November 1, 2023 • 59 mins
What if we could rewind our brain's clock and improve cognitive scores, learning abilities, and even reverse dementia? Welcome to an enlightening conversation with our esteemed guest, Dr. Connie McReynolds, a leading expert in ADHD and neurofeedback. Her journey, from watching her mother's intervention with a dyslexic boy to her own extensive research into ADHD, is a testament to her dedication and passion for understanding learning difficulties and finding alternative solutions.
Our discussion illuminates the potential of neurofeedback for cognitive enhancement, illustrated by the story of an 82-year-old woman who reversed her dementia diagnosis with this revolutionary technology. But it's not just for the elderly or those with learning difficulties - Dr. Connie's work with athletes and gymnasts shows that anyone can reap the benefits. We also delve into the paramount role parents must play in their children's education, particularly when navigating rigid school systems.
As we conclude, we focus on alternative ADHD treatments, underscoring the necessity of accurate assessments, creative thinking, and looking beyond traditional medication. We explore the immense possibilities of neurofeedback in boosting learning abilities, cognitive scores, and even reversing dementia. Don't miss this opportunity to discover the transformative power of neurofeedback and learn how to access Dr. Connie's services. Join us as we unravel the mystique of the human brain and the incredible potential of this revolutionary approach.
https://www.conniemcreynolds.com
Host: Douglas James Cottrell
This episode was produced by Jack Bialik and audio engineering by Doug M Cottrell.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Announcer (00:00):
Welcome to Wake Up with Dr Douglas James Cottrell,
your source for helpfulinformation, advice and tips to
live your life in a mindful wayin this increasingly chaotic
world.
For over four decades, DrDouglas has been teaching people
how to develop their intuitionand live their lives in a
conscious way.
His news and views of the worldtomorrow, today, are always
(00:21):
informative and revealing.
To learn more about Dr Douglas,be sure to visit his website,
douglasjamescotrellcom, whereyou can download self-help
exercises you can do right inthe comfort of your own home.
And now here's your host, DrDouglas James Cottrell.
Douglas James Cottrell (00:43):
Welcome everyone.
Today I have a wonderful guestwith me.
Dr Connie McReynolds is heretoday and we're going to talk
about that ADHD situation we'veall heard about.
We have the foremost expert inthe field who's going to give us
some insights into what this isall about and, for those poor
children and people who havethis situation going in their
(01:05):
life, some solutions as to howto deal with it.
And also what it's all about.
As you know, my daughter, Cheri, had situations that in her
life and I kind of akin tochildren who have these special
learning abilities ordisabilities or challenges,
however you want to put it, myfriends.
But today Dr Connie is heretoday to tell us all about it.
(01:27):
So welcome to the show, DrConnie.
It's great to have you here.
I'm reading your press materialand your book, which is an
amazing book as far as I'mconcerned, and everybody should
go out and buy it.
We'll talk a little bit moreabout how to do that.
How did you get started in thisamazing research and coming to
this understanding, and I'mgoing to let you explain that to
(01:49):
the audience.
When I read the informationabout this, I was gobsmacked.
It was her saddering it.
I'm not trying to overdo it,but I was really impressed.
So tell us about how.
First of all, who you are andhow you got to where you are.
Connie McReynolds (02:04):
Well, first of all, thank you so much for
inviting me to be here today.
It's such an honor to be withyou and to share this
information, which is really whyI wrote the book.
But it all started many, manydecades ago.
My mother taught second gradefor 32 years in the same
classroom and I kind of jokethat I grew up in second grade.
(02:27):
I watched as she helpedchildren who were struggling to
learn.
One little boy couldn't learnhow to read and she took a
special interest in him over thesummer, at her own expense and
time, took him to a universitycenter and, interestingly, was
diagnosed with dyslexia sosomething at the time that
(02:47):
wasn't very well understood andthrough the support that she
received through that universityteaching center, they were able
to help resolve that littleboy's problems and he went on
and had a great life.
Interestingly, I think thatstuck with me more than I really
realized until I startedwriting the book and in between
all of those years I was arehabilitation counselor, so I
(03:10):
had a very deep interest inhelping people and I wasn't
particularly akin to a lot ofthe diagnoses that I saw my
clients coming in with, becauseI early on discovered in my
career, some 30 years ago thatthe diagnosis really didn't tell
me very much about the person Iyou know.
As I started to get to know theperson I realized people could
(03:30):
come in with the same diagnosisbut they were individuals.
They had maybe some similarsymptoms but they were unique in
how it was happening in theirlife.
And through that work then Ibecame interested in obtaining
my doctorate.
So I went to the U niversity ofWisconsin, Madison 20, some
almost 30 years ago, to get mydegree in rehabilitation
(03:55):
psychology.
So that was a field thatcrossed both parts of my path.
I was always interested inpsychology but I liked the
rehabilitation psychology piecebecause it brought a completely
different field to the process.
And I taught in that field for25 years and part of my teaching
, part of my learning and myteaching that I imparted is that
(04:16):
you can have a lot of diagnosesbut, as I had discovered early
on in my career, it didn't tellmuch about the person and so I
would teach.
Okay, here's the abnormalpsychology.
Now here's the rehab psychology, here's what you're really
going to do, because I wantedsolutions for people.
I didn't want to just leavewith labels and fast forward
that in my career at theuniversity in Southern
(04:38):
California I was brought in, wasgiven a wonderful opportunity
to build an institute.
Within that institute evolvedthis program called
neurofeedback, which we'll talka lot more about.
But really it was the processof uncovering a deeper truth
about what was really happeningwith children with ADHD, and
(05:00):
that's what I want the world toknow.
So thank you again for havingme here today.
Douglas James Cottrell (05:04):
Well, it's a pleasure to have you here
.
You are one of the foremostclinical researchers in your
field and I heard you say somemagic words that rang true to me
.
First of all, diagnosis is,let's say, an educated guess as
to what's going on.
Second, labeling when peopleare given a label when they go
(05:29):
to the next therapist physician,the label sticks and already
before the person comes in thedoor, basically they're sunk.
You know that's the way you are.
Sorry, we can't do anythingwith it.
Go home and live with live withthis situation.
In my career my daughter haddifficulties.
(05:50):
We faced that several times andwe ultimately put her into an
institution, to my great regretlooking back.
But at the time all theauthorities did the right thing
and so far they thought, and ayoung couple my wife, dear wife
Karen, was passed on.
Now, on myself, we could get onwith our lives.
We bought that story, but thenwe ran into some people who
(06:13):
taught us otherwise, thatthey're all alternatives.
And so, listening to you and Icould see, like you know, you're
getting your degree and allthose things a few years ago
probably seems like yesterday,but you had the insight, the
intuition, the intellect, thecuriosity to look at people as
(06:34):
individuals and there must besomething more, and I was
fascinated to see that you cameup with this idea that people
with ADHD, my dyslexia showingup a little, that their brain is
(06:54):
wired wrong, they don't learnthe same way or there's some
misdirection of thinking.
How did you come up with thatmarvelous, wonderful discovery?
Connie McReynolds (07:10):
Well, I tell you it was just a process.
It was something that I didn'teven know existed myself.
What was happening at thebeginning of my clinics 15 years
ago is that children wereshowing up and parents had a
very similar story.
Regardless of any of the otherfactors socioeconomic, it didn't
(07:30):
matter the same story wascoming up, which is we've had my
child on medication.
It hasn't worked.
Or we've been on medicationsand the side effects are we
can't live with, or my child isrefusing to take the medication.
Or the other story, thebehavioral interventions.
Nothing is working, he'smisbehaving, he's in trouble all
(07:50):
the time.
Or the other piece was we don'twant to go down the medication
route.
But it was the first groupwhere the medications weren't
working.
And the traditional behavioralinterventions, these things were
not yielding the outcomes thatwere promised to parents and to
teachers.
It wasn't working.
And so curiosity kicked in.
(08:12):
It's like well, what is goingon here?
Why are these traditionalapproaches not doing what we've
been told for decades is goingto help solve the problem for
these children?
And so again, just kind of asprocesses then rolled, I was so
fortunate a colleague of minewas using the neurofeedback,
(08:32):
which we'll talk more aboutlater came to me.
He was in the same departmentthat I was in in the College of
Education at this university andhe said you know, I think you
really need to look into this.
We're finding some results inhelping children with learning
difficulties being able to learnhow to read better.
And of course, that ticked abell in my mind because you know
(08:52):
right back, to second grade.
It's like, okay, what's going onhere?
So I actually created a pilotproject for a year where we
worked with children and weworked with veterans who have
PTSD, and that's another thingwe can talk about.
But it was an uncoveringprocess, a discovery and
uncovering and just a revealingthat this assessment that we
(09:14):
happen to use that was tied tothis particular neurofeedback
process.
It looks at 37 areas ofauditory and visual processing
and I get this information in 20minutes.
Wow, 15 page report.
And so for five years I waslooking at these reports, day in
and day out.
(09:34):
We were doing our interventions, retesting at the midpoint,
retesting at the end, and theevidence was supporting this was
working and parents werereporting, things were changing
at home and at school, which tome is far more important than
what an assessment may say.
Douglas James Cottrell (09:51):
I agree.
That's hard evidence.
Those are hard facts.
Connie McReynolds (09:55):
They are.
It's like okay.
And one parent early on as shecame to me we'd been working
with her son and she said youknow, I'm not really sure that
this has really done anythingfor my son.
And I'm thinking, oh my gosh,our data show that there are
some changes here.
And then a week later she cameback and she said I stand
corrected.
So what happened?
(10:15):
And she said I went to a familyreunion and everyone wanted to
know what I had done to my sonbecause he was so much better
behaved.
Douglas James Cottrell (10:24):
So he was improving and she didn't
even notice it.
Wow.
Connie McReynolds (10:28):
Yeah, so it was great.
So she stood in my office for awhile and we chatted and she
said thank you.
She said it must have just beena subtle process to where you
know.
She kind of forgot what it waslike, but the relatives had not.
So so I always hung on to thatone.
It was great.
Douglas James Cottrell (10:49):
It makes my heart feel good when you say
that again, because people havethis misconception that that's
the way it's going to be.
Your child is going to be onmedication for the rest of his
or her life.
I'm sorry, we can't do anythingabout it.
Go live with it.
I, I get my, I get the hair inthe back of my neck stands up
(11:10):
when I hear that, because that'sjust intellectually lazy.
You went ahead and you provedthe point and you had results.
How did you do that exactly?
How did you get those results?
Connie McReynolds (11:22):
Well, it's through this particular
assessment that we were usingand, I'll be honest, yeah, for
the first five years where Ireally was looking at this, I
was trusting it because I sawthe data.
And then I hear the stories.
I just want a cute little storyabout this one little boy, a
nine year old.
Early on his parents werebringing him and we've been
working with him for a littlewhile and he walks in his little
(11:43):
downtrodden that day and Ilooked at him and I said well,
what's going on?
He says.
He said oh, he said you know.
He said it's working.
He said I can pay attention now, even when I don't want to.
It's working, it's just long inthe face.
And the parents behind him andI were trying not to burst out
in the smiles.
I said, oh, my gosh, Okay.
(12:06):
So what then eventuallyhappened is I started realizing
there was something to theseauditory and visual processing
problems, because it seemed tome like children were coming in,
diagnosed with a long litany ofvarious types of conditions,
from intermittent explosivedisorder, oppositional defiant
(12:28):
disorder, autism, tourette'ssyndrome, and the list just went
on.
Douglas James Cottrell (12:34):
Oh my gosh.
