Finding Our Way: A Mom’s Journey Through Therapy, School Choices, and a Breakthrough at Brain Balance

A tiny cap, a hallway of cheers, and a mom who couldn’t stop crying—this is the story behind 60 sessions that changed the way our son learns, focuses, and feels about himself. We walk you through the hard parts most parents don’t post about: the midyear school transfer that crushed routines, the two-school shuffle that wrecked work schedules, and the choice to pile on speech, OT, and more when waiting felt worse than trying.

What shifted everything was discovering Brain Balance and leaning into frequency over quick fixes. Three sessions a week layered sensory input, cognitive drills, and motor work until new patterns began to stick. We saw practical, everyday wins: unprompted stories after school, stronger language retrieval, calmer transitions, and fine motor progress that showed up at restaurants and homework time. Yes, maturation matters—and we name it—but structured repetition helped those gains surface sooner and hold longer. Kindergarten feedback reflected the change: reading readiness on track, better attention, and a child more present in the classroom and at home.

This conversation is honest about tradeoffs and hopeful about outcomes. If you’re navigating IEP timelines, long waitlists, or therapies that feel like maintenance, you’ll hear how a consistent, integrated approach can unlock learning, independence, and joy. We share the messy start, the skeptical moments, and the graduation night that made it all worth it, plus how we’re keeping progress steady with home exercises and follow-up assessments.

We didn’t share this story because it’s perfect—far from it. We shared it because it’s real. 💛 And if it helps even one family feel less alone or more hopeful, it’s worth it. ✨

If you’d like to learn more about Brain Balance 🧠 and how their program works, here are their links:

🌐 Website: Brain Balance Baltimore

📸 Instagram: @brainbalancebaltimore

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Today’s Big Milestone
• 0:18 Last Day At Brain Balance
• 1:21 Midyear School Transfer And Heartbreak
• 4:10 Sick Days, Goodbyes, And Overwhelm
• 6:14 Two-School Shuffle And Lost Work Time
• 8:06 Adding Speech, OT, And Pelvic Floor
• 10:49 Summer Program Tradeoffs And Meeting Beth
• 12:06 Skepticism, Burnout, And Choosing The Program
• 14:25 Why Frequency And Repetition Matter
• 15:54 Summer Starts, Transitions, And Inconsistency
• 16:55 Noticing Cognitive And Classroom Changes
• 18:43 Communication Breakthroughs After School
• 20:19 Maturity Versus Program Impact
• 21:51 Sixty Sessions And The Mini Graduation
• 24:05 Foundation Built And Teacher Feedback
• 26:00 Pride, Progress, And What’s Next
• 27:20 An Invitation To Explore Brain Balance
• 29:09 Real-Life Wins At Home
• 30:57 Thanks, Contacts, And Closing

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Hey friends, and welcome to Mom Talk Maryland. I'm your host, Claire Duarte, founder of the Columbia Mom. And this is your spot for real conversations, local love, and a whole lot of community. Whether you're folding laundry, running errands, or hiding in your car for some peace and quiet, let's dive in. So Grant just had his last day at Brain Valence yesterday. And it's honestly so bittersweet. Or as what Brooke and I like to say, we call it uh it's very happy sad. Um, like we it's you know a wonderful, an amazing thing, and it's not bad that he's it that he's ending. In fact, it it's good. It's what you know, you want your child to progress, you want them to complete things that they start, you know, whether it's treatment, um, therapy, sports, an activity, um, goals, whatever, right? Um, so you know, I knew the day was coming, and actually after break, I thought we still had two more weeks of sessions. You know, we go a couple times a week, like three times a week. And I thought we still had like two more weeks, and then when I texted her last week, she's like, no, you have three, and I was like, So you mean our last session is Monday, K I yesterday. I know this will air later, but um I was like not at all mentally prepared. And what's really kind of funny about this whole experience is that this time last year, Grant we had just transferred him from uh the school that he was at back to the county, and um he had been there before, he did the rec program um prior to the pre-K that he was in last year in the fall. And um, but to transfer your child mid-year, I think anybody that's walked a line of getting your kids' support um knows how challenging any and all of these things are. Um, and even if you haven't, just I think transferring your child mid-year to a different school is hard. Like a high schooler would hate that, let alone trying to explain that to a four-year-old who also, you know, has some cognitive processing stuff, you know. Um, and guys, I'm like getting emotional, think about it. I still remember um the night before, like it was January and was getting ready to send him back, um, and me telling him that he wasn't going back to the school where his best friends were, his teacher that he loved, his sister, and at him crying. And I mean, transitions are hard for him and have historically always been hard. But I knew that it