Brain Balance has a different approach than most because it starts learning over at the bottom of the developmental chain. Most approaches look at cognitive on one side and behavior on the other. Brain Balance takes more of a building block approach. One area builds on the next. You can see the pyramid in the results picture below. At the bottom you have primitive reflexes, then sensory motor, then cognitive, and finally instruction.
Primitive Reflexes
Primitive Reflexes (infant reflexes) are supposed to be present in infants, but be integrated by the age of 1. A few examples of primitive reflexes are rooting, sucking, and the death grip (palmar grasp) infants have when you put your finger next to their hand. Most people know about a few reflexes, but there are actually a number of infant reflexes that affect a lot of things if not properly integrated. These reflexes serve a purpose in a newborn. They help the infant survive - in the womb, during the birthing process, to be able to eat, to help them learn to crawl and eventually walk, to catch themselves if they fall, etc. But by the time a baby enters toddlerhood, the primitive reflexes should be fully integrated. The old instinctive way should have been replaced with a new and better neural pathway. However, for many children the primitive reflexes remain past a year. There are many things that can cause this - maternal stress during pregnancy, premature or difficult labor, lack of movement during the first year of life (too many baby contraptions and not enough moving time on the floor or being carried by mom, etc.) There is also a genetic factor that makes it more likely in some families than in others. Here's the part that TOTALLY ANNOYS me!! Pediatricians test for infant reflexes. They want to make sure they are present because if they aren't, it means there is a problem. But they don't test after a year to see if they are still present. Honestly, if we could get pediatricians to understand this and change the way they test somewhat, we could probably do more for kids who now are red flagged for future problems (whether great or small). That would give direction and real meaningful "early intervention" for parents who most likely haven't seen too many signs of problems yet (except in the most extreme cases). Okay, rant over. But really people. This whole primitive reflexes thing is a big deal. I'm going to do separate posts on some of the primitive reflexes because I think it's important that people understand what they are, ways to tell if your child might still have the reflex, and how that reflex may negatively impact them.
Primitive Reflexes (infant reflexes) are supposed to be present in infants, but be integrated by the age of 1. A few examples of primitive reflexes are rooting, sucking, and the death grip (palmar grasp) infants have when you put your finger next to their hand. Most people know about a few reflexes, but there are actually a number of infant reflexes that affect a lot of things if not properly integrated. These reflexes serve a purpose in a newborn. They help the infant survive - in the womb, during the birthing process, to be able to eat, to help them learn to crawl and eventually walk, to catch themselves if they fall, etc. But by the time a baby enters toddlerhood, the primitive reflexes should be fully integrated. The old instinctive way should have been replaced with a new and better neural pathway. However, for many children the primitive reflexes remain past a year. There are many things that can cause this - maternal stress during pregnancy, premature or difficult labor, lack of movement during the first year of life (too many baby contraptions and not enough moving time on the floor or being carried by mom, etc.) There is also a genetic factor that makes it more likely in some families than in others. Here's the part that TOTALLY ANNOYS me!! Pediatricians test for infant reflexes. They want to make sure they are present because if they aren't, it means there is a problem. But they don't test after a year to see if they are still present. Honestly, if we could get pediatricians to understand this and change the way they test somewhat, we could probably do more for kids who now are red flagged for future problems (whether great or small). That would give direction and real meaningful "early intervention" for parents who most likely haven't seen too many signs of problems yet (except in the most extreme cases). Okay, rant over. But really people. This whole primitive reflexes thing is a big deal. I'm going to do separate posts on some of the primitive reflexes because I think it's important that people understand what they are, ways to tell if your child might still have the reflex, and how that reflex may negatively impact them.
Anyway, there are 8 primitive reflexes that they test for at Brain Balance. For each of these reflexes, you are given a score of level 1-4, 4 meaning it hasn't been integrated at all (it's still at the level of a newborn) and 1 being it's almost gone, but there is still part of the reflex lingering. Neither of my boys had any primitive reflexes that were fully integrated.
You can see from the picture that Dylan had three out of 8 that hadn't integrated at all, which actually surprised everyone (including those testing him). That's part of the reason we decided the home program would be good for him because the exercises we do at home (3 times a day) are geared toward helping integrate the primitive reflexes. You can see from the dots that Dylan moved 1 level in 4 primitive reflexes, 2 levels in 2 primitive reflexes and stayed the same in the other two. We have a long way to go before they are all integrated, but we are definitely making good progress.
The next area of focus in the pyramid is sensory motor. Dylan didn't have exposure to a lot of this because much of what they do takes place during the Brain Balance sessions. But...he still made some significant gains in a couple of areas that are worth mentioning.
Vision
His eyes didn't improve on the OPK (they actually went down, but I wonder if it was just a bad moment of the test because in my opinion he has improved quite a bit in this area). It's basically black and white vertical lines that move from left to right. You're supposed to track the lines with your eyes and they measure how many times your eyes move in a minute. On VOR, however, he is at the highest level. Wa-hoo! This is when you are looking forward and turn your head to the side but keep your eyes on the object in front of you. We already mentioned being able to cross his eyes in a previous post so I won't say too much more about that now. Basically his eyes move more fluidly than they did before, which is super important.
