A Boy with Learning Difficulties

An eight year old boy was brought in by his mother because of what she called “a concentration thing”. He had learning difficulties and a recent school report showed that he needed support to perform many activities such as beginning and completing tasks and working independently. At home the boy would also “get off track” and his mother found that if she left him alone to eat his tea, she could return an hour later to find it unfinished. His appetite was poor and he often didn’t eat his lunch. He liked chocolate milk but was never particularly fond of regular milk. The child had no behavioural problems and wasn’t aggressive. In my clinic, he was relatively quiet and quite well-behaved. His mother reported that in a group he would be the clown and get everyone laughing, although I didn't personally witness that behavior. Occasionally he would get angry or impatient, especially when practising reading with his mother. Lately the child had been prone to abdominal pains, which caused him to double over, unable to walk. The mother felt it was like deep-seated wind. In general he has a high pain threshold, for example with an eardrum ready to burst from an ear infection he remained quite happy.

When seeing children, I usually discuss the mother’s pregnancy and birth history. In this case, her health throughout the pregnancy was good, but near the beginning she lost two cats which were very precious to her. One had been mauled by a dog, and the mother found the cat’s dead body. She experienced much shock and anger around this incident. The second death was also a shock, as the cat had not even been sick. On her due date she had fallen downstairs and badly sprained her ankle. She was very afraid that she had hurt the baby, and visits to the hospital and her GP only left her 70% reassured that the baby was fine.

Two weeks later the baby was born. The waters broke around midnight, but the mother was in and out of hospital all day, without much progress. Induction was suggested. Then she went to have a bath and felt the baby coming. She ran upstairs to delivery. She said, "I nearly had him on the stairs. I had to cross my legs. It all happened within fifteen minutes." The first thing his mother said to him was sorry about the fall downstairs. After the birth the baby was very unsettled. For a month after his birth, his mother said you could see the sections of his skull very prominently--like a jigsaw puzzle.

I prescribed a well-indicated remedy asked to see him again in a month. At this time it was clear that his situation had not improved. His anger was escalating and he continued to be painfully slow at eating. He still wasn’t catching on quickly to things.

I considered the case further and realized that the events during the pregnancy related to the child’s current state: the shock and anger at the cats' deaths, the fall and fright that the baby had been hurt and finally the shock and fright of nearly having the baby on the stairs. The very rapid birth after a slow, uneventful labor was also remarkable. The child's biggest problems concern slowness: in catching on to things, in learning at school, and in eating.

These are clear indications for Aconite.

Three weeks after this remedy the mother phoned to report that she had been worried about him after the initial dose of the remedy because he had been so quiet. At home he was wanting to do his homework. The teacher said, "Things have just clicked," and that she had noticed a big change in the boy. PAT tests put him at the 8 1/2 year old stage which is, as his mother put it, "Joe Average, when before he was bottom." She could not believe how interested he was in his school work. He was even eating all his lunch at school. He could still be a bit slow eating at times but sometimes he even finished first. He had also befriended a quiet, well-behaved, more settled boy. Our Aconite child had even been to stay at this new friend's house overnight, a new experience for him. His verbal anger and demanding had gone. The mother said, "He just seems to have settled." The other night his mother had found him lying on his bed reading a book for fun which was another first.

When the mother wrote with permission to use this case for teaching purposes, she added: "He is finding reading and maths a lot easier. He has lost a lot of anger. I hope this will help some other child."

This case was submitted by Gwyneth Evans, a registered member of NZCH, who has a homeopathic practice in Tawa, Wellington. For contact details please refer to Find a Homeopath on this website.