Grand Opening

We were lucky to attend the Grand Opening Party at Brain Balance this week.  Grandma Shauna, Aunt Linda and Grandma Linde came to the ribbon cutting.  Dr. Melillo was here and we got to meet him and ask him questions.  Kate asked if it was left brain(repetitive) to listen to the Brain Balance music 5 times a day :)  Dr. Melillo said no and Kate replied "I guess it's only left brain if it's things you like".  Haha.  She's got it!  Kate had fun with her friends playing in the sand and jumping in the bounce house.  And some of the food was on our diet, of course, so she was super excited to be able to eat lunch there.  She had 3 servings of the chicken!!  For once, we got to eat the food at a party  ;)

Sand box and some welcomed shade. 

Ribbon Cutting!

Kate, Aubree, and Andy's accomplishments



Dr Melillo

Later that evening, we attended a lecture by Dr. Melillo.  It was so helpful!  All that he was saying brought everything together for me in a clear way.  It was really inspiring.  Kate and Grandma Shauna were there and at one point, Kate leaned over to me and said "What is autism??"  Interesting. 

I will just share a few points that he talked about:

He talked alot about the functional disconnect in the brain of kids with learning differences, ADD, ADHD, ASD etc.  Basically, there are parts of the brain that are at different ages.  The brain didn't develop, for a variety of reasons, at the same rate.  So that is why we see kids who are brilliant in some areas and struggling in other areas. 

He talked about the brain being like a symphony.  If there are a few instruments playing out of tempo, then it affects the whole sound of the music.  You can't just tell all of those players to speed up, because maybe one of them is playing too slow.  You have to address each musician and have it play the right tempo.

So, the kids with the label ADHD have, say, 10 instruments(or parts of the brain) out of tempo. And kids with ASD(autism spectrum disorder) have 30 out of tempo.  We have to pinpoint what parts of the brain are out of tempo and either slow them down or speed them up to match the rest of the brain.  Then, the whole brain can work together.

The other interesting point he said was that people used to think that at conception the DNA was essentially wiped clean.  That the developing baby got a brand new set of DNA.  Now the research shows that all of the mom's and dad's marks(I can't remember what he called them, but all of the toxins, health issues, etc that affect the DNA) get passed on to the embryo. 


It was a really great talk.  I know I keep saying that, but it was the highlight of my week.  They are making a DVD of it so if anyone is interested, just let me know. 

The funniest part of the night was when Dr. Melillo said Aspergers and of course it sounds like ass-burgers.  Well, Kate looked at me with the funniest expression and pointed to her bum with this questioning look.  "Like???" and pointed to her bum again.  It was so funny.  I had to explain that the word starts with that sound but it is just a name.  She is cracking me up more and more as she becomes more aware.