Treatment

A lot of people have asked me what Kalie does in her after school program.  She goes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for an hour at 2:30.  She spends a half hour doing cognitive therapy and a half hour doing physical therapy.  It's just Kalie and the teacher.  The teachers there just LOVE her! They have told us so many times how smart she is and how sweet she is.  It definitely makes us proud and happy. 

 

 For the 7 months that she has been in first grade, the only things we have been told by Ms. B are negative.  She's never said she is so smart or sweet.  She's only told us that she's a distraction, that she doesn't give people space, that she's immature.  I've tried so many times to convince Ms. B that Kalie IS so smart and capable. Oh man, I shouldn't have even started on Ms. B because I could go on and on and on. Let me get back to her treatment..

 

So along with doing her exercises at Brain Balance, we also do exercises with her at home.  She listens to a special cd 3 times a day that has high frequency tones to stimulate her left hemisphere. It is really annoying music.  She also does diaphragmatic breathing to help increase oxygen to the brain, allowing her to function at a higher level. We have her do this throughout the day and especially if she is upset so she can calm down and focus.  Then she has 4 eye exercises that she does 3 times a day. The wide eye stretch increases efficiency of eye movement, the near-far exercise helps her focus clearly on objects that are near and far, the slow eye movement and the eye alignment help her to follow a single image and to see a single image at different distances. 

She also does what they call the superman.  It is a landau reflex activity.  The landau reflex is a primitive reflex that everyone is born with. There are 8 primitive reflexes- rooting (sucking), palmar (grasping, thumb and finger), landau (balance and coordination), spinal (posture, balance), symmetrical tonic neck (lying to crawling transition), asymmetrical tonic neck (head, eye, limb coordination), tonic labyrinthine (mastering neck and head control) and moro (automatic response to sudden change in sensory stimuli). She also has to do the starfish which is a moro reflex activity.

 

On the days she goes to Brain Balance she has to do 3 sets of pushups and 3 sets of situps, along with the other exercises. 

 

It is a lot of work and to be honest, we forget or are running late in the morning.  We are getting better though :) 

 

Along with all this, she is on a 30 day elimination diet and we are working with a nutritionist.  She had blood drawn (I couldn't go because I was afraid for her, but Charlie said she was so brave!) and with those results we will find out what she has an intolerance to.  We have cut out MSG, refined sugars (and cut back on all sugar), high fructose corn syrup, soda, artificial colors, sweeteners, additives and preservatives which include aspartame, splenda, BHT, vegetable gums and food starch. We only get 100% juice, no processed meat, and are trying out a lot more organic choices. We are trying to get a lot more protein in her diet and more water, shopping the outer edges of the store to avoid all the pre packaged stuff that sits on the shelf and does not die.  I have realized that a lot of the stuff I can make myself.  Cookies I can throw in some protein powder, muffins I can hide vegetables in.  I'm actually excited about this nutrition change.  I've learned how to read labels and not that we ate horrible before, but it will be a good change for the entire family.  We will be healthier and happier together.