Ned, Ned, Ned -- Hallowell replaces one pseudoscientific treatment with another (Dore edition)

Woo:

Back in 2007 (I think) Ned Hallowell started offering the "Dore Treatment" at his ADHD clinics.

Oh, oops.  Times two.

First, the Dore Treatment hasn't been shown to be effective in remediating ADHD symptoms (or dyslexia).  (Brainduck's recent article summarizes the issue.  Holford Watch has more. My post from 2007.) 

Second, Dore went out of business world-wide, including the U.S.  

So Hallowell substituted the Learning Breakthrough (LB) program

By stimulating the cerebellum through physical exercises, like standing on a balance board, juggling, standing on one leg with your eyes closed, and a variety of others, you can actually bring about improvement in concentration and reading fluency, by taking advantage of the connections from the cerebellum to the front parts of the brain. 

It is cheaper than Dore. But again, no research studies to show specific efficacy of the LB program in improving specific performance either relative to ADHD or to reading.

Comments

[ADHD NY]

Any news on this topic? Has this proven to work out more economically and efficiently than other solutions?

[Comrade V]

I just stumbled across this blog while web surfing, but yeah, it's pretty embarrassing that Ed Hallowell vouched his name behind this crankery. I've actually read the said study, as was published in the journal Dyslexia , and it seemed to be extremely slipshod (for example, it only had 35 participants).

The "science" behind LBT section of the Learning breakthrough Website appeared to be high on postulation and testimony, but absolutely bereft of corroborating evidence.
You'd think that company that claims to have been in business for over 30 years, and having possession such a potentially useful treatment and relatively cheap treatment for such a wide range of Neuro-Developmental disorders, they would at least try to conduct a study to back up their claims sometime.

[Racer Lee]

Not surprising at all about Hallowell. He's an "expert" only because the media is lazy and doesn't take the time to find more knowledgeable experts. Sometimes the "experts" are created by the PR firms. It's shocking how he has been given so much credibility by naive readers.