July Blog 2010

NEWS:

By Clive Lindley-Jones | July 19, 2010 3:04 pm

There is never a perfect time to be young – luckily, children are enormously adaptable.  But while it is undoubtedly a much richer society today than the austere post-war world that I was born into, it is also a much more complex and in some ways, more demanding one.

For years, it was no time to be a girl.  In fact, for much of humanity’s existence, just being female meant you would get a lesser chance of success at the now discredited 11+ exam.

Today, it almost seems that it is boys who are less adapted to 21st century life. There are fewer chances to use traditional male attributes in school or the workforce.  Certainly, boys are doing worse at school with 7% lower results at GCSE than girls and greater unemployment after school.  Last year 17.2% of young male graduates were unemployed compared with 11.2% of young female graduates.  Some profound shifts are certainly happening in our society and around the world.  Meanwhile, as the pressure cooker of school and exam results tightening the misery of those struggling in school certainly is no better than in the past, in fact, there are fewer early escapes for those not suited to this form of learning, and schools are still struggling to meet the needs of more and more children who find it hard to shine in that environment.

The Sunflower Trust aims to help children of either sex. Learning difficulties such as dyslexia can inflict their misery on girls as well as boys although, particularly for the growing numbers of children with Autistic spectrum disorders, the number of boys seem far greater.

However, the whole area is fraught with confusion and controversy only compounded by the fact that whatever label children are given, ADHD, Dyslexia, Specific Learning Difficulties, Dyspraxia, Autistic Spectrum Disorders, while these give a useful description of the disorder they do not explain them. As Alex Richardson says, in this issue’s book of the month, In the UK, around one child in every four or five would now meet the criteria for one of more of these ‘disorders’ leading many people to ask, ‘What is going on?’

As she goes on to say: “In my view, all of these people are being badly let down. They are often being told things that aren’t true, and they are not being given the help that they need and deserve. I see huge sums of money being wasted in our health systems, our education systems, our social services and our criminal justice systems.”

She goes on to suggest that similar large sums are being wasted in the type of research being done in the name of helping people because we continue to ignore some of the most basic facts that are staring us in the face. As she says, “Nutrition matters!” And so it does, but also alongside a whole range of aspects that we attempt to improve through adjusting not only nutrition, but also children’s whole neurological input. Nutrition is one amongst many important ways of creating neurological confusion, as can be seen through our model below.

The Aims of the Sunflower Trust

  • To promote greater public awareness of the Sunflower Therapy and its value and success in treating children with learning and behavioural difficulties.
  • To make Sunflower Therapy available to children whose parents could not otherwise afford the treatment.
  • To facilitate on going independent research for evaluating and developing the effectiveness of treatment.
  • To provide comprehensive training for new practitioners.

As a charity we are completely dependent on the generosity of the public to achieve these aims. Any help you can give, either by bringing our work to the attention of businesses or individuals who might share our aims, or just by volunteering your help in time and money will all be put to careful and good use.