Brain Balance?

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Anyone have any interaction with one of those Brain Balance centers for kids with ADHD autism, and everything else under the sun?

Sounds beyond hokey and ABSURDLY expensive - more expensive than empirically sound treatments. I briefly looked through their website and found no research, just anecdotal miracle stories.

I have some first hand experience. Without going into too many details, I have good things and not so good things to say.

First, I actually do believe in the services they offer and that they do work on a fair amount of children, or at least given the basis for their treatments, they should work. I'm thinking they have a success rate of 80% (don't quote me), but that then lends to the discussion of the other 20%, particularly when it comes to cost.

It is $8k per 3 month session. It was recommended that we sign up for at least 2 session. So yes, $16k for 6 months of treatment, with a 20% chance of nothing changing.

The initial evaluation is long. I did not see the assessments they performed on my child, but did receive the results via a meeting. I had to fill out no less than 10 social/emotional/behavioral assessments, and while there were no names on any of them except the autism and Asperger's forms, at least one looked very much like the Vineland. I am not an expert by any means on the Vineland, but I was introduced to it just a week after filling out the assessment in question at the Brain Balance Center, and I believe they may have cut and paste parts of this onto an evaluation of their own. Again, I have no proof of this, just a pretty strong suspicion.

What I don't understand is that if it were the Vineland, or a similar representation, shouldn't they have given me the questions in an interview style? Again, not an expert, but I thought the Vineland was to be done in an interview format, not just handing a form over. At our follow up, I tried to explain some of my answers (which would have been easier to do at the time of filling out the form), but was met with resistance. This was a turn off.

Overall, I believe that the work they do can make a big difference. However, I also believe that the majority of it (if not all) could be done at home given the proper resources. I'd rather save my $32k/year for my child's education, or vacations....

Thanks for the reply, thats interesting. The following is not directed towards you, or anyone really. Just my thoughts from hearing stories from around my neck of the woods...

It appears to me that its basically a tutoring center that uses the word brain in every other sentence. Anyway, any tutoring center if appropriately staffed can produce good results for kids, particularly kids who do not have severe problems and have good enough parents, esp. parents who can provide 32k a year for tutoring - that says something. What I mean is I think they attract a group of kids who would have similar results at the end of the 8 months without going through the program. It seems to me that lots of these kids undergo multiple therapies while in the program, and my guess is thats where the results are coming from in most cases.

Having taken graduate neuroanatomy and neuropathology, the stuff I am hearing from their "coaches" is completely misinformed, has no empirical basis, and costs an arm and a leg. I'm worried its taking away (time, family resources) from therapies that are known to be effective. Further, I'm wondering if malpractice and scope of practice lines are being crossed. I could be wrong...but my radar is definitely up.

Just found an article that used an ADHD sample. No control group and the kids were on stimulants, and they found improvement on some rating scales and on some absurd metronome coordination task. Thats called the Hawthorne effect, and maybe regression towards the mean, not a treatment effect. 32k per year huh?

I didn't get the impression that it was a tutoring session; rather, it was working on brain imbalance by doing exercises to strengthen one hemisphere while reducing input to the stronger side, much like using the patch for treatment of amblyopia.

My meeting was a while ago, so I am not 100% up to date on all of the details, and I only went because we received a complimentary evaluation. When I was told the price, I'm sure my jaw instantly dropped to the floor, and the director was happy to pick it up for me with a pamphlet regarding 0% financing information for 12 months.

I never looked into the empirical evidence for their program specifically. That said, do I believe a brain imbalance can exist? Yes. Do I believe it can be corrected? Yes. Am I willing to pay $16k to do this? No. I did buy their one book for $12.99. It is sitting on my bookshelf as we speak, unread. This is not to say there is not valuable information in there, it just became a low priority.

Through all of this, I was able to find a quality SLP for my child who also focuses on brain functioning. Her cost: about $4k/year. Couldn't be happier with my choice. If I had $32k of disposable income to spend on the Brain Balance Center, perhaps I would have chosen differently, but I am more than pleased with how things went for us.

