Laya’s Story by her Mother
Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 1 (SMA1)
With Laya’s condition, although it was very sad that she should have no mobility, actually the biggest concern to us had always been that her respiratory muscles did not seem have the strength to let her even breathe. It was the thought that we might be able help her breathing that led us to Advance.
Results of TST have amazed her consultant
Since starting TST Laya has made very noticeable improvements! She has had several sleep studies done to monitor her breathing and the consultant has always been amazed by the results. Not only is her breathing stable but it is steadily getting better as we can see by the better shape of her ribcage
A dream come true
Laya’s core muscle strength has improved too. We thought that if she could ever sit unaided that would be a dream come true – that dream is becoming a reality! Her head control is so much better and she can sit completely unaided for around 5 minutes now. But she can sit on the sofa with her big sister for much longer and watch DVDs. It brings tears to my eyes when I see them like that because we thought Laya would always be in a supportive chair or Laying flat on her back.
She is beginning to roll
After we began TST her legs went from having virtually no movement (except being able to wiggle her toes) to being able to lift them. She can roll from her back to her sides. Her hand co-ordination is getting better and better. She loves painting.
A better quality of life
Every effort we have put in to doing the TST exercises have been worth it! We intend to keep going as the results are so exciting and giving Laya a better quality of life.
Progress on track after a 2-year break
Despite our confidence in The Scotson Technique, life threw some challenges our way and so for two years we had to stop the exercises. Laya held up amazingly well but gradually as her body grew we noticed a decline in her strength and movement.
Thankfully Life has settled down now and so we’ve recently got back on track with TST Now already we have started to see good results again! Her strength returned and new abilities are emerging once again, for example Laya’s speech has so much more volume and her movement seems stronger and more varied. We appear to be achieving impossible things thanks to TST.