Book "Disconnected Kids" and Brain Balance Training Centers

[TeachingMyToddlers]

Just came across this chiropractic neurologist discussing right/left brain connections on YouTube. He has training centers popping up around the US now. Just sharing in case others are interested in the book or in looking for a training center in their area. His program is  especially beneficial for kids with add/adhd, autism, etc.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/3ginRj2hySY&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/3ginRj2hySY&rel=1</a>

They use doman style monkey bars, too-

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/iG5bI76Dmas&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/iG5bI76Dmas&rel=1</a>

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0399535608/ref=rdr_ext_sb_ti_hist_1

http://www.brainbalancecenters.com/

[Drjuliadc]

Dr. Melillo is the doctor who taught the year long course that I took on neuro behavioral disorders.  It was very good and I highly recommend his two books for laypeople.  His book for physicians is extremely good too.  I have referred an autistic patient to a brain balance center and they were helped by it. 

I heard about Glenn Doman from him.  He Is how I ended up here (indirectly).

I must add that I completely disagree about him stating that vaccines aren't the smoking gun as a cause of autism.  A former pediatrician with major credibility in the mainstream research world was the coauthor of his book for physicians.   A vaccine cause would be very unpopular with him. Also, he is selling his Brain Balance center franchises to anyone, including people in the medical profession, so his stance is purely political.  I have spoken to him extensively about it and his arguments against a vaccine cause were very lame.  His reasoning for what does cause it were equally lame.  I found this odd (nothing else he says is even remotely lame) until I figured out the political inconvenience to him of a vaccine cause.

For example, how could you say vaccines couldn't cause autism because there were "earlier" signs of it, when the hepatitis vaccine is given at birth and flu shots are given to pregnant women? 

[Drjuliadc]

One of the first things they do at a Brain Balance center is to check a child for "persistent primitive reflexes'" and they remediate them. They do much more than this, but it is important that they start with it.  There is a significant amount of info available about this if you search for it.  It was something that was developed by a physical therapist or occupational therapist, I just can't remember her name right now.

They also make extensive use of the computer program "interactive metronome."  The "clap to the music" section of Little Musician" has a minor interactive metronome effect. Moving to a music, or in sync with other people or playing music also has an interactive metronome effect.

I intended to delve into many of the people who Dr. Melillo used as references, but I started with Glenn Doman, fell into this rabbit hole and never got any farther.  Ha ha.

[TeachingMyToddlers]

This stuff makes me want to go back to school for an advanced degree. For about a second...and then I think of the effort involved.

1) They are opening one of these centers in my local area this year, however we are leaving the area. 

2) There is another "Preschool for the Arts" in my area that is giving a two day seminar on this in June and July for about $200. I'd like to go out of curiosity but I'm afraid that I'd already be familiar with many of the concepts and my money would better be spent elsewhere. The owner of the school does not bill herself as a teacher of doman methods, but she incorporates music into everything she does, studies brain development to an extent, and is a huge proponent of crawling etc.

"If your child walked before 11 months, did you know they did not complete the development of the neural network to their frontal lobes? If your child walked after 14 months this is a sign of a neural delay. This actually has nothing to do with intelligence. About 17% of all children these days are skipping or abbreviating crawling or even motoring around in an unusual manner. Manifestations of this neural disconnect after 3 years old are ADD/ADHD, extreme separation anxiety, social ineptness, aggression, dyslexia, Autism, trouble transitioning, PDD, NOS and more. Walking early is NOT a good thing and is actually an indicator of future behavioral and academic issues. The good thing is that these skipped stages can be completed at any age! The VBSA is presenting CONNECTIONS: The Brain Development Workshop on June 21 & 22 and again on July 12 & 13. The fourth attachment contains more information. Parents and teachers are welcome to attend. We will be explaining the brain, how to identify your child's exact neural disconnect and exactly how to fix it! The first step in fixing an issue is identifying it. This is the latest scientific research and we are so excited to offer this to families in our area.  "

3) "Disconnected Kids" is in my line up of books waiting to be read, I bought it the other day but probably won't get to it for a few weeks.

[Maquenzie]

Thank you for posting about this.

My oldest and I recently got diagnosed with Aspergers (in April, a month before the new DSM 5 recategorized autism spectrum disorders and removed Aspergers as a diagnosis).  As a child, I had a diagnosis of "severe ADHD" instead.  Needless to say, I have some opinions about Autism.    Vaccine-injured children absolutely do exist and it is a tragedy.  But, to say that vaccines cause Autism (or even to speak about a "cure"), in my opinion, is narrow-minded - in that in limits (or sees just a narrow view of) autism. 

I think a fairer approach is to speak about the autistic brain's strengths and weaknesses.  We need to find ways to overcome the weaknesses, while at the same time acknowledging and growing the strengths.  I'm interested in some of the links above as some possible help for overcoming the weaknesses.


I find the "brain balancing" to be particularly interesting as I underwent a thourough neurological evaluation in which I was told that if my problems were new (which they aren't), she would have suspected that I had left hemispheric brain damage as I seemingly used my right hemisphere almost exclusively. 


Anyway, this is all fascinating.