Connie McReynolds (12:36):
It went on and on and on and I started
running this assessment oneveryone who came in, regardless
of why they walked in the door,and what I was uncovering is
that, underneath all of theselabels, these massive labels,
underneath all of that, in about85 to 90% of the cases, people
had these existing auditory andvisual processing problems that
(12:59):
no one had accurately identifiedor described to the people.
Now, when this assessments runand I go over the assessment
results, they will sit therestunned.
Some parents tear up.
I've even had adults tear upwhen they've learned what
they've been struggling with foryears.
Douglas James Cottrell (13:18):
Wow.
Connie McReynolds (13:19):
And then I became really curious.
It's like well, you know whoelse is written about this,
because there has to be someoneelse who's got this out there.
You know, this is amazinginformation.
Why, you know, am I not findingit?
So I went on a two year huntfor anyone who was writing
anything on this and theliterature back in those days.
Douglas James Cottrell (13:41):
That was a decade ago, and I think the
audience and I are ahead of you.
You were that first person.
Not anybody else had donesomething, am I right?
Yes, congratulations, I am soproud to have you here on the
show talking about this.
And people for whatever thephysicians were before, they
(14:06):
gave it their best guests andthey just kept adding labels to
labels, to labels, and youactually knuckled down and
discovered the gold to solvingthese people's problems that I
could.
I just see the people crying ohmy God, finally somebody
understands me, somebody cantell me.
(14:26):
I'm going to let you finish thatthought, because I just wanted
to jump in and say that you know, you're the person, you're
number one and right here on myshow we're talking about this,
which is an issue very close tomy heart children with special
needs or challenges.
And to have you do that.
You know, I would say you weredivinely guided almost to get to
your curiosity, your intuition,your spiritual influences, all
(14:49):
leading you to do this.
And then you had to wear withall the gold and try to find out
if anybody else was doing it.
Nope, you're it.
Connie McReynolds (14:57):
So it really was, that.
It was baffling to me that noone and that, and I just kept
looking because I kept thinkingit's so long yes but he has to
do that.
Someone has to have writtenabout this.
Figured this out, looked atthis and literally after two
years I was working on amanuscript and I thought I am
not going to put anything outhere If I'm not quoting someone
(15:19):
else who's already been out here.
I'm not going down that road.
That's an academic.
It's not going to happen.
Douglas James Cottrell (15:26):
No plagiarism right.
Connie McReynolds (15:29):
Yes, it's like no, this is not going to
happen.
So, finally, I had built up myconfidence enough and felt like
I covered the ground deep enough, dug deep enough and broad
enough that it wasn't there.
There were other things outthere, called central auditory
processing disorder, which isactually a hearing problem, but
there was nothing about thistype of auditory processing and
(15:52):
there was certainly nothingabout visual processing.
That was out there since thattime.
It's not necessarily because ofme, I don't think, but I did
publish in 2018 in aninternational journal about this
, and I published the data of asubset of the children that we
worked with that we were able toshow that they had consistently
participated in the trainingand we've done the assessments
(16:14):
all the way along.
Here was the beginning, herewas the middle and here is the
end of what these outcomeslooked like.
So that was in 2018.
So I was finally able to getthat piece out.
Douglas James Cottrell (16:29):
I'm going to get you to explain in
people's what audio and visualdysfunction is, but I just
popped up my mind.
Did you take any criticism fromanyone?
Did they try to disprove yourresearch?
Connie McReynolds (16:44):
No, they haven't.
It's been so interesting Now.
Douglas James Cottrel (16:48):
Obviously the book is fairly new out, so
that's the title, and where canthey get it?
Connie McReynolds (16:54):
The title is Solving the ADHD Riddle really
the lasting solutions findingthe real cause and the lasting
solutions.
For that it's on Amazon andother book dealers.
It's also up on my website.
Douglas James Cottrell (17:08):
What's your website?
Connie McReynolds (17:10):
My website is www.
My name Connie C-O-N-N-I-EMacRiddles,
m-c-r-e-y-n-o-l-d-scom.
It's on the homepage.
Just click there and gostraight to Amazon to get it.
Douglas James Cottrell (17:27):
From what I've read about you, dr
Cony, and what I know about youso far, I highly recommend it.
Who suspects or has ADHD?
I have to look at my note hereto right away investigate by
making a simple investment ingetting your book.
(17:47):
And then I'm going to ask youcan people come and see you in
person as a patient?
Connie McReynolds (17:54):
Yes, and so I do want to speak about that.
I am Southern California, I havetwo clinics in Southern
California, so people do come tomy clinics.
We do the assessment and then wedo the neurofeedback and
typically it's going to be 30minute sessions, usually about
40 of those for, kind of the, Iwould say, the general auditory
(18:15):
and visual processing problem.
Now, if we're talking aboutanxiety and trauma and some of
the other more deeply ingrainedchallenges that might exist, it
may take a little bit longerthan that, but that's really the
end game is two to three timesa week for these sessions, after
every 10 hours of training, the20 sessions then we reassess
(18:38):
and we will create a differenttraining plan based on the
progress that the person hasmade and then any remaining
goals that they may have, andall of the goals are set by the
intake.
So really figuring out whatdoes the person want to work on,
what are the major impacts intheir life, how are they
affected at home and at schoolfor children, but even at work
(19:00):
for adults and those assessmentsthat we run, and so we're
always monitoring the progressof that.
Douglas James Cottrell (19:07):
Well, what you're doing is miracle
work changing people's lives.
I mean the amount of reliefyou're instilling in people by
first of all, giving them acredible diagnosis, then, in my
opinion, just from what you said, providing a game plan for them
to get their lives back andthen having great success doing
(19:29):
it.
You must have a ton of patiencelining up.
I hope everybody listening tothis interview calls you
tomorrow because you have allthe credibility.
You're an innovator, you'realmost first in the field, what
you're doing is remarkable workand nobody else has bothered to
(19:50):
investigate and look forsolutions like you have.
So, again, having a specialchild in my life and having gone
through all that, sherri passedaway when she was 38.
She was born in 1960.
We didn't have thesealternatives, if you will, to
find out what could be done.
(20:11):
She did not have ADHD, she hadsomething else some problems in
her brainstem, whatever, but thelong and the short of it is.
Can you go back a step and nowexplain what exactly is visual
audio malfunction?
And I was intrigued by readingsomething about the brain
doesn't learn like we learn or,in general, well, me accepted,
(20:36):
because I'm weird anyway, butthe brain doesn't learn the same
for everybody.
Can you explain a little bitmore about that?
Connie McReynolds (20:43):
I'd be happy to.
I just want to touch base justfor the listeners, because I do
offer telehealth forneurofeedback, so you don't have
to be within driving distanceof my clinics.
Fantastic, so I just wantpeople to know that is available
.
I actually got a client inSwitzerland and I have clients
kind of scattered around the USas well, so you don't have to be
(21:04):
within driving distance ofSouthern California.
Douglas James Cottrell (21:09):
How about around the world?
Because we're going to beputting the audio of this
interview on our podcast andeven on our radio show is as
international.
I'm sure people from around theworld could, through that same
mechanism, get in contact withyou.
I'm just, I'm just so impressed.
The relief that you're offeringpeople is enormous.
(21:30):
It's got to be a miracleblessing just to get ahold of
you and get that information.
But that's again, that's myopinion.
So, anyway, this is going to goout around the world so you
might end up with our friends inSpain or Australia or Japan,
other other places that peoplewatch our, watch our shows.
So anyway, back to the after,that wonderful revelation that
(21:51):
you don't have to travel, youcan do this on Zoom or something
.
This is amazing.
Can you explain a little bitabout just not to go back too
far?
But how is it that the brainmalfunctions are?
Are they wired differently?
Is there a physical disorder?
Is there something you knowwhat's going on in the brain?
Connie McReynolds (22:10):
Well, the wired word that you use is one I
use because I think we canunderstand that very well which
is our brain is wired tofunction in a certain way.
We have good habits, bad habits, all of its hardwired in, and
so, as we know that when we'retrying to change a bad habit,
sometimes it's pretty hard to do, that it's because the pattern
is pretty strong in the brain.
(22:31):
Those are neuronal pathways andso not.
I don't like to get too deepdown into that because we don't
have to.
We can just really talk aboutthe brain.
The brain is in a state ofcalled neuroplasticity and
interestingly, that term waspitched out to the world in 1949
by the Canadian psychologistDonald Heave, and so he did the
(22:57):
preliminary work all those yearsback.
But it's really taken a longtime for people to fully
understand how this works.
So the brain is changing allthe time.
Everything we do is beingrecorded in our brain and, at
the same time, repetition is howwe learn.
So the brain learns itspatterns through repetition, and
(23:17):
that's the beauty of all ofthis is that that's what makes
the brain trainable.
Now, for some children, adults,whatever it might be and I'm
talking ADHD to post-traumaticstress disorder and everything
in between.
That's all based in neuronalpathways in the brain.
So sometimes for children whohave auditory and visual
processing problems, they canlook like they have all kinds of
(23:40):
other things going on becausethe neuronal pathways in the
brain are not strong enoughacross these 37 areas that we
look at.
Sometimes it's missing completesections of processing.
So they may be really strong inauditory processing but have
zero visual processing.
On this assessment they canflip it as well, so they can be
(24:03):
great in the other one and weakin the other.
Or, most typically, there isalmost like a saw, like the
blades on a saw.
It's kind of up and down and upand down across a mixed graph
of strengths and areas ofweakness.
So those areas of weakness arethe things that we target and
(24:24):
when we figure out specificallywhat areas are not working, then
we build the training planspecific to those areas that
need to be strengthened.
And I explained to parents it'sa little bit like going to the
gym.
If I wanted to start a trainingplan, I'm probably going to get
with the trainer to at least doan assessment to figure out
what machines do I need to geton to strengthen my body.
(24:48):
If these are my goals.
How do I do it?
That's what our assessment does.
It really figures out thoseareas that need to be trained.
And then neurofeedback, which isEEG biofeedback.
A training plan is designed foreach person, unique to their
needs, and through therepetition of going through that
30-minute training plan, weliterally are targeting specific
(25:10):
areas of the brain for therepeated improvements, so to
strengthen those areas ofprocessing.
The good news about theneurofeedback, unlike the gym,
is that once the brain istrained and these neuronal
pathways are strengthened andit's reinforced enough, it's
going to hold typically.
So the nice thing is and I'vehad clients call me five years
(25:32):
later and say I just want you toknow, my brain just keeps
getting better and better andit's like, oh, this is such
great news.
And then I thought about it fora while and I thought, well,
yes, because anything that weuse anywhere, it gets stronger.
The more we do something it'sgoing to continue to strengthen.
So once we get the brain kindof tuned up and wired or heading
(25:52):
in the right direction acrossall of this, those become the
new neuronal pathway, thatbecomes the new normal for that
brain and then we're going tocontinue to use that.
The brain's going to use thatas a strength instead of
creating workarounds to getaround these areas that aren't
working very well.
And so in a nutshell that's whatwe're doing.
Douglas James Cottrell (26:12):
Wow, it's amazing.
Let's take a quick break, we'llbe right back.
Can we get a break from there?
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Douglas James Cottrell (27:30):
Well, dr Connie, just before the break
you were telling this is whatyou do, and I have this image in
my mind about these littleteeny threads in their brain
getting sicker and sicker andthen it's like a freeway going
back and forth with the thoughts.
So that was a marvelousexplanation and I guess the best
(27:52):
thing is about when you trainthe brain you don't have to keep
going to the gym, so to speak.
