The short answer is that the Brain Balance scheme has no research base, is founded on misunderstandings about brain development, is extremely expensive, and is unlikely to help your child.
From a commenter on a forum discussing Brain Balance:
There's also a burden-of-proof issue here. Proposed therapies basically need to be assumed ineffective until proven otherwise. The fact that this therapy has not managed to generate a shred of research in its favor is a very bad sign.
There's a new game in town, "Brain Balance", that is being heavily promoted in some areas of the United States.
The Brain Balance Program® is an individualized and comprehensive approach to helping children with neurobehavioral and learning difficulties surmount their unique challenges. This proprietary, non-medical program has been successful in helping hundreds of children reach their physical, social/behavioral health and academic potential. We work with children who suffer with ADD/ADHD, Dyslexia, Tourette’s, Asperger’s and Autism Spectrum Disorders.
Here's the first thing you need to know: despite claims and testamonials on the Brain Balance website, there is no published evidence that the Brain Balance program does anything other than lighten your wallet. There have been no peer-reviewed, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) for the Brain Balance program. In this article Dorothy Bishop explains why RCTs are necessary to evaluate psychological and/or educational interventions.
Here's the second thing you need to know: while the explanations from Brain Balance sound "sciencey", they are almost entirely psuedoscience:
Harriet Hall MD wrote:
[The Brain Balance website claims] that ADHD, autism, Tourette’s syndrome, pervasive developmental disorder and dyslexia are no longer considered separate entities but are now considered points on a spectrum of neurobehavioral / developmental disorders. This is their own idiosyncratic interpretation and it directly contradicts the understanding of mainstream science.
Emily Willingham wrote:
One of the cardinal signs of a pseudoscience is the promise to ameliorate unrelated problems with a single, curative method...that is proprietary.
Steven Novella MD wrote
the brain balance paradigm wants to roll back the clock of our understanding about half a century.... To argue that a broad range of neurological disorders all come down to one narrow subtype of one type of brain dysfunction is pseudoscience – it is good for marketing your one therapy, but not for actually helping people or understanding neuroscience.
Mina Dulcan MD on the foundational idea behind Brain Balance:
"The notion that one half of the brain developed faster than the other just doesn't fit with anything we know about the brain"
Here's the third thing you need to know: it's a turn-key franchise business.
click on image for full size
That's right, the owner of the Brain Balance enterprise in your town may have no expertise in education, or treatment of ADHD, learning disabilities such as dyslexia, or neurological conditions such as Tourette's or autism.
Here's a portion of the sales pitch for prospective Brain Balance franchisees:
Description: Brain Balance™ Achievement Centers. Where every kid connects with success. Some people say that parents of children with developmental and learning disorders can only expect so much from their child. We disagree.
Opportunities: Franchises available throughout the US.
Business Type: Franchise.
Minimum Investment: $188,900.
Training Provided: Yes.
SBA-Approved: Yes.
At each Brain Balance™ Achievement Center, you will be trained to employ our exclusive Brain Balance Program®. The Brain Balance Program® is an individualized, comprehensive program that integrates physical and cognitive exercises, with easy-to-follow dietary changes. The Brain Balance Program® integrates physical activities (sensory-based stimulation and motor exercises) with effective educational and behavioral methods, as well as supportive nutritional initiatives, in order to promote optimum brain and body function.
The Brain Balance Program® does not rely on pharmaceutical drugs, medical procedures, or psychotherapy. Our program is an integrated approach – one that is designed to help children who suffer from a range of neurobehavioral disorders.
What Brain Balance™ Achievement Centers offer
- Use of our proprietary software that will allow you, as a franchisee, to oversee and manage your center from anywhere in the world, at any time. It also allows you to handle all the daily center student program activities and provide frequent reports to parents in real time.
- Training and consulting by Dr. Robert Melillo and his staff. Dr. Robert Melillo is the founder of the Brain Balance Program® and is an internationally known brain researcher, professor, author and functional neurologist. Note that "Dr" Melillo is actually a chiropractor, not a physician.
- High level of training and use of our effective, innovative training platform
- Support from our corporate staff, which has many years experience in franchise development, center business applications and school education.
Do you really want
Do you really want a cookie-cutter, ineffective, expensive "treatment" for your child, administered by persons of unknown (if any) training? According to one Craigslist ad in Denver, "Sensory Motor Coaches" -- the people who are actually providing therapy -- are paid $12-18 per hour.
Further Reading:
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