Guest guest Posted August 26, 2007 Report Share Posted August 26, 2007 You know, you can't win. People in special education will all tell, it's the maturation process. He has matured and that was what did it. I have a neighbour who's child is buddies with Mark; he is a doctor and is confident that maturation is responsible for Mark's current success. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? 2-3 hours a day of hard work is what did it! For the most part, Mark was just a number to those people in special needs services. At the time that I was trying to get OT, there was a 3 year waiting list for services. Just no room for the kids, there were so many that needed help! How tragic. So, most kids got minimal services which were about 14 weeks of 3/4 hour sessions per week. Terrible situation for the children. They would do a stint at the rehab hospital in 2nd grade, a panel of specialists would be collected who basicly 'ousted' you from any funding other than speech. Actually, I don't know any kid that got OT past second grade. The only services available were speech. If you couldn't make it physically by 2nd grade, it was off to special education for you! (which was better than mainstream actually, with 25-30 kids in poorly funded classrooms) I was told privately by a very nice OT that if Mark had a degenerative disorder like MS, he would have gotten more OT but becuase his condition was not degenerative, they could not justify $$$. How stupid is that.... Janice [sPAM] [sPAM] [ ] Re: NACD I think you should write a letter about Mark's improvement and send it with video proof to everybody who failed you. They should be disappointed in themselves, but also, they need to know that there is something that can be done for the allegedly " unresponsive " kids. in NJ > > > > Janice > > > > My duaghter is multiple handicapped, so I really don't know what > issues Mark has other than apraxia. > > > > I don't like the fact, that patterning is not listed anywhere in > his research materials as his unlce invented patterning. I think > this is deliberate so that the negative press he has gotten does not > get revealed. I also had a red flag go up when I was speaking with > at the home office and she said Bob will help you more than > any doctor can. Now my daugher has a rare disorder, in fact there is > no one else in the entire world with her exact dx. > > > > > I am just telling persons what my experience is so far. It is > very expensive and the medical community calls it pseudoscience , not > me. > > > > > > Sharon > > > > > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 27, 2007 Report Share Posted August 27, 2007 That's good news. Just to be clear, I did not say it is pseudoscience. ... medical professionals have said it. Sharon bigcheech91 <bigcheech91@...> wrote: That may be true for some, but when I asked our developmental pediatrician about it, she said, " well, if you have the money for it, sure. It's great. Otherwise, you can just wait for an opening from OT. " (There is a 14+ week waitlist for OT right now.) So she didn't think it was pseodoscience. She compared it to her own hospital's OT program. And to be clear, she did not recognize the name NACD until I said Bob Doman. That was the name she knew. It's possible she just knows of the work of the Doman family in general, and not NACD specificially. Still, I considered it a positive comment. in NJ > It is very expensive and the medical community calls it pseudoscience , not me. > > > Sharon > --------------------------------- Looking for a deal? Find great prices on flights and hotels with FareChase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 28, 2007 Report Share Posted August 28, 2007 Oh sure. I know that. I don't think you would have pursued it at all if that is what you thought. My point was that some doctors think they are a legitimate and helpful option. In fact, I wish the docs would mention more outside options and leave the financial decision to the parents instead of assuming that we think their help is all we need. She was the same way about school options. in NJ > > > It is very expensive and the medical community calls it pseudoscience , > not me. > > > > > > Sharon > > > > > > > > > --------------------------------- > Looking for a deal? Find great prices on flights and hotels with FareChase. > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 15, 2007 Report Share Posted September 15, 2007 ALL types! But my son has gone from severe, global developmental dyspraxia in one year doing NACD program to almost NT. Yes, we still do have our 'issues' but the change in one year is nothing short of spectacular. This is now a 12 year old kid. The older you get, the tougher it is to help our children and he responded extremely well. When I was at their Rendez-vous this summer, I met all sorts of 'types' of kids. From the severely affected by DS to the gifted. Many of the kids that begin program as LD kids end up as accelerated children. I met this one boy who I thought was in that category in the waiting room. Quite frankly, there seemed like there was nothing wrong with this boy! He was 8, cute and extremely charming. He just grabbed my heart, he was so adorable. When I asked his mom why on earth they were there, she responded that he used to be severely autistic; he was extremely self-injurious and had no words up to the age of 5. That was when they started program. He now only has some mild ADD issues left and is advanced in all of his school subjects. I was so impressed that I had to congradulate this woman and shake her hand. I know how hard she must have worked for her son. She told me that she felt guilty since HE had literally 'worked' at getting better through his childhood. I remember shaking my head and