This model of care works to eliminate retained primitive reflexes, build gross motor and fine motor movement patterns, build core stability and strength, and activate areas of the immature brain that are underperforming. It helps your child achieve optimal brain connectivity and brain symmetry.
Brainfit Kids uses the process of neuroplasticity to help build the brain. We know that “neurons that fire together wire together’, by stimulating the brain we build neural pathways for success in movement, learning, behaviour and social skills.
Dr Michelle Scholten designs a specific in-clinic brain-based care plan and program based on your child’s clinical assessment findings. The following tools and equipment are used to activate and stimulate the sensory motor system, improve brain connectivity and build symmetry and balance between the two brain hemispheres.
The Brainfit Kids toolkit comprises various evidence-based therapies tailored to activate specific regions in your child’s brain. To maximise the opportunity for the brain to form new neural pathways and enhance connectivity, we often utilise several modalities at the same time – known as co-activation.
In practice, this can look like your child playing a targeted Neurosage game, wearing a VR headset, standing on the Neurosage VibePlate, with the Rezzimax vibration tool strapped to their leg and one of our therapy assistants delivering targeted Laser therapy!
The formation and strengthening of new neural pathways is known as neuroplasticity and is the cornerstone of the Brainfit Kids therapeutic approach. Our objective is to pinpoint areas of the brain that may be underdeveloped and poorly connected and then offer specific, targeted activities to enhance function to help your child reach their potential.
Neurosage by (SNA biotech) is a cutting edge digital therapeutic intervention. Neurosage is game based software or “video games’ which most children love. These games aren’t your regular video games; these ones have a therapeutic benefit!
It is a non-invasive scientifically designed computer software application that targets the visual, acoustic and vestibular system using specific video games to improve brain and body connectivity.
Neurosage delivers a targeted amount of stimulation (to the brain) via the eyes, ears and body. The neurosage impacts whole brain function enabling both right and left brain hemispheres to communicate more efficiently and work as a ‘whole system’ as nature intended.
The brain functions as a control mechanism for the human body, as neurochemical inputs and outputs are transmitted to and from sensors and receptors located within the brain and throughout the body.
Dopamine and serotonin control many organs and processes that regulate bodily function and are critical components in the processes related to human psychological function. It is well established that raising the internal levels of dopamine and serotonin can positively impact both cognition and mood.
Neurosage’s non-invasive mechanism stimulates the systematic raising of these vital neurochemicals to sustainable levels, facilitating neural plasticity and a state of neurological and postural balance.
Neurosage is known to impact balance, coordination, focus, attention, cognition, reaction times, involuntary movements, developmental issues, mood and behaviour.
Although Neurosage has broad applications across many different patient populations, it may be particularly useful for children with neurodevelopmental differences such as autism, ADHD, sensory processing problems, movement and coordination issues, and learning challenges like dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, and dyspraxia. Impaired dopamine and serotonin levels and altered signalling have been linked to neurodevelopmental differences such as autism and ADHD.
The Interactive Metronome® (IM) is a computer-based program that trains neural rhythm and timing in the brain and body. It targets pathways that involve the cerebellum, which is important for movement, learning, speech, and language.
The IM offers a selection of games – designed by top gaming designers – that will keep your child motivated, engaged, and challenged.
The interactive metronome is backed by over 15 years of research. It has studies published in leading scientific journals demonstrating improvements in academics, reading comprehension and speech fluency, handwriting, organisation, behaviour, and self-esteem.
IM is a research-backed treatment program that helps improve timing through exercise and practice. It works by having a child synchronise a range of whole body exercises to a precise computer-generated beat and provides visual and auditory feedback for improved timing, rhythm, and synchronisation in the brain.
Better timing leads to improvements in things like focus, coordination, planning, and processing speed.
IM is recognised as a therapy that may help children with autism spectrum disorder, learning difficulties and cognition, ADHD, sensory processing disorder, auditory processing disorder, and more.
Brainfit Kid’s Interactive Metronome home training program can be accessed from home for those wanting ‘that little bit extra’ or who are working remotely from the clinic.
More information is available here https://www.interactivemetronome.com/
Laser therapy (also known as Low-Level Light Therapy LLLT) uses photobiomodulation (PBM) – red and infrared laser/light therapy – to support brain health by improving brain activation and connectivity, maximising neuronal function, and improving brain oxygenation.
Laser therapy is known to improve the function of many brain areas, including improving the cognitive function of the prefrontal cortex, where your child’s executive functions, such as impulse control, emotional regulation, working memory, and organisation, live in the brain.
During PBM, photons enter the body via the application of a therapeutic dose of light and interact with the cytochrome c complex within mitochondria (the cellular powerhouse).
The process of light passing through the skin and being absorbed fuels the body’s cellular processes, triggering chemical changes to help tissues regrow and heal, as well as help damaged cells.
Laser Therapy (PBM) is extremely SAFE with over 4000 studies performed and published finding positive outcomes from the clinical application of photobiomodulation, with very few adverse side effects.