this wasn't just a transition, and and you know, this was more than just that. I mean, that's how I felt, and I know that's how he felt, even though he might have not have even had all the words to fully process all of that, and he didn't have a whole lot of processing time either, because you know, it's it's hard to process something like that with a four-year-old um to explain that. And it broke my heart. I mean, I knew the news weeks before, but you know, when we got the news back in December of 24, um, you know, yeah, it was heartbreaking. It's, you know, and I don't blame the school, right? It it's not the school, it's you know, the fact that, you know, he he needed more support, and we were utilizing PALs, and even then, you know, he still needed more support, and you know, that's why the decision was made that he needed to go back to the county to get more support in-house. Um, and and of course his last few days at that school, he got sick, so then he missed basically like the whole week with, you know, to say goodbye to his friends and his teacher. Um was the ha the la I remember there was like the last day before break was a half day and their Christmas party, and he was good enough to go in. I was like, all right, I guess we'll do that. And at least it helped my mama heart so that like I could say goodbye, even though I wasn't leaving the school, like my daughter was still there. Um, but to say bye to like, you know, some of the the kids and the teacher and stuff like that. And I remember I walked into that it, you know, they they set up the big Christmas party for all the pre-Kers in the um gymnasium, and you know, the I was volunteering, so um, you know, the moms are all we're all helping to set up, you know, before the kids come in, and and I put my bag down and I had to walk out. I was so overwhelmed and I literally like put like stood against the wall and I slunk to the floor and I just oh I cried. Oh I sobbed. I was like I to, you know, like I was like this is it, you know, and I knew that our journey like with him wasn't over. I just remember feeling just really sad that you know he couldn't get to stay at the school that he loved and be with his sister and wasn't mad that he needed more support, of course, like as his mom and as his parent, like I I wanted to do what's best for my kid, but it still broke my heart, right? You know, and because we had been doing all these other things to try to support and I thought it would be enough, and you know, it's oh the line you walk as a parent with all these things. So, anyways, so we go, so this time last year, we start the two school shuffle again, which is what I was trying to avoid. Um, you know, and and that's challenging having two kids in different schools with different schedules. Um, mind you, in the winter with having, you know, it's a landfill of like, you know, okay, you have days off, and now you have days off, and oh my god, now they're sick, and then there's winter, like our snow days, like it just felt like absolute mayhem and so stressful. Again, what we were trying to avoid. Um, and then on top of that, I was like, after the whole experience, I was like, screw it, like I'm gonna put my kid in private um speech therapy and occupational therapy. We eventually even did some pelvic floor therapy. Um, and we did like 12 to 14 weeks of all of that. Um, actually, I might have even done like 16 of occupational, maybe. Um, and you know what's funny is that I when we were starting all of that, I was so overwhelmed. This like again, I was staring down, I was like, oh my god, like mentally bracing myself or again, two school shuffle, which for me meant that I do the majority of drop-off and pickup. Um my husband obviously helps out with some of the days when he can, but I do the majority of it. And at the time my business had been growing a lot, and I was just feeling like, of course, like once my business starts to like grow and take off, like I have I now that I'm gonna be I'm losing like two hours of my work day now because of like having to be in my car and do pickup and drop off in two different places, it takes a lot longer, right? So it's like of course, this is you know, your business takes off and then you know something happens in family, and so um, so I remember feeling very frustrated about that. Luckily I had a great team that was you know still supporting me, but um, you know, so like I usually used to be able to start work by like nine, and now I'm starting work by like nine thirty, ten, you know what I mean? And same as like, you know, I gotta be peeling, I'm like, I lose that three to four like o'clock hour if that, you know, and then it's hard to even do any work after four o'clock once you have the kids and activities and blah blah blah. But anyway, so yeah, so this time last year I was frustrated about losing time uh for myself, I mean, not just my my I'm gonna say time for myself, time for me to be able to work, you know. I was frustrated about that. That's a big part of my identity. Um, and uh and then frustrated, you know, about adding in not just to school shuffle, but now we gotta take him to speech and OT um either of those once a week, so two sessions there a week. So, and I opted for daytime sessions, so that