I have many great success stories in my files.  Please follow this link to the bottom of this page to read some of my Child Case Studies or Adult Case Studies or unsolicited testimonials from delighted clients. I am also beginning to collect reports of teachers' experiences of using Brain Gym from around the world, click here to see these.

Clients' Comments on Brain Gym ^®

About Brain Gym

“As a qualified nurse I was fairly sceptical about Brain Gym, but it has proved very successful for my 10-year old son. He has gained in confidence and self-esteem and now tackles tasks with enthusiasm that previously would have daunted him.” A.S.

"The changes are subtle (for my 9 year old son), but his school reports show significant and consistent improvement. He is now much more confident. We have enjoyed our sessions immensely, and the rewards have been life-changing. I feel a weight has been lifted now, and I worry less about my son's success at school". A.M.

"Nothing less than a miracle!" Adult client about improvements in work management

   “I had problems with recall and had an exam coming up. After two Brain Gym sessions I was able to complete the exam well before the end, and gained 95%.  It worked – Thanks!” L.D.

   “The part of the project that I was struggling with has now been completed. The Brain Gym exercises helped clear my thoughts so that I could concentrate on what needed to be done. I seem to be able to complete tasks more easily and with more confidence.” H.B.

About working with me

“Buffy has been brilliant with my 10 year old son – he is always happy to go to her sessions. She has a calm, friendly approach which is both professional and reassuring and she is excellent at explaining the Brain Gym methods.” A.S. mother of child client

"Buffy is a dedicated teacher, who has made learning fun. She will always explain any exercise and will deal with all difficulties" A.M. mother of child client

   “I have no hesitation in recommending Buffy McClelland to anyone who could benefit from Brain Gym. She is a highly professional and sensitive worker… and has an important contribution to make in this field of work.”  J.C. Counsellor and client

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CHILD CASE STUDIES.

Names have been changed to protect the privacy of those involved. Each case study included on this website has been checked by the child's parent who has then given written approval for its publication on the web. All clients were previously unknown to me before they came to me for Brain Gym help.

1. Help with concentration, memory and school work (9 yr old boy).

S was aged 9 in 2005 when his mother brought him to me for help with a variety of problems. He had recurrent daydreams like waking nightmares, had a very poor memory, had difficulty in concentrating and was very distractible. His handwriting, spelling and organisation were poor. He was receiving learning support at school.
      After 4 sessions, his mother described S as a different child. Everything except handwriting had improved. His school reports showed significant and consistent improvement, and he was much more confident. We went on to complete a total of 10 Brain Gym balances over a period of 10 months. During this time, S's school test results were greatly improved, his reading was much better, the horrible thoughts stopped, S no longer needed to play the clown to attract attention, he gained an outstanding mark for history, and he was much better at sports. His mother also reported that the irritating mouth noises that he continuously made had spontaneously stopped, to the relief of his family!
      Now, in 2008, his mother reports that everything is falling into place academically. He has done well at the common entrance exam and has been accepted into the senior school he wants to attend. His spelling has improved dramatically. Most importantly, he is now happy and confident in himself.

2. Help for autistic child at mainstream school (7 yr old boy)

B was 7 in 2007 when his mother brought him to me for Brain Gym. He is mildly to moderately autistic, and was struggling at the mainstream school he attends. He had a low threshold of attention, found it difficult to join in with others in school activities and had rather poor language skills. He was unable to handwriting at all due to a very poor pencil grip. We did 6 short sessions of modified Brain Gym, simplified to make it easier for him.
      By the 4th session, his school was reporting dramatic improvements in language since he started Brain Gym. They commented that B was improving at twice the rate of the other children in his class. After the second session, B expressed an interest in writing on the computer, which he had resisted up to that point. His teaching assistant sat down with him, discussed what he wanted to say with him, B then typed it independently on the computer, the assistant then verified what he had said, and wrote his intended words underneath.
      Here are two examples, showing his dramatic progress over a few weeks (the assistant's transcription of B's words are in italics).

First attempt 12th June:
On snb I w t s f. M sh h f p a a btf. I w on th b cs. T ws a ht sn da.

On Sunday, I went to the school fayre. My sister had her face painted as a butterfly. I went on the bouncy castle. It was a hot sunny day.

Without the transcription, you would not have been able to gain any sense of what B was trying to say.

Attempt on 17th July ( 5 weeks after 1st):
Yestday wos spts day at m scol. My favort evet wos the runi and jumpi ov the hudls.

Yesterday was sports day at my school. My favourite event was the running and jumping over the hurdles.

Now, you can read what B wanted to put across without any help from a transcription! This was a great step forwards.

      His mother also reported that B was now enjoying painting and colouring in, was joining in much more with other children at school, and was able to work in a group for the first time. He also wanted to do his homework (a new breakthrough)! His school were really pleased with his progress.

      Now, in 2008, his mother reports that B's gross motor skills (especially balance) are drastically improved, and he's now tearing around (without stabilisers) on a bike that he totally rejected a year ago as being 'too hard'. She said this was "Something I never thought I'd see!! We set up a slalom in our close at the weekend, and he was weaving in and out of a row of (toy) road cones every bit as well has our neighbour's son (who is a year older)."

3. Help with concentration, memory, reading and general schoolwork (8 yr old girl)

 K first came to see me in autumn 2007. She was 8 at that time, and had a formal statement of her Educational Special Needs. Her main problem areas were significant difficulties in sequencing information,  poor auditory processing, memory and maths, and her reading was below the average for her age as well.
      Up to this point in time, we have done 6 Brain Gym balances, and K has enjoyed the sessions and home practice. A month after the sessions had started, her teachers began reporting that B was now concentrating very well and that her auditory skills and attention were improving. After only 6 weeks, she had improved so much that she was taken off the statement at school!
      In February 2008 her mother reported that her reading was now fabulous, and that K had good focus and concentration overall. K is moving in the right direction with maths and is learning her times tables progressively. Her family are delighted with her progress and are continuing with Brain Gym sessions with me.

4. Help with concentration, memory, reading and coordination (7 yr old boy)

I first saw G in mid 2006, when he was 7 years old. G had struggled to keep up with his age group throughout school to date, although his intelligence has been measured to lie in the top 10% of the population. His main challenges were in concentrating, reading, memory and coordination for drawing, writing and sports. We worked through 8 Brain Gym Balances over a period of 6 months, with much success.
      As the sessions progressed, his mother reported that he had started to remember things at school more easily, and his spelling had improved. He went up a Grade in Art and Maths.
      His mother now reports in 2008 that she saw a real improvement in his school work during the Brain Gym programme, which has been maintained. His spatial awareness is now very good.

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ADULT CASE STUDIES.

Names have been changed to protect the privacy of those involved. Each case study included on this website has been checked by the client who has then given written approval for its publication on the web. All but two clients were previously unknown to me before they came to me for Brain Gym help.

1. Help with recovery of abilities after severe illness (adult female)

J was a senior business systems analyst in her late 30s when she had a severe illness which left her with apparently permanent problems with concentration, memory and difficulty in organising her thoughts and actions. These problems made life so difficult that she was unable to work. J saw me for 4 Brain Gym sessions in late 2001 and early 2002. At that time, J was doing an Open University Masters Degree, but was really struggling with the work.

After 4 targeted Brain Gym balances, and home practice of the movements, J reported a considerable improvement in her ability to tackle her Open University course work, and her confidence to do so. In particular, she reported a dramatic improvement in her memory. At that time, she was also taking a course in Tarot reading, and was asked to memorise 78 card names and meanings. She managed this in three days, and easily retained the information for at least 2 weeks until a test. This was very different from her poor memory before the Brain Gym sessions. J said at the time " I am very pleased (and relieved!) at the difference Brain Gym has made to longstanding problems".

     Today, in 2008, J tells me that she did not actually gain her Open University Degree, but was extremely close to doing so. She reports that she did much better than she had expected before the Brain Gym sessions. She has now a permanently improved ability to organise herself in many ways. She has also found that her artistic creativity switched on after the Brain Gym sessions, and can now draw well.