Established research documents that PBM is indicated and helpful for children with neurodevelopmental differences such as autism, ADHD, sensory processing disorders, dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, and dyspraxia, reducing cognitive impairments and improving function, depression, anxiety and mood disorders.
More information is available here: https://www.neuro-solution.com/. For more evidence-based research, see our resources page under laser therapy (photobiomodulation).
Our Brain Gym is a functional therapy area where exercises are demonstrated and practiced. These exercises include:
Parents and caregivers also have an opportunity to discuss any questions they may have regarding their home care exercise program.
Braingym sessions work on building underdeveloped brain areas. Exercises include primitive reflex integration, core stability and strength, and building underactive or immature brain areas using a sensory motor approach.
The Rezzimax is a form of Vagus Nerve stimulation which uses vibration to calm the nervous system. It helps the body to get itself out of a fight-flight state.
The Rezzimax is placed on the skin of the face, head and body activating the very powerful vagus nerve to activate the “rest and digest” or parasympathetic nervous system of the body.
Vagal stimulation is known to improve emotional regulation, focus and attention as well as sleep, digestion and social engagement in children.
Learn more here https://rezzimax.au/
This 5-day sound therapy and auditory training program uses music and sound to activate the parasympathetic ‘rest and digest’ part of the nervous system, particularly the vagus nerve.
The Safe and Sound Protocol is based on the work by Dr Stephen Porges’ Polyvagal Theory
The Polyvagal Theory states…
This 5-day sound therapy and auditory training program uses music and sound to activate the parasympathetic ‘rest and digest’ part of the nervous system, particularly the vagus nerve.
Throughout this 5 day program, the child listens to the music for 1 hour per day in a quiet and relaxed home environment whilst being supervised by a parent or caregiver.
The music of the SSP has been filtered through a patented, evidence-based algorithm that highlights specific sound frequencies that help regulate the autonomic nervous system and stimulate the vagus nerve.
The goals of the program are to improve social skills and social engagement, improve auditory processing and listening skills and to reduce anxiety by enabling the child to hear higher pitched sounds which we as humans recognise as ‘cues of safety’.
Children with conditions such as autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, auditory processing disorder and anxiety or early childhood trauma are often great candidates for the program and research shows children seem to benefit greatly when the SSP is used in conjunction with other therapies such as Brainfit Kids, occupational therapy and speech therapies.
Learn more here https://integratedlistening.com.au/safe-and-sound-protocol/
Polyvagal chart Sourced from The Associate Manual of the Safe & Sound Protocol. Copyright © 2020 Stephen W. Porges, PhD & Integrated Listening Systems and adapted by Ruby Jo Walker, Licensed Clinical Social Worker and expert trainer in the field of interpersonal neurobiology.
In addition to the above therapies, there are many other forms of therapeutic equipment that may be included in your child’s Brainfit program, such as the examples below. The therapies and equipment Dr Michelle prescribes for your child will be geared toward optimising their movement, learning and social skills, whilst having fun!
BlazePod is a smart reaction training platform, that unequivocally improves reaction time, focus, attention and cognitive skills through interactive and dynamic exercises.
Kids love the interactive app and innovative light-up pods that encourage physical & cognitive growth.
TENS, which stands for transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, is a machine that gently stimulates the nerves of the skin as a targeted sensory input to the body and brain.
The act of moving your eyes is a highly effective method for stimulating the brain and fostering lasting alterations in its structure, a phenomenon referred to as plasticity.
Focus Builder transforms all the benefits of functional neurology eye movement training and makes them available in an all-inclusive, easy-to-use app. The “Focus Builder” app challenges your child to voluntarily move their eyes in various patterns, speeds and directions, which have been proven to activate specific parts of the brain.
The app offers a resource that aids patients in attaining therapeutic benefits by engaging in various eye movements, such as gaze stability training, pursuits, saccades, anti-saccades, random saccades, memory saccades, hemistim, OPK, vergence testing and training, visual memory tasks, and peripheral vision training. These particular forms of eye exercises not only deliver therapeutic benefits but can also enhance brain functionality.
Some of the functions that can improve with the use of the Focus Builder app include:
The “OptoDrum” app is an easy-to-use replacement for a bulky optokinetic drum or a fraying cloth tape to elicit optokinetic nystagmus providing information for the evaluation of neurological, otological, and ophthalmologic disorders.
The OptoDrum provides five patterns: black stripes, red stripes, mixed colors, symbols, and animals.
Place the iPhone/iPad with a moving pattern in front of a patient’s eye to elicit the response.
Go/No-Go games measure your child’s response inhibition and activate pathways needed to support your child’s self-regulation in the pre-frontal cortex.
The Go/No-go task is a simple experimental paradigm that requires participants to respond by pressing a button when they see a “go” signal, and not respond when they see the “no-go” signal. The key behaviour measured in this experiment is the participants’ ability to withhold a response on No-go trials.
Brainfit Kids acknowledges the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of this nation and recognises their continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands on which our company is located and where we conduct our business. We pay our respects to ancestors and Elders, past and present. Brainfit Kids is committed to honouring Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ unique cultural and spiritual relationships to the land, waters and seas and their rich contribution to society.
