Sai Kishore is creeping with support now !

Sai Kishore is ready to creep...

That's what our IAHP advocate said to us on the last visit.

Eight months back, SK was able to crawl well and push himself up to the quad position and hold for 5 seconds at most.Later on, he was able to do it for a maximum of 15 seconds after which he will fall down and start crawling.

He was not able to move past this stage and was getting a bit frustrated.It was a tough period for us.He didn't want to crawl anymore. 

When we showed our advocate one such video where he holds the quad position, falls down and stays put there due to frustration, she said that he was ready to creep and that's why he didn't want to crawl. She advised us to give him some torso support to creep and it has worked. 

Now, he is happily creeping around the house ( of course, with support) and smiling at everyone with his eyes saying " Look, I am creeping now !". He wants to do it all day. 

Here is one such video where he creeps in cross pattern.

This is definitely a great moment for us.

There is still a long way to go but what is life if you don't celebrate the little things... For these little things add up to give great happiness one day... Every small achievement will soon be one amazing success. That's what we hope for and work for... 

Clinical Evaluation Visit - Part 1

JANUARY 2017 

It was on January 11th, 2017 that I got an email from IAHP that, for the first time ever, a clinical evaluation visit was scheduled to happen in India. It was such a great surprise for us because we were wonndering how we could take SK to Philadelphia with so little finance in hand.

We registered for the evaluation visit as soon as we received the mail because we didn't want to miss such a wonderful opportunity.The Evaluation was to happen in the last week of March and that meant I would be less than 2 months postpartum when we attend the evaluation.I had to plan well before the visit on how to tackle any health issues that might arise during that period.

Our slot was confirmed and we were eagerly looking forward to that event. There were days when I would be so worried whether I could make it, health wise.I was wishing to have a normal delivery and for my recovery to be quicker so that I could attend the evaluation without much to worry about.

Arranging the finance was not an easy task.It was taking so much effort on our part and we were still looking for ways to pay the fee amount.

FEBRUARY 2017 - MARCH 2017

Welcome Chanakya !

Baby C was born on Feb 3rd,2017 after approximately 10 hours of labor. I got dehydrated when I was 8 cm dilated and I started to cramp during the pushing stage. I was getting tired with every push and the doctors had to deliver the baby using forceps for the safety of the baby as well as mine.

While I was being stitched, I realized how lucky I was to at least have a normal delivery under such a situation. Yes, it sucked that I had 30+ stitches, but we were safe and Baby C was healthy.

It took me a few days to even walk without trembling.Sitting was more painful than standing or walking.I had severe blood loss and my haemoglobin levels dipped to 6.6!I was not able to regulate my body temperature and I constantly felt dizzy. The doctors suggested blood infusion in order to up the levels of hemoglobin. After a session of blood infusion, my hemoglobin was 8.8. At this point, I was allowed to go home with a prescription of iron supplements.

There were many other ailments of which I am not going to write here but it was a really tough time. It took me more than 20 days just to sit and more than 40 days to sit comfortably. I used to worry whether I would be able to travel and attend the evaluation.It was only with the help and support of my husband and our family that I was able to recover quickly than expected.

A million thanks to my husband, without whose support and encouragement, I would still have been lying on the bed saying 'I can't'.

Even as I am writing this, I haven't healed completely; but, I know that healing takes time and that I would be totally fine in a few more weeks.

Planning for the visit

We planned to leave Chanakya with my mom so that we could attend the evaluation with complete focus on SK. I was exclusively breastfeeding baby C and I didn't want to him to be formula fed while I was away. So, I calculated the amount of milk that he would need when I wasn't around and I started pumping a few days before to build up a stash.

Other than that, I had to review all the old notes and write down the details which were required.It was a daunting task as I had 5 big notebooks that contained information about his daily program.

The Evaluation Visit

Days flew by and it was time to leave for the evaluation.So far, everything went as planned and I had 3.5 litres of milk in the freezer on the day I was leaving to New Delhi.It was not easy on my mind to leave a 6 weeks old baby at home but the fact that baby C was still getting my milk gave me some peace.

In order to maintain the supply while away from the baby, I had to exclusively pump every 2-3 hours. I had to wash all the equipment, sterilize it and safely store the expressed milk after every pumping session. It was tiring but well worth the effort because I bought back home more than 2 litres of milk.

Even after so much planning I had to face a few issues with engorgement which fortunately subsided after a few pumping sessions. Luckily, I did not get any plugged ducts or mastitis in that period.

SK with his paternal grandma at the airport

I was also worried whether SK would feel groggy or disturbed after travelling in the air. I was comforted by the fact that he managed the travel so well.Throughout the visit, SK was wonderfully co-operative and thus the evaluation went smoothly.

PART 2 - click here

Guess What?!

The last post on this blog was published in May 2016.I haven't been able to update this blog as often as I would like to. One of the main reasons for such a long delay in the update post is that I am always super tired! And the reason behind my extreme tiredness is...

We are expecting baby number 2! Baby no 2 is due to arrive on Feb 11,2017.

