MNRI, Melillo method and SSP
When my daughter was diagnosed with Autism we started traditional therapies – ABA, Speech and OT almost immediately. We were fortunate to get some of the best therapists in town from the start and although many reported great improvements with intensive 35 – 40 hours of therapy a week, we dint see any great gains. We started seeing some steady gains once we started homeopathy, diet and basic supplementation. That’s when we decided to pursue biomed and also non conventional therapies to complement the conventional therapies. We started with MNRI for reflex integration. My daughter had an odd gait while running. She would put her hands up and let it loose. It would look like she was flapping her hands while running, toe walking, no eye contact, fear of loud sudden noises, anxiety and extreme fear of many day today activities, super difficult to potty train and I am forgetting some of the other things for sure. Our life was extremely difficult and fortunately someone recommended us watch the documentary – Attention Please. After watching it we realized primitive reflex integration could be a solution for many of the issues we were facing. And while looking into many many methods for reflex integration I liked the concept behind MNRI very much. It was gentle and suitable for even young kids ( mine was only 3 at that time). Many other methods need the kid to be 5 or older to be able to follow directions. We dint have a therapist in the local area so we flew to California every 6 months. We got 2 days intensive sessions with an expert in the field and returned back home with a home plan to work on. We started seeing mild but very desirable outcomes after it. Her anxiety reduced gradually, she used to be super afraid of play areas. She would never go near the slide. She was afraid of the static shock from the plastic structures. But the evening of the first day of intensive session she went out and played in the park like any other kid there, used slides without any fear. We were amazed. We continued doing it for 1 – 2 years. Many new gains. Some stuck and some did not but overall it was a very positive experience. She graduated out of OT just 4 months after starting because we were doing MNRI, homeopathy and biomed to supplement it. At the time of her graduating they said she has achieved all the goals for her age and if she has issues to be addressed later on in life we can get her evaluated for OT again. But we never cared to get back to OT as I grew confident that MNRI and other reflex integration / brain balance techniques would help us in that area.
Having great results from MNRI made us explore the reflex integration arena more. My kid was getting better and old enough to understand and follow directions. I came across the book – Disconnected kids by Dr. Robert Melillo. At the same time I was also learning about right brain education which is getting popular these days to teach babies to read , math, have emotional stability, picture memory and many other things at a very young age. Reading about all this, we understood that our child’s right brain was weak and adding brain balancing techniques to balance the right and left brain function on top of the reflex integration routine we were already doing. She was evaluated and we got a home plan to work on for 1-2 hours everyday. We first did a Safe and Sound Protocol session for 2 weeks and took 2 weeks rest after that. And then started the Melillo method. Reason being SSP calms down your nervous system and Melillo method and reflex integration excite your nervous system. You do not want to do them both together. Also when the SSP calms down the nervous system your body will have better ability to take and respond to interventions like reflex integration. Within 2 months of doing it regularly speech became more natural and spontaneous. Eye contact became even better. The odd gait while running is gone. She was reaching goals at a much faster rate in ABA and therapies. And we continue to see gains.
What is reflex integration and brain balance / melillo method?
Primitive reflexes are automatic, involuntary movements present at birth that help the baby be born, have the instinct to suck, and other reflex actions that keep them safe from outside world because their brain is not fully developed to be aware of danger and react accordingly. As their brains mature more as they grow these reflexes get integrated. Within 1 year of age most of these reflexes are integrated and brain is mature enough to carry out a voluntary movement instead. If the primitive reflexes are still present and not integrated it is called as retained primitive reflexes and they cause many issues like sensory processing issues, behavioral issues, language delays, anxiety, learning disabilities to name a few.
MNRI is a method developed by Dr.Musgutova which primarily focuses on resolving the retained primitive reflexes that are retained due to developmental delay, trauma or injury. The Melillo Method and Brain Balance include one another aspect. There is an imbalance between the left and right brain neural connections and function in ASD, ADHD and other developmental delays. So that is considered in these therapies. For instance – if the palm of both hands have to be stimulated to integrate the Palmer reflex, MNRI does this stimulation N number of times equally in both hands. But Melillo and Brain Balance methods increase the number of times it is done on the hand on the side where the brain is weak (usually Autism is said to be right brain weakness). On the other hand MNRI focuses on more than 30 reflexes while Melillo method usually does only a handful of them.
The difference between Melillo method and Brain Balance though they were developed by the same chiropractor is that Melillo method is advertised as the one for Autism. Its more intensive that Brain balance and uses many more gadgets and sometimes even Laser therapies. Brain Balance on the contrary is comparatively using lesser gadgets and is advertised as good for Asperger’s, ADHD and learning disabilities. We found both these methods very similar and closely related.