Myomancy ADHD, Dyslexia and Autism

Brightstar, who have centres in the UK and US have been covered by The Mercury News. This well rounded article looks at the nature of the Brightstar light & tutoring approach and interview users, Brightstar and experts including Elizabeth Liddle of Nottingham University, UK who carried out a study on Brightstar.

Registration to read the article so I’ve duplicated it below.

Full text of article. Copyright MercuryNews.com

Posted on Sun, Dec. 26, 2004

Unproven dyslexia treatment gives hope

By Kim Vo

Mercury News

The fledgling Palo Alto company’s ads tout “the solution to dyslexia.'’ The company says more than 1,000 people have undergone the treatment, mostly in Britain, where its product launched last year to positive publicity.

But despite BrightStar’s big promises and ambitious expansion plans in the United States, there’s no reliable proof that the $3,000 program works.

The company’s approach uses flashing lights in an attempt to “re-sync'’ the brain so that it can process information more efficiently. Officials at BrightStar’s parent company, Epoch Innovations, say their own studies prove that their clients’ reading skills jump months ahead after a dozen sessions.

One South San Francisco mother says she has seen improvements in her dyslexic son’s attitude and report card since he completed the program this summer. “I’m not sorry we did this,'’ says AnnaMarie Ferris-Alvarenga.

But the program hasn’t yet been thoroughly examined by independent researchers — a warning sign for dyslexia experts, though BrightStar dismisses the concern.

The approach “is not something that is supported by scientific evidence,'’ said Guinevere Eden, director of the Center for the Study of Learning at Georgetown University.

BrightStar’s technology was developed by a father-son team in Israel who used it to treat everything from anxiety to insomnia. CEO Michael Fox, who had worked at Goldman Sachs and was looking to invest in non-traditional health programs, says he had them tailor it for dyslexia.

Fox saw opportunity there: Dyslexia burdens an estimated 10 percent of the population, but there’s no cure for the learning disorder characterized by difficulties with reading, writing and sometimes numbers.

BrightStar opened its first American center in downtown Palo Alto in May and a second in San Diego in September. The company says it plans to open a center every quarter next year. After that, it plans to double its expansion pace.

Palo Alto prestige

Fox selected Palo Alto because it was near Stanford University, where he earned a degree in industrial engineering.

The location also made Ferris-Alvarenga and her partner feel BrightStar could be trusted.

“I’m more likely to believe because they put up a nice storefront in Palo Alto where people are well-educated and less likely to fall for hocus-pocus,'’ said Stephanie Gordon, Ferris-Alvarenga’s partner, who has helped raise her two sons.

Eleven-year-old Nelson began BrightStar in June after years of tutors and specialized summer schools failed. He was tutored by a BrightStar teacher once a week, and twice a week he was fitted with a heart monitor and placed in front of a computer for 20 minutes to watch lights blink and fall across the screen.

BrightStar believes this biofeedback program “re-syncs'’ the brain, letting patients process information faster and more efficiently, said Greg Robison, the company’s science and research manager.

Some contested findings suggest biofeedback programs can improve people’s attention skills, said G. Reid Lyon, a learning disabilities expert with the National Institutes of Health. However, there is no proof it can improve reading, he said.

BrightStar brought its product straight to the marketplace before going through a rigorous peer-review process, which can take years.

“It’s silly,'’ CEO Fox said. “If you know you have something that can help kids and adults, but you’re not going to put it out there because some institution hasn’t given it a thumbs-up, it’s unfair to your customers.'’

But such a process is designed to protect customers, said Lyon. Over the years, he’s watched companies hawk everything from colored lenses to exercise programs that supposedly stimulate the cerebellum to help dyslexic kids.

“So many parents and kids get their expectations up for this fad after that fad that doesn’t really do much,'’ he said. However, he noted, such companies don’t need the government’s blessing if they’re not using federal money.

Small study cited

BrightStar commissioned a small 2002 study with England’s University of Nottingham that found that BrightStar subjects recognized colors and words faster than a control group.

However, when they were not timed, they didn’t read any more accurately.

Though the company touted the Nottingham findings in its brochures, lead researcher Elizabeth Liddle says she is “skeptical'’ of BrightStar’s claims. The results were encouraging, she said, but her study of about 30 people was too small to extrapolate.

BrightStar also has commissioned a study by Stanford psychologists, due to be completed in February, to determine whether adolescents’ reading and language skills improve after the program. And BrightStar recently launched a separate study to see how long any reading improvements last.

So far, BrightStar says it has treated 1,000 people in the United Kingdom and at least 125 people in the United States.

Signs of progress

Nelson’s family had some concerns at first. But it would cost about $20,000 a year to enroll Nelson in a specialized dyslexia school, and the family wanted to try BrightStar before making such a heavy investment.

“The reading feels a little easier,'’ he said a month into the program. His mom says his report card this month boasts three Bs, the first time he has ever received grades so high.

Gordon remembers hearing him laugh while reading a Roald Dahl book at home.

“It was the first time I knew he understood what he read,'’ she said.

After six weeks of treatment, assessment tests administered by BrightStar concluded that Nelson had improved. His reading comprehension, previously at third-grade level, was now that of a fifth-grader’s, the company said; his short-term memory equaled that of a high school freshman.

Such gains are “pretty rare,'’ said the NIH’s Lyon, who is wary of company-scored tests. Indeed, at Charles Armstrong School, a respected dyslexia school in Belmont, it takes an average of three years to get students to grade level using expert-approved reading strategies, officials there said.

Some British subjects noticed they read more fluently after BrightStar treatments, said researcher Liddle. That may stem from a confidence boost, she said: People who believe they’re reading better may read more, which leads to improved skills.

Nelson’s family wants him tested again soon to see whether the improvements stick, but his mother says her skepticism has been eased by her son’s progress.

Gordon agreed, but added a caveat: “I wish there was more empirical evidence,'’ she said.

Such caution is warranted, says Tom Viall, executive director of the International Dyslexia Association in Baltimore. He stresses that there is no quick fix for dyslexia.

“IDA is never going to say we’re against research or trying something new,'’ Viall said. “What we’re against is creating false hope.'’
Contact Kim Vo at kvo@mercurynews.com or (650) 688-7571.