meant we were picking him up early from school. So that meant on those days I was also losing more, so again, I was losing hours from pickup and drop-off, and I was losing hours because I had to pick him up early from school to then take him to the session because the wait list for after school was like six months to a year, and I was like, I'm not waiting six months. I was like, I'm we're doing this now. So I opted for the you know daytime sessions um because that got us in faster. Um so yeah, so frustrated that I was also like, you know, so it was like Mondays and Wednesdays, you know, doing that whole shuffle. Granted, you know, certainly definitely all helped, but um, you know, we finished out the year. He even did um, it wasn't like the IEP summer program, but it was kind of like a kindergarten readiness sort of program. Um it was four weeks long during the summer, it was like a half day. Um, but um I remember I was frustrated because I also wanted to send him to a camp with my daughter, but I couldn't because he had this program. Um I had also had planned on going to the beach more with the kids, but again, he had this four-week-long program, so um I had to like rearrange my schedule. Again, kind of like what all feels like first world, you know, selfish problems, but you know, um, we were still happy to kind of do what he needed to do. But anyways, all you know, and then beginning of summer is when I met Beth and heard about brain balance and toured the facility, and I was honestly meeting her and connecting with her because I was like, this sounds like a neat program that needs to be in front of parents, and I was excited to kind of showcase it and get it in get it in front of other parents. That was my goal. Um, and then as I got to know the program, I was like, Oh my god, like I almost left there in tears. I was like, Grant needs this. I was like, so we sat down immediately and were like, we gotta get him in an assessment, and then we did, and so long story short, he started the program um in July, and admittedly, you know, my husband admits it's like he was definitely skeptical of it, and I know that he was burnt out after the last year. He's like, I don't want to go through that again. He's like, I just kind of like we did so much, you know, we're doing the Kennedy Krieger and the sh and running him back and forth and practicing all these exercises. He's like, I'm just kinda done. I just want to like, you know, the school's got all the resources, and I was like, no, no offense, but I was like, I don't want to leave him. I don't want to leave him in just the hands of the school and the county. Like, I want to know that I did everything that I could. Um, you know, my son doesn't have any other formal diagnosis at the time other than developmental delay, which was given to him three years ago. So I know he needs re-up his testing, I guess, um, which I'll find out at his next IEP meeting. Um, but uh, you know. So what was I saying? Um, IEP stuff. Yeah, my husband was very resistant about the program, and I I don't blame him. I mean, it's kind of funny that this time last year I was so overwhelmed with just Kennedy Krieger, and that was only like, you know, two times a week, whereas brain balance was gonna be three times a week, and that meant Monday, Wednesday evenings for us, and then Saturday mornings. So, like, talk about an even more intense schedule, right? Um, and for some reason, like, I don't know, it didn't bother me as much. Maybe because I was like used to already the intensity of the schedule that we had, that I was like, I was willing to try anything because we were still having frustrations with Grant and you know, at home, interpersonally, in our family, you know, with our s like, you know, emotional outbreaks and um, you know, his fine motor was definitely still struggling. I mean, all these things, right? You know, and I just, I don't know, with him being he had just turned five over the summer, you know, in in June, and he has the late June birthday. Um, I I don't know, oh, and I don't know if I had mentioned this, but um last year I towards the end of kindergarten or sorry, the end of pre-K, I even filled out the forms for him to request for him to repeat um pre-K, and we were denied, and I appealed and was denied again, and I was feeling so frustrated because we got the appeal letters back so fast that I'm like, I don't think anybody read this. And not only that, the people that are making those decisions and sending me those letters, they don't speak to a single member of his IEP team, his teachers, me. So the people that are making these decisions don't know my son. They they don't speak to any of those individuals. Um, and surely they probably didn't see him as severe enough to need to repeat or worried about redshirting in the county, I guess. But I was just like, I I I was just feeling very defeated, and I was like, nobody understands, nobody's listening, and you know, I can't help but feel like this is how these kids feel like when they're struggling themselves. And um, you know, so I kind of like accepted defeat. I was like, all right, guess he's gonna start kindergarten. Let's hold our breath and let's try this again. Um, get him in the kindergarten readiness program