Saturday, June 11, 2011

Finding His Feet


Untitled from Katie on Vimeo.

During the last few months of therapy Gabe has made progress in many small ways.  It would be easiest to measure progress in big movements: rolling over, sitting up, pivoting, crawling, creeping, etc. Yet, we have learned to watch intentionally, and celebrate quietly (sometimes), the itty bitty milestones. 

One type of therapy Gabe is receiving is called the Anat Baniel method. The theory is that the parts of our body can be mapped to our brain through light, slow touch and movement.  In fact, they believe we all learn to move through random movements that are successful.   All movement is initiated by the spine, so they teach that rolling, sitting, crawling, standing, and climbing climb can all be learned from our most natural position - lying on our backs.  We believe with them that Gabe's brain has the ability to change and form new connections in place of some that may currently be missing.  His therapist works intentionally with the movements and abilities he is displaying, instead of prematurely pushing him into positions that accentuate his diability.

A major goal in our last 3 months at BRAINS has been to help Gabe recognize his feet and to be able to rock his pelvis and bend his spine enough to get his feet up to his mouth.  This is the "map" he needs to be able to sit correctly and to eventually get in and out of sitting on his own.  As you can see he is finally initiating this movement on his own and we could not be more pleased that Gabe is finding his feet.

If you are interested in reading more, Kelly, who is trained as a "traditional" therapist wrote about her experience with BRAINS and is now in the process of training to be an Anat Baniel therapist.

You might also enjoy checking out some great clips highlighting the changes in another cutie and the way he is moving.

2 comments:

  1. Way to go buddy!!!!!! those are great feeties!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Awesome!!! What an important milestone!! Go gabe!!

    ReplyDelete

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Encouraged by you,
Gabe & his Momma