He's done!

We are finished with Brain Balance, and I am not too impressed.  Whit is still staring off into space and proceeding at a snail’s pace when it comes to writing assignments, causing frustration all around (meaning I get frustrated).  His grades actually came down marginally at school this go-round.  His teacher explained that he’s unable to finish written expression during class.  (Of course it doesn’t help that 4 of 12 kids in his class are using laptops with DragonSpeak dictation software, so that they don’t have to physically write any more.  They just talk into their computers.  Whit’s neuro-psych testing has actually shown that noise totally distracts him.  So you can see how that is working out for him, with four kids mumbling around him while he needs to actually write.)

I think he has made progress when it comes to math though.  He usually gets his homework done in class and doesn’t have to bring it home.  When he does have math homework, it goes relatively quickly once I can convince him to start on it.  The same goes for any reading assignments, the type where you read a page and then have to answer multiple-choice questions.

In January, I wrote a list of how I would judge success.  So let’s see how we did:

Easy homework taking 15 minutes?  YES, as long as it’s not writing.

Less goofing off at school? NO, he had more U’s for unacceptable behavior on this report card than ever before.

Able to remember three or more tasks given at once?  OCASSIONALLY.  I’ve seen improvement, but I still am having to remind him more than I’d care to.

Stop saying “no” just to be contrary? OCASSIONALLY.  Again, maybe it’s better overall, but if he’s feeling ass-y, I’m getting no’s.

This week Whit is being retested at Brain Balance so that we can compare how he did back in January to how he is now.  I will have those results next week, and I’ll let you know how much Brain Balance says he improved.  But I would have liked more drastic results. 

final days

Whit had math homework tonight for the first time since my school hissy in mid February.  He knocked out 14 conversion problems (simple stuff, sure, but some multi-step) in under 10 minutes.  –Like a normal person.  I was scared initially because he promptly started singing and whistling when the paper was put in front of him, but after one (1) (ONLY ONE) reminder, he got to work.  Ok, Brain Balance, you win that round.

Last night, however, I sent Whit back to his room for a shower, and after reminding him 3 times over 20 minutes, finally had to threaten to strip him myself and turn on the water.  Where was BB then?

It’s hard to assess over-all improvement in the day-to-day stuff.  I had written the list of accomplishments we wanted to see at the beginning of this program.  We have only 5 sessions left until final judgment. ;-)

Progress report

I got Whitman’s second progress report on Monday.  The BB lady was very excited for him.  He is now at age-level or above for everything they measure, with the one notable exception of upper body strength.  Since the last progress report on February 6^th:

Whit has gone up 3 levels in Visual Ocular Reflex (not moving his head with his eyes). 

He’s up two age levels in Visual Processing (meaning he should now be able to find something particular in a junk drawer, or do Where’s Waldo pages), Proprioception (knowing where his body is in space—I never realized he had an issue with that.  He’s not particularly clumsy), Gait/Aerobics and Interactive Metronome (keeping a rhythm).

He gained a level in Balance Beam, Supine Core (face up), Prone Core (face down—like superman exercises), Upper Body (he’s still far behind) and Brachiation (like a chin-up—still far behind)

My 4^th grader (Mom brag alert) is working at a 7^th grade level for Getting the Main Idea and Drawing Conclusions, and a 6^th grade level for Making Inferences.  In Math, he’s doing 5^th grade level Fractions, Decimals, and Multi-step word problems.

So what does this mean at school and home?

So I told you how he turned his U’s in Miss Miller’s class to S-.  She has told him that he is doing much better in her class and that she’s impressed.  In fact, when the kids of the reading class got out of hand last week to the point she had to bring in the head of lower school to yell at them, Whitman was told it didn’t concern him and he didn’t have to stay in for recess with the rest of them.  I attribute BB 100% for that breakthrough.  It has always been Whitman who would be the leader in such class-room hijacking shenanigans.  The fact that he wasn’t a part of it at all is mind-blowing.