that you know we did through the county. And then, like I said, fast forward to meeting Beth, getting him assessed, and starting the program. Um, you know, like I said, my husband was definitely a little skeptical. I mean, as we all know, like the wife was gonna win. I I knew I was gonna win, but I was like, I needed to have my husband's support because we were doing this as a family, and you know, we have to be in this together, you know, and um, like I wasn't gonna be like, yeah, I'm forcing you to do this, but like I need you to understand what we're doing and why. And Beth gave me a book and I read parts of it. I even asked a few friends that were kind of in the education industry to get their thoughts, and you know, so I was really immersing myself in trying to understand Dr. Malillo and his approach and primitive reflexes and all of these things. Um, and ultimately I was just like, we have to do this, we have to try this. We have this, you know, opportunity, this amazing program, the first one in Maryland. Like, we have people are literally driving from all over. People are the families that I met were are coming from Baltimore, DC, Bowie, uh, you know, PG County, Gathersburg, Montgomery County. I mean, all over. Um, and like I said, coming to a program two and three times a week, like this is a massive commitment, you know, and I'm not saying that to scare you, I'm just saying that, like, I don't know, one thing a friend said to me that's kind of la also lasted, um, is that the pro the the services or that you do that are once a week are end up really being a little bit more of a maintenance model than it ends up being a way to really change behavior. And please take that as a like again, I I my background is not in education and children and things like that, you know, but I I couldn't agree with the importance of the repetition and consistency um to really elicit, you know, progress and change for for these kids. Um and so yeah, so we so in over the summer we started our journey, um, you know, and it wasn't perfect, you know. I knew the first, you know, frankly, two months really was kind of him getting adjusted. Um, you know, he I he always struggles with transition and he's so heavily attached to me, so that makes meeting new people and getting comfortable with different coaches and different environments and different people. But I'm glad that we could do that imperfectly over the summer. You know, I mean he got sick, he got like hand, foot, and mouth, and you know, and then we traveled a bunch in August, so we were all over the place, so it was hard to be super consistent. Um, but I'm glad that we got him at least familiar so that by the time school came around, we had already gotten him used to that as opposed to like let's start kindergarten and this at the same time, you know. Um and then yeah, I kind of feel like it's just been part of our life for six months now. It's crazy to me that, you know, it's it's also so hard to put into words the exact parts of all of his growth, too. And I feel like people that don't know this program or haven't done it, um, or don't have kids that are neurodivergent, it's sometimes hard to like when I explain something, I'm like, he does he said this to me the other day. And and that and that's how I explain it because I'm like I I'll use his example. We were reading a book, and I might have already said this, but like he was like, he pointed to a book that we've been reading for like months, and he's like, Mom, that's a rhombus. And I was like, I was like, I don't even know that I know what a rhombus is. Um yes, of course, like he's learning about shapes in school, right? But let me use just a very minute example to be that brain balance didn't give him that language, give him that ability to say that sentence or that observation. Not not necessarily directly in that way. By brain balance, uh him doing these series of exercises, where like cognitive, neuro, gross, fine motor, audio, visual, all these different stimuli, right? It's helping to retrain the brain is like the simplest and kind of a very understated way to explain it. Um But what we noticed is because he's getting all of those exercises and all of that's happening and this additional sensory input, it's actually made him a better learner when he's actually in school. He's more attentive, he's more responsive, he's more cognitively aware, it's helping sharpen his cognitive processing, his cognitive understanding, because while he had a speech delay initially early in his life, you know, it's no longer uh an issue of language, per se, as it is sometimes, you know, his the cognitive processing, the language retrieval. Um obviously some, you know, some issues with focus and attention, you know, all these things can kind of swirl and overlap together in many ways. But uh that's I mean, him being able to be a more present learner in school allows him to be an active kid in his education. And not that it's saying that he wasn't active before, I just don't think uh his uh cognitive processing was fully available to him uh uh prior to that. Like partially yes, obviously he was learning, he's been learning this whole time, you know what I mean? But like this school year, he has come home unprompted, talking