The Brain Repair Institute of Canada - A Miracle Cure For Autism or "Alberta Pure" Snake Oil?

In early March 2008, a story broke in southern Alberta about a possible treatment, maybe even a cure, for autism that had all the parameters of a “sounds too good to be true” scenario that we have heard in this Province all too often. Unfortunately, the story has had only minor coverage in Alberta, largely due to being broadcast by our national TV station on the night of Alberta’s general election.

The story involves an Okotoks Alberta operation, known principally as “The Brain Repair Institute Of Canada” operated out of a modest house within the Calgary suburb. The main proprietor appears to be a French lady, Claudie Gordon-Pomares, who is described as a “neuroscientist” or “neuropsychologist” on the operation’s several web pages, (www.brainrepairinstitute.com, www.unlimitedbrain.com, www.autismrepairsinstitute.com), and throughout the U.S. at many presentations that Gordon-Pomares undertakes.

The operation involves providing presentations throughout Canada and the U.S. trying to get parents of children with autism to sign up for a procedure described as “MAPS”.

“MAPS” stands for “Monitored Multi-cortical Activities for Additional Pathways and Synapses”, and in plain English, Gordon-Pomares believes that directed stimulation of the brain through simple games or activities will allow the brain to repair itself at the cellular level, and therefore, essentially treat autism.

So the programme involves providing participants with a series of “games” or “exercises” at a cost of $5,000 for six months and further $3,000 for an additional six months.

Gordon-Pomares’ presentations in the San Francisco Bay area in late 2007 caught the attention of a CBS investigative reporter Anne Werner. Werner did a report, which included hiding a covert camera at one of Gordon-Pomares presentations.

In late February Werner presented her report on CBS5 in San Francisco – click on the right of the page to watch the video – right here.

The CBS report caught the attention the CBC in Canada, and subsequently CBC reported about “The Brain Repair Institute of Canada” both locally in Calgary – click here, and on The National. Click here for the report on The National.

However, CBC’s timing of the report, as we said earlier, could not have been any worse, as the broadcast day was the day of Alberta’s general election. As a result, the story has gotten very little attention in Alberta. Even Rainbow Investigations only became aware of the story 5 days ago.

Essentially there appear to be two main issues with the “MAPS” treatment, and “The Brain Repair Institute of Canada”. The first is with Gordon-Pomares personal credibility. She routinely is described as a “neuroscientist” or a “neuropsychologist” as is evidenced by this byline for a recent presentation in the Anaheim area – click here.

On her websites, Gordon-Pomares claims to have a M.Sc. from University of Reims in France. In fact, one scientific journal, Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, even has an academic paper on record from Gordon-Pomares, who is described as having a M.Sc. – click here. In actual fact, neither CBS in the U.S. or the CBC or Rainbow Investigations have been able to confirm a degree for Ms. Gordon-Pomares anywhere. Gordon-Pomares said she had a degree from Brigham-Young University in Utah, but BYU has denied ever awarding her a degree. University of Reims in Champagne, France also has denied ever awarding a degree to Gordon-Pomares.

It appears Claudie Gordon-Pomares is simply a self-described neuroscientist, with no formal academic training whatsoever to back up her highly esteemed credentials.

Since the media reports have come out, The Brain Institute of Canada has obviously undergone some damage control to its web page. But as of a week ago, the web page had an impressive list of reputable autism scientists, and psychiatrists, with the claim that “MAPS” is in fact based on the work of the described scientists. Both media contacted two different scientists from the list. Neither scientist was even aware they were presented on the web page.

UC Berkeley professor Mark Rosenzweig stated he was not aware of the “MAPS” programme, and Bryan Kolb of Lethbridge stated that the conclusions Gordon-Pomares was making were greatly exaggerated from what his research was about.

Rainbow Investigations contacted a few other scientists from the since removed list off the Brain Institute of Canada web page. None of these scientists were aware they were on this list, and none of them were aware of what “MAPS” is all about.

The second major issue with the “MAPS” treatment regime, of course, is if the treatment has any scientific basis, and is it of any benefit to people who purchase it. While the jury is still out on this one, certainly an initial examination of this treatment does not look good. One scientist on the CBS report said her initial observations of Gordon-Pomares “method” were that it was simply “psychobabble”. Rainbow Investigations would like to hear from more reputable scientists on their opinion of the “MAPS” method.

The internet has a number of examples of people who have felt “MAPS” was of no benefit to their child. Both media gave examples of “victims” of this treatment regime who had received no benefit.

Since the media reports have come out, many autism support type-sites have reported that the “MAPS” programme is simply snake oil, and are warning their consumers to stay away from The Brain Repair Institute of Canada.

Rainbow Investigations has followed up with two such groups so far here in the Calgary area. One was very cautious about the “MAPS” treatment; the other was more blunt, wishing that the Brain Repair Institute of Canada be shut down.

There are some other aspects of this story that need investigating, and this preliminary report will hopefully be updated soon with more information on other tangents to this story.

One particularly disturbing aspect appears to be a decision by the Calgary Child & Family Services Authority, as it was then called, (since changed to Family Support For Children With Disabilities), to fund the Brain Repair Institute of Canada with $200,000 to provide peer reviewed research. The decision was cancelled shortly thereafter with no results provided.

Did the government agency ever get back its $200,000? Under what basis should this support agency of the government be funding this kind of operation with money that should be going to the families with the disabled children? What sorts of background/reference checks were provided on the operation at the time this money was funded?

But the real tragedy of these health frauds - false hope type stories is how vulnerable, desperate challenged families lose all their hard saved dollars legitimately hoping for a better life for themselves and their children. The most vulnerable are always the first ones preyed on.

Claudie Gordon-Pomares has been in the Okotoks area for a little over 10 years now, and there have been local newspaper articles about her and "The Gordon-Pomares Center" as it was then called, as far back as 1999 – click here.

Rainbow Investigations would certainly like anyone – good, bad or indifferent, to comment to us with any experiences relating to the issues we have described here. Of course, anybody who contacts us is always assured of absolute confidentiality.

Obviously we wish we could do more to stop this kind of fraud, but with weak health fraud laws, and a provincial government that tends to not want to get involved in tough issues, it seems unlikely any legal proceeding would ever come of this situation.

So all we can do is expose the fraud, and hope that we can prevent a few people for falling for this kind of fraud.

Date of Story: Monday, March 24, 2008
Story Posted By: Ron Reinhold
Source: Ron Reinhold

Return to the Investigative News

To Top of Page