Non-drug Treatments

Physiotherapy and occupational therapy may help ease symptoms of Batten disease and improve patients’ quality of life. Physiotherapists are able to help overcome problems with gross motor skills by implementing exercises that help strengthen muscles and improve balance. Occupational therapists are able to help patients improve their fine motor skills and coordination, and maintain their dexterity, helping them to perform daily activities.

Children with Batten disease often have difficulty learning to walk and talk. Once the symptoms of the disease have developed, many children will regress developmental progress such as speech or movement. Speech therapy involves working with a therapist to develop the muscles of the face and tongue to support speech, language, social and cognitive communication, and swallowing.

Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is a type of therapy that can be used to treat seizures. It is recommended only for patients whose seizures cannot be fully controlled with anticonvulsants or anti-epileptic medications. VNS refers to any mechanism used to stimulate the vagus nerve, but most commonly involving surgically implanting a device that delivers electrical pulses to the brain, via the vagus nerve.