about different kids in his class, talking about the different specials every single day, the work that he's done unprompted. Whereas, like, I'm not kidding you, for the last like two plus years, anytime we would pick him up from school and ask him about his day, or try to again do the sneaky backdoor ways of asking him questions, he would always shut down. Like, no, no, no, I don't want to talk about it. And he wouldn't. And we were like, it was so hard to try to retrieve information out of him, and then we were like, are we not, you know, are we not asking the questions the right way? Do we need to ask them differently? And we would. Um, and then we're like, is it a memory issue? Because he's now home and he's like in a completely different environment, doesn't want to talk about it. It's like, you know, it's also like fair that he's probably like tired after a long day, you know what I mean? It's like, so how do you how do you parse through all of that, right? Um so I mean, I know his teachers were struggling to kind of figure that out about him. We were struggling to f too, but that was one thing we noticed dramatically this year. Um, granted, I know that he has matured and grown a lot, you know. I mean, progress doesn't exist. By itself, right? Like I think there's two lines whatever. You know, like there's his natural, like, you know, him growing without any um any input, right? And then you add brain balance in here, and brain balance is kind of doing its thing. And so, yeah, it might help amplify that a little bit. But, you know, if we're removing brain balance, I know that he's been growing, you know, steadily anyways. So I think, you know, skeptics could be like, well, he's older now, he's you know, more apt and ready, which, you know, I don't disagree. I I think, you know, there's his own little ability to kind of, you know, come online and be a little bit more focused. And I think age always helps. And again, this kind of goes back to why I'd wanted to push for him to repeat um pre-K because he's a boy, he has a late summer birthday, so it means that he's at the young end of his grade. Um, and that's why I was like, time can only benefit him, you know what I mean? Um, but you know, anyways, getting back to just little examples of his growth. We still are I'm still waiting to have my final like progress meeting with Beth to kind of go over his latest assessment to see where he's at, and it's just crazy to me he's completed 60 sessions. And last night, oh god, you would have thought that this kid graduated high school. I was sobbing. They I didn't know this, so we were getting ready, and he has some of his like Monday buddies that he's become good friends with there, and they dress him up in a little uh cap and little graduate shawl, and he walks down the hallway, and all I could just think was like, Oh my god, he did it. Like, I can't believe he did it, like he did it, he did this, and it just brought me back to not only us first running at Brain Bounce, but of course, like, man, January just feels like such a pivotal month for us. Like, you know, four no, like almost five years ago to the day we found we were we wound up in the hospital because Grant had uh anaphylaxis and reaction to having peanut for the first time. And shortly after that, guy, you know, uh, we started the peanut treatment, and then shortly after that we found out he had the speech delay. Um and this time last year we were he had just started back at you know his school and we're starting Kennedy Krieger, and so the weight and of all these things kind of occurring at the same time isn't lost on me, you know. I mean, I'm a I'm a rather, I don't know, emotional, sensitive, intuitive, reflective person, maybe I don't know if that's the right way to put it, but um I was yeah, just seeing him and he was so happy. Oh my god, the smile on his face, like I he was so proud. I know that like he was obviously ecstatic that we were ecstatic, but I just I could feel that he felt it. And even when we left and we're getting ready to go walk in the door, I didn't, you know, again, unprompted. He said he turned me, you know, before like what we had parked in the garage and um about to walk in and see um my husband and my daughter, and he goes, Mom, how many sessions was it? It was 60, and I was like 60 sessions, and I was like, Yeah, go inside and tell daddy. And and he did, and he marched right inside, and um he's like, Dad, I had my last brain balance. We I did 60 sessions, like so freaking cool. Like, I I'm so proud of this kid, of this little boy, and how hard he has fought, and how hard he has worked, and you know, the work is never over, the work is never done. Doesn't mean that he doesn't have need supports now, um or this goes to nothing, you know what I mean? Um, we still have like our home exercises that we want to keep doing to we we don't want like you know, we definitely don't want to end this program and then just do nothing because I'm I'm scared of like, you know, regression or anything like that. But um I mean, without even sitting down with Beth to I mean, I just feel like I don't know, this program to me has just I feel like we've really closed helped close that gap for Grant. And the feedback that we've gotten