Progress report

In order to keep parents up to date on their child’s journey, Brain Balance offers two progress report meetings. They take place one-third of the way through the program and then again two-thirds of the way through. 

Sam just finished his fourth week so Monday was our day. I was really excited to hear where and how Sam was improving.  After his initial evaluation (which took a whopping four hours), Tom and I met with Betsy and she walked us through the assessment. There was lots of information and some impressive color graphs that provided new insight into Sam’s weaknesses.  I haven’t really provided much detail on this first meeting so let’s back up -

First they looked at his Primitive Reflexes. These are exhibited by typical babies but disappear as they develop. According to Betsy, Sam’s OT and countless other sources if babies don’t outgrow these reflexes they get stuck. Sam has moved past some but too many of them are lingering.

Next they tested all five senses in every way imaginable and charted out how he did in comparison to a typical eight year old.

Then they measured his level of synchronization on the balance beam, in his gait & aerobics and with the interactive metronome (whatever that means!).

Finally, they looked at the surveys I filled out.

Tom and I walked out of that initial assessment with a solid grasp of Sam's challenge areas and we loved that this learning would be used to create a customized plan for each session.

After this, I had high expectations for his progress report and was sadly disappointed. Rather than talking in the same language as the assessment, the progress report focused on how many levels Sam went up in each area. Of course I love that he’s going up. But I already knew this from the stars he earns every week. It’s not new learning. I want to know how far he is from reaching his goal.

Keep in mind that I love statistics. Shopping around and comparing prices is fun for me. I get all hot and bothered by charts and research. I say this so you take my criticism with a grain of salt. I am a numbers geek and felt completely unsatisfied. Some parents probably glaze over as Betsy walks them through the report. All they want to hear is whether their kid is making progress. And they would love my meeting.

As we looked through the report, I asked a lot of questions; I was trying to uncover the meat I craved but it just wasn’t there. After a while I cut myself off. I needed to go home, read through the original results and compare them to these new ones to see if there was more that I was missing. I couldn’t find it so I emailed Betsy. She is amazing. She really, really wants to make me happy and to provide what I'm asking for. But after a couple of lengthy phone calls, emails and a meeting it’s clear that what I want isn’t available. If it was there, she would have given it to me.

In order to answer my questions they would need to redo the four hour assessment and none of us want that. The levels which are the focus of Sam’s sessions do not correlate with his goals. For some areas he may need to go up three levels to reach goal; for others he may need to go up 12.  

You know I love this program. I think it’s working and my baby boy is already impressively improved. But I wanted to be wowed and to know how far he still has to go and I wasn't. For now I will rely on my gut (which is already having a party) and trust what I feel when I watch him. He's full of smiles. He's chatting. Everyone he comes in contact with notices the change. And that’s all that really matters.