Kevin's Healing Journey

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Spring Dance Recital Video 2017 "I Feel Better When I'm Dancing"

Here are few video's of Kevin's group dancing to their song "I Feel Better When I'm Dancing" by Meghan Trainor - featured in the 2015 movie Peanuts.

This video is the last minute of the song and dance. I zoomed in on Kevin because I saw him start to smile but missed it on my recording.
Kevin Dance Recital - Spring 2017

This video is about 7 minutes and includes all the dancers in his group along with the trophy presentation. Kevin smiles around 1:40 in the video.
Kevin Dance Recital Spring 2017 full

This video is about 3 minutes and is the entire song and dance. Kevin smiles about 1:23 in the video.
Class A Spring Recital 2017

Spring Dance Recital - April 29, 2017

Kevin's second dance recital with Dance Unlimited. We caught him smile a little during his performance and we were able to get his picture with some of his awesome dance friends.

Kevin's smile

"I Feel Better When I'm Dancing" Yeah, Yeah!

Oh Eh Oh

Take a bow

Kevin's first trophy

Thanks for coming to see Kevin dance!

Ms. Kellie - Dance Unlimited's Fabulous Instructor

Kevin sent Abby off to prom with a kiss

Dance Helper Abby

Thank You to Abby's Mom for the
flowers and goodies for Kevin

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Spring Dance Unlimited - He SMILED!!!

Kevin's helper Abby is very kindhearted, dependable, and fun. She is a great dance helper for Kevin and very helpful to me when we are leaving the house and coming/going to/from the hospital - she helps with our bags, Kevin's stroller, and has even helped him in and out of the car/stroller.

My goal for this second dance session was to see Kevin smile during class to show that he was enjoying himself. I was so happy to see his contagious smile during dance class! This means he is understanding what is expected of him and he is becoming comfortable with a new group of friends at dance. Just to give you some perspective...during our first dance session Kevin did not want to be there and needed to have a comfort item with him during class and was often slightly aggressive and easily overstimulated during class. He has not used a comfort item at all this session and has willingly gone to class every week.

SMILES!!!

Nearly every week at the end of Kevin's dance class our friend Maddie comes in for her dance class. And nearly every time that Maddie arrives, Kevin has to stop and watch Maddie and her mom come in. Maddie and her mom are so good about taking the time to come over and say hello to Kevin. But on this particular day (which also happened to be the first smile day) I was busy talking to her mom and Maddie invited Kevin over to meet her friends. This was a happy tears mom moment for me - to see Kevin with peers his own age and he was smiling and making friends with Maddie's girlfriends - holding hands and playing with their hair. So thankful for these happy tears mom moments.

Maddie's here!

New friends!

More favorite photos of Kevin and Abby during dance class.

Dance Unlimited!!!

More Art in March

March 14, 2017 - St. Patrick's project

Skills: dotters, tearing tissue paper, glue, stickers

He liked tearing the tissue paper.

They both just happened to be wearing green that day!

March 22, 2017 - Lent project; Window art

Skills: fingers in stamp ink, scissors, glue, paint brush, finger paint, marker

Window Crayons

March 29, 2017 - Cotton Easter Bunny; Beaded Braclet

Skills: glue, stamp dotters, beads,

Saturday, April 1, 2017

No Fools...April 1

No Fools...it's April 1 and Kevin is bringing up some of his Christmas favorites from the basement. It was Halloween last week.

My Blog

This blog was created to keep our family and friends updated on Kevin's healing journey. It is also our hope that others may find this blog to give help and hope to other delayed kids.

About Kevin

They told us Kevin would never walk or talk. But with lots of prayers, hard work, and extra hands, he began walking when he was four years old and we continue to have faith and hope as we wait patiently for his speech to develop. Kevin is now eight years old. He is diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy due to a brain-injury he had before birth that was caused by a stroke. In 2006, before Kevin was 2 years old, we found Glenn Doman’s book "What To Do About Your Brain-Injured Child" that had answers to help children with special needs and developmental delays. We began an individualized home treatment program for Kevin immediately and have been dedicated to our program ever since. We spent three years with the Doman family at The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential (IAHP) and now we are with Matthew and Carol Newell at The Family Hope Center (FHC). Twice a year we return to Philadelphia where Kevin receives a neurological evaluation to determine the progress he has made in the last six months. Then they provide us with an individualized, program that puts me in charge to help Kevin develop and reach his fullest potential.

Do You Know a Delayed Child?

The best recommendation we can give to another parent with a special needs or developmentally delayed child (brain-injured, brain-damaged, mentally retarded, mentally deficient, cerebral-palsied, epileptic, autistic, athetoid, hyperactive, attention deficit disordered, developmentally delayed, or down's) is to read Glenn Doman's book What To Do About Your Brain-Injured Child and/or Dr. Coralee Thompson and Dr. Philip Maffetone's book Healthy Brains, Healthy Children. By simply reading these books, you will gain valuable information to help your child which will begin to unlock the potential your child has. And best of all you will learn that there are other options to helping your child that you can do yourself. We would also highly recommend attending the parent course at FHC or IAHP. To read how our journey began and the successful progress Kevin has had refer to the January 2010 blog archive.