Keep the muscles going.
It just keeps getting betterand better.
I love it so as people comeback again not to overdo it, but
you change people's lives.
I mean you give them their life.
I can't imagine what it would belike to go through a life where
(28:16):
you can't think, you know youhave this congestion in your
thinking.
It must be frustrating, it mustprovoke people to be angry and
bitter and maybe violent andanyway, to get to the point that
I just can't imagine what itwould be like.
I know back in the day therewasn't much research in this
(28:40):
area.
You know autistic children andother people with these problems
.
By the way, does this expandinto autistic children or other
things?
I'll take that You're smiling.
That is a yes.
You tell us a little more aboutthat.
Connie McReynolds (28:56):
Yes.
So we have over the years,worked with children who have
been diagnosed Some Asperger'skind of.
The labels are changingperiodically in there and
parents will call and say, okay,my child has this, what can you
do?
And I'll always say, well,let's do an intake, because I
can't know until I meet thechild, either via Zoom or in
(29:19):
person, and we put them at thecomputer and let's just see what
this child's capable of doing,because I've had some people in
the severe range that they can'tbe at a computer, and so that's
really one of the keys to thisis a child does need to be able
to be at a computer or operate amouse.
The parent can be there, we'rewith them.
(29:41):
If it's Zoom, obviously inperson, we're with them.
So they need to be able to havethat level of ability.
Now we've had children learnhow to use a mouse.
I've had 93-year-old men learnhow to use a mouse that we've
worked with.
So, just to let you know, we canteach people how to use a mouse
and with, again, the assessmentthat we use those labels.
(30:09):
They just don't give us enoughinformation and with the
assessment I find that a lot ofthese children with autism,
wherever they are in thatspectrum, whatever I'm going to
call it if they have auditoryand visual processing problems
that are really underneath thatdiagnostic label, there's
something we can do about that.
Now, for children who have thebrain that's diagnosed with
(30:31):
autism, it is a longer processfor some of these children, some
of the children in the moderaterange, don't really have verbal
capability but we're still ableto work with them because they
can use the mouse, they can sitat the computer, they can follow
instructions and not to wax toofar into it.
But I just had a parent with achild.
(30:52):
I did a follow-up, first roundretake assessment with him
yesterday and he shared that hisson's language has exploded, as
what was reported by people whoare working with his son.
Now he hasn't been able to getthrough the assessment yet but
we're using that as a trackingmechanism.
(31:13):
But we're also listening forwhat's happening in the child's
world.
So in this particular case theyhad moved to a different school
district.
He had been in the mild supportgroup in the school system and
the new school has moved himinto moderate severe and I
(31:34):
didn't feel like that was a goodmove because there's a lot of
behavioral challenges in thoseclassrooms.
Douglas James Cottrell (31:41):
I wasn't sure About their students right
.
Connie McReynolds (31:43):
Yes, and so in fact the father is reporting
and I'll share.
They've hired an attorneybecause they feel like the
school district is not listeningto them and not providing the
proper support and educationalopportunities for their son.
And this is where schools get alittle locked in.
They get a little rigid intheir approach.
(32:05):
Sometimes I know they're tryingto do the right thing, they
have a lot to manage, but itisn't always.
Their decisions shouldn't bethe last decision, so the
parents should have influence inthat as well.
So we're going to continue withthat, with children with autism
again back to those auditoryand visual processing problems
(32:26):
if they are there and we canhelp them and that's going to
overall help the child do better.
Douglas James Cottrell (32:31):
Well, again, the idea of people have
opinions, they're square headedand even when you present facts
they don't want to hear about it.
I ran up again a lot of that,call it resistance.
And those parents I'm sorry tohear that they're meeting such
thing.
You would think educationalplaces or everybody would be as
I was.
(32:52):
I expected, hey, we've come upwith this chiropractic solution
for my daughter's neck andeverybody would jump on it.
No, that was why I asked youbefore if you were criticized,
because I was severelycriticized for looking for
alternatives.
My daughter was medicated andwas patient managed, if you will
in the institution, which meantshe was living I don't want to
(33:17):
say hell, but she was in a verydifficult, nightmarish existence
.
So varying degrees of breakingdown barriers and prejudice.
This is kind of my job workingwith different professionals and
getting them to work throughtheir minds, just like you are,
and I'm intrigued, reallylistening very carefully to what
(33:38):
you're saying, how you somehowwere putting this together in
your head as you were goingthrough the research and
developing stages and figuringout that, hey, there can be
something done here.
And then you had thatrevelation time.
Can you remember the first timewhen you said oh my God, I got
it.
Was there such a revelationpoint?
Connie McReynolds (34:01):
Well, it was astonishment, I will say.
How it's in that.
You know it was.
It just kept looking at it andlooking at it and looking at it
and thinking is this really whatwe're dealing with?
Because if it is, there'ssomething we can do about this
(34:21):
and this can be a game changerfor people.
It's a game changer forteachers, it's a game changer
for parents and for the child.
And suddenly we go from a childbeing labeled as misbehaving or
willfully bad to parents intears realizing they don't have
a bad child.
They have a child whose brainjust can't take in information.
(34:41):
And if you have auditoryprocessing problems, it does not
matter how many times you tellthe child to go pick up their
shoes and put them away.
If that child can't rememberwhat you're telling them to do.
You can tell them 10 times or100 times and all that's going
to happen is the same thing overand over the child's going to
forget what you've told them.
Douglas James Cottrell (35:01):
Isn't that the definition of insanity?
Connie McReynolds (35:03):
It is, and I think we've been living in it
for a very long time with thesekids, and so my true mission is
to get this out so that peopleknow there is something
different.
We don't have to keep makingthe same mistakes with
generation after generation ofchild that comes along.
We have some solutions.
(35:23):
There's a noninvasive process,which means there's nothing
being done to the child's brain.
The child is just learning howto empower his or her own brain
through brain training exercises, and that builds
self-confidence.
It improves the self-image inthe child.
It gets rid of a lot of thatnegative self-talk that these
children employ very, very earlyon, because in the classroom
(35:47):
and elementary school they'realready judging themselves
against their peers, and if theysee their peers being able to
follow something that someone'ssaying and they don't have any
idea what's going on, theyimmediately go to the place
where I must not be very smartand they will use words such as
I must be stupid.
They will use these words, theparents hear it and there's
(36:09):
heartbreak, of course, butthat's the only place people
have gone in the past is well,if I can't do this, I must not
be very smart.
This has nothing to do withintelligence.
This has everything to do withprocessing, and processing we
can work on and tackle.
And then what happens is, oncethese children's brains are
working better and guess what,they're scoring better on IQ
(36:31):
tests, they're doing better onthe state school exams, they're
doing better in the classroombecause now they can understand
what the instructions are, theycan follow along, they can
perhaps visually process thingsbetter.
So we're changing up the wholeprocess of this child's life in
the academic world and at home.
Douglas James Cottrell (36:49):
You know , it occurs to me, it's common
sense, going back to the pointof birth.
The fetus develops to a pointwhere it's now time for the
birth to occur.
The birth occurs and the bodyis still developing and it takes
(37:12):
a long time for that baby todevelop skills in its brain and
coordinating, you know, andgetting the body's nervous
system to function.
And it occurs to me that maybesomewhere along the line,
something just stopped thedevelopment of these pathways in
the brain and maybe a weakpoint, maybe there was some, you
(37:36):
know, cold disease, whateverbut it arrested the growth in
the brain.
And what I'm hearing you say isthat you can target this and by
whatever this manipulation ofprogramming, patterning, if you
will, repetitious movements thatthe child strikes in those
passageways.
The brain is growing, I wouldsay, and it continues wherever
(38:00):
it was arrested before.
It's now relieved and it's it'sit's strengthening, growing and
creating new pathways.
Would that be sort of somethingthat that you would agree with?
Connie McReynolds (38:12):
Yes, absolutely.
That's part of theneuroplasticity and that's how
the brain works.
Is that an old habit?
If we want to change an oldhabit, we have to develop the
new habit or we have tostrengthen the better habit.
And so by strengthening thebetter habit, and actually what
happens, and there are images ofthis.
How scientists got these imagesI don't know, but sometimes
when I go out and do training,I'll take these images that show
(38:35):
these neurons and synapses andthese connections happening in
the brain cells.
And then it shows this thingcalled pruning, which means if
we drop the bad habit longenough, that connection is going
to go away.
Douglas James Cottrell (38:48):
Really.
Connie McReynolds (38:49):
Yes, and so we're actually able to see how
this works in the brain.
Again, how they got this I haveno idea, but it's fascinating
for people to actually see thesetendrils, kind of these axions
and adendrites come together inthese cells and make these
connections and then to see itprune away when it's going away.
(39:10):
And so we just think of this asjust enhancing, strengthening
those neuroma pathways.
So with the assessment, somechildren have those pathways
there.
They're just not strong enough.
In other cases that I mentioned,where maybe the visual is
completely missing or theauditory is completely missing,
we're going to be building thoseneuroma pathways and we can do
(39:31):
it.
How long it takes is veryunique to each person, but we've
been able to accomplish thatwith anyone that we've worked
with.
It isn't a common occurrence,but when we do see it we've had
enough experience over 15 yearsthat we know we can affect
change.
If the parents can hang inthere and keep that child coming
and we can have consistencywith that treatment plan and we
(39:54):
continue to build and build onthat, then we can get that
processing coming online.
Douglas James Cottrell (39:59):
Well, you are one of the foremost
clinical researchers and expertsin your field, and anybody who
has any suspicion that theirchild has ADHD or any of the
diagnosis that you've mentionedI'm not going to repeat them
they should come and get yourbook.
To start with, your book waswhere can they get it?
(40:24):
And what's your website?
Again, let's get everybody onthe bandwagon here.
Connie McReynolds (40:28):
Okay, so the book the title is Solving the
ADHD Riddle.
It's on Amazon.
It's available in paperbackybook and audiobook and I did the
audiobook myself so you get myvoice, because I wanted my voice
in that, so people couldunderstand where I'm coming from
with that.
The website iswwwconnymcrenaldscom.
(40:51):
Sorry for the long name, but itwas my given and that's what I
have.
Douglas James Cottrell (41:02):
And forget it.
It's my name, atcom, you know.
So let's take a short break.
We'll be right back and I haveanother question to ask.
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Maybe it's all past life issues.
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Douglas James Cottrell (42:29):
Dr Cottney, I highly recommend your
book.
Just as a parent who's had sucha child in my life, I was able
to get someone to give mealternatives that allowed my
child to come out of aninstitution.
She was in there from two and ahalf until six and a half and I
regret every day that that daymy wife and I took her to this
(42:55):
place.
But it was part of the karma,if you will, part of the
spiritual path.
But because of her life, I'mdoing what I'm doing today and
have done what I do for the last50 years.
So, in a playful way, I wantedto ask you if you could do this
for people who have issues likechildren.
(43:16):
What about people like me?
Can you make me smarter if Iwas to go through the same
program?
You know what I mean.
I'm kind of holding my own, butyou know if I wanted to be
improved, is that possible?
I'm just asking, a playful sortof way just popped in my head.
So if you know what might, bepossible?
Connie McReynolds (43:33):
yes, Of course it's possible, because
our brain is changing, it's theneuroplasticity.
So, just so you know, Iactually recently put a
neurofeedback station clinicinside a retirement center here
in Southern California.
Douglas James Cottrell (43:47):
Really yes, Wow so a couple of years
ago.
Connie McReynolds (43:52):
This is kind of one of those things that just
happened.