from his teachers at school and from observations, you know, is that he's, you know, on grade level or going to be on grade level for reading. He's in kindergarten again, we'll be in first grade next year. Um, you know, his handwriting, I mean again, I don't care, I don't think anybody cares what a kindergartner's handwriting looks like, as long as that they are using the utensil properly and that they are able to complete their exercises. Can they follow multi-step instructions? Blah blah blah, you know what I mean? All those pieces. And I just I feel like it's come on grid for him. And like I said, I know we're still very early in his learning years, and I think a lot I know a lot can still evolve and change as he grows and hits puberty and enters high school and all of that, but doesn't matter because I just feel like in my heart we've laid such a strong foundation, and I mean I couldn't be a more bigger uh brain balanced cheerleader advocate, you know. Um I've seen kids of all ages, um you know, the youngest being, you know, these four and five-year-olds, um, up to middle school and even some high schoolers, I think. Well, I don't know their ex ages exactly, but um just because you have an older kid doesn't mean you're like I don't know, you're too far gone, they're too far gone, right? I mean, this this program is pretty damn remarkable. And um, like I said, there's so many areas that I've seen him grow in, and like I said, it's sometimes just so hard to fully articulate. Um, I can sit here and talk to you about processing and the different things that he said to me and his fine motor and um uh you know and and its reflexes, but you know, I just I I'm I'm like so proud and know that he's gonna be able to end kindergarten strong and like it's crazy to me that like he'll he's gonna start first grade and be able to start, you know, learning to read and and write. And you know Beth always says that you know every kid's uh brain is a gift to unwrap and what what a gift and what a joy this program has been for us, you know, and and I couldn't agree more because I you know I said to her last night, I was like, I really you've changed our son's life. You really have. This program really has. You know, I feel like I can't articulate this well, but like I feel like you gave me my son back, but he was never gone. But you helped this program uh helped make him become even greater than he already was, you know? My son's a big love bug. Um he loves hard, he loves fiercely. Oh god, what Beth said to him last night. She said she asked, um, what's what did uh it was either like what what's so great about your brain? Um what what did you like most about brain balance or what grew the most? What did you learn the most? And he said, My heart. Oh my god, you know, and God ain't that the truth. God ain't that the truth, you know? Um, did not plan on that happening. Um but I sobbed like crazy last night. Um so I don't know. If you're a parent that has a child that I don't know, you know, if you've gone through any doesn't need to be the same even stuff as us, you know, like he's given us all kinds of sensory flavors. Um, you know, give him give her a call, give the program a call, because you just you never know, you know. I mean, I just I feel like what's unique about this program is that I feel like it kind of scratches the itch that you didn't even know you needed, that they didn't even know they needed. It reaches things that other forms of therapy and treatment can't. It just does. It's a different type of program. And if you're feeling exhausted and not seeing progress, not that any of this happens overnight. I'm telling you, this is this is quite the answer for so many of us. And again, none of like I said, none of this none of this is easy to do something two and three times a week for six plus months, maybe even longer. But you know, this is not my reward, this is his. And seeing the joy on his face, seeing him be confident, seeing him sit down at restaurants and pick up a pencil and do the little like maze on the on the kid's activity sheet that I'm like, I didn't even know you could do that because he's never picked a fest up before, or getting a knife and cutting his pancakes um all by himself. I'm like, who who is this kid? This my my fine motor division kid. You know, it's just I'm shocked and amazed, and and I can't I can't wait to see watch him grow up even more. So that's my heart story uh for you. Um keep you know, keep staying tuned, you know, once I know more from our up, you know, upcoming progress. Um it'll be it'll be interesting to share more of that with you. But thank you for loving on us and being part of this journey with us. Um and if you ever have any questions, feel free to reach out to me. And of course, Beth Snow at uh BrainBalance of Greater Baltimore. And yeah, keep following along to see our progress. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Mom Talk Maryland. If you loved it, leave a review, share it with a friend, or tag me at the dot ColumbiaMom on Instagram. I'd love to hear what you think. And don't forget to follow the show so you never miss an episode. Until next time, keep showing up, keep supporting local, and keep being the incredible mom, woman, human that you are.