brain balance center golden, co - the denver post article 041510

8/9/2019 Brain Balance Center Golden, CO - The Denver Post Article 041510

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denver and the west

Alternativetherapies for brain

disorders seeing

success

By Jennifer Brown

The Denver Post

Posted: 04/15/2010 01:00:00 AM MDT

Updated: 04/15/2010 08:58:56 AM MDT

Ricky Heilbron is racing a timer as he shoves

metal pegs into a wooden board. The 9-year-oldwears blue-tinted glasses and a buzzer on hisleft ear visual and audio stimulation for the

right side of his brain.

Ricky, a third-grader with attention-deficitdisorder and Asperger's syndrome, is amongthose undergoing a new "brain balance" therapyfor kids diagnosed with disorders in the autismspectrum.

At a clinic in Golden, kids propel their bodiesacross monkey bars, clap their hands to keep upwith a metronome that changes tempo, andstudy reading comprehension and mathreasoning.

The Brain Balance Center is one of the latestfranchises in a growing number of alternativetherapies for autism and related

neurological disorders.Advertisement

Brain Balance Center owners Eric and Tamara Eslich help Ricky Heilbron, 9, who has ADD and Asp

with the monkey bars. Mike Holobeck, a sensory-motor coach at the Golden center, looks on. (RJ

Denver Post)

http://www.denverpost.com/fdcp?127134831

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No surprise the industry is booming: Thechances this year of a child in the United Statesbeing diagnosed with autism-spectrum disorderare one in 110, up from last year's rate of one in

150, according to the Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention. That compares with justone in about 10,000 a decade ago.

Researchers debate just how much of thatincrease is due to better diagnosis and howmuch is an alarming jump in brain disorders.Some doctors blame more stress andenvironmental toxins for pregnant women andchildren, as well as technology TV, videogames and iPods that keep kids sedentary andfocused on fine-motor skills, functionscontrolled by the left side of the brain.

In Ricky's case, the right side of his brain isdelayed, say his Brain Balance coaches hemisses the big picture and is obsessed withdetails, he tends to freak out when his routine isinterrupted and he doesn't get the concept ofpersonal space, affecting his ability to makefriends.

Ricky's parents recently signed him up for asecond three-month session at Brain Balance,therapy that includes three hours of right-brain

stimulation each week. The program, which costsmore than $5,000, typically isn't covered byinsurance.

Ricky's dad, Mike Heilbron, said his son'soutbursts are less frequent, his reading hasimproved and he is less of a "space-invader"since he started the therapy.

Basically rewiring brain

"By bombarding his brain for an hour, threetimes a week, . . . we can basically rewire the

brain," said Tamara Eslich, a former chiropractorwho, along with her husband, Eric, openedColorado's first Brain Balance in December. "Weare going to find the underlying problem."

Brain Balance now has more than 20 sites acrossthe country.

Advertisement

Ricky Heilbron, a third-grader who has

attention-deficit disorder and

Asperger's syndrome, works on timing

with the help of a computer program at

Brain Balance Center in Golden. Center

director Eric Eslich supervises Ricky's

progress. (RJ Sangosti, The Denver

Post)


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Another franchise for kids with autism andlearning disabilities, LearningRx Brain TrainingCenters, has 70 sites, including four in Colorado.

Founder Ken Gibson, a former pediatricoptometrist, said kids with autism-spectrumdisorder often have trouble blending sounds,which makes reading difficult. His therapyfocuses on lengthening attention span, short-term memory and speed.

Rapid-fire addition

For a maximum of about $10,000 for a seven-month program, kids at LearningRx sit through

demanding sessions doing exercises such asadding numbers in their head as a tutor spoutsthem in rapid fire.

"It's like a physical workout, but it's mental,"Gibson said.

He said the methods of the competition theright-brain- versus-left-brain therapies at BrainBalance are based on literature.

"There's not a whole lot of science in that area,"Gibson said. "We try to follow a method that is

more science-based."

The "brain training" that happens at LearningRxcan boost kids' IQs by 15 points and improvereading ability by four years, he said.

With the flood of expensive, alternative

therapies from horseback riding to sensorystimulation parents of autistic children shoulduse caution before enrolling, said Dr. RobinGabriels, a psychologist and founder of

Children's Hospital's Neuropsychiatric SpecialCare Program in Aurora.

Choosing the right therapy for an autistic childdepends largely on the severity of the child'sdisorder, Gabriels said.

"There is no one treatment that we can nameand say that is the one you need to use," shesaid.

"When parents come to me and they say, 'Should

I try this new expensive diet or this vitamintherapy?' and they really don't have a lot offinancial resources, I say, 'Start with what youknow works,' " said Gibson, who uses "socialstories" accompanied by pictures that teach kidswho don't read social cues on how to behave.

Some therapies for sale aren't necessarily basedon widely accepted science, Gibson said. Forexample, she said, autistic children don'tnecessarily have a right-brain delay.

"We know it's a neurological disorder, but we

don't know a specific brain site that has beenidentified," she said. "That hasn't been done yet."

Jennifer Brown: 303-954-1593 or

[email protected]

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brain balance center golden, co - the denver post article 041510

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