We’re still not getting any math homework, but any writing assignments remain next to impossible.  I told that to BB lady and she promised to work on writing with him for his last month at BB.  She told me that she is very excited to see what he accomplishes in this last trimester.  Me too!  I hope he can put his thoughts on paper by the end of this.

fail

Eight weeks into Brain Balance, and I have sat here watching Whit avoid his homework diligently for over an hour now.  He is supposed to be writing down key words regarding activities he did over the weekend--not even whole sentences.  But my dear Space Cadet has wasted an hour talking to cats, talking to me, going to the bathroom, walking around, doodling on his paper, laying his head on the table, eating some food, closing his eyes, staring unfocused at the ceiling...  an hour plus.  And now he's getting frustrated with himself.  I'm betting by the end of the night, we'll see tears.  Thanks, Brain Balance! You suck.

8th Week

The time just flies.  Only four more weeks of Brain Balance left.


There's nothing much to report.  I will mention that Whit's progress report came home on Wednesday.  He managed to turn all his U's for unsatisfactory behavior into happy S-'s for "needs improvement" in Miss Miller's class.  She's always given him U's in Self-Control and Following Directions.  One time he even received N's for those, which wasn't explained in the key, but I took to mean "so much worse than a U that I had to use a new letter."  Any way, perhaps that's Brain Balance at work.

questionable focus improvement

We had a week-long break from Brain Balance, between the holiday and Chris taking Whit to Philadelphia last weekend.  Whitman earned three level-up stars between Wednesday and today: one for brachiation (hanging on to monkey bars—he’s not strong enough for pull-ups yet), one for core strength, and today for focus.  I was very excited on the drive home when he told me his star was for focus.  I said, “So how do they test your focus?”

He said something like, “It’s not fair, really.  They give you like the best chair for the computer exercises.  It spins and rolls and everything.  So even when I’m focusing, they say that I’m not.”

“Because you’re playing with the chair?” I asked.

“Yes.  How can someone not play with the chair? I’m still paying attention.”

“So you got a star because you didn't play with your chair today?” I clarified.  And he confirmed.  His star was for not playing with the most awesome chair ever.

I would like to comment on how he is progressing with homework, but I have messed up the control of the experiment.  I had a hissy last week regarding all the homework, and had it out with both his teacher and the head of lower school.  Surprise, surprise: there’s been absolutely no homework this week.  I suspect this is a passive-aggressive answer to my concerns after I refused to talk to the teachers any more.  I’m not proud.  But it’s been a great homework week.

in need of a supplemental income

Homework continues to be a struggle, just FYI.

So the past two weeks were about buying the supplements that were recommended for Whit.    We bought him Vegetarian Liquid Omega 3 by Douglas Labs for almost $35, and Alpha Lipoic Acid 25 mg hypoallergenic capsules by Kirkman Labs for about $15, both from www.pureformulas.com.  Whit decided, and rightly so, that the Omega 3 is too disgusting to take.  He almost threw up (literally, no exaggeration) after half a teaspoon.  His recommended dose is a full teaspoon.  So of course there’s no making him take that any more.  He did learn to swallow the tiny lipoic acid capsule by practicing on candy.  That has worked out really well.  He had never taken a pill before.

Just today I was finally able to get in touch with Metabolic Maintenance which has limited hours on Pacific Time.  They are blending a powder to the BB nutritionist’s personalized recommendation for Whitman.  He will have to drink it in orange juice.  This cost about $110 (for a 90-day supply), so I reallyreallyreally hope that it won’t cause Whit to vomit and that he’ll take it religiously.  That should arrive in about a week.

First Progress Report

On Monday, we got our first progress update.  Here’s what was reported.

He has gone up three age levels in Auditory Processing, so he’s now “age appropriate” and should be able to follow 2-step instructions always and sometimes three step instructions.  I suppose he does.  “Brush your teeth and put on socks” is usually successful.

He’s gone up 3 levels in Supine Core strength, so he can do the yoga pose “bridge” like an 11-year-old.

He’s gained 2 age levels in Fine Motor skills, but we’ve  been given extra exercises to do daily moving paperclips between bowls to help with that.

He’s gained 1 level in Visual Ocular Reflex (not moving the head along with the eyes.)  It might have turned out better if I remembered to do our home exercises every day.

He also gained 1 level on Balance Beam, Prone Core exercises, and Lateral Core exercises.

Of major concern is upper body strength, where he continues to show the arm strength of a 4-year-old.

He is currently working on a 6^th grade level in Main Idea, Drawing Conclusions, and Making Inferences, and he just finished the 5^th grade level of Fractions, Decimals, and Multi-step Word Problems. (He's in 4th grade--yeah, I'm bragging!!)

So what does this mean for ADHD?  Great question.  So supposedly as the core becomes stronger, he is supposed to be settling down and having more patience.  She said I should be noticing that he is not getting as easily frustrated.  I am not sure about that.  I will be more observant.  The ability to focus longer is supposed to kick in this next month.  I wait with baited breath.

She also gave me an empty “task chart.”  Whit and I filled it out yesterday, deciding what his responsibilities are in the morning, afternoon, and evening.  It’s stuff like “brush teeth” and “put on socks”—four easy ones and one tricky one (“wash your face.”)  He’ll get rewarded if he can check off each task in a time slot.  He was really amenable to it, considering he helped to create it and that he gets to do the checking-off.

Most of what she told me about the behavior for “right-brain deficient” people I already knew from reading about ADHD and Aspergers, so there was no new insight into behavior.  That’s ok, though.  It’s affirming to realize I’m on top of things.  And she told me that he is a pleasure to work with and that he never gives them any push-back, and she couldn’t imagine that we have any behavioral issues at home.  Also affirming, if not entirely accurate. ;-)

Week 4

Another week of Brain Balance is behind us.  Whit doesn’t believe me when I tell him it’s an hour long.  He always refers to it as a half-hour.  He asked me on the ride home Friday how many BB sessions there are total (36), and how many he had done (11).  He said, “Already? Oh, I really like it there.”  So that is good news.

In other good news, I’m not bothering with that diet.  I took the Metametrix results to the pediatrician (Dr. Lye at Eastover Pediatrics) along with BB’s paper explaining nutrition and “leaky gut.”  He called Christopher and me a couple of days later with his thoughts on the matter.

First he reminded us that years of research backs pills to alleviate ADHD.  And that Brain Balance was developed by a chiropractor (we all enjoy getting in that little dig ;-) ).

The important part, though, was concerning the IgG test itself.  That test, unlike the IgE test for allergies, isn’t standardized.  There’s no accepted or proper protocol (“gold standard”) for administering and reading the test.   Every lab can do it its own way.  The results therefore don’t really mean anything.  (Actually there's a lot of reliable web sources saying this same thing, now that I'm looking.)  Dr. Lye said if we were concerned that there’s an allergy, we should take Whit to an allergist.  An elimination diet only makes sense if there’s an allergy.

He also told us that the “leaky gut” theory, (that undigested proteins are seen as foreign objects by the blood and thus elicit an immune response) is from the 1980’s, and that it’s never really been substantiated. 

The take away from the conversation was that, even though the Brain Balance exercises won’t do any harm, there’s no real research to suggest it will do any good either.  Where there is a potential for harm would be following a strict elimination diet and risking his nutrition.

So here’s what I’m going to do.  I’m going to try to feed Whit less cheese and more legumes.  I might even try the sloppy joe recipe that the BB nutritionist emailed me, and definitely some of the other recipes that came with their pack of paperwork.  I’m also open to the supplements and vitamins they want him to have.  Inevitably they’ll ask me how the diet is going, and I am going to say “fine, thank you.” Hopefully Whit will keep his mouth shut about bagels and ice cream.

Hungry

Today I got back the results from the Metametrix  lab work.  I am not happy.  Basically his entire diet showed up as a food sensitivity.  Fantastic. 

From what I understood, his blood serum was exposed to a number of different foods to see if it would have an immune response.  Whit had a “response class” of +3 (moderate) to casein (cheese), egg white, egg yolk, milk, wheat, and soybean.  Guess what we vegetarians eat a lot of?  He also had a mild response to cranberry, limas, pinto beans, almonds, and zucchini.  Awesome.

We are supposed to take these foods out of his diet for four weeks, then slowly reintroduce them to determine if he has any kind of negative reaction to them (as opposed to retesting at the lab.)  I imagine he will have a happy reaction to eating something other than nuts and fruit after four weeks.  I am really on the fence about trying an elimination diet.  I will probably have to schedule some face-time with his doctor and ask him if this is all as bullshit as it seems.

The nutritionist was concerned about his sources of protein during this diet month considering we are vegetarian.  No kidding.  She said that any nutritionist would tell you that children should not be vegetarians.  I told her that we’ve had four primary care doctors and two nutritionists in the last six years and none of them have ever mentioned that to me.  I have no patience for broad, unsubstantiated statements these days.  I guess the chiropractor who developed Brain Balance has a saying “eat meat for brain, eat vegetarian for heart” or some crap. “Nothing with a face, beyotch.”  That’s my saying.  She also gave me a giant pack of papers with food suggestions and recipes, and that was very helpful.

At our next meeting she’ll talk to me about the supplements Whit needs.  I can see from the results that he is lacking in the B vitamins, and it made sense to me how that is preventing all the amino acids in his blood from being used by his cells.  This Wednesday another woman will talk to me about behavior modification techniques.  Can’t wait.  

By the way, homework still takes two or more hours.

planted

Two kids are assigned the same appointment time at BB, and kids are cycled through at 15 minute intervals (I think--don't quote me.  It might be 30 minutes).  I've decided the mother of the 6 year old who starts with Whit must be agent planted by the BB team to encourage me.  Every week I hear her talk with the staff about how her child has gained 2 reading levels in six weeks, how he is so much less frustrated, how the cost of BB is totally justified when considering all the other therapy options, even though BB costs can't be submitted to insurance.  Today I "overheard" how her son can sit for homework now.  The discussed how important it is to do those exercises at home, how each kid only improves remarkably by doing the exercises.  Tell me that wasn't said for my benefit.

Week 2

We have been doing BB for two weeks now, although Monday it was closed for the holiday.  That gave us a chance to have Whit’s blood drawn and sent to Metametrix for the nutrition counseling part of BB.  Poor Whit was absolutely terrified and had to sit in my lap, but the woman at Any Time Lab there on P-M Rd was just excellent with him. 

Whit still seems to enjoy himself at BB, although he hasn’t been awarded any more stars for progress.  He calls the different activities “weird.”   I have not been keeping up my end of the deal with those exercises three times a day and music for 45 minutes each day.  Both of us hate that CD.  The worst is the heartbeat, followed by some weirdo mouth-breathing dude.  After a few minutes, my skin is itchy.  We do the exercises once or twice a day, and the music not at all.  And I just realized there’s a chart that I’m supposed to be filling out daily to document his progress.  Oops.  This coming week I’ll try to be more on the program. 

For the hour he’s at BB, I plan to walk around the neighborhood and get some exercise.  Yesterday it was raining, so I just hung out in my car and dozed.  I don’t really care to be in the office.  It feels like a doctor’s office considering the way it’s set up, but the gossip between the staff says there’s no HIPPA here.  The director asked Whit last week if he knew this one kid at his school, and told us she had met him and I get the impression his family is considering BB.  It doesn’t seem like my business.  And now I’m sure their family knows we’re at BB.  Obviously it’s not a secret, but it still doesn’t seem appropriate to talk about other patients.  I guess that’s the issue.  We’re not patients and not entitled to privacy.  We’re costumers to be used for networking and getting more customers.

It also didn't help when another parent’s second question to me was “What’s his diagnosis?”  Really, strange lady I just met?  Are we best friends and confidants just because we both have kids at BB?  Believe me, I totally understand how when you’re first realizing there’s an issue with your child and you’re trying everything available for help, it’s comforting to find other parents in your position.  But after five years, three evaluations and a special school, I have a really good grasp on what’s going on with my kid, and I don’t want that to be a leading topic of conversation any more.

Ok, enough bitching.  Whit sailed through homework Thursday night, but it helped that Christopher was here talking him through it.  Whit does a lot for Christopher that he would never do for me.  Maybe next week we’ll get the Metametrix results.  I’ll let you know.

End of Week 1

I wrote this yesterday, and forgot to post it.  Oops.