We didn't know it at the time,but I had a man call me.
He said his 82-year-old motherwas struggling with her memory
and did he think that I couldhelp?
And I had helped him with somepain management.
Did he think I could help hismother?
I said, well, let's get her in,let's do some assessments,
(44:14):
let's kind of figure out what'sgoing on.
So we did that and we had someshorter memory computer-based
assessments that we ran and, yes, we found out that there was
some room for improvement forher memory.
There was some other thingsgoing on with auditorium vision,
that's like, well, let's dothis.
So we did the 20 hours oftraining with her and then one
(44:34):
day she came back in just tokind of stop by and say hello
and she was smiling from ear toear and her son was looking a
little coy as well and I'mthinking, okay, what's going on
here?
So she started saying, well,she said you know, I didn't know
this, but before I came in tosee you I'd seen my doctor and I
just went back for my six-monthcheckup and what he was
(44:58):
assessing her for was dementia.
She didn't know it.
Douglas James Cottrell (45:02):
Oh my gosh.
Connie McReynolds (45:03):
So she went back after six months and she
took the same test that she'dtaken six months earlier and he
looked at her and she's tellingthe story.
She said he looked at me, hegoes okay, what have you been
doing?
And she goes what are youtalking about?
And he'll tell it first person.
And she said she said, well, Iwell, why I've been doing this
(45:25):
thing called neurofeedback.
And he said well, whateveryou're doing, keep doing it,
because you've just reversedthis.
You've improved your cognitivescore on this test several
points.
And I'm going to tell you nowthat when you were here six
months ago, I had been preparingfor the last six months to tell
you that you were in dementia.
You are not.
Yeah, he didn't know She'd beencoming for neurofeedback and I
(45:50):
didn't know that she was thatclose to being diagnosed with
dementia.
We had found memory problems,but I'm not a medical physician
and I wasn't assessing her fordementia.
I was assessing her for doesshe have some memory problems?
And yes, indeed, she did.
So I share that to let peopleknow that there's always an
opportunity.
I have people in their 90s rightnow in this retirement center
(46:14):
who we're working with and youknow it's not going to be maybe
the 20 hours.
It's probably going to be alonger process, but the brain
can still learn, it can still berewired, it can be strengthened
, and that's what these seniorcitizens are looking for.
They want to improve what theyhave, they want to hang on to
what they already have.
They don't want this trajectoryof a different future for
(46:37):
themselves.
So anyone can benefit from this.
I think we actually train sportsfolks to be on the other side
of the equation.
So we've worked with MajorLeague Ball Player to hone his
game a little bit.
We've worked with a gymnast whowanted to improve her attention
and concentration and focus andwhen she came back from her
(46:57):
competition, she was wearingfive medals.
When she walked in the door andI was like, oh my gosh, okay,
beaming, her smile was biggerthan the five medals, it was
brighter.
So you know, there's just somuch that can be done with the
brain, and I think that's reallythe message.
Here is where you don't want togive up on this.
(47:18):
We want to keep going and wewant to strengthen, and so the
intake is an hour and a half, isall it takes of your time, and
we do it via Zoom if you're notin Southern California and we do
the assessments, the same as ifyou're sitting in my clinics
and I go over everything withyou on Zoom and we email you the
results at the end of theassessment, and then people can
(47:38):
make their decisions, what theywant you to do.
Douglas James Cottrell (47:41):
Wow, I was asking that in a playful way
.
My interest is exploring theunlimited human consciousness.
That's what my show is allabout.
What my interest has been,because I believe again from
hard evidence not just theory orbelief in invisible things.
(48:04):
But it was like thisconsciousness is enormous and,
as I was just sort of askingabout that, I don't have all
cybers but I have some timers.
Sometimes I remember, sometimesI don't, so I think I might buy
your book.
Connie McReynolds (48:26):
Well, I just find it, you know, at the end of
the day, when a parent has saidthese things to us and reported
these effects, it mitigates anyother challenge that there may
have been that came across inthe day, because, at the end of
the day, if we really helped,give a parent or a child or
(48:48):
teacher or anyone some hope thatthere can be a different future
for themselves, and that's whatthis is about.
This is about helping peopleknow that there's a different
future they can hold forthemselves.
Douglas James Cottrell (48:59):
You give them back their life.
Connie McReynolds (49:01):
We have.
And, not to be immodest aboutit, it's just the data, it's
just the work, it's what's comethrough me.
I didn't create the software, Ididn't create the assessment,
but I did figure out a littlebit of a difference.
Douglas James Cottrell (49:14):
Well, you know it's like a path
through the forest, right?
Oh yeah, I just take a path, gothrough the forest.
So yeah, anybody can follow thepath.
But who was the first one thatfound the path through the
forest, or the confusion?
And you know, I admire peoplewho are way showers, people who
(49:34):
don't take no for an answer andare spurred by whatever
spiritual, intellectual,intuitive, whatever pursuit they
take to say something can bedone about this.
And then they have the tenacityto go ahead.
And from what you've done againwith being an explorer in this
(49:57):
field, you know you're not quitesure where to go and the
enormous amount of effort thatyou've done should be somewhat
appreciated by your colleagues.
So, with that note, have yousent your book to other
colleagues, other areas in themedical profession?
I'd love to hear what they hadto say, because I keep hitting
(50:20):
them over the head by sayingthere's more you can do.
Don't just put the blinkers onand say this is what I do and I
don't.
This is what I do.
I do surgery, I don't doanything else.
You know, go away and thoughthere's got to be more that you
can, as a group of healers, cometo a consensus if you will.
(50:41):
I'm not talking about acommittee kind of making a
diagnosis, but I'm talking aboutthe overlap and as I was
listening to you, the imageswere going through my mind.
We don't know much about thebrain, we don't know much about
consciousness we think we do.
But here you are, in your lifeat this point in time, coming up
(51:03):
with a brand new field ofendeavor that can help babies,
children who have, you know, lowself-esteem, who think they're
stupid, who think nobody caresabout them and, more importantly
, the parents who love theirkids so much and they don't know
what to do.
They would give their lives tohelp their children I'm sure I
(51:25):
was willing and you don't knowwhat to do and then, like an
angel, you show up and you say,oh, I could help, come on down
for an hour and a half and we'llsee if we can show you a
pathway.
So have you reached out toother people, or other people
listening to you in your fieldof expertise?
Are they wanting you?
Do you do seminars?
Do you do workshops?
(51:46):
What do you do?
Connie McReynolds (51:48):
Well, that's the hope, that, now that the
book is out, that because youreally have to kind of prove
that you have something.
And it took a little while forme to be able to write that book
.
And I wasn't going to write ituntil I had solved what I call
the remote neurofeedback problem, because I wasn't going to just
put a book out and say, oh I'msorry, if you don't live within
(52:09):
20 miles of my clinic inSouthern California, I'm not
going to be able to help you.
I wasn't going to do that Okay.
And so once we solve that.
The software developer Iactually called him.
I've had a good longrelationship with him and it was
in a February A couple of yearsago, kind of still in the
middle of the pandemic, and outhere we were hearing rumors of
(52:30):
another shutdown and I thoughtwe can't keep doing this.
So we have to get help topeople.
And I called him.
It was late it was probably 10,3, 11 o'clock in his world that
night and he took my call and Isaid look, we've got to find a
solution to this.
I don't know what it's going totake, but I have to be able to
get this out to people who aremore than 20 or 30 minutes from
(52:51):
my clinic.
And he listened and he calledme a month later and he said I
pulled off all the programmers,off of everything else and we've
created this for you so that wecan do this.
And so I thought well, we'regoing to try this and make sure
it works.
So two years later, we've beendoing it and we're helping
(53:13):
people around the country and Ihope we can reach beyond where
we are to bring us to some otherfolks.
And I just want to be clear Idon't diagnose, so people are
wanting to use insurance orsomething I'm not going to be
diagnosing, so they'll need togo through their own medical
folks to do that, because we'refocused on the auditory and the
(53:35):
visual processing problems, andso if you want to find out if
that's what's going on, I'mhappy to work with you on that.
But if it comes to diagnosticlabels and insurance and things
like that, then that's justyou'll.
You've got to handle that moreon your own end.
Douglas James Cottrell (53:49):
And that's somebody else's part of
the solution, or the or the sopeople coming in assessment from
yourself.
You provide again summarizingyou provide something to them,
they try it out and and theymore than likely have positive
(54:11):
results.
And are some people fast andsome people slow in this
development?
I think you might havementioned that earlier.
But just as we get towards theend of the program, how does
that work, you know?
Like I mean, I'm sure there arepeople right now who just
they're on the computer going tobuy your book, they want to
call you, and other people aresitting there going.
(54:31):
Hmm, I don't know.
Connie McReynolds (54:35):
And I think I was the whole gamut.
I mean, I've been down thewhole gamut with it myself, so
you know it's just from one endof it to the other and back and
back and back about.
You know where are we with this?
And so finally pulling togetherthe book and really working
through that process of gettingit published.
And I think it's really goodpeople to know that there are
(54:56):
other opportunities,alternatives, if you want to
call them, or just options, andit just is possible to do things
differently than what we'vereally kind of thought we've
always had to do, kind ofoutside the box.
I think it's an outside the boxprocess here and I feel like
that's really where we're goingin the world and with humanity.
(55:17):
So we can't stay in the sameboxes that we've been in up to
now and think we're going tohave anything different in the
future.
We have to step outside thisbox as we have to be open minded
to what some of these newsolutions and new ways of being
can be for us as a human beingon this planet as we connect
with others, and I think thismay be one of the many things
(55:41):
that will be coming for humanityover the next decade or so.
That could really turn thingsaround in a big way.
Douglas James Cottrell (55:49):
I listen to your well said, very concise
, and I believe that's aprophetic statement.
Thinking outside the box is agood term, looking for
alternatives, because if thereis something in the world that
has happened, it exists, andthen there has to be a remedy
that also exists.
(56:10):
It's just a matter of gettingthe two of those together, and I
think that, as my life wasalways looking for alternatives
took me in very unusual places,but it's been fascinating in
discovering just who and what weare as people and all the
different functions we have.
So again, people can get a holdof you at wwwconnyrenalscom.
(56:36):
Go to your website and get abook.
I wouldn't mind getting anautograph copy of your book, by
the way.
Connie McReynolds (56:44):
That could probably be arranged.
Advertisement (56:48):
Thank you, Riley.
Douglas James Cottrell (56:50):
Well, listen, it's been wonderful
having you on here and findingall about them Amazing.
I'm going to call it miraclework you're doing.
They give somebody back theirlife, especially as a child who
thinks they're stupid, they haveno self-esteem and that their
life is there's something wrong.
They know it's wrong becausethey can feel it in their head
but they can't expressthemselves and they can't
(57:12):
remember all those things.
I guess you could say it's likeyouthful Alzheimer's.
You know.
It's just like your braindoesn't work.
You can feel it and you canknow it.
That's my sense that I'mpicking up just now and how
terrible it is.
But by unlocking those pathwaysthrough those neurons and
synapses and getting back to themuscle building in the brain, I
(57:34):
just love it.
That repetition builds strength.
You know you don't use it.
You lose it in muscles but inthe brain the more you do it.
Again, as a summary, the bookis called Solving the ADHD
Riddle.
My guest has been ConnieMcReynolds, phd.
She is a foremost researcher inher field.
(57:55):
I encourage everybody who'slistening to this podcast to get
in contact with thisgroundbreaking researcher.
