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.