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!

I have been asked to post all of the achievement stickers my daughter has received since the last one I posted back in April.

This one  cracked me up.  It is like getting a participation trophy.  Of course, for some children, participation does not come easily, so maybe they do deserve an award for it.

Sorry!  I have been slack on posting.
These are the supplements she is taking:

DHA 500 if she takes capsules and give one in the morning and one in the evening a day. Or Pharmax High DHA Finest Pure Fish Oil 150 ml if you want a liquid and give half a teaspoon in the morning and half a teaspoon in the evening. Amazon.com or pureformulas.com

Ther Biotic Infant Formula and give as per the label once day for three months. Get it shipped quickly because it is live; but you don’t have to have it shipped with ice so if that charge pops up delete it. Store it in the fridge when you receive it. Pureformulas.com or amazon.com This is chosen specifically because it does not have L. Acidophilus in it.

Vitaspectrum by Klaire Labs. If you choose the capsule form give three capsules a day for three months then switch to a multivitamin with less B complex in it. If you choose the powder form give half a teaspoon a day. Amazon.com or pureformulas.com

P-5-P Plus by Klaire Labs and give one a day for two months. This is a supplement with B6 and magnesium in it. Amazon.com or pureformulas.com

Vitamin C product that gives 1000 mgs a day of Vitamin C and that has some bioflavonoids in it. Give 1000 mgs a day for two months, then 500 mgs a day for one more month.

Vitamin E 200 IUs and give one a day for three months. Solgar has a product Solgar Vitamin E 100 Softgels 200 IU vitaminshoppe.com or amazon.com Let me know if she would prefer a liquid form and I will find her one. These capsules are small.

Now that I have posted this, I realize I have been giving the wrong portions.  She will be happy to know that she only needs 1/4 teaspoon of the probiotics (infant formula).  She can't stand the taste and it doesn't come in capsule form.  I thought that was the 3 times a day one.  Ooops!


She has adjusted well to not having dairy, eggs and barley.  Most of it was just changing name brands of the foods she usually eats.  She likes almond milk (not coconut milk) so that is a bonus.  Her birthday is this week and we will use that time for her one month challenge.  If she doesn't feel any different, then I don't see any point in continuing the diet.  I will continue the supplements until we run out.  I think I will keep her on the magnesium.  I always felt she was low in magnesium, long before I heard of Brain Balance.

Brain Balance let us go a few extra sessions since we are moving and they know we won't be able to enroll her again.  Her final test is tomorrow.

My general synopsis of Brain Balance is that they are a good program and do improve ADHD, but not to the extent they say it will.  I am satisfied with the results I have seen for the $6,500 I paid.  Results include better grades, scoring above average and high average on end of grade state exams, improved writing skills, increased desire to practice difficult skills, being self aware, improved athleticism, and catching herself being weird.  I am guessing the more she catches herself being weird the less it will occur.  Do these increases mean she is going to be an honor roll student and get herself into the academically gifted program at school?  I don't know, but I will let you know how she does at school next year.

I haven't written in a while because nothing has changed.  They still do the same exercises and she hasn't shown any dramatic improvement. She keeps leveling up in the same things she has been doing.   I had the nutrition consult today.  She has to cut out dairy, eggs and malt.  If dairy or eggs are a minor ingredient then it is okay to consume it.  Minor is defined as not being listed on the package in the first four ingredients.  In four weeks we can challenge her with dairy for one day, wait 3 days, challenge her with eggs, wait 3 days and challenge her with malt.

I had told Dr. Naumann that she doesn't seem tired, but today she had a farewell to dairy day and consumed a lot.  Ice cream, yogurt, chocolate milk and stuffed shells with cheese may have been the reason she couldn't even do 5 sit ups and didn't even try push ups today.  It will be interesting to see if there is a change in her with eliminating these foods.  I'll find out on Monday what supplements they recommend.

I wasn't going to tell her I was a nutritionist, but when she broke out the Kreb's cycle and started to explain it to me, I just couldn't take it any more.  It did speed up the consult, which is a good thing when you have a roaming three year old.

Thanks to Jason Marucci for finding out what glasses my daughter is using a Brain Balance to dilate her left eye!  It is at http://eyelights.com/.

This is the inside of it.

She went up in balance beam, prone core, dichotic listening and brachiation.  So Friday she should have some new things to do.  For homework she was able to stand on her left leg for 14 seconds with her eyes closed.  We are making progress.

I asked her today if she felt there were any real changes.  She said she felt she could focus for longer.  Before she would fall asleep at the computer while listening to her online classes, but now she can sit through an hour online class with no problems.

So we went to Disney World for spring break with the intention of doing the Brain Balance exercises.  That didn't happen.  She went up another level in proprioception today. I didn't have much of a chance to talk to her about what they did today, so I will post that later.

Waiting room talk:  A mother was telling me about the effect the nutritional changes has had on her son.  He was diagnosed with an intolerance to milk and eggs after doing the labs.  They cut out all dairy and eggs and he immediately started having a lot more energy.  Before he was normally found lying on the couch and rubbing his face like some do when they are tired.  Every three months they can reintroduce dairy to see if he is still intolerant (he is already okay to eat eggs now).  If he goes back to his old sleepy ways, they take him off of the dairy again.  Eventually his body and brain should mature enough to where he is no longer intolerant to dairy and he will no longer have diet restrictions.

Dairy seems to be the common factor among the ADHD group.  Several of the autistic children have a lot more eliminations which include gluten.  We should be taking our daughter to do labs this week.  I think she will just kill over if she finds out she can't have Nesquik milk.

It has been nice this week seeing my daughter is becoming a bit more tolerant of other's weaknesses. She also went up in auditory processing and up a grade level in auditory processing.

Auditory processing was her lowest score from her original evaluation.  I have a niece who was diagnosed with auditory processing disorder, so it runs in the family.  We just had our progress report and she has moved up 4 age levels in auditory processing since we started.  They feel they can move her up seven more levels by the time she completes the program.  This is when you tell your child to get the paper from the first drawer on the right side of the desk, and they say "Okay" and then come back having no idea what they are supposed to be getting or where they are supposed to look.  

They have added more homework to her daily routines.  She continues all the original exercises, but now she also has an auditory processing exercise, a fine motor and timing & rhythm exercise and a proprioception exercise.  She also has a whisper phone that she places on her left ear and needs to speak in for 15 minutes a day.

The whisper phone allows her to hear her own voice and is placed on the left ear to stimulate her right brain.  For the proprioception exercise she has to stand on her left foot for 30 seconds with her eyes closed.  She was able to do it with a lot of wiggling and scooting around.  I couldn't even do it for 15 seconds.  I could do it forever with my eyes open, so I was really surprised how hard it was to do with my eyes shut.  Try it!  The goal is 60 seconds.

For fine motor and timing & rhythm she can play Bop-IT, Simon, Operation or Jacks.  She can also learn how to play the "Cup Song".  And for auditory processing she can choose between one of the following activities: