The centre works by appointment only!

AN INCREASE IN DEVELOPMENTAL BRAIN DISORDERS

Around the world in the past 20 years, there has been an epidemic explosion of childhood, adolescent and adult developmental brain disorders.
ADHD, the number one mental disorder among the youth, has increased over 2000% in the two decades cited above.
AUTISM IS THE FASTEST GROWING NEURODEVELOPMENTAL DISORDER IN YOUNG PEOPLE. 30 YEARS AGO, AUTISM WAS DIAGNOSED IN 1 IN 10,000 CHILDREN. NOW, MOST RECENT ESTIMATES SUGGEST IT’S MORE THAN 1 IN 50 CHILDREN.

In 2011, South Korean studies documented that autism was diagnosed in 1 in 38 children or 1 in 20 boys.

Alongside ADHD and Autism, we almost always see the development of other issues such as obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), tics and stims or Tourette’s Syndrome. Dyslexia and learning disabilities affects around 20% of the population as a whole. Other issues such as: Processing Disorders (Auditory and Visual), Sensory Integration Disorders, Bipolar, Anger outburst, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Phobias, Anxiety and Depression are increasingly diagnosed earlier and earlier, in both children and adults.

1 in 5 children between the ages of 6-17 have some sort of severe mental health diagnosis and not coincidentally 1 in 5 adults also have a severe mental health diagnosis.

CHILDREN WITH ADHD TEND TO GROW UP TO BE ADULTS WITH ADHD AND OFTEN HAVE CHILDREN WITH ADHD. BUT THIS CAN CHANGE, THIS DOES NOT HAVE TO BE THE CASE.

Dr. Robert Melillo is a world leading expert in Neurodevelopmental Disorders and brain development who has been studying these issues since the early 90’s. He is a clinician with over 30 years of experience, trained in a number of disciplines but has always focused on neurology and rehabilitation. Dr. Melillo is one of the leaders in the fields of Functional Neurology and Functional Medicine. He became interested in working with kids when his own children were diagnosed with different developmental issues. His first questions which started it all were “What is happening in the brain of a child or individual with ADHD, Autism or Dyslexia?” and, most importantly, “What is ADHD and Autism?”

At the time that he first asked these questions, he found that no one could really answer. He decided to do his own research and later connected with other researchers around the world. Together they were able to discover what is actually happening in the brain and what causes these disorders. They discovered that the primary problem was with something called Functional Connectivity in the brain.

THEY ALSO DISCOVERED THAT THE ROOT CAUSE OF ALMOST ALL NEURODEVELOPMENTAL, MENTAL HEALTH AND LEARNING ISSUES IS SOMETHING CALLED A FUNCTIONAL DISCONNECTION, WHERE THERE WAS A DEVELOPMENTAL IMBALANCE BETWEEN THE TWO HEMISPHERES OF THE BRAIN.

During development, one side of the brain is slowed in its development and the networks in that side of the brain remain immature and underdeveloped. To compensate, the other side of the brain speeds up its development which can results in overactivity in certain networks. This leads to an unevenness of skills in the developing child and symptoms are a combination of underdeveloped skills and underactivity on one side combined with overactivity in the other. For example, in ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) we see that the Attention Deficit is caused by an underdeveloped right side of the brain which controls attention. The Hyperactivity is a result of overactivity of a network on the left side of the brain which regulates motor activity levels, along with impulsivity and compulsivity. So hyperactivity, Tics and OCD are overactive left brain issues and this happens because of underactivity or underdevelopment of the right brain.

THIS DISCOVERY BY DR. MELILLO AND HIS COLLEAGUES HAS LED TO THE FIRST TRULY NEW APPROACH TO THESE ISSUES IN OVER 50 YEARS. ALL OF THIS IS DONE WITHOUT THE USE OF DRUGS AND THE RESULTS ARE REMARKABLE! DR. ROBERT MELILLO HAS BEEN DEVELOPING AND PERFECTING THIS PROCESS FOR 25 YEARS.

Dr. Melillo has been working in private practice for over 30 years and has worked with thousands of kids and adults. His learning centers across the US have worked with over 30,000 kids. Dr. Melillo has also educated over 10,000 health and education professionals around the world.

In the past 2 years, Dr. Robert Melillo has been coming to Bulgaria to work with children and their families. His book Disconnected Kids has been a number one best seller in Bulgaria and has become one of the most helpful handbooks for parents and specialists. He has also had a number of seminars and workshops for Bulgarian professionals. Melillo has recognized the unique issues in Bulgaria and he is dedicated to helping in any way possible. Over the past year, he has worked to perfect his method and he has devised new improved protocols for treating all types of issues, but especially severe forms of Autism. This new cutting-edge approach is known as ‘The Melillo Method’ and the center in Sofia, Bulgaria, where it will be available to adults and children will be the first in Europe to officially utilize it.

HOW DOES IT WORK?
The actual details of how intervention works in the center varies for each child based on their needs, however the overall procedure will be similar.
Assessment
The child will first be assessed by a number of different standardized or accepted tools to help determine if they have a brain imbalance, which side of the brain is underdeveloped and which are overdeveloped and specifically which areas of the brain are most underdeveloped. This assessment will measure motor and coordination ability, sensory processing, academic and cognitive skills and will also look at diet and nutrition, as well as lifestyle habits that may negatively affect the brain and brain development and balance.
Intervention
From this assessment an individualized treatment plan will be formulated to specifically target the child’s needs. We use a multimodal approach to maximize the effects and to help integrate different areas of the brain and the hemispheres. No child typically gets all of these interventions but will get a unique combination of some of them. The child is typically seen in the center anywhere from 3-5 times a week for at least one hour sessions. The number of hours needed will be determined after the initial evaluation and subsequent follow-up evaluations. There will also be home activities to be done and parents will be instructed on how to carry out these various exercises and stimulations on their children. The ideal is that the child is receiving specific targeted stimulations multiple times every day. Doing much of this at home increases the speed of the response and reduces the cost to families.
Here are some of the modalities utilized in the center:
SENSORY STIMULATION

  • Light, Optokinetic and other
    types of Visual Stimulation

  • Sound and Music Therapy

  • Smell and aromatherapy

  • Tactile stimulation

  • Vibration stimulation

  • Balance and proprioception exercises

  • Vestibular spinning activities

DIET/NUTRITION
Provision of information on existing:
  • Elimination Diets
  • Food Challenges
  • Immune Balancing Diets
  • Diets improving brain functioning
  • Detoxification Diets
DIGITAL HEALTH

  • Neurosage Video Games

  • Neurosage Virtual Reality programs

  • Neurosage music, sound and vibration frequencies

MOTOR ACTIVITIES
  • Primitive Reflex exercises
  • Developmental exercises
  • Core stability exercises
  • Muscle Tone Balancing exercises
  • Dominance exercises
  • Interactive Metronome
  • Eye balancing and tracking exercises
  • Fine motor exercises
BEHAVIORAL/SOCIAL THERAPY

  • Mirroring Therapy

  • Behavior modification

  • Green Therapy

COGNITIVE AND ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES FOR:
  • Reading
  • Math
  • Spelling
  • Listening and Reading
  • Comprehension
  • Attention
  • Executive Functions
  • Memory
  • Decoding
  • Phonemic Awareness
  • Concentration
  • Organization
  • Goal setting
A number of other programs and interventions may be incorporated as the child needs.