We made it safely to florida! goodbye maine!
We made it! Here is the main man on the plane ride to Orlando! | Silas did SO amazing on the plane ride over! This was the first time we used a seat other than the carseat for him to sit in on the plane. He sat really well in his GoTo seat and his head control surprised me! | Silas gave us a nice SURPRISE on the plane! Number two, woo hoo! The airline was actually VERY accommodating with letting us change him on the ground instead of the bathroom since he wouldn't fit! |
First day of therapy
We had an amazing first day of therapy! Started off with a bang...and by bang I mean majorrrrrr blowout which made us LATE for our first session of the day. Silas loves to keep us on our toes! He was happy as a clam after though and melted right into the table when his therapist laid her hands on him. We love our entire team of therapists this conference! They are all so amazing, as are all MNRI therapists, just so positive and understanding. Our tactile therapist was able to get a lot of great work in despite our set back. Silas didn't need his iPad during the session and just kicked and cooed and smiled, enjoying the touch. It was a great way to start the conference out.
We had neurostructural second and we had our same therapist as we had in DC. He is an amazing therapist, he does very deep and accurate work with Silas. In this session he was able to tell we have been working with Silas at home. He was able to get a faster response with his core tendon guard and he noticed his overall tone in his body was less. He did a lot of lengthening of his muscles. He works to help get Silas' body back to an anatomically correct position. For instance Silas internally rotates his arms and shoulders, so he uses technique to stretch and lengthen and integrate his reflexes into appropriate positions. His tone is the culprit here...when his spasticity kicks in and he gets excited he always rotates his different body parts to such extreme degrees and if you or I were to do that all the time not only does it hurt and ache but it is just not helpful to him in any way and makes everything that much harder, reaching for toys, bringing his arms to midline, etc. This modality of the MNRI program is one of the hardest for him physically to endure but he did SO amazing working through the deep stretches. He even did great on his stomach which is very rare!!
We then moved onto repatterning, this is where the therapist works to reorganize the body and to show the body the correct neuro response for the reflex being integrated. This is a very very crucial modality of the MNRI program. Silas loved his therapist, we did a lot of singing and he responded by cooing back at us while we would sing to him. She focused a lot on the hands supporting technique which will help Silas big time with balance and being able to bare weight on all fours, beginning steps for crawling. She did a lot of work also on his spinal gallant and perez (reflexes that run along the spine).
We then went over to Archetype which was a fun session for us! Silas was tired but still so happy! He responded very well to his therapists work and barely needed entertainment to keep him calm and content! We noticed in this session that he had broken out of his normal ATNR pattern which is one arm bent up at his head and the other arm sticking straight out. This time he was laying with both his arms straight out next to him! It was SO COOL to see his arms out and so relaxed!! We were able to chat with another therapist during this session about things that we struggle with at home, some being how hard it is for him to be in groups and getting so overstimulated. It was a nice change for a therapist to ask us more in depth about our day to day with Silas and things we would like to improve on that are harder for us.
Silas did a co-treat next of the Oral/Facial Program and Breathing Program. This session was amazing. He was talking almost the entire session, he has an amazing bond with his therapist because this is his third camp with her and he definitely remembers her and has created a bond with her! He handled this session incredibly well!!! I was even able to step away while the therapists treated him, this is a first!!!! Yahoo! Peace of mind for this Mama! He got a lot of work done that helped him to reorganize his breathing. To take deep breaths and breath through his nose and not always his mouth (since he had that little upper respiratory sinus cold he has been very stuffy and they helped him to release some of the sinus pressure). We talked a lot during the session about his sensitivity towards high pitched and loud sudden noises. I had thought of it as something that would need a lot of work, almost like it was a negative thing. I am pleased that his therapist was able to help me to notice that although it does need more integration, that he is no longer in a moro defense, but more so an ATNR defense which means he is turning to where the noise is coming from, where before he was in the moro reflex which meant he was almost in a fright or flight mode. This means he knows where the noise is coming from, but that he is sensitive to the auditory response and going into ATNR. It is one step closer than we were before which is great! Breathing and Oral/Facial program really meshed well together for him today, and he responded so wonderful to both modalities during the session. They even had him mimicking different sounds like "Ahhh" "Eeeee" "Ohhh" and when they would stop he would sign for "More" because he loved it so much! His hands and arms were in midline pretty much the entire session! It was amazing to see! I also asked his therapist during this session why he might be so sensitive to sunlight and not able to tolerate it like his other special needs buddies can. We brainstormed a little bit but then decided we would ask Svetlana about it tomorrow during his evaluation with her.
To end the day we got to see a familiar face! Our home therapist Steph was doing his Proprioceptive & Cognitive program with him! It was refreshing for him to see her to end his day. She did a lot of great work with him on head righting (keeping his head up while going side to side, and back to front) and also did some great stretching with him. I got to see him in positions I hadn't seen him in before which is always cool! It was just a great way to end the day. It is also so beneficial for Steph to be a therapist treating him on our team because when they meet at the end of the day to go over everything with each other, she can hear what the other therapists say, what are top priorities for him, etc and then carry through back home with him.