2. Help with public speaking and preaching (Adult female)

M came to me for Brain Gym sessions in 2002 with a number of aims. She was a lay preacher and felt that she needed to improve her singing as part of her preacher’s role. M listed her aims as singing in tune, reducing a sense of being strangled when singing, and overcoming self-consciousness and shyness.

We carried out 5 Brain Gym balances over 4 months, and M practiced the movements at home in between. She reported that her ability to reach the high notes had improved, that she had more confidence and pleasure in singing, and most importantly had found that she was much more confident when preaching and that her voice was louder and had more projection when preaching.

3. Help with memory for written exams (Adult female)

I saw C in 2002 for help with her memory for an upcoming exam. She was a successful chiropractor, with a thriving business, and had almost completed training in a new practical technique, which had a compulsory theory exam paper to pass. C described how difficult she had found her school years when she had to work very hard to keep up. Her memory and recall of written information was usually problematic, although her memory for practical material was always excellent. Her previous experiences of written exams had been uncomfortable, to say the least, always having a "gippy tummy" beforehand and her mind going blank in the exam itself. She said that she expected to "go to pieces" in the upcoming exam, for her memory to fail and for her mind to go blank. We did two Brain Gym balances on this issue.
      After the exam, C reported that she felt fully in control of both her emotional and physical self before the exam, and that during the exam the knowledge flowed out of her so fast that she had trouble writing quickly enough to keep up! She finished the exam in half the allotted time, and gained 95%! She was so pleased with this outcome that she regularly refers people to me for Brain Gym, as she has had such good and lasting results.

4. Help with memory for written exams (Adult male)

P came to see me in August 2007 for help with his upcoming exams. P works as an accountant, and was working towards professional accountancy status. During his revision for previous exams, P had struggled with his poor memory, and had scraped through one exam at a time, usually failing one when he had to take two at once. He described himself as having a memory like a sieve, with only a limited capacity for retaining information. He had reached a level in his training whenit was essential to pass three exams in one sitting, and he was very concerned that he would not able to remember this much information, and would fail. We did 5 Brain Gym balances over a period of 4 months.
      After two sessions, P reported that he was much better at remembering what he had been revising, and that everything was beginning to fall into place. After session 4, before the main exams, he felt confident that he had revised well and that he could easily cope with memorizing and recalling information for all three exams at once. After the exams, he reported that he felt very calm during the exams, and that the information flowed out effectively.
      P passed all three exams and was delighted! Now, in April 2008, he reports that he used the same Brain Gym movements in the build-up to his recent final exam, which he passed with flying colours (with a mark of 69%, well above the pass mark of 50%). A real success story!

5. Help with organising tax returns (Adult female)

C came to me in 2001 for help with her organisational skills. She was a successful self-employed businesswoman with 15 years of experience behind her, but she had always struggled to keep her accounts up to date. She had an urgent need to complete last year's accounts, but was prevaricating big time. She felt that the paperwork was always lurking at the back of her mind in a worrying fashion.
      We did two Brain Gym balances on this issue. As a result of this, she completed her accounts on time, and most importantly, has been MUCH more efficient with her financial paperwork ever since. She reported that her accountant was shocked to receive her accounts well ahead of schedule the next year, and that she has managed to keep up this new, more organised approach consistently over the last 6 years!
      C now reports, in 2008, that before the Brain Gym sessions she worried constantly about not getting her accounts done, since the sessions she doesn't and she still gets them out on time, even now.

6. Help with visual disturbances which occurred after a cataract operation. (Adult female)

In December 2006 I taught the first part of the Foundation Level 4-day Brain Gym course. One of the participants was an adult female called D. She was a successful student learning support advisor in a prestigious UK University. 

    When I asked for someone with any sort of visual processing problem to volunteer for me to demonstrate the "Seeing" balance, D volunteered, although she said she was very sceptical that I could help her with her problem. I said I was happy to have a go and see what happened.

