Work the Cerebellum: how Neurofeedback, Brain Balance, or iLS can help your child with autism

Hi Everyone,

today I will discuss why it's important to get your child some sort of training that will help his cerebellum make more sense of the world. The cerebellum is the large part at the back of our brain that is in charge of sensory integration.
I just thought of a metaphor of what sensory processing is like for an autistic child. Imagine your brain and body as an email account. Every sensory input that is coming in to your brain is an email. So you turn on your account and you are getting 400 emails an hour (which is if course far below what actually comes in). There is nothing that you need to do to get the emails, other than be awake. In order to manage the onslaught of information and process them appropriately (i.e. file things for later if they are not important, delete, mark as spam, respond to the important, archive etc.) you need to at least have the use of your hands. For a neuro-typical person these emails are not a big deal. Our brain appropriately filters, marks as spam, responds to the important issues, without us having to consciously do anything. For an autistic person however it's like your internet connection is slow, you have no filters on your account, your hands are tied to the chair and someone has gagged you. On top of that your chair is positioned in such a way that the leak in the ceiling is dripping on your head constantly distracting you, and you can't get over to turn off that obnoxious music (insert whichever you find most annoying) that someone left on the radio. Now try and respond to all those emails. The best you might be able to do is hit some delete button by banging your head on the keyboard or screeching/growling through your gag for help. You might even try hopping up and down to get someone's attention or simply to get out of the way of that distracting drip.
Now substitute the words "email account" for cerebellum and "email" for sensory inputs, and imagine what this looks like to a person on the outside, who has no idea that you are trying to process something? Yes, jumping around, screaming, growling, crashing into things? Does that sound like an autistic person? It sure sounds like my boy.

So here is a practical example of how sensory processing works without our having to do anything: You sit on the couch, reading a book. You smell that the cookies you just made are burning. You run up to get them out. Your brain has just processed the smell of burning cookies and generated an appropriate response. Your proprioceptive sense lets you know how to efficiently jump up off the couch and make it to the kitchen without bumping into anything.

 In my son for example his proprioceptive sense (the one that lets you feel your body movements and orientation in space) doesn't give him enough feedback, so he constantly jumps to feel his legs, or trips over things. Imagine you smell those burning cookies, but you can't feel your legs. Or your sense of smell is hyposensitive and you forget about the cookies and burn them and your house to a crisp. The cerebellum has to process a massive amount of information and then translate it into tiny commands that helps us for example stand without falling over, or filter out background noises to focus on the pertinent one. By the way I'm not a brain scientist, so if I'm totally screwing this up, and you know what you are talking about, please correct me in the comments sections, for all of our benefit.

Anyway, there are a couple of ways to help the brain. The earlier you start any intervention the better, typically. One excellent intervention is sensory integration therapy. This is administered through a certified occupational therapist, trained in sensory integration. A word of caution however: if the therapist is not familiar in working with autistic children, find someone who is. There are also a number of therapies out there that stimulate the cerebellum's development. Scientific research on this subject is still in it's very early stages, but there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that would warrant further investigation. There are a number of programs out there that take a multi-sensory approach which helps children. These are a few of them. I personally haven't gotten to try many of them because we live in the Netherlands and they are not available here. However I just found out the iLS is, so we will be starting that soon, I hope.

Brain Balance Program: 
This program runs 3x1 hr / week and costs about $6000 for 12 weeks. It is based on Dr.Robert Melillo's program. He wrote the book The Disconnected Child. The program is aimed at strengthening the weaker part of the brain hemisphere and thus helping it catch up with the other side, so they can communicate in sync, which according to him will reduce most problems associated with autism/add/adhd.

Interactive Metronome:
I don't know how much it costs, but it helps the two brain halves communicate in sync. Timing is crucial to proper functioning and these exercises help brain timing improve.

Dore:   Similar idea to Brain Balance but less developed it seems, and the founder sounded a wee bit dodgy to me.

Handle:
Similar idea to brain balance, but doesn't require active cooperation from the patient which can be helpful.

iLS:
Exercises performed to music which is listened to through a vibrating headphone. The frequency of the music is tested and in that way the brain is stimulated.

LENS Neurofeedback:
Optimizes brain passageways. Can be very expensive.

Anat Baniel Method: 
I've actually tried this one with Ezra and it was remarkable. He could feel his body so much better. However, this is also largely dependent on a good therapist.

I will keep you posted on how these therapies go. I know several mothers who swear by the Brain Balance centers, however, the child has to have a higher level of cooperation to be able to participate. So if your child does not demonstrate such an ability, I hear the Handle method is more favorable.