Failure To Thrive (FTT) in children is a label or diagnosis which identifies that a child is not moving through developmental steps. So, the child has little or no maturation physically, emotionally, socially, behaviorally, or intellectually. There are varying versions of this label.

Some children with FTT are 3, 4, or 5 years old and are still infants. Some children with FTT are physically growing and playing, but maybe they are not walking by 5 or 6. Some children with FTT are walking and talking at 7 or 8 but not yet mature enough to proceed to the first grade in school.

Failure To Thrive is one of many labels or diagnoses of developmental issues. For most developmental difficulties, the psychological and medical professional communities have all agreed that there is no cure.

Why Is There No Movement Towards A Cure?

Mostly, there is no cure because the researchers who evaluate their conditions and the clinicians who work with these children do not know why the developmental process got stuck or slowed down. And, because they do not have an understanding of what drives the developmental process and what might stop that movement, they only have the scope of categorizing or treating symptoms.

Research Grants Are Being Granted

Not long ago I visited a graduate psychology program at a major university. I talked with the program director about the current understanding of developmental problems. He talked with me about one of his recent research projects. He had received a grant to investigate precisely the difference between the conditions of Aspergers Syndrome and the High Functioning Autistic. He was working to make the diagnosis of these two conditions more precise.

I thought that was a curious situation, because money was being spent on making the diagnostic process more clear-cut, but there was no clear-cut treatment for either condition. I could understand providing funds to develop more well-defined diagnostic definitions for something where that accuracy in diagnosis would lead to people receiving the appropriate treatment for their condition. Clearly, there is grant money available for research in developmental issues, but it seems to be focused on minor applications.

There Seems To Be Little Hope For A Cure

We see prominent cues of this in many places. There is a movement called Neurodiversity. In this movement, members have given up any hope of a cure for developmental problems and have started looking at these issues as a new path in human evolution. They see developmental issues as the next step in our evolution as a species. They resist the idea of a cure and refuse to have their children or themselves considered for treatment, because they think that nothing is wrong.

In our protocols we do not work on any of the symptoms, but we keep track of when symptoms fade away by using our Free Developmental Checklist. One common symptom for severe developmental issues is the inability to look others in the eyes. In our protocols, this is one of the symptoms which disappears early in the practice we manage.

I recently talked with the Director of an ABA center to find out the technical name of this symptom of not having eye contact so that in my writing I could use the precise technical name for it. I didn’t get the technical name I was looking for, because I was so startled by the answer from the Director. He told me they no longer work to have their clients make and maintain eye contact, because they would never need it. They were clearly preparing their clients to be adults with severe developmental difficulties. They were not proceeding in any way to help their clients overcome their problems. They do not have any hope that there is a cure, or it seem like they think, that there will be a cure.

What We Are Convinced Is Occuring In Children With Developmental Difficulties

Developmental problems represent a problem in the developmental progression. The symptoms (including the behaviors) of children with developmental difficulties are only symptoms. These symptoms are not the problem.

Interventions and treatments should focus on what stuck or slowed down the developmental process. Re-engaging the developmental process should be the essential objective. If the developmental process gets reactivated, the child “matures out of” the symptoms.

When the developmental process is blocked or stopped or sluggish, there are certain brain functions which are not permitted to develop and grow normally. After the obstructions are cleared away, there are physical exercises which needs to be performed so that these circuits can mature appropriately. These circuits manage the developmental process. As these circuits are re-established, the developmental process moves forward.

The reason that there is no cure for developmental issues is a paradigm issue. Developmental issues are not medical or psychological, yet we continue to treat them as if they were psychological. I think the best explanation is that they are a cultural problem. Our cultural evolution has taken us away from the environment in which we evolved. These sensitive children are reacting to factors in this new cultural environment. But the medical or psychological fields are stuck in their paradigms and are not yet able to recognize that their approach does not work for solving these issues.

Researchers Are Looking In The Wrong Direction

Everyone is looking externally for the causes (mercury, vaccinations, etc. .). By looking externally, they are not seeing the most significant issues.

Recent reports from research institutions is telling us that developmental problems come from a genetic susceptibility and its interaction with environmental factors. The genetic susceptibility of these children is that they are hypersensitive and because of this hypersensitivity they are reacting to some things in their environment. This reaction blocks their developmental process. Investigation needs to look into the susceptibility, that interaction, and those responses.

Now, many folks are looking at those possible environmental factors which seems to start the problem. Mercury and vaccinations are some of their current targets. I’m sure that many children are being impacted by these kinds of substances. But, these things in the environment are not the “cause” of the developmental issues. The cause is the reaction that these hypersensitive children have to these factors. It is important for all of us to understand that these sensitive children can have a similar reaction to wheat, corn, milk, chocolate, laundry detergent or thousands of other environmental factors.

If we focus all of our attention on all those different offending factors out there, we will get lost in an labyrinth which does not help us get to a cure. If we focus on the thousands of factors to which these sensitive children are reacting, we will spend all our attention, focus, and money on legislating all those things. If we do this, we will not be able to on the real issue.

What Should We Focus On?

We need to be researching the sensitivities, intolerances, and the reactions which these sensitive children naturally have to these kinds of things to which they respond. There are treatments available which temporarily neutralize the sensitivity to a specific thing for a specific exposure for a specific child. This temporary treatment can be done to stop the immediate reaction. Then a precise program can be developed for that child. This program needs to identify all of the things to which this specific child is sensitive and eliminate them from that child’s environment. With this kind of program, the child will stop having reactions and the child’s developmental process will continue normally.

This is what we do in our practice. The program we have created is not a cure. It works to re-engage the developmental process for each specific child and encourages that process to catch-up. To be successful, it requires intentional participation by the client and client’s family. When they actively follow the program, this child consistently gets back on track. By following our protocols, children with Failure To Thrive get back on track and catch up.

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