With just a month's time more, we are really eager and excited to welcome our little one to this world. We really hope that baby number 2 will be a good companion for SK and they can do some of their programs together.

On with the updates now,

June-September 2016:

SK's program was still going with full intensity.

Reading program: 

English, Tamil, Spanish- Flashcards

Mathematics program

Skip counting, fractions basics

Encyclopedia program:

5 categories

Masking- 10-15 per day.

Patterning- 4 X 1 min 

Crawling: We started with 10 ft/day in the month of May and by the end of September he was crawling 400+ ft per day. He started to come to four point position on his own but he couldn't move forward. He was still crawling for locomotion.

Language program that included conversation, poem and choice board. 

Swimming 

Yoga 

Manual program that included hanging, vital release & prehensile grasp

Playing keyboard

.

What else happened?

I was having terrible morning sickness which made it a great challenge to cook for him as well as to effectively give him therapy. I was warding off nausea by inhaling peppermint essential oil and it helped a little.On top of this, I was getting tired very easily and exhausted by the end of the day.

We did a few things differently with this pregnancy and that helped me cope up with some of the common pregnancy niggles(that is for another post !).

On the days when I was unable to cook or give therapy, my husband would take up the role and very efficiently complete it. In fact, there were days when he would be the sole reason for the therapy activities being done. I was so happy that SK's program was moving at the expected pace.

On Aug 23rd, 2016 - SK's 2nd birthday

I was 21 weeks pregnant by the end of September, 2016. We were to have the anomaly scan in the 1st week of October. We were so focused on being positive, so the previous experience of anomaly scan didn't affect us much. In fact, we were looking forward for the scan in order to see our baby on the ultrasound screen, for the first time. (Yes, we skipped the dating scan and NT scan)

October-December 2016:

SK's program was downsized because I was unable to execute it with full intensity.

Reading program: 

English - flashcards

Mathematics program

A little break because I was not ready with the equations to be shown.

Encyclopedia program:

2 categories

Masking- 15 per day.

Patterning- A small break because I was unable to give patterning with my baby bump in front. 

Crawling: He was consistently crawling 400+ ft per day. Often coming to four point position on his own, he tried to move forward but fell on his face. Later he moved his leg and hand alternately but fell down due to lack of balance. His crawling style has improved and his speed has increased.

We hope creeping is just round the corner for him and when he achieves it, it is a going to be a great victory.. An achievement worth celebrating. We are looking forward to that day. 

Language program : choice board. 

Manual program that included vital release & prehensile grasp

Playing keyboard

What else happened?

The anomaly scan went well and baby number 2 was healthy with no issues.I cannot explain in words how relieved we were to see the scan reports. 

I wasn't able to do as much exercise as I wanted to because SK's therapy was already demanding my complete attention and energy.I caught a nasty cold with fever which made me lose 3 kg of weight.After recovering from the flu I started to gain weight really slowly. 

By the 32nd week I had severe gas pains and I had to go to the hospital for medication. Luckily,it subsided by 4 days.

By the end of December 2016, I was exactly 34 weeks pregnant.

January 2016 :

SK's program is now very basic.

Reading, Mathematics & encyclopedia program: 

Paused

Masking- 15 per day.

Patterning-Paused

Crawling: He still crawls at least 200+ ft per day. He is now able to sit up on his own for a few seconds. We have been using the anti-sit device so that he doesn't w-sit and it has been working wonderfully.

Language program : choice board. 

Playing keyboard

SK's therapy is on basic mode now .Though we are a little sad for that, we know that this is just a temporary phase and that once our second baby is born we would be back with a bang!

That's all for the updates... 

Weekly update & a free download

April 2016 : Days passed by without much therapy and concentration on nutrition. SK wasn't very interested in doing therapy related activities and instead he wanted us to take him out to new places.He was feeling really drained and quite irritated due to hot weather, which had exceeded 40 °C.He needed a little break from his routine and we decided to get him back on track from May.

Where does he stand now?

Manually, he is now able to clap his hands together. He's been doing it since the start of April. He has become more skillful in using his hands to grab objects and to transfer them from one hand to another.

In the department of language, he is now able to vocalize various sounds as an effort to converse with us. We feel that his understanding of emotions, people and surroundings has also improved.He uses a simple choice board to communicate his choices with us.We use the yes/no board now and we plan to make upgrade it by end of June.

Now on to the weekly update ...

MAY 1,2016 - MAY 7,2016

Therapy

Reading program: 

English- Genetics,Christmas,Cricket + Couplets 1 set + Phrases 1 set
Tamil- Famous books 
Spanish- Fruits

Mathematics program:

Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division( only answer card was shown) 
Greater than, lesser than , equal to 

Encyclopedia program:

Music- Musical instruments
Arts- Sports
Biology- Breeds of Dogs
Geography- Transportation
Mathematics- Money

Masking- Started from 5 per day & increased it to 10 per day gradually.

Patterning- 4 X 1 min. 

Crawling: Started from 10 ft per day & increased it to 30 ft per day. 

Language program that included conversation, poem and choice board. 

Yoga 

Manual program that included hanging, vital release & prehensile grasp

Playing keyboard 

and other small activities.

