KEVIN'S NEW PROGRAM (FALL/WINTER 2012/13)

Nutrition Program
Kevin biggest problems in life right now continue to be physiological including his digestion and gulping.  There have been small and temporary improvements in this area but still much more improvement is needed.  We find it encouraging that Kevin’s allergen reactions have been less severe.  I am not talking about ingesting an allergen but he did touch a dog treat with peanut butter and did not break out and this past spring we actually had the windows open in our house and he did not have any allergy symptoms.

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.

o   This program is on hold for one month to determine if it is contributing in any way to Kevin’s gulping behavior.

·         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.

o   This program is on hold for one month to determine if it is contributing in any way to Kevin’s gulping behavior.

·         The Mild Hyperbaric Therapy Program – To increase partial pressure which increases oxygen uptake in the brain and body, improving overall brain and body function.

·          The Coordinated Breathing Program – To create good rhythmic breathing that as a result delivers more oxygen to the brain. 

o   Jon or I will be recording our breathe set to a metronome to help condition Kevin to breathe in a good rhythm.  He will listen to this breathe recording at night while he sleeps.

o   We hope this will help reduce some of his intestinal pressure which is also connected to distorting his left hip thereby affecting his left foot. 

Sensory Program

·         Self-Massage for Proprioception – To create the ability to feel the difference between pleasurable and unpleasurable sensations in the appropriate length of time consistently all over the body. 

·         Olfactory & Gustatory Integration Program – To present smells to assist his emotional and social development.

·         Oral Motor – To create the ability to have full sensation and awareness inside the mouth.  To improve chewing, swallowing, and language.

·         Auditory Training with Solisten Sound Training (Tomatis Method) – This is an auditory program that will be done for 15 days.  It is a listening training device to educate the human ear with regard to the listening function.  It uses a sound message that is transmitted by a vibrator (on top of the headphone) that connects with the skull.  The sound goes directly to the inner ear without passing through the tympanum.  This may help improve emotion, language, memory, and attention.  This is an expensive equipment package to borrow but they are seeing very good results from it. 

Language and Learning

The team was especially excited to see some key improvements in Kevin, specifically something called joint attention, which is significant for social communication, demonstrated by the shared focus of two individuals on an object, using eye-gazing, pointing or other verbal or non-verbal indications. We also feel that his understanding and social development is improving, and we are seeing him begin to imitate behavior. 

Kevin is using a couple signs “apple” and “dad” spontaneously and regularly in context and out of context.  We will continue to teach and use sign language through various teaching methods and observation.  They find that by using sign language to communicate with others kids develop interaction skills that include eye contact and being engaged with others.  Also, the fact that learning sign language stimulates the brain in the same way as speaking language which will help his brain to develop verbal communication. We will encourage vocal play to imitate speech sounds.  And we will be concentrating on Developing Standards and Responsibilities for play to help control repetitive actions (like gulping) and obsessions, with a more varied and functional play.

Physical Program – Basic Brain Organization

There have been big improvements in Kevin’s left foot since our last revisit in April.  I describe it as: I don’t cringe and remember with each step that his foot was turning in when he walks.  I think the ½ inch wedge insert in the left shoe and the new orthotics have helped reduce turning inward of the left foot while walking.  But we still need to improve the function of his left foot including its relationship to his hip.  So we will try the hip abductor wedge again for him to wear at night while sleeping.  We have to make some adjustments to the wedge to keep his skinny legs from turning in the straps and preventing his hips from getting in a worse position.  He will also continue to receive the Electric Muscle Stimulation (EMS) and possibly add in a Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS).

·         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.

·         Crawling – Continue our goal of 300 meters a day

·         Creeping – Continue our goal of 400 meters a day

o   Add an “AFO” arm/hand support brace (if I can find someone to understand and make this).

·         Walking – We will be building a walking track for Kevin to walk in to keep his foot from turning in.  Beginning with 50 meters and increasing to a total goal of 2,000 meters daily.  The tricky part is being able to make the track long enough to cover a sufficient amount of distance without needing to turn around too many times but it will also need to be easily movable as our floor space is already used for crawling and creeping.  Here we go again with the crazy devices in the house! Watch your step when you come to visit J

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