Brain Balance Adhd Article Sandy Springs Living 07 15 2009

R E L A X AT T H E R I T Z - C A R LTO N L O D G E ( S E E PAG E 2 6 ) For the City of Sandy Springs

July/August 2009

www.sandyspringsliving.net

Is Your Child Struggling with ADHD? Brain Balance Provides an Innovative Solution

Parks and Rec. Update

at Morgan Falls

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by Lorrie Bryan

Brain Balance is helping children with ADHD achieve amazing results. Like many of the millions of children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) Beau Fincher, 9, struggled academically, socially and behaviorally. “He was below grade level in reading, he had little impulse control and he was prone to fits of rage that were driving us all crazy,” assesses his father, Lee Fincher. “When he was four, he was diagnosed with severe environmental allergies and we found out his vestibular system was out of whack. We consulted with doctors and he underwent sensory integration and occupational therapies. He was an active, bright child, but slow to read and he acted impulsively. When he was 6, a psychologist for Fulton County schools confirmed what we suspected—he has ADHD.”

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Currently more prescriptions are written for ADHD than for any other childhood condition.

“Within nine to ten weeks, we saw a dramatic improvement. His teachers remarked at how mature he was acting and how much he’d changed.” -Lee Fincher, father of Beau Fincher

Fincher says medication helped some, but Beau continued to struggle, and his behavior was affecting the whole family. “Our daughter, 11, told us she couldn’t take it anymore—he was increasingly unmanageable and he was making her miserable. We heard about Brain Balance and went to a seminar about a year ago to find out more. I am naturally skeptical and frugal, but after hearing about the program’s amazing results, we decided we had to give it a try. We made helping Beau get better our number-one priority.”

reluctant to go to his sessions for the first few weeks, but then he bought into it and looked forward to them. Within nine to ten weeks, we saw a dramatic improvement. His teachers remarked at how mature he was acting and how much he’d changed. He went from being a behavior problem to getting all A’s and S’s in conduct. He went from being a year behind grade level to just shy of grade level. We’ve drastically decreased his medication, and we think he’ll be ready to move out of IEP entirely and into a regular classroom by Christmas.”

It wasn’t easy at first, Fincher admits. “The first thing we discovered is that Beau has severe food allergies—gluten, wheat, dairy and eggs. We had to learn how to shop and rethink the way we eat. And Beau was

“When I met Beau last year, I knew that we could help him,” affirms Dr. Peter Scire, executive director of the local Brain Balance Centers. He was struggling with the classic symptoms of ADHD—excessive

distractibility, restlessness, impulsiveness, rage—and our program is designed to address the underlying cause for these symptoms while medications are formulated to treat the symptoms. The great majority of children graduating from our program are on less medication or completely off their medication. I knew that with the right assessment we could develop an individual plan for him that would be successful.

What is Functional Disconnection Syndrome? FDS is a functional imbalance of brain activity within each side and/or between the right and left sides of the brain. Current research continues to describe this as brain underconnectivity, desynchronization and/or functional disconnection syndrome. The brain literally becomes desynchronized or out of rhythm. So just as an orchestra may be filled with extremely gifted musicians, the music played will sound horrible if the musicians play out of rhythm with each other. The brain, too, must function in rhythm or in synchronicity. 

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and motor) activities, cognitive exercises, and supportive nutritional initiatives for each child.” Scire says. “We literally change the brain through exercising the circuits and retraining the hemispheres to communicate effectively. The brain is designed to be in balance, so once you strengthen the weaker hemisphere, the negative symptoms disappear. We’re pleased with Beau’s progress. He’s done quite well and is on a different path now. He knows that he is capable of learning and controlling his impulses and that if he works, he will succeed. We’ve seen hundreds of success stories like his.” What’s the best part? “The peace that Brain Balance has brought our family is unbelievable,” says Fincher. “He is a different kid—one of the most confident kids you’ll ever meet—and we’re grateful that he is now able to live up to his potential.”

For more information, go to www.brainbalancega.com or call the Roswell location (770.650.8010), Suwanee (770.614.4790) or Peachtree City (770.631.3033). Photography by Jack Tuszynski “We now know that the most accurate diagnosis for children like Beau and children often diagnosed with autism, Asperger’s, Tourette’s, ADHD, dyslexia and other learning disabilities is actually Functional Disconnection Syndrome or FDS,” explains Scire, a board-eligible chiropractic neurologist. “The latest functional MRI brain research shows that in FDS there is a functional disconnection between the two hemispheres of the brain. The hemispheres of the brain are essentially out of synch. One hemisphere processes information at a slower speed, like dial-up and the other hemisphere is processing at DSL speed,” he explains. “First we determine if a child exhibiting abnormal emotional, social, physical and academic symptoms has FDS. After we determine which hemisphere is functioning abnormally, we design a specific program integrating physical (sensory 20

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ADHD Medications in the News A recent study in The American Journal of Psychiatry suggests that children and teens who take stimulants like Ritalin for ADHD have an increased risk for sudden cardiac death. Authorities say an increasing number of young people from Eastern Iowa have been seen at hospitals for abusing drugs prescribed for ADHD. The Iowa Poison Control Center reports that seven people, ages 13 to 24, were seen at Eastern Iowa hospitals in four days for abuse of such medications as Adderall, Concerta, Ritalin and Vyvanse. The center director says the prescription medications are being abused to get high, to lose weight, to stay awake and to increase mental alertness.

July/August 2009