Just looking for others that may have gone through the Brain Balance program. We did the assessment on DS and of course, his right brain is weaker. They said his left side was on par with a 19-20 year old while the right is more at 4-5 years old (my DS is now 9).

The program basically combines OT and visual therapy together with some cognitive work to target the weaker side and mature it to match or at least get closer to the stronger side. Most parents seem to think it works well.

My DS has already done some OT and a year of vision therapy but it was't targeted like this to one side and I'm wondering if this would help even more. It is very, very pricy however (3 months is twice as much as a year of VT and of course they say most kids need to do 6 months).

I could probably manage do some of the things recommended in the Disconnected Kids book this program is based on but probably not at the same intensity.

Anyway, wondering if anyone has done this? Thanks.

I have done research and think it is quackery. Yes, I think some aspects of it might be helpful but I just don't believe it is worth the money. (Can't remember specifics, but remember deciding against it.)

https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/brain-balance/

Thanks. Yes, they let me know about that study but I haven't looked it up yet. I'm definitely more skeptical because of the cost. The activities they do aren't weird - they are already done in OT and VT which is why I tend to think that it probably does help but there is a lot that bothers me about their approach. Trying to gather all the info I can!

Anyone who promises to cure that many things is undoubtedly blowing smoke.

I agree with DeaconGirl and DeeDee.

Plus, the whole left brain/right brain thing is a myth. Examples:

Left/right brain debunk #1

Left/right brain debunk #2

As with most scientific ideas, absorbing the information in these articles takes careful reading and a bit of time (10-15 minutes each?).

IMO, this is one reason why pseudoscience myths are so easy to create and so hard to remove from popular belief. It's easy to say, Right brain = creative! Left brain = analytical! But it takes time to explain why these ideas are wrong, and people often aren't interested in a long explanation ("Eyes are just WAY too complex to have evolved!").

I am NOT accusing anyone here of not wanting to take time to understand why the right/left brain thing is a myth. I'm simply trying to provide one reason for why pseudoscientific ideas get become widely accepted in the general population.

The Broca's area and Wernicke's area, related to speech/language, are located on the left side of the brain.

Pseudo-science may arise based on early research in an area, and/or misapplication of an idea or set of ideas which are correct (there is the possibility of some being focused more on growing an industry and less on serving needs); A grain of truth may get coated in extrapolation and/or commercialization.

Some may say that detractors, opponents, and/or de-bunkers may, at times, use a strawman rather than explanations actually provided by proponents.

It is wise to consider both supportive and opposing opinions, anecdotes, and research to determine what the preponderance of the evidence suggests. The forums can be a great place to cast a wide net for information, however responses can sometimes be a bit one-sided as those who express an alternate view or minority view on a topic may experience unpleasantness.

Neuroscience For Kids seems to explain the functions of the brain hemispheres, and experiments about them, well.

Indigo, you crack me up. SsTtRrAaWwMmAaNn', indeed.

Were you trying to hide a secret message about the importance of maintaining a balanced brain in your post?

While I agree that the intensity and combination of therapies is an appealing aspect of brain balance, I wonder if you get a shortchanged with parts, especially the neurofeedback. Your son is now 9 yrs old and I'd also wonder how much the gains would be at this point. I'm not saying that you wouldn't get some gains or results, but I would try to pin down what your objectives are with brain balance and if they're feasible with them.

My ds9 has done years of ot, vt, and neurofeedback, but I stopped neuro a year ago after I had ds's visual skills re-evaluated with a developmental/behavioral optometrist. At that point, I felt we had reach a sort of plateau.

At the end of the day, ds is spatially gifted but with he was also born with visual deficits. Although at times I wish neurofeedback could help rewire his brain to remedy the visual deficits, that's not going to happen. And my son has learned to compensate with his visual deficits since birth so who even knows where those neural pathways now go.

Thanks for all of the input. It's been hard to really assess the program because people either seem to love it or think it's total garbage. Honestly, researching and dissecting scientific journal articles is not something that appeals to me so I will probably never fully understand the science. I'm OK with that.

