brain disorder

Ricky Heilbron is racing a timer as he shoves metal pegs into a wooden board. The 9-year-old wears blue-tinted glasses and a buzzer on his left ear — visual and audio stimulation for the right side of his brain. Ricky, a third-grader with attention-deficit disorder and Asperger’s syndrome, is among those undergoing a new “brain balance” therapy for kids diagnosed with disorders in the autism spectrum. At a clinic in Golden, kids propel their bodies across monkey bars, clap their hands to keep up with a metronome that changes tempo, and study reading comprehension and math reasoning. The Brain Balance Center is one of the latest franchises in a growing number of alternative therapies for autism and related neurological disorders. No surprise the industry is booming: The ch...