A Piece of Our Love Story

While working on a project for my grad class I experimented with the Windows tool called PhotoStory3.  I enjoyed putting an article I recently wrote for Anat's site into video form to share with you here.  The sound and timing aren't perfect, but we think Gabe is! ;)

Kids Beyond Limits

Anat Baniel is the founder behind the method of therapy we have gone out on a limb on to commit to with Gabe.  It is outside the norms and while it has been researched extensively, we are among the first to use it for a child with Spina Bifida.  We have been so fortunate to find a passionate and kind practitioner close to home.

On March 27th Anat's newest book, Kid's Beyond Limits will be released.  We are looking forward to reading it in whole and sharing it with others that may benefit from learning more about the method.  In anticipation of the book's launch Anat is sharing pieces of her philosophy on the Huffington Post.  I especially appreciated this article,  

Children With Special Needs: A Revolutionary Approach Gives New Hope.

Here's a couple of my favorite quotes if you aren't into reading the whole article.

"...if the arm of an infant is not doing the typical  because of an injury to the nerves  the brain will not be able to get information it requires to learn to control that arm well, if at all." 

(in our case consider the statement to include an injury to the nerves in the legs, feet, and toes).

"...Will moving her arm in that passive way, that is, by physically taking it in our hands and exercising it, result in her brain getting the information it requires to move that arm well on her own? Will trying to get her to do what she cannot do provide her brain with the missing information?"

 (ex. being propped in sitting before he is ready,  standing with extensive bracing, walking with any type of ambulatory device) 

"As counter intuitive as it may appear, the answer in most cases is that it won't. It is way too limited! The healthy infant does thousands upon thousands of small, highly varied movements that are not the final skill... It is this flood of seemingly irrelevant information that the child with special challenges also needs."

"{ABM} provides tools... to wake up the child's brain and flood it with information it has to have for that child to be able to successfully move from the impossible to the possible. This is not some kind of magic or esoteric system but is founded on scientific principles that have been demonstrated over and over again by leading researchers the world over. Science has shown how the brain possesses a remarkable ability to create alternative solutions to physical and mental disabilities when given the information to work with. Through the spontaneous process of differentiation (discerning increasingly finer differences), the brain creates billions upon billions of new neural connections; these are the very connections that every child's brain needs to figure out how to stand, walk, talk, think, and do everything he or she will ever learn to do"

Now, THAT is this kind of thinking that hooked me when I attended Anat's conference a year ago this March. Since then we have seen Gabe work beyond the limits of his diagnosis.  We are certain ABM has been part of our miracle.

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.

Exploring Possibilities

This past weekend I attended a 2 day workshop on the Anat Baniel Method.  The workshop was specifically geared toward parents and professionals who work with children who have special needs.  Anat Baniel is a student of Feldenkrais, who designed therapy to improve function within the body through movements that increase self awareness. 

To be honest, I was most looking forward to the time to catch up with, and bounce ideas off, my friends who also have new babies with spina bifida.  The conversations did not disappoint.  In addition, throughout my professional teaching career I was incredibly interested in brain research as it relates to learning.  The information presented throughout the weekend was right up my alley in that way.  I learned much about the brain's involvement in, and need for, movement with attention.  

The conference gave me a lot to process and left me with decisions to make as to how we would like to progress with therapy for Gabe in the months to come.  I am sure I will be writing more about this soon, but for now I need to take some time to review my mind's notes and summarize my feelings about what was presented.