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I am trying to find someone who has actually had their child try this program. It is a physical program, based on Dr. Belgau's balance board. It has been compared to the Dore program, and is supposedly helpful for ADD and other learning issues.

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I haven't had experience with it, but the site includes an endorsement from Lucy Jane Miller, who runs the STAR center in Denver and who wrote the book, Sensational Kids. The STAR center is where most of the research on sensory processing disorders is being done.

 

I have read that the DORE program, which is very expensive, essentially uses the exercises provided in Learning Breakthrough. I'll be interested to see what others' experience has been.

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I had the Learning Breakthrough Program for a couple of years before I sold it. This program is good for children who need bodywork exercises. It helps a lot with balance and rhythm, vestibular development, some vision issues, and it stimulates a part of the brain (hippocampus?) involved in sensory integration. It really is an enhanced form of occupational therapy.

 

It's a great program, but my dd did not have the kinds of issues that it addresses. IMO, Learning Breakthrough is best for children with sensory integration problems and/or vestibular development delays. Some of these problems are the result of auditory processing disorders, so it would also likely be good for children with APD. My dd's problems were primarily phonemic awareness delays and visual efficiency issues. It wasn't a good match for her issues.

 

I don't know about now, but at the time I purchased this program about 7 years ago, it was not very user-friendly for an untrained person. The manual, for example, listed dozens of different exercises you could do with the equipment but did not provide any guidance about which exercises to choose for a specific child, or how one would structure a program to start with a variety of easy exercises and work up. (There would be 20 different target exercises listed on two pages, for example, and on a different two pages there would be 20 variations of balancing exercises.) The videos were very long and boring and didn't get to the point of training you to be a provider. They may have changed this part of the program since my kit, but it would be a good idea to call and ask. All of the videos that came with my kit featured the developer of the program himself. I think the company is now run by his children.

 

ADD is such a general catch-all phrase. There are many different underlying causes of ADD. Whether the Learning Breakthrough Program would be good for your child really depends on the underlying nature of the ADD. Do you have a specific diagnosis? How was the ADD diagnosis reached?

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My understanding is that the program's dvd and manual have been revised such that the child can now follow while watching the dvd. It is supposed to be much more user-friendly, but the basic program remains the same.

 

My child is 7 years old. Her actual diagnosis is verbal apraxia. She has had some auditory processing issues, remediated with The Listening Program, followed by Fast ForWord Language and Fast ForWord Language to Reading.

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She has had an evaluation. They told me that she didn't qualify for gross motor -- but she is definitely less than graceful. I am thinking there might be some dyspraxia working there. She has had private OT both for oral motor and fine motor. I believe she also has some attention issues, not related to her auditory processing. (For instance, she will start something, but not finish, yet be able to tell you in detail exactly what she was supposed to do -- and it isn't that she doesn't understand the material.) I had read that Learning Breakthrough was the basis for the Dore program, which I don't know much about, but is very expensive and is all over the net proclaiming success with all types of learning disorders.

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I have heard too that Dore incorporated many of Dr. Belgau's methods. In your situation I would invest in the Learning Breakthrough kit and try it out. If it doesn't do anything for your dd, there are places online where you could re-sell it and recoup most of your investment. I've never been convinced of the underpinnings of Dore, so I would not invest money in Dore without first trying out Learning Breakthrough.

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