[TeachingMyToddlers]

I take that back. I read about a quarter of the way through so far and it is really good! Makes a LOT of sense on many accounts. It was definitely worth the $10 or so I paid for the ebook, I bet many libraries have it too. I made it through the why's and explanations now, the second part of the book is apparently the "how to" portion of it.

[Drjuliadc]

Teachingmytoddlers,

The owner of Preschool of the Arts is a friend of a friend.  I just found this out recently. She is very ino the Pons.  That is why she likes crawling.  I am very into the pons too, so I would like to go just to see what she knows about it and who she learned it from.

Since the pons is what you and I were talking about ( the PMRF is in the pons, that's what the p is for), the info should be useful to you.  Since I'm probably going, maybe I can synapsize the info for you.

You will have e-mail in Japan, won't you?

Julia

[TeachingMyToddlers]

Nah, they are laggin' behind technologically in Japan. No email there.


If you don't know my email from before, just PM me and I'll send it right over, I'd love to hear about it if I can't make the sessions.  There are a couple of family specific reasons we didn't, but I would have liked to enroll the kids in her classes for extra stimulation. We liked the trial class. Oh and Skype is good too to keep in touch as time permits if you don't have it already.

[Korrale4kq]

Another great book to check out. My son has a preliminary ASD diagnosis. But he is very high functioning.

I am curious about the primitive reflexes, now.  My son never had a babinski reflex, he went straight to a plantar reflex. He also never lost his stepping reflex. I figure because he didn't gain weight well.
He also walked early and didn't crawl much. At 6 months he was cruising all over the place.

[Mandy]

Hi all

Wishing you all the best for 2014!!

Maybe one of you would be able to help me in this area. I took both my 4 and 8 yr old DSs to the Brain Balance center to check if anything was off. I went in there so sure of myself, thinking, I teach Right brain so these kids are going to be fine. I LIVE DOMAN! My children do all the PHD programs, we do monkey bars, swim, run, flashcards, math program, reading program. We use Shichida and Rightbrain kids. So really, I was so sure of myself. Well, here's the kicker!! Both boys have all their primitive reflexes other than their spinal reflex from birth. Both boys were vaginal births, healthy pregnancies, no drugs, vaccines, organic non-GMO diets and still this?? I am spinning? They want $6000 for each kid to correct this! I simply don't have that much money to throw around. Has anyone else been in this situation before? How do I get rid of the primitive reflexes? How, if I am teaching rightbrain, are their rightbrains so week? Their left brains were measured 3-4 yrs ahead but their right brains were 2 yrs behind? I am totally confused. Any insight would so so so be appreciated!

Thanks all.
Have a blessed 2014!

[boopeyes76]

Hi! I have been contemplating on sending my 18 month old son for an assessment myself but the more I read reviews and feedback on the internet, the less enthusiastic I am getting  Not to mention the really high fees.  Some consider it quackery, but others swear it's life changing for them.  I hope someone here can share their real experience with the program.

[Mandy]

At 18 months, depending where your son is neurologically, he probably isn't much further than the cortex. So I wouldn't do anything before 4. You at least want full brain development, the myelin sheath is only just forming. Which is why I waited until my youngest was 4. Yes, I am hoping it is quackery but so much of it makes so much sense.............anyone out there able to share??

[boopeyes76]

Waiting seems to be the most logical thing, I guess. It,s just that my sons OT somehow puts a lot of emphasis on primitive reflexes and how it's affecting his meeting milestones or not meeting them. I have to read up more on this for sure. Thanks for the insight Mandy.

[Chris1]

They want $6000 for each kid to correct this! I simply don't have that much money to throw around. Has anyone else been in this situation before? How do I get rid of the primitive reflexes? How, if I am teaching rightbrain, are their rightbrains so week? Their left brains were measured 3-4 yrs ahead but their right brains were 2 yrs behind? I am totally confused. Any insight would so so so be appreciated!

Hi Mandy,

I hope that you find this useful.

“The program has all the red flags of a pseudoscientific clinic. First it claims there is one underlying problem for a host of separate disorders------
In short – it bypasses the long process of research, clinical studies, peer review, and replication and goes directly to a franchise.”

http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/brain-balance/   

Best wishes Chris.

[Mandy]

Wow, thank you so much Chris!!! I have been stressing about this doing as much research as I can. They found valid problems with both my kids but nothing to put them on the spectrum. All I kept thinking is that if my child lies in the 99.98% and does at least 15 hours a week of crossing the  midline through his various sports, how do the rest of the children (i.e. the 9998/10000 kids) in society measure up. Looking at it like this, with your neuroscience article as background, I can confidently say that they are simply looking for money and preying on our fears! So sad. I have still not written them off. Your blog has lead me to other research articles which I am going to research.

There seems to be truth in the exercises they employ, i.e. sound therapy (frequency stimulation), OT (which are all crossing the midline), olfactory stimulation and visual stimuli (what we use with Shichida and inadvertently with Doman's flashcards). So those in themselves seem valid but yet again, I have to do the research..........unless, anyone out there has used them?

One thing I could never figure out is, how are they finding the imbalance in their right brains if all I have done is Rightbrain education with them both from birth? Their left brains functioning 4 yrs ahead but their right brains 3 yrs behind???

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