All in all, an amazing first day. Each camp seems to be getting easier for him. The work is now so familiar for him and not foreign, so he is much more tolerant and patient with the therapists while they are working with him. His overall attitude was amazing. He was just happy and you could tell he was in a familiar setting with so much love, support and amazing healing happening around him! We cannot wait to see what tomorrow brings! His tone from the start of the day to the end changed dramatically, which is why I LOVE the work, the results are instant! Time to rest up now, see you all tomorrow!
We had neurostructural second and we had our same therapist as we had in DC. He is an amazing therapist, he does very deep and accurate work with Silas. In this session he was able to tell we have been working with Silas at home. He was able to get a faster response with his core tendon guard and he noticed his overall tone in his body was less. He did a lot of lengthening of his muscles. He works to help get Silas' body back to an anatomically correct position. For instance Silas internally rotates his arms and shoulders, so he uses technique to stretch and lengthen and integrate his reflexes into appropriate positions. His tone is the culprit here...when his spasticity kicks in and he gets excited he always rotates his different body parts to such extreme degrees and if you or I were to do that all the time not only does it hurt and ache but it is just not helpful to him in any way and makes everything that much harder, reaching for toys, bringing his arms to midline, etc. This modality of the MNRI program is one of the hardest for him physically to endure but he did SO amazing working through the deep stretches. He even did great on his stomach which is very rare!!
We then moved onto repatterning, this is where the therapist works to reorganize the body and to show the body the correct neuro response for the reflex being integrated. This is a very very crucial modality of the MNRI program. Silas loved his therapist, we did a lot of singing and he responded by cooing back at us while we would sing to him. She focused a lot on the hands supporting technique which will help Silas big time with balance and being able to bare weight on all fours, beginning steps for crawling. She did a lot of work also on his spinal gallant and perez (reflexes that run along the spine).
We then went over to Archetype which was a fun session for us! Silas was tired but still so happy! He responded very well to his therapists work and barely needed entertainment to keep him calm and content! We noticed in this session that he had broken out of his normal ATNR pattern which is one arm bent up at his head and the other arm sticking straight out. This time he was laying with both his arms straight out next to him! It was SO COOL to see his arms out and so relaxed!! We were able to chat with another therapist during this session about things that we struggle with at home, some being how hard it is for him to be in groups and getting so overstimulated. It was a nice change for a therapist to ask us more in depth about our day to day with Silas and things we would like to improve on that are harder for us.
Silas did a co-treat next of the Oral/Facial Program and Breathing Program. This session was amazing. He was talking almost the entire session, he has an amazing bond with his therapist because this is his third camp with her and he definitely remembers her and has created a bond with her! He handled this session incredibly well!!! I was even able to step away while the therapists treated him, this is a first!!!! Yahoo! Peace of mind for this Mama! He got a lot of work done that helped him to reorganize his breathing. To take deep breaths and breath through his nose and not always his mouth (since he had that little upper respiratory sinus cold he has been very stuffy and they helped him to release some of the sinus pressure). We talked a lot during the session about his sensitivity towards high pitched and loud sudden noises. I had thought of it as something that would need a lot of work, almost like it was a negative thing. I am pleased that his therapist was able to help me to notice that although it does need more integration, that he is no longer in a moro defense, but more so an ATNR defense which means he is turning to where the noise is coming from, where before he was in the moro reflex which meant he was almost in a fright or flight mode. This means he knows where the noise is coming from, but that he is sensitive to the auditory response and going into ATNR. It is one step closer than we were before which is great! Breathing and Oral/Facial program really meshed well together for him today, and he responded so wonderful to both modalities during the session. They even had him mimicking different sounds like "Ahhh" "Eeeee" "Ohhh" and when they would stop he would sign for "More" because he loved it so much! His hands and arms were in midline pretty much the entire session! It was amazing to see! I also asked his therapist during this session why he might be so sensitive to sunlight and not able to tolerate it like his other special needs buddies can. We brainstormed a little bit but then decided we would ask Svetlana about it tomorrow during his evaluation with her.
To end the day we got to see a familiar face! Our home therapist Steph was doing his Proprioceptive & Cognitive program with him! It was refreshing for him to see her to end his day. She did a lot of great work with him on head righting (keeping his head up while going side to side, and back to front) and also did some great stretching with him. I got to see him in positions I hadn't seen him in before which is always cool! It was just a great way to end the day. It is also so beneficial for Steph to be a therapist treating him on our team because when they meet at the end of the day to go over everything with each other, she can hear what the other therapists say, what are top priorities for him, etc and then carry through back home with him.
All in all, an amazing first day. Each camp seems to be getting easier for him. The work is now so familiar for him and not foreign, so he is much more tolerant and patient with the therapists while they are working with him. His overall attitude was amazing. He was just happy and you could tell he was in a familiar setting with so much love, support and amazing healing happening around him! We cannot wait to see what tomorrow brings! His tone from the start of the day to the end changed dramatically, which is why I LOVE the work, the results are instant! Time to rest up now, see you all tomorrow!
We meet at last!
P.S.!! I forgot to mention! We are rooming with another family attending the camp whom we started talking to online when Silas was about six months old (crazy small world connection fro ma childhood friend I grew up with). Juli helped me SO MUCH in the beginning when I knew absolutely nothing about Special Needs Parenting and needed guidance! It is so amazing to finally meet and get the boys together! They have both come leaps and bounds from where they were developmentally and its amazing to see! Now we will be able to watch them change together over this 8 day conference, so heres to new beginnings!! Yahoo!