If you suspect your child hassome issues like this, if you
know somebody who has a specialchild, send this program off to
them so they might be able tofind Dr Connie and get ahold of
them for some miracle help.
(58:16):
It's been wonderful having youon the show.
We'll have you on again in thefuture, I'm sure.
I wish you very, very, verywell.
You're a marvelous person and atrue healer.
I'm your host, douglas JamesCottrell.
On behalf of our producers,jack and Paul, and the team here
, we wish you peace andprosperity.
(58:37):
Remember, although this show isgoing to end, the journey
doesn't end here.
Continue to look foralternatives, continue to look
within, and may you have peacealways, until next time.
God bless.
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Until next time, we wish youall of God's blessings health,
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Welcome to Wake Up with Dr Douglas James Cottrell,
your source for helpfulinformation, advice and tips to
live your life in a mindful wayin this increasingly chaotic
world.
For over four decades, DrDouglas has been teaching people
how to develop their intuitionand live their lives in a
conscious way.
His news and views of the worldtomorrow, today, are always
(00:21):
informative and revealing.
To learn more about Dr Douglas,be sure to visit his website,
douglasjamescotrellcom, whereyou can download self-help
exercises you can do right inthe comfort of your own home.
And now here's your host, DrDouglas James Cottrell.
Douglas James Cottrell (00:43):
Welcome everyone.
Today I have a wonderful guestwith me.
Dr Connie McReynolds is heretoday and we're going to talk
about that ADHD situation we'veall heard about.
We have the foremost expert inthe field who's going to give us
some insights into what this isall about and, for those poor
children and people who havethis situation going in their
(01:05):
life, some solutions as to howto deal with it.
And also what it's all about.
As you know, my daughter, Cheri, had situations that in her
life and I kind of akin tochildren who have these special
learning abilities ordisabilities or challenges,
however you want to put it, myfriends.
But today Dr Connie is heretoday to tell us all about it.
(01:27):
So welcome to the show, DrConnie.
It's great to have you here.
I'm reading your press materialand your book, which is an
amazing book as far as I'mconcerned, and everybody should
go out and buy it.
We'll talk a little bit moreabout how to do that.
How did you get started in thisamazing research and coming to
this understanding, and I'mgoing to let you explain that to
(01:49):
the audience.
When I read the informationabout this, I was gobsmacked.
It was her saddering it.
I'm not trying to overdo it,but I was really impressed.
So tell us about how.
First of all, who you are andhow you got to where you are.
Connie McReynolds (02:04):
Well, first of all, thank you so much for
inviting me to be here today.
It's such an honor to be withyou and to share this
information, which is really whyI wrote the book.
But it all started many, manydecades ago.
My mother taught second gradefor 32 years in the same
classroom and I kind of jokethat I grew up in second grade.
(02:27):
I watched as she helpedchildren who were struggling to
learn.
One little boy couldn't learnhow to read and she took a
special interest in him over thesummer, at her own expense and
time, took him to a universitycenter and, interestingly, was
diagnosed with dyslexia sosomething at the time that
(02:47):
wasn't very well understood andthrough the support that she
received through that universityteaching center, they were able
to help resolve that littleboy's problems and he went on
and had a great life.
Interestingly, I think thatstuck with me more than I really
realized until I startedwriting the book and in between
all of those years I was arehabilitation counselor, so I
(03:10):
had a very deep interest inhelping people and I wasn't
particularly akin to a lot ofthe diagnoses that I saw my
clients coming in with, becauseI early on discovered in my
career, some 30 years ago thatthe diagnosis really didn't tell
me very much about the person Iyou know.
As I started to get to know theperson I realized people could
(03:30):
come in with the same diagnosisbut they were individuals.
They had maybe some similarsymptoms but they were unique in
how it was happening in theirlife.
And through that work then Ibecame interested in obtaining
my doctorate.
So I went to the U niversity ofWisconsin, Madison 20, some
almost 30 years ago, to get mydegree in rehabilitation
(03:55):
psychology.
So that was a field thatcrossed both parts of my path.
I was always interested inpsychology but I liked the
rehabilitation psychology piecebecause it brought a completely
different field to the process.
And I taught in that field for25 years and part of my teaching
, part of my learning and myteaching that I imparted is that
(04:16):
you can have a lot of diagnosesbut, as I had discovered early
on in my career, it didn't tellmuch about the person and so I
would teach.
Okay, here's the abnormalpsychology.
Now here's the rehab psychology, here's what you're really
going to do, because I wantedsolutions for people.
I didn't want to just leavewith labels and fast forward
that in my career at theuniversity in Southern
(04:38):
California I was brought in, wasgiven a wonderful opportunity
to build an institute.
Within that institute evolvedthis program called
neurofeedback, which we'll talka lot more about.
But really it was the processof uncovering a deeper truth
about what was really happeningwith children with ADHD, and
(05:00):
that's what I want the world toknow.
So thank you again for havingme here today.
Douglas James Cottrell (05:04):
Well, it's a pleasure to have you here
.
You are one of the foremostclinical researchers in your
field and I heard you say somemagic words that rang true to me
.
First of all, diagnosis is,let's say, an educated guess as
to what's going on.
Second, labeling when peopleare given a label when they go
(05:29):
to the next therapist physician,the label sticks and already
before the person comes in thedoor, basically they're sunk.
You know that's the way you are.
Sorry, we can't do anythingwith it.
Go home and live with live withthis situation.
In my career my daughter haddifficulties.
(05:50):
We faced that several times andwe ultimately put her into an
institution, to my great regretlooking back.
But at the time all theauthorities did the right thing
and so far they thought, and ayoung couple my wife, dear wife
Karen, was passed on.
Now, on myself, we could get onwith our lives.
We bought that story, but thenwe ran into some people who
(06:13):
taught us otherwise, thatthey're all alternatives.
And so, listening to you and Icould see, like you know, you're
getting your degree and allthose things a few years ago
probably seems like yesterday,but you had the insight, the
intuition, the intellect, thecuriosity to look at people as
(06:34):
individuals and there must besomething more, and I was
fascinated to see that you cameup with this idea that people
with ADHD, my dyslexia showingup a little, that their brain is
(06:54):
wired wrong, they don't learnthe same way or there's some
misdirection of thinking.
How did you come up with thatmarvelous, wonderful discovery?
Connie McReynolds (07:10):
Well, I tell you it was just a process.
It was something that I didn'teven know existed myself.
What was happening at thebeginning of my clinics 15 years
ago is that children wereshowing up and parents had a
very similar story.
Regardless of any of the otherfactors socioeconomic, it didn't
(07:30):
matter the same story wascoming up, which is we've had my
child on medication.
It hasn't worked.
Or we've been on medicationsand the side effects are we
can't live with, or my child isrefusing to take the medication.
Or the other story, thebehavioral interventions.
Nothing is working, he'smisbehaving, he's in trouble all
(07:50):
the time.
Or the other piece was we don'twant to go down the medication
route.
But it was the first groupwhere the medications weren't
working.
And the traditional behavioralinterventions, these things were
not yielding the outcomes thatwere promised to parents and to
teachers.
It wasn't working.
And so curiosity kicked in.
(08:12):
It's like well, what is goingon here?
Why are these traditionalapproaches not doing what we've
been told for decades is goingto help solve the problem for
these children?
And so again, just kind of asprocesses then rolled, I was so
fortunate a colleague of minewas using the neurofeedback,
(08:32):
which we'll talk more aboutlater came to me.
He was in the same departmentthat I was in in the College of
Education at this university andhe said you know, I think you
really need to look into this.
We're finding some results inhelping children with learning
difficulties being able to learnhow to read better.
And of course, that ticked abell in my mind because you know
(08:52):
right back, to second grade.
It's like, okay, what's going onhere?
So I actually created a pilotproject for a year where we
worked with children and weworked with veterans who have
PTSD, and that's another thingwe can talk about.
But it was an uncoveringprocess, a discovery and
uncovering and just a revealingthat this assessment that we
(09:14):
happen to use that was tied tothis particular neurofeedback
process.
It looks at 37 areas ofauditory and visual processing
and I get this information in 20minutes.
Wow, 15 page report.
And so for five years I waslooking at these reports, day in
and day out.
(09:34):
We were doing our interventions, retesting at the midpoint,
retesting at the end, and theevidence was supporting this was
working and parents werereporting, things were changing
at home and at school, which tome is far more important than
what an assessment may say.
Douglas James Cottrell (09:51):
I agree.
That's hard evidence.
Those are hard facts.
Connie McReynolds (09:55):
They are.
It's like okay.
And one parent early on as shecame to me we'd been working
with her son and she said youknow, I'm not really sure that
this has really done anythingfor my son.
And I'm thinking, oh my gosh,our data show that there are
some changes here.
And then a week later she cameback and she said I stand
corrected.
So what happened?
(10:15):
And she said I went to a familyreunion and everyone wanted to
know what I had done to my sonbecause he was so much better
behaved.
Douglas James Cottrell (10:24):
So he was improving and she didn't
even notice it.
Wow.
Connie McReynolds (10:28):
Yeah, so it was great.
So she stood in my office for awhile and we chatted and she
said thank you.
She said it must have just beena subtle process to where you
know.
She kind of forgot what it waslike, but the relatives had not.
So so I always hung on to thatone.
It was great.
Douglas James Cottrell (10:49):
It makes my heart feel good when you say
that again, because people havethis misconception that that's
the way it's going to be.
Your child is going to be onmedication for the rest of his
or her life.
I'm sorry, we can't do anythingabout it.
Go live with it.
I, I get my, I get the hair inthe back of my neck stands up
(11:10):
when I hear that, because that'sjust intellectually lazy.
You went ahead and you provedthe point and you had results.
How did you do that exactly?
How did you get those results?
Connie McReynolds (11:22):
Well, it's through this particular
assessment that we were usingand, I'll be honest, yeah, for
the first five years where Ireally was looking at this, I
was trusting it because I sawthe data.
And then I hear the stories.
I just want a cute little storyabout this one little boy, a
nine year old.
Early on his parents werebringing him and we've been
working with him for a littlewhile and he walks in his little
(11:43):
downtrodden that day and Ilooked at him and I said well,
what's going on?
He says.
He said oh, he said you know.
He said it's working.
He said I can pay attention now, even when I don't want to.
It's working, it's just long inthe face.
And the parents behind him andI were trying not to burst out
in the smiles.
I said, oh, my gosh, Okay.
(12:06):
So what then eventuallyhappened is I started realizing
there was something to theseauditory and visual processing
problems, because it seemed tome like children were coming in,
diagnosed with a long litany ofvarious types of conditions,
from intermittent explosivedisorder, oppositional defiant
(12:28):
disorder, autism, tourette'ssyndrome, and the list just went
on.
Douglas James Cottrell (12:34):
Oh my gosh.
Connie McReynolds (12:36):
It went on and on and on and I started
running this assessment oneveryone who came in, regardless
of why they walked in the door,and what I was uncovering is
that, underneath all of theselabels, these massive labels,
underneath all of that, in about85 to 90% of the cases, people
had these existing auditory andvisual processing problems that
(12:59):
no one had accurately identifiedor described to the people.
Now, when this assessments runand I go over the assessment
results, they will sit therestunned.
Some parents tear up.
I've even had adults tear upwhen they've learned what
they've been struggling with foryears.
Douglas James Cottrell (13:18):
Wow.
Connie McReynolds (13:19):
And then I became really curious.
It's like well, you know whoelse is written about this,
because there has to be someoneelse who's got this out there.
You know, this is amazinginformation.
