Here is my daughter's visit at Brain Balance today in her own words.
They took me to the activity room and put peppermint on the shoulder of my shirt, then on my opposite leg they put a battery powered band around my leg that buzzed. Then I started doing my computer exercises while my leg is buzzing. First there were arrows and I had to click on the keyboard which way the arrow is pointing. Then the next exercise a number pops up in the middle of the screen and I have to say the number and press which way the arrow is pointing. Then my eyes had to follow a little purple egg that moved from the middle to the left side of the screen. The left side of the screen was a moving checker board. Then there were vertical purple stripes moving to the right. I had to pick a stripe and follow it with my eyes half way through the screen and then go back and follow another one. Then I played computer tennis.
After computer exercises, then I go to another area and put on a headset. It plays an audio that says two words at the same time, one in each ear, and I have to tell them what both of the words are. Then I put the pegs in the pegboard with my left hand for 30 seconds and then both hands. Then in another area they put a wrist band on me with a button with another button on the floor mat. I had to keep time with the cowbell. The wrist band was then removed.
Then he asked me to put on funky glasses that are blue on the left lens and black tape covering the right lens. With the glasses on I did 20 jumps with my feet together using the jump rope. Then I walked forward and backwards on the balance beam still with the glasses. Then I did core exercises on the mat. I hold a plank for 30 seconds and hold the superman position for a minute. He asked me to hang on to the monkey bars for just a second and then he told me to come down. I don't know what that was about. Then I was allowed to take off the buzzer around my leg and the funky glasses.
He gave me three tubes and gave me three options for each tube of what the smell was and I had to determine the smell. He then spun me around 10 times in a chair and then I had to look at the orange ball on top of the monkey bars. He watched my eyes to see how long it would take for them to adjust. Then I was excused to the academic room.
I sat down at the table and she pulled up my notebook to the reading section tab and numbered 1-5. I had to read a small paragraph and and answer the 5 questions on the other side of the paper. She looked over my answers and Xed out the incorrect answers. She then flipped to my math section and did equations 1-5. We went over to the writing tab and I only had time to write one sentence before my session was done. She said next time she will put a timer on me.
Wednesdays she gets evaluated and they said that since she was last tested a few months ago when we came in for the initial examination she has gone up one level in several categories. I forgot to take a picture of it, so I can't remember all the categories. It is difficult for me to tell if there has been a change in her. She is attending at the same time as a girl who has an imbalance with the opposite side of the brain. Her mom says they have been going to Brain Balance since August and she has seen some improvement. It seems that those who are imbalanced with the left brain are not as satisfied with their program as those who are right brain imbalanced (autism, asperger's and ADHD).
Hello, I have a 5 year old that was just diagnosed with ADHD. He has very violent outbursts at school and I have tried everything to try to make this better. His school is really doing whatever they can to help, but I need more. I am finally on the verge of trying a non-stimulant medication call Intuniv, but obviously medication is my last resort. I am wondering if your daughter finished this treatment and if it really helped like their website claims. I called them last week and they still haven't returned my calls. Thank you so much!
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry I have not been checking on my blog and I don't know why the comments are not sent to my e-mail. I made my last post. I would say Brain Balance definitely helped, but not to the extent they said it would. I did not meet anyone during my time there where the program did not help at all. There were some very satisfied people and others who expected more for their money. If you don't have $6500 in cash, I suggest buying the $10 book and trying the exercises at home. If you can't do the 10 minutes of exercises I posted at least 3 times a day then you will not have the discipline to do this program. Best of luck!
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