Yes, the combination therapy is appealing but I do understand that is it not as personalized. My son already did a year of intense VT and about 6 months of not so intense OT (which was my fault because were were trying to do both at the same time and I just couldn't keep up at home with the exercises). I work FT - there are only so many hours in the day.

His vision improved greatly with VT but what remains are some coordination/body issues, some social issues and emotional intensity. Do these things apply to highly gifted kids? Yes, they do. So I am still trying to figure out if these issues will improve with maturity or not.

I did at least get some WIAT-III test results out of the process, which is good. I can see improvement in the fluency subtests which he did not do well on in the WISC-IV 3 years ago (I think due to his vision issues). He is still showing a big discrepancy between certain areas so I'm not sure what we should be doing next. It's been about 9 months since VT ended and we haven't been doing any therapies at all.

I hate seeing him struggle in some of these areas but I'm not sure what our next move should be.

Oh, Bronalex I know somewhat how you feel. My son has had 5 yrs of ot, 2.5 yrs of vt, and about 2 yrs of neuro on/off. We saw the most improvements with vt too, some of them dramatic.

Does my son still have coordination/body issues, social issues, and emotional intensity? Yes. He was born with severe SPD, visual deficits, etc. Have some of them improved over time? Yes. And I haven't done any therapies for the last year. Ds is now 9.5 yrs old.

I hate seeing my son struggle too. I know it stinks. However, your son is 8. Over the next couple of years, you will see changes regardless. Eventually his brain and body will start catching up to one another, but it may take some time.

Have you tried water therapy, martial arts, or something similar? Ds did water therapy for a bit and that did help a bit. Also, he's starting to bike more and that's been helpful as well.

Those are all good suggestions. I haven't heard about water therapy so I will investigate that. I do know that my son is deathly afraid of putting his head underwater and refuses to learn how to swim. I even had him in special one on one swimming lessons through the therapeutic services at the city rec center but he can't do anything in the water except sink. I worry about this a lot.

He won't try to learn to ride his bike. I haven't pushed martial arts but he said he wasn't interested after going to a bday party once at a center. Maybe we can look at it again.

I know bronalex. DS did water therapy due to the 1st neurofeedback's recommendation (and partly insistence). Honestly, I don't think I would have thought or considered it otherwise. He did water therapy at 6.5 yrs old and then I put him in again last Nov. DH and I try to get him to swim on the weekends or whenever possible.

DS initially did water therapy with Dr. Burdenko himself, though he was expensive. He created his own program/ method and water therapy tools. Throughout the country, there are people who follow his method and perhaps do both water and land exercises. The water exercises involve a lot of snow angels in the water and gentle movements that use both sides of the body. The land exercises involve a lot of balancing and snow angels on an exercise log.

When DS was with Dr. Burdenko, we actually bought a therapy water suit (expensive) when due to his complete lack of body-in-space and inability to float.

Biking - that takes time and maybe some small baby steps or nudging and encouragement. My son did some biking last year but a few weeks ago he got on his bike again, which he hasn't been on for a year, and I couldn't believe how confident and controlled he was on the bike.

What is water therapy? Is an OT therapy, or something else? I tried googling but got a bunch of (seemingly) unrelated links...

My DS7 is also struggling with swimming - hates having water on his face, refuses to put his face in the water, and also dislikes the feeling of goggles. I struggle to wash his hair in the tub (although he at least doesn't scream like DD did).

He is in private swim lessons, and after the last one the instructor said she was going back to basics because he can't float! (Although I had thought he was progressing during the previous session)

He has some sensory issues (obviously) and also our OT suggested DCD. He does quite well riding his bike though - started on a balance bike at 5yrs old and now is quite good at riding (no training wheels).

Water therapy (or aquatic therapy) is its own therapy - separate to OT. I think usually done by PTs. It involves a lot of sensory, gross motor, and bilateral coordination, but not fine motor skills.