I'll add to the "I'm not buying that crap" sentiment. I knew someone who was signing up her kid for the program Brain Highways (http://www.brainhighways.com/) and I went with her to their "clinic" for a tour. The place was beyond hokey, and whenever I asked our "tour-guide" psych/neuro-based questions about any of their practices, she just smiled and deflected me. I wasn't trying to be impolite, I was just genuinely curious about their methods and how they were based (since she kept saying "brain pathways" and "restructuring misaligned systems.")

The place charged an exorbitant amount of money and had children ranging from 5-13 crawling all over the floors of their rooms. The basis of their model at the time was the claim that some children don't learn how to "crawl right" during their development, which led to stinted neurodevelopment, particularly of the brainstem.

I can't say for sure whether it's a scam or not, and obviously some families have experienced positive outcomes. And for those families, that is all that matters. But the way the Brain Highways people presented themselves to my friend and me raised serious doubts about their credibility... My friend was convinced, however.

Originally Posted by 123EW

I didn't get the impression that it was a tutoring session; rather, it was working on brain imbalance by doing exercises to strengthen one hemisphere while reducing input to the stronger side, much like using the patch for treatment of amblyopia.

My meeting was a while ago, so I am not 100% up to date on all of the details, and I only went because we received a complimentary evaluation. When I was told the price, I'm sure my jaw instantly dropped to the floor, and the director was happy to pick it up for me with a pamphlet regarding 0% financing information for 12 months.

I never looked into the empirical evidence for their program specifically. That said, do I believe a brain imbalance can exist? Yes. Do I believe it can be corrected? Yes. Am I willing to pay $16k to do this? No. I did buy their one book for $12.99. It is sitting on my bookshelf as we speak, unread. This is not to say there is not valuable information in there, it just became a low priority.

Through all of this, I was able to find a quality SLP for my child who also focuses on brain functioning. Her cost: about $4k/year. Couldn't be happier with my choice. If I had $32k of disposable income to spend on the Brain Balance Center, perhaps I would have chosen differently, but I am more than pleased with how things went for us.

Sounds like you made the wise choice. The lazy eye example is one I've heard before. Its a common misconception for folks, and yes this includes physicians(I see the creator is one), to look at higher level cortical functions the same way you look at cranial nerves. The truth is that the complex behaviors that brain balance attempts to treat do not lateralize in 1:1 fashion as was thought a while back. The entire theory is a gross over-generalization of the "disconnection" literature.

Originally Posted by IT514

Sounds like you made the wise choice. The lazy eye example is one I've heard before. Its a common misconception for folks, and yes this includes physicians(I see the creator is one), to look at higher level cortical functions the same way you look at cranial nerves. The truth is that the complex behaviors that brain balance attempts to treat do not lateralize in 1:1 fashion as was thought a while back. The entire theory is a gross over-generalization of the "disconnection" literature.

Not sure where the idea of 32k as far as cost became accurate. I do know someone who sent her son for one session and it was almost 7k. In his case it changed everything. I think he has dyslexia and anxiety. No londer has LD or anxiety. But I can't imagine it's for erveryone.

Originally Posted by Psych 2001

Not sure where the idea of 32k as far as cost became accurate. I do know someone who sent her son for one session and it was almost 7k. In his case it changed everything. I think he has dyslexia and anxiety. [B]No londer has LD or anxiety. But I can't imagine it's for erveryone[/B].

According to who?

Originally Posted by FemmeFeline

The place charged an exorbitant amount of money and had children ranging from 5-13 crawling all over the floors of their rooms. The basis of their model at the time was the claim that some children don't learn how to "crawl right" during their development, which led to stinted neurodevelopment, particularly of the brainstem.

That *totally* sounds like a legit treatment! A huge red flag goes up for me when I hear non-specialists use "brain" or "neuro" too frequently in their sentences. I think I should open up a NeuroDayCare, "You Birth 'em, We Learn 'em!"