Why, you know, am I not findingit?
So I went on a two year huntfor anyone who was writing
anything on this and theliterature back in those days.
Douglas James Cottrell (13:41):
That was a decade ago, and I think the
audience and I are ahead of you.
You were that first person.
Not anybody else had donesomething, am I right?
Yes, congratulations, I am soproud to have you here on the
show talking about this.
And people for whatever thephysicians were before, they
(14:06):
gave it their best guests andthey just kept adding labels to
labels, to labels, and youactually knuckled down and
discovered the gold to solvingthese people's problems that I
could.
I just see the people crying ohmy God, finally somebody
understands me, somebody cantell me.
(14:26):
I'm going to let you finish thatthought, because I just wanted
to jump in and say that you know, you're the person, you're
number one and right here on myshow we're talking about this,
which is an issue very close tomy heart children with special
needs or challenges.
And to have you do that.
You know, I would say you weredivinely guided almost to get to
your curiosity, your intuition,your spiritual influences, all
(14:49):
leading you to do this.
And then you had to wear withall the gold and try to find out
if anybody else was doing it.
Nope, you're it.
Connie McReynolds (14:57):
So it really was, that.
It was baffling to me that noone and that, and I just kept
looking because I kept thinkingit's so long yes but he has to
do that.
Someone has to have writtenabout this.
Figured this out, looked atthis and literally after two
years I was working on amanuscript and I thought I am
not going to put anything outhere If I'm not quoting someone
(15:19):
else who's already been out here.
I'm not going down that road.
That's an academic.
It's not going to happen.
Douglas James Cottrell (15:26):
No plagiarism right.
Connie McReynolds (15:29):
Yes, it's like no, this is not going to
happen.
So, finally, I had built up myconfidence enough and felt like
I covered the ground deep enough, dug deep enough and broad
enough that it wasn't there.
There were other things outthere, called central auditory
processing disorder, which isactually a hearing problem, but
there was nothing about thistype of auditory processing and
(15:52):
there was certainly nothingabout visual processing.
That was out there since thattime.
It's not necessarily because ofme, I don't think, but I did
publish in 2018 in aninternational journal about this
, and I published the data of asubset of the children that we
worked with that we were able toshow that they had consistently
participated in the trainingand we've done the assessments
(16:14):
all the way along.
Here was the beginning, herewas the middle and here is the
end of what these outcomeslooked like.
So that was in 2018.
So I was finally able to getthat piece out.
Douglas James Cottrell (16:29):
I'm going to get you to explain in
people's what audio and visualdysfunction is, but I just
popped up my mind.
Did you take any criticism fromanyone?
Did they try to disprove yourresearch?
Connie McReynolds (16:44):
No, they haven't.
It's been so interesting Now.
Douglas James Cottrel (16:48):
Obviously the book is fairly new out, so
that's the title, and where canthey get it?
Connie McReynolds (16:54):
The title is Solving the ADHD Riddle really
the lasting solutions findingthe real cause and the lasting
solutions.
For that it's on Amazon andother book dealers.
It's also up on my website.
Douglas James Cottrell (17:08):
What's your website?
Connie McReynolds (17:10):
My website is www.
My name Connie C-O-N-N-I-EMacRiddles,
m-c-r-e-y-n-o-l-d-scom.
It's on the homepage.
Just click there and gostraight to Amazon to get it.
Douglas James Cottrell (17:27):
From what I've read about you, dr
Cony, and what I know about youso far, I highly recommend it.
Who suspects or has ADHD?
I have to look at my note hereto right away investigate by
making a simple investment ingetting your book.
(17:47):
And then I'm going to ask youcan people come and see you in
person as a patient?
Connie McReynolds (17:54):
Yes, and so I do want to speak about that.
I am Southern California, I havetwo clinics in Southern
California, so people do come tomy clinics.
We do the assessment and then wedo the neurofeedback and
typically it's going to be 30minute sessions, usually about
40 of those for, kind of the, Iwould say, the general auditory
(18:15):
and visual processing problem.
Now, if we're talking aboutanxiety and trauma and some of
the other more deeply ingrainedchallenges that might exist, it
may take a little bit longerthan that, but that's really the
end game is two to three timesa week for these sessions, after
every 10 hours of training, the20 sessions then we reassess
(18:38):
and we will create a differenttraining plan based on the
progress that the person hasmade and then any remaining
goals that they may have, andall of the goals are set by the
intake.
So really figuring out whatdoes the person want to work on,
what are the major impacts intheir life, how are they
affected at home and at schoolfor children, but even at work
(19:00):
for adults and those assessmentsthat we run, and so we're
always monitoring the progressof that.
Douglas James Cottrell (19:07):
Well, what you're doing is miracle
work changing people's lives.
I mean the amount of reliefyou're instilling in people by
first of all, giving them acredible diagnosis, then, in my
opinion, just from what you said, providing a game plan for them
to get their lives back andthen having great success doing
(19:29):
it.
You must have a ton of patiencelining up.
I hope everybody listening tothis interview calls you
tomorrow because you have allthe credibility.
You're an innovator, you'realmost first in the field, what
you're doing is remarkable workand nobody else has bothered to
(19:50):
investigate and look forsolutions like you have.
So, again, having a specialchild in my life and having gone
through all that, sherri passedaway when she was 38.
She was born in 1960.
We didn't have thesealternatives, if you will, to
find out what could be done.
(20:11):
She did not have ADHD, she hadsomething else some problems in
her brainstem, whatever, but thelong and the short of it is.
Can you go back a step and nowexplain what exactly is visual
audio malfunction?
And I was intrigued by readingsomething about the brain
doesn't learn like we learn or,in general, well, me accepted,
(20:36):
because I'm weird anyway, butthe brain doesn't learn the same
for everybody.
Can you explain a little bitmore about that?
Connie McReynolds (20:43):
I'd be happy to.
I just want to touch base justfor the listeners, because I do
offer telehealth forneurofeedback, so you don't have
to be within driving distanceof my clinics.
Fantastic, so I just wantpeople to know that is available
.
I actually got a client inSwitzerland and I have clients
kind of scattered around the USas well, so you don't have to be
(21:04):
within driving distance ofSouthern California.
Douglas James Cottrell (21:09):
How about around the world?
Because we're going to beputting the audio of this
interview on our podcast andeven on our radio show is as
international.
I'm sure people from around theworld could, through that same
mechanism, get in contact withyou.
I'm just, I'm just so impressed.
The relief that you're offeringpeople is enormous.
(21:30):
It's got to be a miracleblessing just to get ahold of
you and get that information.
But that's again, that's myopinion.
So, anyway, this is going to goout around the world so you
might end up with our friends inSpain or Australia or Japan,
other other places that peoplewatch our, watch our shows.
So anyway, back to the after,that wonderful revelation that
(21:51):
you don't have to travel, youcan do this on Zoom or something
.
This is amazing.
Can you explain a little bitabout just not to go back too
far?
But how is it that the brainmalfunctions are?
Are they wired differently?
Is there a physical disorder?
Is there something you knowwhat's going on in the brain?
Connie McReynolds (22:10):
Well, the wired word that you use is one I
use because I think we canunderstand that very well which
is our brain is wired tofunction in a certain way.
We have good habits, bad habits, all of its hardwired in, and
so, as we know that when we'retrying to change a bad habit,
sometimes it's pretty hard to do, that it's because the pattern
is pretty strong in the brain.
(22:31):
Those are neuronal pathways andso not.
I don't like to get too deepdown into that because we don't
have to.
We can just really talk aboutthe brain.
The brain is in a state ofcalled neuroplasticity and
interestingly, that term waspitched out to the world in 1949
by the Canadian psychologistDonald Heave, and so he did the
(22:57):
preliminary work all those yearsback.
But it's really taken a longtime for people to fully
understand how this works.
So the brain is changing allthe time.
Everything we do is beingrecorded in our brain and, at
the same time, repetition is howwe learn.
So the brain learns itspatterns through repetition, and
(23:17):
that's the beauty of all ofthis is that that's what makes
the brain trainable.
Now, for some children, adults,whatever it might be and I'm
talking ADHD to post-traumaticstress disorder and everything
in between.
That's all based in neuronalpathways in the brain.
So sometimes for children whohave auditory and visual
processing problems, they canlook like they have all kinds of
(23:40):
other things going on becausethe neuronal pathways in the
brain are not strong enoughacross these 37 areas that we
look at.
Sometimes it's missing completesections of processing.
So they may be really strong inauditory processing but have
zero visual processing.
On this assessment they canflip it as well, so they can be
(24:03):
great in the other one and weakin the other.
Or, most typically, there isalmost like a saw, like the
blades on a saw.
It's kind of up and down and upand down across a mixed graph
of strengths and areas ofweakness.
So those areas of weakness arethe things that we target and
(24:24):
when we figure out specificallywhat areas are not working, then
we build the training planspecific to those areas that
need to be strengthened.
And I explained to parents it'sa little bit like going to the
gym.
If I wanted to start a trainingplan, I'm probably going to get
with the trainer to at least doan assessment to figure out
what machines do I need to geton to strengthen my body.
(24:48):
If these are my goals.
How do I do it?
That's what our assessment does.
It really figures out thoseareas that need to be trained.
And then neurofeedback, which isEEG biofeedback.
A training plan is designed foreach person, unique to their
needs, and through therepetition of going through that
30-minute training plan, weliterally are targeting specific
(25:10):
areas of the brain for therepeated improvements, so to
strengthen those areas ofprocessing.
The good news about theneurofeedback, unlike the gym,
is that once the brain istrained and these neuronal
pathways are strengthened andit's reinforced enough, it's
going to hold typically.
So the nice thing is and I'vehad clients call me five years
(25:32):
later and say I just want you toknow, my brain just keeps
getting better and better andit's like, oh, this is such
great news.
And then I thought about it fora while and I thought, well,
yes, because anything that weuse anywhere, it gets stronger.
The more we do something it'sgoing to continue to strengthen.
So once we get the brain kindof tuned up and wired or heading
(25:52):
in the right direction acrossall of this, those become the
new neuronal pathway, thatbecomes the new normal for that
brain and then we're going tocontinue to use that.
The brain's going to use thatas a strength instead of
creating workarounds to getaround these areas that aren't
working very well.
And so in a nutshell that's whatwe're doing.
Douglas James Cottrell (26:12):
Wow, it's amazing.
Let's take a quick break, we'llbe right back.
Can we get a break from there?
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Douglas James Cottrell (27:30):
Well, dr Connie, just before the break
you were telling this is whatyou do, and I have this image in
my mind about these littleteeny threads in their brain
getting sicker and sicker andthen it's like a freeway going
back and forth with the thoughts.
So that was a marvelousexplanation and I guess the best
(27:52):
thing is about when you trainthe brain you don't have to keep
going to the gym, so to speak.
Keep the muscles going.
It just keeps getting betterand better.
I love it so as people comeback again not to overdo it, but
you change people's lives.
I mean you give them their life.
I can't imagine what it would belike to go through a life where
(28:16):
you can't think, you know youhave this congestion in your
thinking.
It must be frustrating, it mustprovoke people to be angry and
bitter and maybe violent andanyway, to get to the point that
I just can't imagine what itwould be like.
I know back in the day therewasn't much research in this
(28:40):
area.
You know autistic children andother people with these problems
.
By the way, does this expandinto autistic children or other
things?
I'll take that You're smiling.
That is a yes.
You tell us a little more aboutthat.
Connie McReynolds (28:56):
Yes.
So we have over the years,worked with children who have
been diagnosed Some Asperger'skind of.