Here's the link to Dr. Igor Burdenko - http://www.burdenko.com/. He had a partnership with ds's #1 neurofeedback provider. She got all his olympians and professional athletes, while Dr. Burdenko got all her neurofeedback patients. Dr. Burdenko is from the former USSR and developed a national program there, which included water/land exercises. Quite an amazing person!

There isn't a label on the water therapy vest, but this is similar to the one ds used - http://www.hydrofit.com/wet-vest-ii-child/. I think Dr. Burdenko has the vest my ds used under his product tab.

Can2K - those water struggles sound like sensory ones to me! When my son was much younger and in ot/pt/speech etc., we used to rub his face at times with hands, bath scrubbies, soft fuzzy gloves, or other things to desensitize him. I think that helped ds but I still have a ways to go with the nail and hair cutting.

I had a friend do this with her son who has Aspergers. They saw really good changes with his social-emotional abilities and tolerance, and other behavioral and cognitive benefits with the first round. Teachers, therapists, friends- everyone was wowed, so they went ahead with another round which ended up causing him a lot of difficulty. If your child is showing any backwards movement, I'd probably withdraw early. Two others I know have had mixed benefits. Also, look for a "chiropractic neurologist" - they essentially do many of the same things and may be insurance covered. I believe Dr. Mellilo is also a chiropractic neurologist, but expanded and packaged it into the BB program.

Which therapy/modality are you referring to? I can say after 3 years in the field of Neurofeedback, I have seen nothing but positive results for those on the Autism spectrum (as well as virtually everyone else). That said, I use NeurOptimal® which is a pure feedback form of Neurofeedback, not operant conditioning like many of the others.

I have had several people tell me that they had done traditional neurofeedback with initial success but then problems emerged later in training. This can be a problem with the qEEG neurofeedback (operant conditioning) because that method involves human judgement about what your brain needs and protocols that "push" the brain one way or another with rewards. This can be very effective, but for many reasons it can also be problematic with the possibility of over-training and side effects.

NeurOptimal® is based on a whole different paradigm. Essentially the idea that when the brain gets pure feedback about its own activity, it will self correct in a way that is optimal for that individual Central Nervous System. Because there is no pushing involved, this type is non-invasive, non medical and safe for anyone to use at home.

You can purchase or rent a personal system and have the exact same effective training results as if you went to a professional's office. Rentals usually run around $800.00 for a month with 20-30 sessions. The cost of a home trainer is $5,500.00 with 300 sessions(with the option to add more for as low as $10.00 each). The systems have a fairly high resale value too, so you can buy one, train all you want and then sell it and get a good chunk of your money back. Or you can look for a used one (just make sure to verify with the manufacturer that it is still up to date and eligible for their tech support).

It wont "cure" any medical condition, but the training gets the brain in the best shape possible. Typically sleep and stress levels improve appreciably within 10-20 sessions. When sleep and stress are improved, the brain has a lot more energy to spend on other things. That's when all sorts of other symptoms start to drop off. I have seen people get off their sleep and anxiety meds and greatly reduce ADHD meds within 20 sessions (of course I advocate working closely with their doctor if that's what they want to do)

I was very skeptical to sign my daughter up at first because the research is sparse. Ultimately I was desperate and I'm glad I tried it. I now understand why the research is sparse. No one will ever get rich with this, people train for 10 - 100 sessions and get on with their life, not like medications that create customers for life.

IMHO, research starts with the flawed assumption that you have equivalent subjects to begin with. You simply can't control for all the variables in humans (genetics, leaky gut, trauma from birth or seemingly small head bumps in toddler-hood, food sensitivities, gut microbiome imbalances etc. That said, the research that has been done has shown nothing but positive results thus far.

Neurofeedback is not new, it has been around since the 1960s, NASA even uses it to train their astronauts for peak performance.

Okay, there's my 2 cents, I'm doing what I can to get the word out there, HTH. If that isn't hat you were referring to, please disregard ;-)