Pediatric Occupational & Physical Therapy Solutions For Neuro Motor Delays
.jpg/:/rs=h:207,cg:true,m/qt=q:95)
Our Story: How it all began
Our son was born prematurely at 23 weeks, weighing 1lb., 1 ounce.
We were suddenly thrown into the massively confusing storm of survival, worry, panic.... and the search for hope.
Our 6 months in the NICU with our son was mostly terrifying. As therapists, we had a unique perspective on each developmental crisis.
What we experienced and have learned since then has inspired us to share our story, and the innovative solutions we've discovered to overcome obstacles.
PHASE 1: SURVIVAL
At birth, he was emergency transported to a Level 4 NICU. For six months it was like living 24/7 on a scary roller-coaster, with continuous terrifying ups and downs, day and night, driving to the NICU up to two hours each way daily, sometimes more. But he pulled through, and showed us his fight for survival and strong willingness to live.
PHASE 2: JOINING OUR FAMILY AT HOME
We were relieved to leave the hospital, but even on the ride home, we were terrified about our responsibility for keeping his breathing and life systems stable.
On our own, but overwhelmed with:
- Follow-ups: With a folder packed with 14 specialty referral doctors and therapies, to begin the overwhelming job of pushing forward with his development.
- Scheduling appointments: Endless wait times, and confusion over conflicting feedback from specialists and lab reports was our daily challenge
- Work & Family: All this, while trying to maintain jobs and stable home life with our other children.
Our son received some Early Steps therapy at home. But, the services were not nearly enough. He remained significantly delayed in all areas:
- Weak: At 10 months he started to sit , but his back wasn't straight and upright.
- Delayed motor skills: At 1 year he began creeping along the floor, but he couldn't crawl on his arms and legs until 18 months of age.
- Feeding problems: His reflexes were not developed and he had tremendous difficulty chewing and couldn't drink from a cup.
- Awkward walking: At 2 ½ years , our son began to walk, but only on his toes. He couldn't stand straight and he had to lean his back forward when standing.
- Frequent falling: He fell every few steps and he couldn't climb stairs.
- Impaired vision and hearing: His socialization was very limited and missing vital communication elements.
PHASE 3: STARTING SCHOOL
When he turned 3, our son began public school in a special county program, with some OT, PT, vision and hearing therapy services in the classroom- but only once a week. Even though we supplemented OT and PT ourselves at home, progress was painfully slow.
Although his speech pathologist came to his classroom daily and worked with him and other students in groups, our son was only able to speak about 10 words with minimal understanding when being spoken to.
THE CONVENTIONAL END OF THE ROAD - AND WHY WE HAD TO CHOOSE ANOTHER ROAD FOR OUR SON TO GO FORWARD.
As pediatric therapists ourselves, we realized that conventional compensations would severely limit our son's life on all fronts. We knew that even practicing stair climbing a million times, would not change anything or help him to master the skill.
We couldn't give up. We needed to find therapy that would solve his underlying lack of sensory integration to overcome his developmental obstacles..
The Breakthrough to a New Beginning… Start all over?
At that discouraging point we found a new direction.
We found new hope with very specialized brain-stimulating therapy techniques. But, the challenge was to start all over, by breaking apart all of his awkward development patterns, and then to redevelop his brain accurately to move along the developmental stages smoothly and efficiently.
We realized that until now, our endless conventional OT and PT therapeutic efforts pushed our son into limiting compensations, instead of addressing the root causes of his challenge. Our previous efforts and patterns he had developed needed to be undone.
So we found new courage and new strength to start over, to give our son his best chance for life. We implemented specialty therapies, and with the new approach, he began to break through old barriers with new outcomes.
INTENSIVE THERAPIES STIMULATED NEW BRAIN CONNECTIONS
Every time he returned to school after an intensive therapy program, his teaching staff could not believe it was the same child from the previous week.
He began to:
- attend to his toys and games and enjoy playing
- move around and climb on the playground by himself
- show improved processing in all areas: motor planning, movement, vision, auditory and communication
But, we saw that it was still not enough. If we were going to ever get our son on the level of his age group, he needed more than intensive therapy once a month.
He needed daily and weekly carry over of the treatments.
PHASE 4: WE TRAINED TO BE HIS THERAPISTS
WE BEGAN TRAINING IN ALL THE SPECIALTY THERAPIES TO GIVE HIM DAILY INTENSIVE SESSIONS.
One weekend at a time, one course at a time. Week-long intensives in therasuit and cage therapy, nine specialized courses in Masgutova (MNRI) techniques, certifications and workshops in Astronaut Vestibular, Therapeutic Sensory Yoga, and more.
We carried over many MNRI sensory integration techniques at home. We bought our own therasuit, Universal Cage Unit, and other equipment, and implemented daily therapy sessions combining all the techniques.
WHERE FROM HERE? HARNESSING ACTION POTENTIAL THERAPY
Seeing our son today, our efforts are rewarded:
He's a delightful active member of our family and communiry.
He is now in a 3rd grade mainstreaming general education classroom with a full-time shadow for assistance. His teachers appreciate his hard work and dedication to maximizing his learning.
He loves school, his friends, biking, and learning to play soccer.
We are continuing with daily training to push forward to reach his individual potential. We value each milestone of his progress.
And, due to our personal experience, and with the knowledge, expertise, and equipment we've acquired on our journey, we realize that we can help other families find hope and better outcomes.
If our story resonates, we would be happy to share yours, and be of help wherever possible.