saying, " No, he has all of the rest of his childhood to enjoy and to cherish " . And that was the truth. There would be no bullying or social stigma for this child. This child would have all of the opportunities that all children have without the horrible affects of autism confining his spirit. To this day, when I am feeling frustrated and 'weak', I think of this child and all of his strength at the tender age of 8 and I am humbled. Janice [sPAM] [ ] NACD I don't know how I possibly missed all of these NACD threads until now! I am trying to figure out what types of children this program is best suited for. Can someone please post the types of activities that their child is doing on the NACD program? I realize that each program is individualized. But we have already done so very, very many therapies outside of simply speech therapy and OT, I am wondering if this would be, for us, a repeat of many things we have already done. Thanks for any info you can provide!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 15, 2007 Report Share Posted September 15, 2007 Really quickly because I am addicted to this board and I have a deadline that I am fast missing: September, 2006 to November 2006 crawling, creeping, marching, skipping program Eliminate ALL milk products Wepman Game Story Telling Auditory, auditory reverse and visual digit spans Pinhole glasses each day The Listening Program Deep pressure massage Myomunchee Math program Reading program Finger isometrics focus on chewing techniques And a few more.... can't remember them all November, 2006 to February, 2007 Dominant hand activities fine motor activities deep pressure massage Horns Program Masking Marching and skipping medicine ball squats and lifts story telling digit spans Listening Program math and reading programs Pop buble wrap and finger strengthening exercises again.... many more which I cannot recall February, 2007 to June, 2007 Left ear; plugging right hand activities hand stengthening activities Deep pressure of hands/arms only hand writing program Listening Program digit spans 45 minutes of daily aerobic exercise math and reading programs Again, I am missing a whole bunch of stuff but it was geared around the ear. July, 2007 to October, 2007 LOTS of focus on math and attempting to accelerate Mark; no reading program audio books on tape feeding to dominant ear ear plugging of left ear Listening Program Diet/nutrition intervention hand exercises and more hand strengthening specialized speech exercises to work oral motor and tongue to clean up articulation 1/2 hour of daily aerobics ETC. ETC..... and more but I really have to buckle down and stop chatting! Yes, these are all very specialized to the individual. My child is older beginning program at the age of 11 and I would expect program for a younger child with similar issues to be similar but more geared to the age level. Notice the progression away from the 'baby exercises' to higher level academics. But there has always been an intense focus on the hands and the ears throughout since these are extremely weak areas for my son. Those hands and those ears are a real issue for us but it may be something else for your child. But, I have learned as we fixed the ears and the auditory processing, the speech really thrived and prospered. Along this journey, we stopped being a 'clumsy child' and started being pretty NT. It has been hard work but worth every second. Hope this helps you in making your decision and in seeing the fairly rapid progression in my child particularly in certain areas. Janice [sPAM] [ ] NACD I don't know how I possibly missed all of these NACD threads until now! I am trying to figure out what types of children this program is best suited for. Can someone please post the types of activities that their child is doing on the NACD program? I realize that each program is individualized. But we have already done so very, very many therapies outside of simply speech therapy and OT, I am wondering if this would be, for us, a repeat of many things we have already done. Thanks for any info you can provide!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 9, 2007 Report Share Posted October 9, 2007 Hello all, I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but if you are planning on looking into NACD for your child and family, please check out this website. I am a firm believer in alternative treatments, and have founds some that have worked with no explanation for my 6 yo apraxic son. However, I do believe that anyone interested in this should go in with their eyes wide open. The site below is the website for the American Academy of Pediatrics. It contains the following article: AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS: The Treatment of Neurologically Impaired Children Using Patterning Committee on Children With Disabilities http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics% 3B104/5/1149 in peace, mom to Jonah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 10, 2007 Report Share Posted October 10, 2007 There is an old post from Janice addressing this. The patterning concern is outdated. If they recommend it as part of your program you don't have to do that part but I am pretty sure they do not use it anymore. Someone help me on that last part. > > Hello all, > I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but if you are planning on > looking into NACD for your child and family, please check out this > website. I am a firm believer in alternative treatments, and have > founds some that have worked with no explanation for my 6 yo apraxic > son. However, I do believe that anyone interested in this should go > in with their eyes wide open. The site below is the website for the > American Academy of Pediatrics. It contains the following