The labels are changingperiodically in there and
parents will call and say, okay,my child has this, what can you
do?
And I'll always say, well,let's do an intake, because I
can't know until I meet thechild, either via Zoom or in
(29:19):
person, and we put them at thecomputer and let's just see what
this child's capable of doing,because I've had some people in
the severe range that they can'tbe at a computer, and so that's
really one of the keys to thisis a child does need to be able
to be at a computer or operate amouse.
The parent can be there, we'rewith them.
(29:41):
If it's Zoom, obviously inperson, we're with them.
So they need to be able to havethat level of ability.
Now we've had children learnhow to use a mouse.
I've had 93-year-old men learnhow to use a mouse that we've
worked with.
So, just to let you know, we canteach people how to use a mouse
and with, again, the assessmentthat we use those labels.
(30:09):
They just don't give us enoughinformation and with the
assessment I find that a lot ofthese children with autism,
wherever they are in thatspectrum, whatever I'm going to
call it if they have auditoryand visual processing problems
that are really underneath thatdiagnostic label, there's
something we can do about that.
Now, for children who have thebrain that's diagnosed with
(30:31):
autism, it is a longer processfor some of these children, some
of the children in the moderaterange, don't really have verbal
capability but we're still ableto work with them because they
can use the mouse, they can sitat the computer, they can follow
instructions and not to wax toofar into it.
But I just had a parent with achild.
(30:52):
I did a follow-up, first roundretake assessment with him
yesterday and he shared that hisson's language has exploded, as
what was reported by people whoare working with his son.
Now he hasn't been able to getthrough the assessment yet but
we're using that as a trackingmechanism.
(31:13):
But we're also listening forwhat's happening in the child's
world.
So in this particular case theyhad moved to a different school
district.
He had been in the mild supportgroup in the school system and
the new school has moved himinto moderate severe and I
(31:34):
didn't feel like that was a goodmove because there's a lot of
behavioral challenges in thoseclassrooms.
Douglas James Cottrell (31:41):
I wasn't sure About their students right
.
Connie McReynolds (31:43):
Yes, and so in fact the father is reporting
and I'll share.
They've hired an attorneybecause they feel like the
school district is not listeningto them and not providing the
proper support and educationalopportunities for their son.
And this is where schools get alittle locked in.
They get a little rigid intheir approach.
(32:05):
Sometimes I know they're tryingto do the right thing, they
have a lot to manage, but itisn't always.
Their decisions shouldn't bethe last decision, so the
parents should have influence inthat as well.
So we're going to continue withthat, with children with autism
again back to those auditoryand visual processing problems
(32:26):
if they are there and we canhelp them and that's going to
overall help the child do better.
Douglas James Cottrell (32:31):
Well, again, the idea of people have
opinions, they're square headedand even when you present facts
they don't want to hear about it.
I ran up again a lot of that,call it resistance.
And those parents I'm sorry tohear that they're meeting such
thing.
You would think educationalplaces or everybody would be as
I was.
(32:52):
I expected, hey, we've come upwith this chiropractic solution
for my daughter's neck andeverybody would jump on it.
No, that was why I asked youbefore if you were criticized,
because I was severelycriticized for looking for
alternatives.
My daughter was medicated andwas patient managed, if you will
in the institution, which meantshe was living I don't want to
(33:17):
say hell, but she was in a verydifficult, nightmarish existence
.
So varying degrees of breakingdown barriers and prejudice.
This is kind of my job workingwith different professionals and
getting them to work throughtheir minds, just like you are,
and I'm intrigued, reallylistening very carefully to what
(33:38):
you're saying, how you somehowwere putting this together in
your head as you were goingthrough the research and
developing stages and figuringout that, hey, there can be
something done here.
And then you had thatrevelation time.
Can you remember the first timewhen you said oh my God, I got
it.
Was there such a revelationpoint?
Connie McReynolds (34:01):
Well, it was astonishment, I will say.
How it's in that.
You know it was.
It just kept looking at it andlooking at it and looking at it
and thinking is this really whatwe're dealing with?
Because if it is, there'ssomething we can do about this
(34:21):
and this can be a game changerfor people.
It's a game changer forteachers, it's a game changer
for parents and for the child.
And suddenly we go from a childbeing labeled as misbehaving or
willfully bad to parents intears realizing they don't have
a bad child.
They have a child whose brainjust can't take in information.
(34:41):
And if you have auditoryprocessing problems, it does not
matter how many times you tellthe child to go pick up their
shoes and put them away.
If that child can't rememberwhat you're telling them to do.
You can tell them 10 times or100 times and all that's going
to happen is the same thing overand over the child's going to
forget what you've told them.
Douglas James Cottrell (35:01):
Isn't that the definition of insanity?
Connie McReynolds (35:03):
It is, and I think we've been living in it
for a very long time with thesekids, and so my true mission is
to get this out so that peopleknow there is something
different.
We don't have to keep makingthe same mistakes with
generation after generation ofchild that comes along.
We have some solutions.
(35:23):
There's a noninvasive process,which means there's nothing
being done to the child's brain.
The child is just learning howto empower his or her own brain
through brain training exercises, and that builds
self-confidence.
It improves the self-image inthe child.
It gets rid of a lot of thatnegative self-talk that these
children employ very, very earlyon, because in the classroom
(35:47):
and elementary school they'realready judging themselves
against their peers, and if theysee their peers being able to
follow something that someone'ssaying and they don't have any
idea what's going on, theyimmediately go to the place
where I must not be very smartand they will use words such as
I must be stupid.
They will use these words, theparents hear it and there's
(36:09):
heartbreak, of course, butthat's the only place people
have gone in the past is well,if I can't do this, I must not
be very smart.
This has nothing to do withintelligence.
This has everything to do withprocessing, and processing we
can work on and tackle.
And then what happens is, oncethese children's brains are
working better and guess what,they're scoring better on IQ
(36:31):
tests, they're doing better onthe state school exams, they're
doing better in the classroombecause now they can understand
what the instructions are, theycan follow along, they can
perhaps visually process thingsbetter.
So we're changing up the wholeprocess of this child's life in
the academic world and at home.
Douglas James Cottrell (36:49):
You know , it occurs to me, it's common
sense, going back to the pointof birth.
The fetus develops to a pointwhere it's now time for the
birth to occur.
The birth occurs and the bodyis still developing and it takes
(37:12):
a long time for that baby todevelop skills in its brain and
coordinating, you know, andgetting the body's nervous
system to function.
And it occurs to me that maybesomewhere along the line,
something just stopped thedevelopment of these pathways in
the brain and maybe a weakpoint, maybe there was some, you
(37:36):
know, cold disease, whateverbut it arrested the growth in
the brain.
And what I'm hearing you say isthat you can target this and by
whatever this manipulation ofprogramming, patterning, if you
will, repetitious movements thatthe child strikes in those
passageways.
The brain is growing, I wouldsay, and it continues wherever
(38:00):
it was arrested before.
It's now relieved and it's it'sit's strengthening, growing and
creating new pathways.
Would that be sort of somethingthat that you would agree with?
Connie McReynolds (38:12):
Yes, absolutely.
That's part of theneuroplasticity and that's how
the brain works.
Is that an old habit?
If we want to change an oldhabit, we have to develop the
new habit or we have tostrengthen the better habit.
And so by strengthening thebetter habit, and actually what
happens, and there are images ofthis.
How scientists got these imagesI don't know, but sometimes
when I go out and do training,I'll take these images that show
(38:35):
these neurons and synapses andthese connections happening in
the brain cells.
And then it shows this thingcalled pruning, which means if
we drop the bad habit longenough, that connection is going
to go away.
Douglas James Cottrell (38:48):
Really.
Connie McReynolds (38:49):
Yes, and so we're actually able to see how
this works in the brain.
Again, how they got this I haveno idea, but it's fascinating
for people to actually see thesetendrils, kind of these axions
and adendrites come together inthese cells and make these
connections and then to see itprune away when it's going away.
(39:10):
And so we just think of this asjust enhancing, strengthening
those neuroma pathways.
So with the assessment, somechildren have those pathways
there.
They're just not strong enough.
In other cases that I mentioned,where maybe the visual is
completely missing or theauditory is completely missing,
we're going to be building thoseneuroma pathways and we can do
(39:31):
it.
How long it takes is veryunique to each person, but we've
been able to accomplish thatwith anyone that we've worked
with.
It isn't a common occurrence,but when we do see it we've had
enough experience over 15 yearsthat we know we can affect
change.
If the parents can hang inthere and keep that child coming
and we can have consistencywith that treatment plan and we
(39:54):
continue to build and build onthat, then we can get that
processing coming online.
Douglas James Cottrell (39:59):
Well, you are one of the foremost
clinical researchers and expertsin your field, and anybody who
has any suspicion that theirchild has ADHD or any of the
diagnosis that you've mentionedI'm not going to repeat them
they should come and get yourbook.
To start with, your book waswhere can they get it?
(40:24):
And what's your website?
Again, let's get everybody onthe bandwagon here.
Connie McReynolds (40:28):
Okay, so the book the title is Solving the
ADHD Riddle.
It's on Amazon.
It's available in paperbackybook and audiobook and I did the
audiobook myself so you get myvoice, because I wanted my voice
in that, so people couldunderstand where I'm coming from
with that.
The website iswwwconnymcrenaldscom.
(40:51):
Sorry for the long name, but itwas my given and that's what I
have.
Douglas James Cottrell (41:02):
And forget it.
It's my name, atcom, you know.
So let's take a short break.
We'll be right back and I haveanother question to ask.
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Maybe it's all past life issues.
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Douglas James Cottrell (42:29):
Dr Cottney, I highly recommend your
book.
Just as a parent who's had sucha child in my life, I was able
to get someone to give mealternatives that allowed my
child to come out of aninstitution.
She was in there from two and ahalf until six and a half and I
regret every day that that daymy wife and I took her to this
(42:55):
place.
But it was part of the karma,if you will, part of the
spiritual path.
But because of her life, I'mdoing what I'm doing today and
have done what I do for the last50 years.
So, in a playful way, I wantedto ask you if you could do this
for people who have issues likechildren.
(43:16):
What about people like me?
Can you make me smarter if Iwas to go through the same
program?
You know what I mean.
I'm kind of holding my own, butyou know if I wanted to be
improved, is that possible?
I'm just asking, a playful sortof way just popped in my head.
So if you know what might, bepossible?
Connie McReynolds (43:33):
yes, Of course it's possible, because
our brain is changing, it's theneuroplasticity.
So, just so you know, Iactually recently put a
neurofeedback station clinicinside a retirement center here
in Southern California.
Douglas James Cottrell (43:47):
Really yes, Wow so a couple of years
ago.
Connie McReynolds (43:52):
This is kind of one of those things that just
happened.
We didn't know it at the time,but I had a man call me.
He said his 82-year-old motherwas struggling with her memory
and did he think that I couldhelp?
And I had helped him with somepain management.
Did he think I could help hismother?
I said, well, let's get her in,let's do some assessments,
(44:14):
let's kind of figure out what'sgoing on.
So we did that and we had someshorter memory computer-based
assessments that we ran and, yes, we found out that there was
some room for improvement forher memory.
There was some other thingsgoing on with auditorium vision,
that's like, well, let's dothis.
So we did the 20 hours oftraining with her and then one
(44:34):
day she came back in just tokind of stop by and say hello
and she was smiling from ear toear and her son was looking a
little coy as well and I'mthinking, okay, what's going on
here?
