Brain Highways

I’m a few years out from the experience with my child. It’s taken me this long to be able to write a balanced review without emotion. This review is the review I wish I had seen when I was considering signing my child up for this program.
I want to say that first off, I definitely CAN see the benefits for children and adults who are simply having difficulty with focus, attention, tracking, ADHD, higher-​function Autism and other issues like that. If your child is active, can process directives, and can maneuver the day to day without major medical intervention, then go for it. The benefits you can glean will be beneficial for life. That is clear. I have friends who have completed the program with their children and it has made their homes a better place to be and their children are succeeding in school.
Beyond that, if your child has severe disabilities and other major medical conditions, I would seriously consider a different approach other than Brain Highways. The people who own and run this business are not medical professionals. They are not doctors. They are not psychologists, psychiatrists, neurologists, geneticists. I believe their hearts on in the right place, but it is NOT a one-​size-​fits-​all equation as they claim.
I am writing this review to let parents of children who have profound physical, cognitive, or processing disabilities to seriously consider looking further. This is most likely NOT the program for you, even though the director claims she can reach any child. The amount of heartache and guilt you will feel as a parent is not worth it when you are already just holding on at the end of your rope. They claim that *YOU* are the *ONLY* variable in your child’s equation for success. Think about that for a moment, please, parents of medically disabled children. There is always another way.

We’ve gone through the Brain Highways program twice now… The first time with my older son several years ago, and now with my younger son. Both boys have Autism (one mild Asperger’s type, and the other more severe). And it’s been a good experience for both boys.
You really need to understand what you’re signing up for though… This is a series of TWO eight-​week courses («Pons» and «Midbrain») and you’re going to be asked to do physical exercises with your child EVERY day (for 30+ minutes). Some days you’re not going to feel like doing it, and your child is going to push back a lot. The BH staff will help you through this though, and it will eventually become a habit. This habit will also need to continue beyond the 16 weeks… until they can demonstrate mastery of the body movements. You’re looking at a pretty big commitment time-​wise.
Are the results worth it? I tend to be really skeptical, and I’ve wondered many times which results I’ve seen in my older child came from BH and which were the result of natural maturation. But I can say he made HUGE strides from before & after we did the BH program. He thinks more logically (less emotionally), processes instructions better, and is more compliant. The younger child (who has more «severe» autism) is still going through the program, but we’ve already seen improvements in his ability to reason and calm himself down.
What’s interesting to me is that I can monitor his progress somewhat by watching how he «creeps» (one of the movements asked of participants). Right now he heavily favors one leg over the other (the one controlled by his right brain), and there is a distinct pause when moving from one side of his body to the other. Out of curiosity, I put his (non special-​needs) sister on the floor to try «creeping» and she naturally switches from one leg to the other (because her brain functions more smoothly). My older son used to have a very awkward «creep», but can now move between left & right sides smoothly. I joked with my husband that if nothing else, the program improved our older son’s physical coordination… but I really do believe it helped him intellectually and emotionally as well (which is why we were willing to do it a second time with our other son).
For my younger (more autistic) son, we understand it’s going to take a LOT of time on the floor practicing moving between his left & right brain. We’re basically trying to reprogram his brain — which takes time. But I’m slowly seeing improvements (an occasional kick from his other foot for example). I’m going to keep doing the daily exercises until he (finally) gets that left brain /​right brain interaction going — which should help his overall brain development.
Everyone I’ve talked to who has been through the Brain Highways program (and did the exercises daily) has told me they’ve seen benefits for their child. These people apparently don’t Unilocal though, so I felt like I should post my thoughts. Hope this helps someone with their decision on whether or not the BH program is a good fit for their child.

I agree with most of GH’s review. The way I felt at the end of this exhaustive experience on both the parent and child is that we apparently didn’t do enough or didn’t do it properly. We personally found most of the teachers to be quick-​judging and condescending. It was not a good experience.

Great learning center for children with ADD/​ADHD Autism.

We tried the program and were quite diligent in doing all the homework, but eventually came to the conclusion that this is really a program based on gimics and tricks and that our child would have benefited far more from legitimate therapy and methods. Their sales pitch is quite high pressure, the tests they put your kids through to demonstrate that they are underdeveloped and therefore need the program are a joke (and designed to ensure that every kid fails).
Certain of the staff can be quite manipulative, making the parents feel that if they are not seeing positive results despite doing all the work, it is becuase the parents do not sufficiently believe in the program. My problem with that conclusion is that if this program really works, if creeping and crawling on the floor really builds «brain highways», then it will work whether I subjectively belive in the program or not. Unless they claim to be faith healers, my personal lack of faith should not affect the outcome.
Lastly, if you decide to no longer continue, don’t even think about not paying for the entire program. They very, very aggressively pursue their money!

Brain Highways has given us so much! We started Brain Highways last summer for my then 6 y.o. daughter who was struggling with a number of emotional and behavioral challenges. It happens that I am a child psychiatrist and that we had already pursued more traditional therapies such as occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech therapy. These other treatments were helpful but my daughter continued to struggle with a number of difficulties. I found the program to be incredibly comprehensive and powerful and it has led to major changes in our lives. My daughter is now calmer, more grounded in her body, more coordinated and more joyful. And, we have not yet completed all the work, so I know there are more wonderful changes waiting for us. It is important to say that this program takes hard work, both from the child and the parents, but that work pays off big-​time. I really can’t recommend Brain Highways enough. I was stunned on many occasions by the depth and power of the program. The people who put this program together are on the cutting edge of understanding how to best help a child’s developing brain and body.