A Retrospective Review of Parent-Reported Anxiety and Emotional Functioning in Children with Developmental Challenges After Participation in the Brain Balance® Program

Abstract

Children with developmental or learning challenges often have cooccurring difficulties in emotional functioning.There is a longstanding need to identify effective nonpharmacologic treatments to address these emotional difficulties.However, few studies have examined training programs that are multimodal in nature and their effects specifically on mental well-being.The purpose of this study is to estimate the impact of an integrative multimodal training program (Brain Balance ® ) on mental well-being in children and adolescents with developmental or learning challenges, as measured by parental surveys.A retrospective review was performed on 4 years of archived survey responses from parents of enrolled students (4-17 years; 70.8% male and 29.2% female) before and after program participation.Before program participation, all students tested below age-appropriate developmental levels.The Brain Balance program consisted of three 1-hour in-center sessions per week (45 minutes of sensorimotor stimulation and 15 minutes of academic activities), along with other multimodal activities targeting proprioception and balance, vestibular functioning, fine motor skills, rhythm and timing, auditory and visual processing, and retained primitive reflexes.Parental responses showed that, after 5-6 months of program participation, 75% of children showed up to 25% improvement, and 25% of children demonstrated 60-85.7%improvement, in the following areas: panic/anxiety attacks, worrying, depression-like symptoms, mood, obsessive thoughts or behaviors, social withdrawal, pessimism, emotional regulation, emotional self-awareness, and emotional expressiveness.These findings suggest the potential value of nonpharmacologic training programs in improving mental well-being in children and adolescents with developmental or learning challenges, especially programs that are comprehensive and multimodal.

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