article: > > AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS: > The Treatment of Neurologically Impaired Children Using Patterning > > Committee on Children With Disabilities > > > > http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics% > 3B104/5/1149 > > > > in peace, > > mom to Jonah > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 10, 2007 Report Share Posted October 10, 2007 For the most part, they do not put it in the program. We had one patternng recommendation -- crawling, but have not really done it as I don't see the validity. They are really flexible and not rigid at all. If something is not working for you, they don't want you to do it. Our program is 4 hours a day. There is absolutely no way we could do this, even if we paid someone to come in 20 hours during the school week. She would never do 4 hours after her school day. We have her in a very intensive school program. Plus, she has global delays so we have 4 therapies a week as well. There is no time for 28 hours a week. We do what we can and will do more in the summer. That is the best we can do. They get it. Most of the program is simply therapy exercises. .. fine motor, gross motor, speech, visual, sensory etc... I think anything you do for your childis better than doing nothing. It is customized, so I can not tell you what your program would look like, but our insurance has cut back on therapies so $185 a month is cheaper than the out of pocket cost for 1 speech therapy session. Plus, we save the time and the gas. I was very apprehensive myself after learnng of their past history of patterning, but they have pretty much disassociated themselves with this methodology. I hope this helps. Sharon ilizzy03 <lizlaw@...> wrote: There is an old post from Janice addressing this. The patterning concern is outdated. If they recommend it as part of your program you don't have to do that part but I am pretty sure they do not use it anymore. Someone help me on that last part. > > Hello all, > I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but if you are planning on > looking into NACD for your child and family, please check out this > website. I am a firm believer in alternative treatments, and have > founds some that have worked with no explanation for my 6 yo apraxic > son. However, I do believe that anyone interested in this should go > in with their eyes wide open. The site below is the website for the > American Academy of Pediatrics. It contains the following article: > > AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS: > The Treatment of Neurologically Impaired Children Using Patterning > > Committee on Children With Disabilities > > > > http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics% > 3B104/5/1149 > > > > in peace, > > mom to Jonah > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 10, 2007 Report Share Posted October 10, 2007 Hi Sharon - Are the exercises given to you from NACD similar to the same exercies that you have seen with ST, OT, PT....? Thanks! > > > > Hello all, > > I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but if you are planning > on > > looking into NACD for your child and family, please check out this > > website. I am a firm believer in alternative treatments, and have > > founds some that have worked with no explanation for my 6 yo > apraxic > > son. However, I do believe that anyone interested in this should > go > > in with their eyes wide open. The site below is the website for > the > > American Academy of Pediatrics. It contains the following article: > > > > AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS: > > The Treatment of Neurologically Impaired Children Using Patterning > > > > Committee on Children With Disabilities > > > > > > > > http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics% > > 3B104/5/1149 > > > > > > > > in peace, > > > > mom to Jonah > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 10, 2007 Report Share Posted October 10, 2007 Oh, Sharon, do the crawling if you can! It made the world of difference to my son's coordination and his visual-spatial awareness! I don't know why but it has to do with the initial 'wiring' we do as babies. It connects the central nervous system to the pons and the mid-brain of the child and this is used in many, many therapies; from Balametrics, to Floor-time, to Brain-gym. It is a pre-cursor to running efficiently and smoothly. You know those old codgers you see running every morning in their 70's who are as sharp as a tack? It is because they run and keep their central nervous system in 'top' form! Cross pattern movement begins in the crawl and thus running, swimming, marshall arts, gymnastics etc. are soooooo good for our kids! Patterning was initially designed for children who were completely immobile and who literally were confined to a bed..... it has nothing to do with crawling except for the fact that 'crawling' was the pattern that the neurologists were trying to get the children to do as it was so important to brain development. Don't let 'old' news frighten you from good, modern therapy! Janice Mother of Mark, 12 [sPAM] Re: [ ] Re: NACD For the most part, they do not put it in the program. We had one patternng recommendation -- crawling, but have not really done it as I don't see the validity. They are really flexible and not rigid at all. If something is not working for you, they don't want you to do it. Our program is 4 hours a day. There is absolutely no way we could do this, even if we paid someone to come in 20 hours during the school week. She would never do 4 hours after her school day. We have her in a very intensive school program. Plus, she has global delays so we have 4 therapies a week as well. There is no time for 28 hours a week. We do what we can and will do more in the summer. That is the best we can do. They get it. Most of the program is simply therapy exercises. .. fine motor, gross motor, speech, visual, sensory etc... I think anything you do for your childis better than doing nothing. It is customized, so I can not tell you what your program would look like, but our insurance has cut back on therapies so $185 a month is cheaper than the out of pocket cost for 1 speech therapy session. Plus, we save the time and the gas. I was very apprehensive myself after learnng of their past history of patterning, but they have pretty much disassociated themselves with this methodology. I hope this helps. Sharon ilizzy03 <lizlaw@...