Brain Balance Center in Vernon Hills (Chicago) was recently featured in the article “Holistic treatment offers hope for local family” from DailyHerald.com:
Naperville resident Alissa Andrew, a former special education teacher and stay-at-home mother of two, tried everything to help her 5-year-old daughter, Lily, with sensory processing issues.
Lily Andrew, 5, showed improvement after sessions at Brain Balance Achievement Center in Vernon Hills.
“We’d tried speech and occupational therapy, a brushing protocol, biomedical approaches and various therapies,” she says. “But nothing really helped.”
Andrew found hope after reading a book, “Disconnected Kids,” by Dr. Robert Melillo, a world-renowned chiropractic neurologist, professor and researcher studying childhood neurological disorders and founder of the Brain Balance approach.
“I felt he was speaking directly to me,” Andrew says of Melillo’s theory that symptoms associated with poor attention, processing problems, learning and other disabilities including autism are a result of something called functional disconnection syndrome.
This scientific term means that two halves of the brain are not electrically balanced and not communicating normally, says Dr. Jeremy Fritz, executive director of the Vernon Hills-based Brain Balance Achievement Center. The center is one of 15 sites in the United States dedicated to a holistic, drug-free approach that works with children ages 4 to 15 with autism, ADHD, dyslexia, Asperger’s, learning disabilities, obsessive compulsive disorder, pervasive developmental delay, sensory integration and other neurological disorders.
“Research has shown many children with neurological disorders and learning disabilities have a functional imbalance or disconnection between the left and right sides of their brain,” Fritz says. “The Brain Balance approach is designed to improve that connection.”
Curious how the approach might help Lily, Andrew made an appointment for a two-day evaluation assessing more than 1,200 specific functions to analyze differences between the left and right side of her brain.
“They looked at everything from balance and coordination to visual acuity, fine and gross motor skills, cognitive function and academics to determine processing speed,” she says. Results indicated Lily was an appropriate candidate for the center’s intensive 12-week program.
An individualized treatment plan was created and Lily’s family began making the trek from Naperville to Vernon Hills three times each week for the one-hour sessions. Divided into two distinct therapeutic sessions, Lily’s program included a focus on both sensory and motor skills as well as the neuro cognitive.
“The key is putting the pieces of the puzzle together and exercising the pieces so each gets stronger,” Fritz says.
In addition to sensory motor and neuroacademic program components, nutrition also is a Brain Balance priority, with initial testing including an assessment of organic acids to determine a metabolic fingerprint, blood serum tests to understand amino acid function and other tests to determine food sensitivity/allergy.
“With one in every 110 children diagnosed with autism today, we see a huge demand,” Fritz says. He has seen clients make huge individual improvements during the initial 12-week program. Some clients also benefit from a secondary 12-week experience and all follow-up with nine months of at-home exercises to strengthen brain function.
Fritz attributes program success to the actual science behind Brain Balance. “Our program takes what we know about the brain and uses that to determine where the problems are and the severity of that problem,” he says. “Disconnects in function require specific hemispheric strengthening to balance function. An imbalance can dramatically shift a child’s reality.”
When brain activity is unbalanced, the information is processed improperly and results in academic, behavioral and social problems.
“Research shows us the brains of children with autism spectrum and other neuro-behavioral disorders may be under connected or desynchronized,” Fritz says. “That means the brain doesn’t have as many connections and the timing and rhythm between hemispheres is different. What appears to be happening in these disorders is that the brain is physically and electrically imbalanced.”
Having a specific plan has made a huge difference for Lily and her family, who recently completed two 12-week Brain Balance sessions. “Lily now interacts with her older sister, is happier, using more complex language, able to sit at the dinner table without jumping up and is requiring less support in all areas,” Andrew says.
With plans in place for a summer Brain Balance refresher, Andrew is less anxious and believes Lily will have fewer challenges as kindergarten beings in the fall.
