Adam
Cerebral Palsy
Adam and his twin sister Gemma were born at exactly 27 weeks. Gemma weighed only 2 lbs 5 oz at birth whilst Adam weighed a tiny 1 lb 14 oz. Both spent 13 weeks in neonatal care before finally coming home the day after their original due date. Adam had a much tougher ride through NICU than Gemma.
When they came home right from the beginning Adam was always a little behind his sister. When Gemma walked at 18 months and Adam still was nowhere near on his feet we were very worried and sure enough a little before his second birthday the doctors finally confirmed that he had cerebral palsy mainly affecting his lower limbs. They always told us he would walk, but they couldn’t say when, and indeed his consultant said he may need sticks to walk independently. This shocked us a little. We were more or less told that it wouldn’t get worse but also couldn’t get better so we should just adjust to the situation.
Surely something more could be done?
There didn’t seem to be as much effort being put into helping him as we would have liked or expected. The world of babies was new to us never mind the medical world for children with additional needs but we couldn’t help feeling that surely something more could be done than occasional visits to various clinics which didn’t seem to be achieving very much.
Desiding on TST
During hours of internet browsing on cp we came across Advance. It was 600 miles away from us, but as time went by we read more and more positive reviews on various websites and as Adam was getting older his issues were becoming more noticeable, so we decided on the Advance option.
After a couple of interesting phone calls with Linda we decided to bite the bullet and take a mammoth road trip from Aberdeen to East Grinstead. Luckily the weather was superb and it really did feel like a holiday. We learned The Scotson Technique and can honestly say we left after that first week brimming with hope and feeling like we may have found the answer we had been yearning for.
1st positive impact:walking unaided
It all seemed to be so simple and we started practising on Adam straight away. It’s hard to say where he would have been without Advance but we really do feel it has had a positive impact on his development. He eventually walked unaided (without sticks) 3 months after starting TST and we were ecstatic, it is a day we will never forget. Adam’s speech is coming on, he is much more alert and interested, his frustration tantrums have reduced dramatically and generally all round his development is going well.
We have just returned from our second visit and it was good to come back and be re-enthused. Gemma is helping and often brings over his towels and sometimes places them on his back imitating what we do!
A more optimistic future
There were once time when we felt that there was nowhere to go, but TST has given us the hope we really needed. We are hopeful that this therapy will enable Adam to achieve his full potential and look forward to the next few months to see what that brings us.