> wrote: There is an old post from Janice addressing this. The patterning concern is outdated. If they recommend it as part of your program you don't have to do that part but I am pretty sure they do not use it anymore. Someone help me on that last part. > > Hello all, > I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but if you are planning on > looking into NACD for your child and family, please check out this > website. I am a firm believer in alternative treatments, and have > founds some that have worked with no explanation for my 6 yo apraxic > son. However, I do believe that anyone interested in this should go > in with their eyes wide open. The site below is the website for the > American Academy of Pediatrics. It contains the following article: > > AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS: > The Treatment of Neurologically Impaired Children Using Patterning > > Committee on Children With Disabilities > > > > http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics% > 3B104/5/1149 > > > > in peace, > > mom to Jonah > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 10, 2007 Report Share Posted October 10, 2007 Sharon, I am very glad to hear this. Having not gone there yet we need to hear everyone's experience we can, good, bad or in between. Thanks! > > > > Hello all, > > I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but if you are planning > on > > looking into NACD for your child and family, please check out this > > website. I am a firm believer in alternative treatments, and have > > founds some that have worked with no explanation for my 6 yo > apraxic > > son. However, I do believe that anyone interested in this should > go > > in with their eyes wide open. The site below is the website for > the > > American Academy of Pediatrics. It contains the following article: > > > > AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS: > > The Treatment of Neurologically Impaired Children Using Patterning > > > > Committee on Children With Disabilities > > > > > > > > http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics% > > 3B104/5/1149 > > > > > > > > in peace, > > > > mom to Jonah > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 22, 2008 Report Share Posted March 22, 2008 I just thought I'd put in two cents worth here. I took my 4 year-old son to NACD in December. I'm not as good as the other moms here and haven't been as successful at getting my son to do everything they suggest. After reading the book " The Brain That Changes Itself, " I am going to work very hard to get all the program done that they have set up for him. (It's not that much time in the day for him yet-maybe 1/2 an hour- but there are some motivational issues for him and organizational issues for me). For anyone considering NACD, I would highly recommend reading this book. It is by Norman Doidge, and I think it has been mentioned here before. The one thing that NACD believes that it's hard to find anywhere else is that intense treatment every day does CHANGE THE BRAIN. Recent research absolutely shows that to be true (see the book above if you want research information.)NACD gives parents who are willing something they can do every day to help their child(ren). My son has a microdeletion and has more issues than just the apraxia, so I do think what they have to offer will help him. Maybe not everything will help, and maybe what helps won't help as much as I hope. I'm not so motivated and organized like Kim that I can come up with a good program on my own. There are lots of resources that Janice and Kim have mentioned here if you are interested in designing your own program. For someone just with apraxia, it might not be worth it. Between OT(listening therapy and ST you will probably get what you need. If you can't get the OT and ST you need, then NACD may offer what you need cheaper than private sessions. Clearly, I only have opinions on the success of NACD, and no long term experience. It's just my little input. Those of you looking into NACD might also check out this website http://www.arrowsmithschool.org/womanfixed.htm, about a woman named Barbara Arrowsmith Young. She cured herself of profound disability by doing exercises that directly addressed her learning disabilities. Outside of NACD/IAHP and ST, I haven't seen that much offered in the way of therapy that actually treats the disability with the intense intervention needed to treat disability. Most of the educational system offers ways to get around disabilities, rather than to fix the brain so the disability fades or completely goes away. As usual, I went on too long. But hopefully there is something helpful in this post for somebody. I thought and read and researched for many months before deciding to try NACD. I will post updates at 6 months and anything before that seems significant (good or bad). Gretchen (By the way the article from the AAP discrediting patterning is way out of date, and doesn't apply to what is going on at NACD today) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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