About 9 months ago, we saw a rolfer for the first time. He did a LOT of work inside BC’s mouth and whammo, within a few weeks, he was saying a LOT more. It was amazing.
We’ve been meaning to go back for ages, but we just ran out of days last year.
I usually declare any holiday period to be totally therapy free, but the other day, as I filled in the calendar with what our schedule will be like once term starts, I realised that it was actually in my best interest to break my therapy free rule, just a little, to ease the pressure once we get into the regular grind.
It seems best to do a handful of sessions of this kind of therapy and then take a break.
I love the guy we see.
I love how well he works with BC and how clearly he respects him – straight away, as soon as we entered the room he was down on his knees so he was at eye level with BC, chatting to him, getting him to laugh, praising him.
And reminding ME just how far he has come since our first visits there 9 months ago. At that time, the words ‘mum’, ‘up’, ‘home’ and a hand full of others were pretty much it.
Now, I get sentences like this “I need go toilet”, “where going today?”, “what doing tomorrow?”, “I got rumble in my tummy”.
Yes, he still needs a lot of work on his articulation. Yes, most people can probably still only understand a smallish percentage of what he says. BUT, we’re getting there. We’re making progress. We’ve got a lot of reasons to be confident about how much speech he’ll develop in 2009.
There’s no magic bullet for CP, nothing that’s going to fix everything in one big hit (wow, do I wish there was!) but I love what alternative therapies can offer. I absolutely believe they have their place and just wish there was MORE ongoing research into them.
We’ll keep looking for new things to try, keep working on our busy schedule, and keep seeing people who care about kids like BC and want to help them achieve their best.
So we’re rolfing our way into the New year!!
5 responses so far ↓
suealeen // January 6, 2009 at 12:16 pm |
glad to know that BC is improving…
coincidently i’ve made an entry about CP few days ago. very much true… no magic bullet for CP, but as time goes by we’ll see a lot of improvements. keyword.. kena rajin..
as parents, we’ll gradually find ways of understanding many of his needs eventhough others won’t understand.
terriblepalsy // January 6, 2009 at 6:03 pm |
We were told that Moo wasn’t going to be able to communicate with an assistive device. So when he first started talking, it was a bit of a fantastic surprise. And to be honest, for the first year, I was the only one that could understand. He still has times where (frustratingly for him) he has to repeat his sentence ten or so times before I work out what he is saying. Usually because it’s not what I’m expecting (like “I’m going to fight Darth Maul with my light saber and chop off his head”). It’s great that BC is talking so well. Great work!
Bron // January 7, 2009 at 4:19 am |
Di so wonderful to hear! I love those “what doing today” phrases! Cooper now says “what doing tonight” when it’s 8pm…and I say this is it buddy-bedtime!
Rolfing sounds great…must make an appt!
Carole // January 9, 2009 at 3:24 am |
I’m so happy to hear you’re getting help for your son through working with a Rolfing® practitioner. There was a research study done back in the 1970s about Rolfing children with cerebral palsy. It’s not a magic bullet, like you say, but can certainly help with spasticity and coordination. Research is happening more in the structural integration community. The first International Fascia Research Congress happened in Cambridge in 2007 with the next one happening in The Netherlands in 2009. http://www.fasciacongress.org/2007/
Kate // March 24, 2009 at 2:50 am |
I have heard Rolfing has worked for speech improvement. My Meg 13mths Quad CP – is tube fed I wonder if it would help her swallow! Any difference in saliva control?
I have the number for a guy in Melb who Ive been meaning to contact – you have given me a prod thanks!