Nutrition Program
As I said before, the digestive issue is one of Kevin’s greatest problems in life right now. I communicated with the Nutritionist regularly during the last six months trying to improve this situation and we continue to work towards solving this problem. One suggestion that she made was to try a liquid diet once a week. This is given to individuals who have multiple food and environmental sensitivities and to help support and strengthen their liver. This will rest and cleanse the digestive system including the liver, helping it to function better in terms of digestion, immune function, and detoxification. Other changes will be made after a stool test is completed and results are received to determine other changes that could be helpful to improve this situation.
Physiological Program
• Passive Deep Breathing Program/Reflex Bags – The purpose of this program is to increase blood flow to the brain thereby enriching the brain with nutrients and oxygen.
• The Oxygen Enhancement Program/Carbogen Therapy (95% Oxygen and 5% Carbon Dioxide) - The purpose of this program is to increase blood flow to the brain thereby enriching the brain with nutrients and oxygen.
• The Mild Hyperbaric Therapy Program – To increase partial pressure which increases oxygen uptake in the brain and body, improving overall brain and body function.
“Simply defined, hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a medical treatment that uses pure oxygen at increased ambient pressure to speed and enhance the body’s natural ability to heal. In cases of cerebral palsy and brain traumas, the brain tissue is revived and can assist the child in restoring those functions that have been lost or compromised. It is interesting to note that the recovery of the child’s motor and intellectual functions often continues long after the treatments have ended. The brain cells that have been dormant need to re-learn (or, perhaps, learn for the first time) the functions for which they are responsible.” (Richard Neubauer)
We have noticed remarkable changes in Kevin since receiving the Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber in July. We call this “the spaceship” because it is a huge (7 feet long) white enclosure that looks similar to a rocket or spaceship. I even made it comfy cozy inside for Kevin with spaceship bedding. (Check out photos of “the spaceship” on our blog.) The most noticeable change in Kevin since beginning HBOT in July was the increase in his verbal sounds. The quality and quantity has increased significantly. There have been several examples of hearing words (one time). Kevin loves to go into the spaceship. Generally he goes in daily after lunch for about two hours. He can take a nap in it or just occupy himself with some books. When Grandma is here once a week, she will usually go in the chamber with Kevin and read to him. When Grandee visits she also enjoys spending time with Kevin inside the chamber. But he certainly does not mind going in by himself, in fact, one time our power was out and he was not able to go in for his session at his normal time after lunch and he was very upset about that. Jon and I have also benefitted from this new addition to our home.
Intellectual Program
This program was particularly challenging the last six months. Initially we were to begin with using simple picture cards and have Kevin point to the correct picture consistently. We never progressed from this point. I became very frustrated when Kevin would consistently point to the picture card that was closest to his right hand, not even considering it seems the correct answer. I was given some helpful advice on how to move forward on this task and get Kevin to respond correctly. It is unquestionable that Kevin knows the pictures but our goal is for Kevin to give clear feedback on what he does know.
Social/Emotional Program
Developing Self and Self Control – our goal is to get Kevin to imitate, interact, experiment, and play purposefully; and also to accept boundaries for acceptable behavior. Kevin made a lot of progress in this area in the last six months. The simple act of holding Kevin by the hand/wrist/arm to give him boundary has improved his behavior greatly. It is still something we are working on but we are having much more success. Because his brain is unorganized a boundary is a way to help bring him back and keep him on task.
To our visit we brought a video of several daily tasks and situations that occur at home. I am very proud of some of the routine activities that Kevin participates in around the house. For instance, loading the silverware in the dishwasher and closing the door, turning on and off the lights appropriately, shutting doors, etc. I was given some very helpful feedback as well as very encouraging affirmations that my own actions as a parent were confident and clear and appropriate…which every mother is relieved to hear…that I am doing it right.
Sensory Program
• Olfactory & Gustatory Integration Program – Presenting smells and tastes
• Auditory Training – To be comfortable in noisy situations, to not be upset by sounds and to not be easily distracted; To hear sounds at the appropriate volume; To hear all sounds well in daily life and speech. This is one of Kevin (and mine) favorite programs. When Kevin completed his morning program and completed it in a timely manner he was rewarded with this program. He loves to listen to his headphones. I was apprehensive about whether or not he would actually wear the headphones on his head but he doesn’t mind at all, and looks forward to listening to his EASE music and snuggling with his Mom on couch.
• Sensation Level 3 – Create the ability to feel pleasurable and un-pleasurable sensations in the appropriate length of time consistently all over the body. Using Proprioception for Kevin to become more aware of his body, specifically through his left hand, and using joint compressions on his left hand.
Physical Program
This six month period was bit challenging to us because we had to return to crawling and creeping indoors during the spring and summer months. Finding motivation to accomplish this was even more difficult at times. Initially is was not difficult to get Kevin to do this activity, especially when he played hide and seek with Grandma, our neighbor Karen, and other friends but over time as the distance increased weekly it became more and more challenging. Eventually when we were one week from our goal Kevin shut down. He became very apathetic about everything, he was not smiling or happy, he was not eating well, his sleeping during the day significantly increased despite the lack of physical activity he was accomplishing. When I communicated this to the FHC, we were told to stop all physical programming for a week and then start back up again. We never reached our crawling and creeping goal but did get a fair amount accomplished each day. I was relieved to hear that some of the improvements that Kevin made in the last six months were due to the crawling and creeping (even though we did not reach our goal). Some of these changes were his ability to visually bring his eyes together and track upwards on an object; improvement in depth perception; and improvement in ability to filter sounds and stay on task; and improvement in understanding; improvement in creating many different sounds. All of these are activities are learned in the midbrain which crawling and creeping directly affect. His crawling and creeping technique began to improve as well. Six months ago, Kevin was not able to use his toes during belly crawling and now he is able to with both the right and left toes, still needing help occasionally but definitely an improvement.
I was not expecting our physical program to change much at all considering we had not met our crawling and creeping goals. But I was happy to learn that our crawling and creeping distance has decreased significantly and very happy to learn that we have added walking again to our program.
• Crawling – helps develop the pons in the brain to help control face & tongue, focus & concentration, feet & hips, and visual tracking; 200 meters a day (ideal 300 meters)
• Creeping – helps the midbrain with convergence of vision, understanding, and coordination; 400 meters a day
• Walking – begin with ¼ mile and increase ¼ mile every two weeks until 1 mile with a goal of 42 minutes.
• Reflex Integration Program – To support the organization of the Medulla Oblongata and to pattern and integrate pathological and dysfunctional reflexes into higher level brain stages. Out of the 22 Reflexes we have 13 to work on.
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