Functional Disconnection Syndrome

How does conventional medicine and education label our children? Are we, as parents, going to accept it when our child has a hard time reading, he is dyslexic or when he fails to focus, he must have ADHD. If there is defiant behavior or obsessions, we immediately call it ODD or OCD. What then is autism – inability to learn, have poor communication or social skills just a combination of difficulties that is now the norm for prescribing medication?

For decades, we have explained it as brain hemisphere dominance but what is not known by many people and even educators and doctors is that if that dominance goes too far because of poor connectivity then imbalance can occur.

The reason many children have learning or behavioural difficulties and are also gifted in certain areas is due to brain imbalance or what is called in medical circles ‘Functional Disconnection Syndrome.’ One hemisphere is highly developed while the other half can be years behind in development. After a while, the overdeveloped side doesn’t even bother sending signals to the weaker side. In the 1990’s, Dr. Robert Melillo discovered that kids with learning and behaviour issues struggled because of a disconnection that was related to immature development of one side of the brain. It was determined that the two brain hemispheres were not balanced electrically or were not synchronized.

Dr Kelly Miller from Saving Your Brain has been certified in the Melillo Method and has dedicated his entire career to understanding the brain imbalance. At Saving Your Brain centers, Dr. Miller has helped hundreds of families and children with Functional Disconnection Syndrome with our advanced technology to help retrain the brain.

Dr. Melillo found that overdevelopment could occur on the side that was compensating for the underdeveloped side that was not growing as quickly. Over time this resulted in the overdeveloped side taking over which contributed to what he called ‘developmental asynchrony’ or brain imbalance. What Dr. Melillo found was that there was a disconnect between the two brain hemispheres and thus less electrical activity on one side of the brain.

Functional Disconnection Syndrome occurs when one side of the brain was not functioning as well because of underactivity due to less connections and neurons that are not as well developed and that brain imaging scans showed this reduced electrical activity, but it was not the result of injury, brain damage, genetic mutation or a chemical imbalance.

Overdeveloped and underdeveloped brain hemispheres occur because one side of the brain matures at a faster rate than the other side. The imbalance can become more pronounced as a child develops and thus the learning or behaviour further exasperated.

Brain imbalance creates symptoms in the body as well and are not just related to cognition but to immune, motor, digestion, inflammation, sensory processing and more. This is why depending on which side of the brain is weak, it is not uncommon for these kids to have over or under active:

• Immune systems (always sick or never sick)
• Sensory processing issues (overly sensitive to touch or too rough)
• Digestive issues (constipation or diarrhea)
• Picky eaters or loves to eat everything
• Poor gross or fine motor skills
• Overly emotional or overly non-emotional

Primitive Reflexes are the special reflexes that develop in the brain stem before birth. This set of involuntary Primitive Reflexes help the baby with positioning in the womb, birth- ing, breathing, feeding, urination, etc. Most of these primitive reflexes go away throughout the first year of life as higher functions of the brain and muscle control develop. At Saving Your Brain, we test for primitive reflexes along side other reflexes as it relates to improving brain function.

As part of the Brain Training program at Saving Your Brain, we test for core strength and other physical abilities to improve your brain and body function. Many of these exercises help us evaluate your benchmark so we create a custom plan to help improve brain function.

Through an extensive research study, Dr Melillo demonstrated the relationship between the retention of infant reflexes and a wide range of neurodevelopmental disorders like autism and ADHD. These retained primitive reflexes can have long term effects on cognitive development even into adulthood. Once your child has been primitive reflexes, targeted therapeutic interventions are available to improve neurological development. However the first step to the program is to inhibit any retained primitive reflexes found.

The way to get rid of primitive reflexes is to use them. The following reintegration exercises are provided for the reflexes that are most consistently associated with a brain imbalance. These exercises can help start the process of balancing the brain so that your child can overcome developmental delays. These exercises can also be done by adults and parents, of whom as many as 40% may also have retained primitive reflexes.

It’s a long way till you get there, but keep in mind that primitive reflexes can reappear in older adults. Usually, this is a sign of neurological disease.

Watch our series of Primitive Reflex Exercise videos that you can perform at home to help correct the brain imbalances

The most exciting aspect about the discovery of Functional Disconnection Syndrome is that we now know this imbalance of the brain or disconnect can be corrected. We have applied many of Dr Melillo’s discoveries at our Saving Your Brain centers.

So what is the key to strengthening the brain? The key is to stimulate and strengthen the weak hemisphere, so the brain can be brought back into balance and the symptoms and even diagnoses can disappear.

Our intensive assessments screens kids for brain imbalance and uses the most advanced laser therapies that stimulate the weak hemisphere. We have working on designing specific exercises for parents to practice at home and continue the brain balancing so your child is improves at a faster rate.

Our approach is non-invasive and drug-free. We are focused on giving your child the most comprehensive assessment from our six primitive reflex exercises to our QEEG brain mapping programs – you will understand what’s really happening in your child’s brain. Let’s find a solution that works. Our kids go from struggling to thriving by addressing the root cause(s) of learning and behavior struggles and implementing corrective therapies so that your child is not left behind.

Learn more about our intensive summer program for kids and how it can help your child rise to their full potential. As a parent, you will have peace of mind that has helped address the cause of his symptoms. No more labeling or diagnosis without change. We are here for you! Contact us at info@savingyourbrain.com to schedule a consultation for your child today.