing at many levels within the nervous system. While this processing through multiplexing and parallel processing at many different levels is highly efficient, it means that brain processing is “time bound”. Since many components of any mental function are performed in many different parts of the brain, and often at different speeds, coherent output in the form of “thinking” requires integration and synchronisation of all of these separate processes. Loss of integrated brain function, termed loss of Brain Integration in LEAP, thus results in the loss of a specific mental capacity, the ability to perform a specific type of mental task. When these specific mental capacities are required for academic performance, their loss can result in Specific Learning Disabilities. Specific Learning Disabilities (SLDs) arise in this model by either lack of access to specific subconscious processing modules, either cortical or subcortical, or the de-synchronisation of neural flows in the integrative pathways linking processing modules. Thus to resolve SLDs, you need only “open up” access to the “blocked” processing modules or re-synchronise the timing of information flow between them to re-instate integrated brain function. The LEAP program provides an integrated acupressure protocol using direct muscle biofeedback (kinesiology) as a tool to identify “stress” within specific brain nuclei and areas that have “blocked” integrated function. The application of the LEAP acupressure protocol using acupressure and other energetic based techniques to re-synchronise brain function resolves learning and memory problems in a high percent of cases. HISTORY OF SPECIFIC LEARNING DIFFICULTIES. Difficulties with learning academic tasks such as reading, spelling and mathematics have been recognised for over a century, with Kussmaul in 1877 ascribed as the first person to specifically describe an inability to read, that persisted in the presence of intact sight and speech, as word blindness. The word dyslexia was coined by Berlin in 1887. Within a decade a Glasgow eye surgeon James Hinschelwood (1895) and a Seaford General Practitioner Pringle Morgan (1896) observed students who were incapable of learning to read and hypothesised that this was based on a failure of development of the relevant brain areas which were believed to be absent or abnormal. This model was based on the assumption that developmental dyslexia (congenital dyslexia) was similar in form to acquired dyslexia, which is dyslexia due to brain damage after a person has already learned to read. Deficits in other types of learning, such as mathematics, would also result from some other underlying brain damage or abnormality. Work in the early part of the twentieth century, particularly by Samuel T. Orton in the 1920s and 1930s suggested that learning difficulties such as dyslexia were not based on anatomical absence or abnormality, but rather it was delay in the development of various areas that caused these dysfunctions. This belief was largely ignored until the 1960s when it was revived by a growing interest in neuropsychology. However, more recent developments in neuropsychology and neurophysiology support the hypothesis that dysfunctions within the brain, both anatomical and developmental, may be causal in many learning problems. It was not until 1963, in an address given by Samuel Kirk, who argued for better descriptions of children’s school problems that the term “learning disabilities” originated. Since that time there’s been a proliferation of labels that attempt to dissociate the learning disabled from the retarded and brain damaged. Definitions In the context of this synopsis, Specific Learning Disorders or Disabilities (SLDs) relates to problems with physical co-ordination and acquiring the academic skills of reading, writing, spelling and mathematics including both Dyslexia and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) with or without hyperactivity. ADD with hyperactivity is now commonly called Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or hyperkinetic disorder in Europe. Historically, Dyslexia has been widely defined in terms of deficits in the areas of reading, spelling and language. However, more recent conceptualisations have included a definition that also encompasses a wide range of problems, including clumsiness and difficulty with rote learning. Fawcett and Nicolson have also challenged the prevailing hypothesis that Dyslexia is merely a language based problem, suggesting that it might be a more generalised deficit in the acquisition of skills. The term Dyslexia is not defined in the DSM IV (1994) although it is still commonly used in literature discussing various learning difficulties. The term Learning Disorders (DSM IV) currently encompasses various types of learning difficulties including dyslexia and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). Learning Disorders are defined in the DSM IV as being essentially a persistent pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity that is more frequent and severe than is typically observed in individuals at a comparable level of development. The performance of these individuals on standardised tests for reading, mathematics, or written expression is substantially below, more than 2 standard deviations (SDs), same age peers even though their IQ scores are average or above average. Incidence Frequently, children diagnosed as learning disabled are also inattentive and deficient in linguistic skills, most often in reading. Rutter and Yule examined a large population of children from a number of different studies and found 3.5% of Isle of Wight 10-year-olds, 4.5% of 14-year-olds and over 6% of London 10-year-olds showed reading difficulties. Gaddes looked at the proportion of children with learning disorders in various studies in both North America and Europe and found that the need for special training for learning disorders ranged between 10-15% of the school age population. However, estimates of the prevalence of learning disorders for broad age ranges is problematic because a learning disability is an emergent problem that is often not evident until later years in schooling. Using the criteria of defining learning disorders as being two years behind on standardised tests, less than 1% of 6-year-olds are disabled, 2% of 7-year-olds and so on until at age 19, 25% would be classified as learning disabled. So these children fall progressively behind as they mature and the complexity of work increases. In an address given by the Australian Federal Schools Minister, Dr David Kemp, in October 1996, Kemp stated that a study of 28,000 students in four surveys in Australia found 30% of year 9 students lacked basic literacy skills. This high incidence of learning disorders in school children indicates a need for effective treatment. Studies in other countries, both English, French and German support these figures, so specific learning difficulties, which cover all types of learning disabilities from dyslexia, reading problems, ADD to ADHD, probably represent greater than 15% of school-aged children, and may be as high as one third of all school-aged children. Causes Currently hypotheses concerning learning disorders suggest that they are primarily the result of one or more of five major factors; 1) structural damage, 2) brain dysfunction, 3) abnormal cerebral lateralisation, 4) maturational lag and 5) environment deprivation. While none of these theories is unequivocally supported by current data, all of these factors may contribute in varying degrees to learning disabilities. Brain damage and overt brain dysfunction would appear to account for a relatively small percentage of children with learning disorders. The great majority of other children with learning disorders do not typically show many of the neurological symptoms associated with brain damage in adults. For instance, EEG and CT studies have not shown structural damage and abnormal EEGs correlated with known brain damage are not consistently observed in children with learning disorders. Rather than direct brain damage, there is evidence that abnormal physiological or biochemical processes may be responsible for malfunction in some part of the cerebral cortex. Electrophysiological recording studies have associated specific high frequency EEG and AEP (averaged evoked potentials) abnormalities with various types of learning disorders. Recent studies with SSVEP (Steady state visual evoked potential) have shown that children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder demonstrate similar abnormal SSVEP p