Hearing
Dylan was already really good with skills related to hearing, but it's worth mentioning that he's at the top of where they would want him to be. Basically with hearing there are steps to actually "hear" and "interpret" correctly. Some have to do with your actual hearing, but a lot of them have to do with what's taking place in your brain. I'll explain it a little more in Preston's progress report since he really struggled in this area.
Smell
Dylan's sense of smell remained the same. There are 15 levels and he's at a level 14. So he's fine, but he could improve one more level with smells. Again, he didn't receive as much sensory motor stuff because he was only doing the home program so the lack of improvement makes sense.
Touch
Dylan's sense of touch didn't improve. In fact, it went down a level on the arms. This is one area that we feel needs some work. Dylan was the hyper-sensitive child who hated tags on his clothing, the line on his sock being off at all, shoes that were too tight, etc. He has gotten more tolerant of these things over time, but it's still an area where he needs improvement. His sense of touch is definitely off and it affects him in more ways than we know I'm sure.
Fine Motor
Dylan's fine motor skills were at age 7 and didn't improve. It's amazing to get the results of some of these tests and realize how many things your child struggles with that he is compensating for somehow. In general, Dylan functions well in the world, but it is now clear to us that in many ways he has had to adapt the way he does things. So when he says he hates writing, he really does. His cognitive ability to read and write is high, but his ability to physically write well is much lower.
Core Muscle Testing
Dylan was doing pretty well with his core muscle strength on the first test, but made significant improvements in three of the six areas. He went from age 9 to age 11 in lateral core, from age 5 to age 9 in brachiation (4 years...that's HUGE!!), from age 6 to age 10 in sit-ups.
Spatial Awareness:
Dylan's balance and equilibrium are pretty good. He still needs to come up a couple levels in PRNG (I can't remember how they test that now that I'm typing this...). Proprioception needs some work. The test for proprioception is scored by age, rather than level. He was at a 5 year old level before and now is at a 6 year old level. Most people don't even know about proprioception. Proprioception is the 6th sense. It's basically the ability to sense yourself in your environment, to know where your limbs are in relation to the rest of your body and other objects that surround you.
This is a good link that explains proprioception a little bit better. http://www.spdaustralia.com.au/the-proprioceptive-system/ On SPD Australia's site, it states,
"Proprioception is the process by which the body can vary muscle contraction in immediate response to incoming information regarding external forces, by utilizing stretch receptors in the muscles to keep track of the joint position in the body.
Proprioception and kinesthesia, the sensation of joint motion and acceleration, are the sensory feedback mechanisms for motor control and posture. These mechanisms along with the vestibular system, a fluid filled network within the inner ear that can feel the pull of gravity and helps the body keep oriented and balanced, are unconsciously utilized by the brain to provide a constant influx of sensory information. The brain can then send out immediate and unconscious adjustments to the muscles and joints in order to achieve movement and balance."
SPD Australia gives a good example that is pretty easy to understand. They use the example of moving your finger. In a normal person, everything works together well and you effortlessly move your finger once you make a decision to do so. In someone with poor proprioception, they actually have to compensate for the lack of proprioception. Instead of it being an automatic and effortless process, they need to think about the movement in order to make it happen. They concentrate on moving their finger, and may even have to look at their finger to make it move the way they want it to. So basically this 6th sense isn't as strong as it should be for a child of Dylan's age.
Synchronization:
As far as balance is concerned, Dylan is doing excellent. The balance beam test is graded by age. He was at age 13 when he started the test and is now at age 15 as far as his balance is concerned. He's also at age 15 for his bilateral coordination. So basically he can move forward and back, sideways, etc. on a balance beam without falling off or losing his balance. They have you look at the ceiling sometimes, throw a bean bag from one hand to the other while walking, etc. to change the level of difficulty.
The interactive metronome is an exercise that has them clap, slap their leg, or tap their foot forward or backwards to the rhythm. Dylan improved one year, but is still only at age 7 for this. The Brain Balance employee who discussed our results with us described it as a movie you are streaming online. You know how once in awhile the sound is not in sync with the way their mouths are moving. It pretty much makes you nuts to watch a movie like that! Well, this is kind of like that. He's just a tiny bit behind when anticipating the timing of the next beat.
Academics:
I debated even including this part for a couple of reasons. First, people tend to be quick to judge a book by its cover in all things "school" related. It's one of the quickest way to throw a label on someone. Second, I didn't know whether or not Dylan would mind others seeing these "official results." He tends to be very hard on himself even though he's a very capable and pretty gifted kid. He has never struggled with learning. NEVER! His struggles are more related to behavior and attitude most of the time so we've been very careful not to push him academically beyond his desire to learn and grow. And he has blossomed with skill development as a result. Third, some of the results may be due to the fact that we homeschool our kids. For example, Dylan has always been at grade level with math, but has never been in a timed test for math. I know they work on timed tests a lot with basic math skills in school and that is something we've chosen not to do with our kids. I care much more that my kids LOVE learning and understand the overall concept being taught than that they are fast or at the "top of their class" so to speak.
That being said, I chose to include the results of the cognitive portion because he has made some pretty significant jumps in his cognitive testing and I thought that was worth including here.
We were so happy to see Dylan's progress. There are several areas that need more attention, but overall for how much effort we have put in, he has made some amazing gains in his progress. He, however, saw the test and was immediately discouraged that everything wasn't 100% yet. And that is why we still have work to do. :)
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