    She described a problem with her peripheral visual field on the left hand side which had occurred  following cataract surgery a few years ago. She described having very limited vision in the left peripheral field, and constantly experiencing a lot of movement and ‘flashing’ effects in her left peripheral vision.  D found this constant interference tiring and irritating.  Medical advice had confirmed that the surgery had been entirely successful and no advice had been offered in connection with these problems.

    I first asked her to describe what she saw. The wall to her  left had a number of  large bold patches of colour, and D said that the most obvious panel of red which she knew was right out to her left-hand side appeared to be considerably ahead of her to the left, and that it was flashing unpleasantly.

    I then led her through the 5 exercises which make up a typical Seeing balance (including Brain Buttons, Earth Buttons and Space Buttons).

    Afterwards, I asked D to review what she saw when sitting in the same position as she had the first time. This time, she described that the large red panel appeared to be in the correct place, and that it was hardly flashing at all! She was amazed, as she had been very sceptical about the benefits of Brain Gym.

    When I saw her again two months later in February 2007 for the second half of the course, D reported that she had practiced the Brain Gym movements regularly for 3 weeks, and that the problem was almost completely fixed, there was perhaps 5% of the original disturbance left. D was most impressed by this dramatic improvement in an issue which had been a major problem for her. Now, in April 2008, she reports that her vision is still almost completely clear of these problems.

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Unsolicited Testimonial (1).

                                                                             2^nd April 2008

Dear Buffy,

I would just like to say a very big thank you for all you help with brain gym!

At first, l didn’t know what to expect but l believe that your friendly, relaxed and professional approach to brain gym certainly paid dividends for me.

To put your work into context the most l’d only every passed was two exams in one sitting but normally it would be just one out of two exams sat. With the tailoring of the brain gym course to my specific needs l managed to pass three in one go at the most technically advanced level of my professional accountancy exams.

I felt that my memory had improved along with my ability to process information more efficiently and recall it as and when l needed. In addition to this, l never felt nervous before the exam rather l felt in complete control from start to finish.

It’s very hard to fully explain why these exercises worked for me but l believe that if you allow yourself to open your mind to brain gym then it can help you harness all the hard work that you’ve put into whatever it is that you are trying to achieve.

Keep up the excellent work!

Best Regards,

Name and address supplied.

Unsolicited Testimonial (2).

 'Our son, now 27 years, was discovered to have dyspraxia just before his GCSE's. He was given extra time for the exams and the school suggested Brain Gym, which really helped his concentration and gave him confidence.

He has continued to have a few Brain Gym sessions at critical points of his life. Each time the benefit has been obvious to him and to us.

On the most noteworthy occasion the change was startling. Our son returned home for the Easter vacation before his Degree Finals. He had three degree assignments to do in three weeks because the previous semester he had sustained a back injury and been virtually unable to do any college work. He was optimistic and determined. During the first week he worked with total focus and completed assignment one. He then retired to bed with an array of junk food -'bag of doughnuts and the like.' Nothing we could do would encourage him out of his torpor. He had entered 'slug syndrome' which he used to do before we discovered Brain Gym. Ten days to go and I was desperate. I rang Buffy for an emergency appointment and then had to shout at our son to shock him into getting dressed and coming with me. After his hour's session a totally different, energised, exuberant and confident young man emerged. I learnt from Buffy that the focus and concentration of the first week's work had switched off his connection between his brain and his body. He had a little bit of Brain Gym homework over the next two weeks which he did sporadically. He completed his other two assignments and gained a second class degree.

As an aside, I'd like to add that my husband and I, both successful professionals, have also had some Brain Gym. We have milder variations on our son's difficulties, and in our 50's find that issues that have bugged us all our lives are resolved after one or two appointments. Our own quality of life has improved too.

What a pity that more people don't know about Brain Gym. It is both cost effective and successful. It must be one of the best kept secrets. I think that in this day and age with all the needs around, not least that of our children, who are the next generation, to deny its value without even giving it a try verges on criminal negligence. That's just my opinion, but I stick to it in the light of our own proven experience. Thank you, Buffy.

Parents and clients - JBC - accountant, JMC - nurse/social worker/counsellor. Son and client - THC - teacher.
 

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The Oxford Brain Gym   Tel: 01865 776578

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