When I picked up Whit from school today, he was in a superbly ugly mood & he did not want to go to Brain Balance.  He hates the BB music CD and we should be listening to Science Friday on NPR.  He doesn’t understand how BB could possibly work, what is ADHD any way, and what does ‘deficit’ mean when used like that?  He also thinks it’s none of their business if he has over an hour and a half of screen time on weekend days.

He was upset because this is the first Friday of 12 that we won’t be able to go to Dairy Queen after school and meet up with his good pal Daniel and sometimes Jackson.  It’s hard on me too.  I really like sitting around DQ with their moms and having a soda, and going to Petsmart after wards to look around.  Sacrifices must be made.

When he came out from BB though, it was a whole other story.  He had gotten his first star for going up a level in balance beam and two core exercises (one of those is the yoga pose Bridge, but I don’t know the second.)  He very happily taped it up in the hallway along with the hundreds of other stars, and he’s been in a great mood ever since.  When we got home he went back to his room to play with his playmobil people instead of going straight to his ipad. Good times.

Day 1

One Brain Balance appointment down, 35 more to go.  Whit seemed to have had a good time at his appointment.  He did complain that the 3-D glasses he had to wear for one exercise actually made him cry because they hurt his eyes (not boo-hoo cry, but his eyes teared.) 

I had intended to sit in the waiting room and get some reading done, but no.  I was called back to an office to sign media wavers, information release waivers (for the school—I didn't have the heart to say we ought to leave the school out of it.  When I asked for her thoughts on Brain Balance, my principal suggested I put Whit in a dance class. Sooo maybe not a whole lot of support on that front.) 

Some home exercises were also explained.  There are MANY!  Four eye-tracking exercises to be done three times a day, a music cd we have to listen to for 15 minutes, three times a day, and a three body yoga-like exercises three times a day.  Every day.  He also has to do pushups and situps three times a week.  I was really surprised that Whit didn't give me grief about doing these exercises this morning.  Each daily exercise only takes about a minute, so it’s not too bad.

Today I have to call and make an appointment to have Whit’s blood drawn one early morning.  Part of BB is about elimination diet if he shows sensitivity to any foods.  The test will cost $495 (IgG for gluten, some blood plasma amino acid test, and a urine test for organic acid something-or-other—it made more sense when the doctor/nutritionist woman was explaining it to me!)  So I will just forget that story on NPR yesterday that Chris alerted me to, about how clinical studies show elimination diets don’t really have any effect on ADHD. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/01/09/144796050/for-kids-with-adhd-the-elimination-diet-falls-short-of-success  My kid gets SO HANGRY!!!

Here we go!

We start tomorrow! I show up with my boy and a check for $4900, after putting down a deposit of $500 in November. That's in addition to the $300 we payed for the ridiculous assessment test. More on that later, if you're interested. He'll go three times a week, one hour each session. Brain Balance is a franchise business that says this about themselves on their website (http://www.brainbalancecenters.com/): The Brain Balance Program® is an individualized and comprehensive approach to helping children with neurobehavioral and learning difficulties surmount their unique challenges.

Here is what I hope we get out of it:

• Easy homework takes 15 minutes of work, instead of 15 minutes of work and two hours of staring/rolling/slumping/tapping pencils/singing/whining/chit-chatting/walking around
• Less disruptive, goofing off behavior at school
• Ability to remember and perform three or more tasks given to him at once (now I have to ask him to do things one at a time, & maybe I can get two "get your socks on and brush your teeth." Usually I send him back to his room for one task, and find him playing with Mario figures, or drawing/writing ten minutes later)
• Not so ready with the word No when I ask him to do something. Luckily he limits this to me and doesn't share it with his teachers, and he winds up what doing what I asked without a fuss, but almost always his first response is No. Booger.

And that's it. Focus and willingness. Is that too much to ask? I know I could put him on ADHD meds and be done with it, but while we have the money, I want to exhaust other options first. (Well, not all other options. Chris says, "More beatings!")

Wish us luck!

Christopher would like to add to our list

• willingness to try new foods
• less anger & sulkiness when honest, gentle, constructive criticism is offered