So we moved over the summer and I had forgotten all about Brain Balance until I received a friendly reminder that I had promised an update.  She's now in high school and I feel all those achievements I mentioned before are still there.  Her athleticism is great as shown in her dance class and PE class.  She's not behaving strangely, except for one day.  She was hit in the head by a basketball and for the rest of the day she did some awkward social behavior.  It was weird.  I mentioned before I felt her ADHD was due to all of her head injuries when she was younger.

Her grades go A, B, C, D in order they are taken at school.  If she takes math first period, she makes and A, if she takes it last period, she makes a D.  I had another mom tell me that I should increase her medications because her daughter had the same problem and it was due to her medications running out too early.  After I told her I don't give my daughter medication, neither one of us had any more theories.  She just doesn't have the ability to stay focus without moving.  I loved it when she went to year round school and would get the 3 week breaks.  She never got burned out.  Now we go to a terrific school where we can pick and choose whatever classes we want in the order we want, so I am able to put her core classes first and her electives last in the day.

She still has the problem with organization of her materials and time. But she recognizes the problem and pays her sister to organize her room and tries to work more with the calendar for her assignments.  So I find it nice to see her trying to resolve her own weaknesses instead of us correcting them.  Also, I do not help her as much with her school work as I did previously.

I absolutely love her ability to stand up for the underdog and to empathize with others.  I also love her loyalty and endurance.  She had band camp this summer 40 hours a week in 100 degree weather for 3 weeks and did well. Don't worry, they made the kids drink water every 15 minutes whether they were thirsty or not and sent them inside if they mentioned any ill effects of the sun.

So my overall view of Brain Balance is...they promised me a banana split and gave me an ice cream cone.  Would I have paid $6500 for it?  Maybe not.  But am I glad for the things that were accomplished?  Yes.  I think my biggest disappointment was when they asked to have her retested on the parts she did not score well on for the exit testing, but they didn't do that for the beginning testing.  What makes me the most grateful is that I no longer cringe every time she opens her mouth.  So she's not academically gifted, but she is a well adjusted young lady with goals in life that I feel confident she will achieve.

It should also be noted that she never finished her vitamins and we stopped doing all the exercises.  We are just too busy during the school year.  Also she doesn't like taking the vitamins, so she chooses not to remember those.  I never noticed a difference in her when we re-challenged her on the foods or when she stopped taking the vitamins, so I didn't feel it was important.  I should have seen something within 30 days if it was going to have an effect on her.

Let me know if I left anything out that you want to know!
Thanks for reading!