What else happened? 

We went to a nearby shopping mall this week and SK loved the bright environment. He had a great time in a juice shop grabbing everything in sight and feeling various textures of things around him.

He can very well distinguish between edible and non-edible items.Whenever he is handed an edible item he makes this smacking sound with his mouth and/or starts drooling..

We are so happy that he is getting back on track. So, we have made this week's plan to have a little more of everything especially crawling and patterning. Let's see how well it goes! 

Free download - 15 pg book to introduce weather forecast symbols to your kid. 

Click here to preview & download the file

SK is 18 months old- Update

After 4 months of intense therapy, we charted his developmental profile.

Developmental profile- SK- 18 months

VISUAL: He has moved three blocks up. That is a great news!
AUDITORY: He has moved 1 block up. He is in the process of reaching the goal 'understanding of 10 to 25 words and 2 couplets'.
TACTILE:He has moved 1 block up.
MOBILITY: He still remains at level 2. Yet, his crawling technique has improved. Now he can crawl up to 200 ft/day. He is now pushing up on his arms with the intention to sit up.
LANGUAGE: He has perfected level 3. On his way to level 4
MANUAL: His prehensile grasp has improved a lot. Now he is able to bring both his hands forward to receive or take an object. The control in his left hand is still less than perfect so he stays in level 3 functional.

According the developmental profile at 18 months we see that his neurological age is 9.25 months. In a span of 4 months he has grown for approximately 4 months and now his injury is moderate, relatively diffuse and bilateral. This evaluation was done at home and a formal evaluation is yet to be done. We are planning to take our son to Philadelphia this year in order to get a complete evaluation and work plan.

We are so happy with the improvements and we look forward to seeing much more like this in the near future.

For more information on IAHP & Glenn Doman visit their website : http://www.iahp.org/
For the initial developmental profile of SK click here

My experience : The 'What to do about your brain-injured child course?'

'The What to do about your brain injured child course' is a 5-day video course that teaches parents of brain-injured children on the whys and hows of treating their child.

My experience:

Overall it was a fantastic experience and it is a course that I would recommend every parent of a brain-injured child to attend.

The content and time period: 

The course was divided into 3 major parts- intellectual, physical & physiological over a span of 5 days.
Every day started between 7-9 am and ended by 7 pm (approximately). Some days were longer than the others due to the content discussed.Every topic was discussed for an hour followed by a break of 10 mins.

The auditorium & food:

The auditorium was purposely maintained cold and the explanation for it was given in the course. The food was not even palatable , in my opinion, and we attributed it to the cooking style of the hotel where we had lunch. Only by the 3rd day we were told that there was no salt in our food and that is why the food tasted bland(can also be read as bad).

DAY 1:

The first half of the day was mostly about introductions; introduction of staff, course etc. By mid-day, the lessons started and it was all about brain injury- what it is, the causes, how to deal with it and so on. 

DAY 2:

Day 2 was the continuation of day 1 and it was a bit more scientific in approach. After lunch, the developmental profile was discussed and the parents were taught how to evaluate their children. With the help of the staff, everyone created the initial developmental profile for their children. Personally, I liked this day very much because it helped me see where my child was and where he needs to move up on the profile. 

DAY 3:

This day was dedicated to the Physical aspect of the program.

We were made to crawl and creep. Though the whole activity was fun , it also helped us realize how tough it is for our children to crawl and creep.
We were made to pattern children (Different types of patterning for different age-groups of children).

There were also live demonstrations for crawling and creeping by children who have been on the program. It was a touching experience to see children who were determined to move in spite of their injury.

DAY 4:

This day was dedicated to intellectual and physiological excellence.

Intellectual:

This part of the course dealt with the importance of the flashcard program( reading) and why it would benefit the child if included in the daily routine.

Physiological excellence:
It was all about creating a toxic-free environment for the children and following an excellent nutrition program.

We were also made to design our home program as a part of the home-work.

DAY 5:

Summary & certification ceremony.

My certificate

All of us were requested to answer the question "What is the most important thing that you have learned?".

Everyone had something wonderful to say and it was enlightening to hear what other parents felt. Most of them have been through a lot and it was evident in their speech.

The course concluded with the certification ceremony.

You can check out more about this course at http://www.iahp.org/hurt-kids/what-to-do-about-your-brain-injured-child-course/

Note: I am in no way endorsed with IAHP and the above written text is my own experience. I have not received any monetary benefits for writing this article.

The WTD course is happening!!! & other updates...

Yay! The WTD course is happening in India on October 18 , 2015 and we are eagerly looking forward to attend the course.

Krishna Jayanthi - Our little Krishna!

INCLINED CRAWLING TRACK:

He has started moving forward in the track and that is definitely a great news.
I will upload step by step videos after he starts cross crawling.

SWIMMING:

What if all the doors are closed; we have found a window.

We have bought an intex easy set up swimming pool to teach him to swim. So far things have been going really well and he loves spending time in water. Swimming has definitely helped his gross motor skills as well as his muscle tone.

Things are happening... We hope to see a positive change in Sai Kishore very soon.