While I was at Brain Balance today I had them explain what going up one level meant and how they categorized Gait/Aerobic.  Going up one level means that they have matured in that area by one year.  So if a 13 year old had the proprioception of a 5 year old and they went up a level, they now have the proprioception of a 6 year old.  Gait/Aerobic is measured by the chart below. (I felt it necessary to remove the chart because the lady at Brain Balance told me she did not know at the time she should not have allowed me to take a picture of it.) My daughter is jumping rope, so I don't see her going much higher as she is already near the top of the chart. (The chart shows a level 15 student being able to do 40 jump rope jumps unassisted, level 1 student can only do 10 jumps on a trampoline with help and a cross crawl pattern 10x with no misses.)

     I spoke with a mom who has an ADHD son with some other issues who has been attending Brain Balance for 17 sessions.  They are about half way through and she has noticed some small changes and realized there were even more that she did not recognize until talking to me.  One now absent characteristic she now enjoys is that he no longer drones on when speaking.  She said she was told by Brain Balance that you normally continue to see improvements for three more weeks after you are finished with your sessions.  The only dietary change they have had to make is eliminate eggs and milk, but they will be reintroducing them next week to see if there is any noticeable changes for the worse.  I asked her how'd she notice and she said she had no idea.  This is the second ADHD child that I have seen taken off of milk.  The mom said it was a result of the data that came back from the lab.

    

     The other mom with the child who has a learning disability spoke more on her progress.  This is her second time with Brain Balance and in the last six months she has improved by three grade levels.  Learning disabilities are categorized as left brain deficient and are said to take longer to correct than right brain deficiencies such as ADHD, asperger's and autism.   She is hoping by the end of this session that she will be up to grade level.  She also says her daughter is much more coordinated. After doing this for two times for her daughter she is going to try to help her ADHD son on her own without paying Brain Balance to do it for her.

     So today I learned why it seems parents of dyslexic children or those with other learning disabilities are not as thrilled with Brain Balance as parents of right brain imbalanced children.  I am also glad I am writing this blog as it makes me think about the effect of Brain Balance on my daughter or else I may not notice a significant change like the first mom.  I also am surprised with how rapid of a growth my daughter is having in her physical abilities.  Two weeks ago she could not do a single push up.  Today she did six in a row in perfect form without stopping.  Of course I am not paying $6,000 for her to shoot baskets and do push ups, the real test is tomorrow when she takes her end of year writing and language arts exam.

Here are pictures of the activity room at Brain Balance.

     My daughter had her first session today.  I learned that they have an 80% money back guarantee if you are not satisfied within the first two weeks.  She has three sessions a week.  Half of the time is spent in the above room working on all the equipment as well as some computer programs.  The other half of the time is spent improving her school skills.  Because she has an end of grade writing test in two weeks they said they would spend more focus on writing for the first two weeks.

     I spoke with a girl who has ADHD and her grandmother while in the waiting room.  Grandma said there has been great improvement with her granddaughter with focus and she is doing better at school.  The things that have only improved slightly are her dyslexia and difficulty in sounding out unfamiliar words.  Mom wasn't there to comment on the difficulty of changing her diet, but the girl said it wasn't hard at all.  She just had to eliminate dairy.  Grandma was impressed that such a little exercise as moving the eyes could make such a huge difference.  She was the second person to mention that exercise to me.  The girl loves to go to Brain Balance and has a lot of fun.  It is an extremely positive atmosphere and she receives a lot of praise.

     When my daughter came out, I asked her what she thought of it.  She looked tired and said it was boring. She liked the girl who did the original examination better because she was more entertaining than the one who worked with her today.  I signed a form saying I would not allow her to have more than an hour a day of screen time.  They did excuse the online school she is required to take.  My husband was sad because he had rented a movie for them to watch.  I thought it would be okay for her to watch it if she did not have any screen time for the next two days.  I will have to ask Brain Balance what they think so I can make sure I keep the rules.

     Monday I will get the parent binder and the whole run down of what we are expected to do at home.  I'm grateful the weather will be reaching almost 70 degrees tomorrow.  It will help keep her mind off of her shows and computer games.  I think changing her diet and limiting her screen time will be most difficult on my husband.  This is why I am having him go with me on Monday when they do the parent orientation.  Feel free to ask me any questions about Brain Balance that you would like to see posted.

    Thank you!