So she started saying, well,she said you know, I didn't know
this, but before I came in tosee you I'd seen my doctor and I
just went back for my six-monthcheckup and what he was
(44:58):
assessing her for was dementia.
She didn't know it.
Douglas James Cottrell (45:02):
Oh my gosh.
Connie McReynolds (45:03):
So she went back after six months and she
took the same test that she'dtaken six months earlier and he
looked at her and she's tellingthe story.
She said he looked at me, hegoes okay, what have you been
doing?
And she goes what are youtalking about?
And he'll tell it first person.
And she said she said, well, Iwell, why I've been doing this
(45:25):
thing called neurofeedback.
And he said well, whateveryou're doing, keep doing it,
because you've just reversedthis.
You've improved your cognitivescore on this test several
points.
And I'm going to tell you nowthat when you were here six
months ago, I had been preparingfor the last six months to tell
you that you were in dementia.
You are not.
Yeah, he didn't know She'd beencoming for neurofeedback and I
(45:50):
didn't know that she was thatclose to being diagnosed with
dementia.
We had found memory problems,but I'm not a medical physician
and I wasn't assessing her fordementia.
I was assessing her for doesshe have some memory problems?
And yes, indeed, she did.
So I share that to let peopleknow that there's always an
opportunity.
I have people in their 90s rightnow in this retirement center
(46:14):
who we're working with and youknow it's not going to be maybe
the 20 hours.
It's probably going to be alonger process, but the brain
can still learn, it can still berewired, it can be strengthened
, and that's what these seniorcitizens are looking for.
They want to improve what theyhave, they want to hang on to
what they already have.
They don't want this trajectoryof a different future for
(46:37):
themselves.
So anyone can benefit from this.
I think we actually train sportsfolks to be on the other side
of the equation.
So we've worked with MajorLeague Ball Player to hone his
game a little bit.
We've worked with a gymnast whowanted to improve her attention
and concentration and focus andwhen she came back from her
(46:57):
competition, she was wearingfive medals.
When she walked in the door andI was like, oh my gosh, okay,
beaming, her smile was biggerthan the five medals, it was
brighter.
So you know, there's just somuch that can be done with the
brain, and I think that's reallythe message.
Here is where you don't want togive up on this.
(47:18):
We want to keep going and wewant to strengthen, and so the
intake is an hour and a half, isall it takes of your time, and
we do it via Zoom if you're notin Southern California and we do
the assessments, the same as ifyou're sitting in my clinics
and I go over everything withyou on Zoom and we email you the
results at the end of theassessment, and then people can
(47:38):
make their decisions, what theywant you to do.
Douglas James Cottrell (47:41):
Wow, I was asking that in a playful way
.
My interest is exploring theunlimited human consciousness.
That's what my show is allabout.
What my interest has been,because I believe again from
hard evidence not just theory orbelief in invisible things.
(48:04):
But it was like thisconsciousness is enormous and,
as I was just sort of askingabout that, I don't have all
cybers but I have some timers.
Sometimes I remember, sometimesI don't, so I think I might buy
your book.
Connie McReynolds (48:26):
Well, I just find it, you know, at the end of
the day, when a parent has saidthese things to us and reported
these effects, it mitigates anyother challenge that there may
have been that came across inthe day, because, at the end of
the day, if we really helped,give a parent or a child or
(48:48):
teacher or anyone some hope thatthere can be a different future
for themselves, and that's whatthis is about.
This is about helping peopleknow that there's a different
future they can hold forthemselves.
Douglas James Cottrell (48:59):
You give them back their life.
Connie McReynolds (49:01):
We have.
And, not to be immodest aboutit, it's just the data, it's
just the work, it's what's comethrough me.
I didn't create the software, Ididn't create the assessment,
but I did figure out a littlebit of a difference.
Douglas James Cottrell (49:14):
Well, you know it's like a path
through the forest, right?
Oh yeah, I just take a path, gothrough the forest.
So yeah, anybody can follow thepath.
But who was the first one thatfound the path through the
forest, or the confusion?
And you know, I admire peoplewho are way showers, people who
(49:34):
don't take no for an answer andare spurred by whatever
spiritual, intellectual,intuitive, whatever pursuit they
take to say something can bedone about this.
And then they have the tenacityto go ahead.
And from what you've done againwith being an explorer in this
(49:57):
field, you know you're not quitesure where to go and the
enormous amount of effort thatyou've done should be somewhat
appreciated by your colleagues.
So, with that note, have yousent your book to other
colleagues, other areas in themedical profession?
I'd love to hear what they hadto say, because I keep hitting
(50:20):
them over the head by sayingthere's more you can do.
Don't just put the blinkers onand say this is what I do and I
don't.
This is what I do.
I do surgery, I don't doanything else.
You know, go away and thoughthere's got to be more that you
can, as a group of healers, cometo a consensus if you will.
(50:41):
I'm not talking about acommittee kind of making a
diagnosis, but I'm talking aboutthe overlap and as I was
listening to you, the imageswere going through my mind.
We don't know much about thebrain, we don't know much about
consciousness we think we do.
But here you are, in your lifeat this point in time, coming up
(51:03):
with a brand new field ofendeavor that can help babies,
children who have, you know, lowself-esteem, who think they're
stupid, who think nobody caresabout them and, more importantly
, the parents who love theirkids so much and they don't know
what to do.
They would give their lives tohelp their children I'm sure I
(51:25):
was willing and you don't knowwhat to do and then, like an
angel, you show up and you say,oh, I could help, come on down
for an hour and a half and we'llsee if we can show you a
pathway.
So have you reached out toother people, or other people
listening to you in your fieldof expertise?
Are they wanting you?
Do you do seminars?
Do you do workshops?
(51:46):
What do you do?
Connie McReynolds (51:48):
Well, that's the hope, that, now that the
book is out, that because youreally have to kind of prove
that you have something.
And it took a little while forme to be able to write that book
.
And I wasn't going to write ituntil I had solved what I call
the remote neurofeedback problem, because I wasn't going to just
put a book out and say, oh I'msorry, if you don't live within
(52:09):
20 miles of my clinic inSouthern California, I'm not
going to be able to help you.
I wasn't going to do that Okay.
And so once we solve that.
The software developer Iactually called him.
I've had a good longrelationship with him and it was
in a February A couple of yearsago, kind of still in the
middle of the pandemic, and outhere we were hearing rumors of
(52:30):
another shutdown and I thoughtwe can't keep doing this.
So we have to get help topeople.
And I called him.
It was late it was probably 10,3, 11 o'clock in his world that
night and he took my call and Isaid look, we've got to find a
solution to this.
I don't know what it's going totake, but I have to be able to
get this out to people who aremore than 20 or 30 minutes from
(52:51):
my clinic.
And he listened and he calledme a month later and he said I
pulled off all the programmers,off of everything else and we've
created this for you so that wecan do this.
And so I thought well, we'regoing to try this and make sure
it works.
So two years later, we've beendoing it and we're helping
(53:13):
people around the country and Ihope we can reach beyond where
we are to bring us to some otherfolks.
And I just want to be clear Idon't diagnose, so people are
wanting to use insurance orsomething I'm not going to be
diagnosing, so they'll need togo through their own medical
folks to do that, because we'refocused on the auditory and the
(53:35):
visual processing problems, andso if you want to find out if
that's what's going on, I'mhappy to work with you on that.
But if it comes to diagnosticlabels and insurance and things
like that, then that's justyou'll.
You've got to handle that moreon your own end.
Douglas James Cottrell (53:49):
And that's somebody else's part of
the solution, or the or the sopeople coming in assessment from
yourself.
You provide again summarizingyou provide something to them,
they try it out and and theymore than likely have positive
(54:11):
results.
And are some people fast andsome people slow in this
development?
I think you might havementioned that earlier.
But just as we get towards theend of the program, how does
that work, you know?
Like I mean, I'm sure there arepeople right now who just
they're on the computer going tobuy your book, they want to
call you, and other people aresitting there going.
(54:31):
Hmm, I don't know.
Connie McReynolds (54:35):
And I think I was the whole gamut.
I mean, I've been down thewhole gamut with it myself, so
you know it's just from one endof it to the other and back and
back and back about.
You know where are we with this?
And so finally pulling togetherthe book and really working
through that process of gettingit published.
And I think it's really goodpeople to know that there are
(54:56):
other opportunities,alternatives, if you want to
call them, or just options, andit just is possible to do things
differently than what we'vereally kind of thought we've
always had to do, kind ofoutside the box.
I think it's an outside the boxprocess here and I feel like
that's really where we're goingin the world and with humanity.
(55:17):
So we can't stay in the sameboxes that we've been in up to
now and think we're going tohave anything different in the
future.
We have to step outside thisbox as we have to be open minded
to what some of these newsolutions and new ways of being
can be for us as a human beingon this planet as we connect
with others, and I think thismay be one of the many things
(55:41):
that will be coming for humanityover the next decade or so.
That could really turn thingsaround in a big way.
Douglas James Cottrell (55:49):
I listen to your well said, very concise
, and I believe that's aprophetic statement.
Thinking outside the box is agood term, looking for
alternatives, because if thereis something in the world that
has happened, it exists, andthen there has to be a remedy
that also exists.
(56:10):
It's just a matter of gettingthe two of those together, and I
think that, as my life wasalways looking for alternatives
took me in very unusual places,but it's been fascinating in
discovering just who and what weare as people and all the
different functions we have.
So again, people can get a holdof you at wwwconnyrenalscom.
(56:36):
Go to your website and get abook.
I wouldn't mind getting anautograph copy of your book, by
the way.
Connie McReynolds (56:44):
That could probably be arranged.
Advertisement (56:48):
Thank you, Riley.
Douglas James Cottrell (56:50):
Well, listen, it's been wonderful
having you on here and findingall about them Amazing.
I'm going to call it miraclework you're doing.
They give somebody back theirlife, especially as a child who
thinks they're stupid, they haveno self-esteem and that their
life is there's something wrong.
They know it's wrong becausethey can feel it in their head
but they can't expressthemselves and they can't
(57:12):
remember all those things.
I guess you could say it's likeyouthful Alzheimer's.
You know.
It's just like your braindoesn't work.
You can feel it and you canknow it.
That's my sense that I'mpicking up just now and how
terrible it is.
But by unlocking those pathwaysthrough those neurons and
synapses and getting back to themuscle building in the brain, I
(57:34):
just love it.
That repetition builds strength.
You know you don't use it.
You lose it in muscles but inthe brain the more you do it.
Again, as a summary, the bookis called Solving the ADHD
Riddle.
My guest has been ConnieMcReynolds, phd.
She is a foremost researcher inher field.
(57:55):
I encourage everybody who'slistening to this podcast to get
in contact with thisgroundbreaking researcher.
If you suspect your child hassome issues like this, if you
know somebody who has a specialchild, send this program off to
them so they might be able tofind Dr Connie and get ahold of
them for some miracle help.
(58:16):
It's been wonderful having youon the show.
We'll have you on again in thefuture, I'm sure.
I wish you very, very, verywell.
You're a marvelous person and atrue healer.
I'm your host, douglas JamesCottrell.
On behalf of our producers,jack and Paul, and the team here
, we wish you peace andprosperity.
(58:37):
Remember, although this show isgoing to end, the journey
doesn't end here.
Continue to look foralternatives, continue to look
within, and may you have peacealways, until next time.
God bless.
Announcer (59:13):
For more related products, please visit his
website DouglasJamesCottrellcom.
Until next time, we wish youall of God's blessings health,
wealth and peace of mind.
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com