Can you give me your thoughts on Dianne Craft's Brain Integration Therapy Book?

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

I am considering adding this into my daily routine with DS2nd :)

[Lecka]

I recently found out my son has problems with crossing the midline.

 

I am considering this book, bc he is also recommended to do the figure 8s, but they are going to do that with him a little at school.

 

I also had bal a visx recommended and it looks like more fun, and it is popular around here so I should be able to attend a training, and I am looking into a class I would attend with him.

 

I am also recommended to take him to a developmental optometrist and I am seeing if insurance will pay for OT.

 

From what I know about it, it would be good for him. But I am leaning towards bal a visx as the first thing to try.

 

I also think -- i can wait and do exercises the OT gives us. It is the school OT who wants him to do the figure 8s every day and he is going to get 5 minutes with an aide in the mornings doing whatever the school OT gives him to do.

 

I only found out last Tuesday so I am up in the air.

 

But for my son the Dianne Craft is exercises they want him to do at school, it looks like, so I think it would be very appropriate for him, but I am thinking of it for the summer or after I decide if I wouldn't rather do bal a visx or see how private OT is going to go.

 

Edit: bal a visx would actually be easier for me to do, bc it is popular here and there are trainings and classes. I don't know that it is "better" but it would be a good option for us. We live near Wichita and so people from our school district have gone their to be trained, and it has a good reputation locally. So it would just be easier, than out of a manual, I think. But I would not be looking at it the same way if there were no local trainings or classes. For the class they said I could go and then do it with my son at home, to start.

[Lecka]

I just realized -- at this meeting they said my son has two issues, visual perception and motor planning. So I am not sure if the figure 8s are for one and the bal-a-vis-c for the other. This was a school meeting and they were not sure to what extent the two are related to each other. They were just telling me things they had seen work for similar problems.

 

So I am not sure that it is an equivalent program to the Dianne Craft, or if one should be done first and one should be done second.

 

But I am also interested in the book and in what other people will say.

 

I am supposed to be called by the school the next time they have a bal training, and in the meantime there is a class on post I can go to for free, it is on Tuesdays, I just need to make it work out.

 

[wapiti]

I was under the impression that the Diane Craft book was on the expensive side. FWIW, you might also consider Brain Gym (the white teacher manual), which includes the "lazy 8s" and other midline exercises (cross-crawl, etc.). You can even find youtube videos demonstrating these for free.

 

I would not avoid the developmental optometrist as a thorough eval can uncover a much wider range of issues.

[MommyX8]

I have Dianne Craft's entire series. I originally picked it up when I started having issue with my 11 year old son. He needed VT and it was just way too expensive for us. In the end, my insurance company covered almost the entire bill. Flash forward to my 5 year old daughter. Dysgraphia abounds with her. I thought that it was more of a left handed issue, but I started to notice that her left eye would wander. I just ran her through the VT and he picked it a very rare disorder and zero depth perception. So I will begin my insurance battle again to get her therapy covered. But I will do Dianne's methods as well. I do think that it will help us with the dysgraphia.

 

I went to a Dianne Craft weekend seminar. It totally opened my eyes to the way that my son thinks as opposed to my other children. My son is right-brained as is my husband (and we really had no idea.) So it helped me to understand his weaknesses and learning styles.

[ShelleyW]

I have done the entire series, Biology of Behavior, Brain Integration and Phonics. My dd has gone from reading at a 3rd grade level to a 5th grade level in 12 months. The Biology of Behavior really helped with her focus and mood swings. I cannot say enough good things about all of it. My dd still really struggles w/spelling but she is now reading at grade level and that has been a huge boost to her self-confidence.