After such a long time where our ‘normal’ was 10-15 seizures A DAY:
10/7: 1 Seizure 10/8: 1 Seizure 10/9: 3 Seizures 10/10: 1 Seizures 10/11: 2 Seizures 1012: 1 Seizure 10/13: 2 SeizuresTotal for week 4: 11 Seizures
A recap of our previous weeks of our trial with Industrial Hemp Oil:
Week 0: 64 seizures Week 1: 28 Seizures Week 2: 0 Seizures Week 3: 17 SeizuresFor a recap of all progress Read Week 3 Blog Post: Industrial Hemp Oil Week 3…Seizures or Success or Both?
Sunday I traveled to Austin for Anat Baniel’s 1-Day seminar for Children with Special Needs. I met some amazing Moms, Dads, Teachers, Therapists, and Practitioners including Harper’s current ABM Practitioner Tracy Roybal. Tracy is the only ABM practitioner in North Texas.
Penny with Anat Baniel
What I learned: truth is temporary!
It is the best I am able know now. Therefore, I am committed to what I see to be true for now.
You don’t have to do something well in order to improve it.
The best thing is to apply intention to what is already being done. Example: If I ask Harper to say “Momma” and she says “Ahhh,” accept that as her attempt and praise her efforts. Over time this will improve.
Focus on love and be interested in the child!
The next thing will show up spontaneously! A child rolls for the first time on accident. It’s only after the second time that it becomes intentional.
Experience in the process of learning NEEDS to be pleasurable to be effective.
If your child strongly dislikes the therapy they are in, it is not effective…so STOP!
Parent involvement is IMPORTANT. NOBODY LOVES YOUR CHILD LIKE YOU DO!
We function and grow in a community of other brains. A brain on its own is good for nothing!
The first thing a baby organizes after birth is sucking and swallowing….Survival. A baby dolphin does not swim. It must swim with the mother because it needs the current created by the mom in order to learn to swim. Without the mother the baby dolphin will sink and die. With the mother there the baby does the MOVEMENT of swimming but cannot do it alone…. what does this mean….
Thought is action.
The brain organizes thinking. The movement by itself is not enough…it’s what the brain does with the movement. The JOB of the brain is to put order in the disorder.
THE MOST COMMON APPROACH TO A CHILD WITH SPECIAL NEEDS IS TO “FIX” SOMETHING!!
There is nothing to fix….Harper is perfect and so are you!
“You cannot solve a problem at the level at which it was created” ~Einstein
You have to upgrade the quality of the brain. WE are NEVER neutral. A child learns through their experiences. You can create negative and positive transformation this way.
Milestones go in order not in timing.
Changes need to occur in the brain, not the muscles.
The brain is an information system. All beings are intelligent! WE teach, and through that we advance the information. One cannot do something new without new information.
Stimulation is not information.
You cannot move an arm the brain does not know it has up and down repeatedly and expect that (outside) stimulation to create new information in the brain.
Your goal should be improving, expanding, and improving quality…NOT a specific outcome! The transformation from A to B is more important than being at B. Ideal movement is movement you can execute with a minimum amount of force necessary.
Intelligence is formed over time, it is not given. Movement is not about intelligence.
Information = The Perception of Differences.
This is where stimulation can become information. You cannot potty train a child that is unable to distinguish the difference between wet and dry. You need to create a flow of perception of differences so the child will derive information. YOU CANNOT MAKE ANYBODY DO ANYTHING!
The brain perceives new information through perception of differences. If differences are not perceived it does not exist to that child…there is no new information therefore there are no new possibilities.
The Best Method for any individual regardless of developmental level is enhancing the brain’s ability to perceive differences.
Do not work to correct the ‘bad’…use it to create intention. REPROGRAM YOUR MIND FROM “FIXING” TO “CONNECTING.”
A child arches their back all the time…most likely they do not know they are doing this! You need to move with them. Help them arch. Tell them to look at daddy or mommy or whoever is holding them. This creates intention. Once they realize they are doing it, you have new possibilities because the brain has recognized a difference.
The brain is built to notice change.
Integration is spontaneous. Perception of differences leads to the process of differentiation. Without new differentiation you do not get new possibilities.
There is a level of interpretation where we impose an expectation, a story on what reality is. Cut the story and deal with where you are, deal the reality. Harper has a disorder but that does not mean something is “wrong” with her. Harper needs to be treated as such!
Do not speak in confusing ways. When you interact with a child you do it two ways:
1) options (this or that)
2) telling (this is how it is going to be)
When you say to a nonverbal yet mobile child “do you want your shoes on?” and they bolt in the other direction, you cannot get mad! After all, they answered your question.
If however, you were expecting to put their shoes on then you tell them, “We are putting your shoes on so we can go.” If they bolt you get them, place them back in front of you and say again, clearly, “I said we are putting on your shoes” and you put the shoes on.
SPEAK CLEARLY, COMMUNICATE CALMLY, and PURPOSELY to any child!
The following Nine Essentials are the basis of the ABM (Anat Baniel Method) Therapy
These are mechanisms to intensify differences enough for the brain to perceive them and therefore create new possibilities in the child’s world:
1) Movement with attention
2) Slow
3) Variation
4) Subtlety
5) Enthusiasm
6) Flexible Goals
7) Learning Switch is on (Receptive to learning)
8) Imagination and Dreams
9) Awareness
To learn more about the above information contact the Anat Baniel Method Practitioner in your area.
Please note too that I have learned of Complimentary ABM Lessons for Your Child: Space is available on Fri, Nov 1, and Sat, Nov 2 at 10:15AM, 11:00AM, and 11:45AM at our November advanced practitioner training for working with children with special needs. It will be held at the Anat Baniel Method Center in San Rafael. Click the link about for information.
Harper Dancing
Every day we are learning all of this in practice for us and for Harper. Whether it be high-CBD oil therapy, decrease in seizure activity, therapies, all or none: this is what we know to be true for Harper now.