"On the road again....."

October! October? Really, has it been that long since my last post? Well, we do what we can, right?

So much has taken place over the past few months, I'm not even sure where to begin. So I'll start with the biggest news of all.......

For those that have been following our journey in therapy, you know that most of the time it has been a steady road. We tried traditional PT/OT, we switched to ABM (Anat Baniel Method), then we switched back to traditional again. Was it because we were unhappy? On the contrary. My experience with a child with CP has shown me that you keep doing whatever is working for them. 

In Colin's case, it means that when we see he hits a plataeu, we switch it up. But at the same time I research. And talk to other parents, and then research some more. During this time I kept hearing about a program called Conductive Education. 

CE, as it's known, was developed over 60+ years ago in Hungary. A man named Peto created it with the intention to give kids with Cerebral Palsy a chance to be as physically independent as possible. 

Do they promise your child will walk? No. The emphasis is on "physical independence". In all that I have learned to this point, I feel that is the key to happiness and fulfillment for Colin. To be as independent as possible. However, when you are born with a disability, that can make that reality seem a little more difficult to achieve. 

So cue to November. I found the ONLY local place here in Southern CA that had trained Conductive Educators, as they are known. In Claremont, over 45 min each way from our house!

All they could offer was 1 day a week, every Wednesday for about 2 hours. Since Colin had free time on that day weekly, I figured we would give it a chance and see how it worked. 

So if you can tell by the look on his face, this is how he felt about it in the beginning. Basically not happy. 

But as time went on, he grew to tolerate the session, and I saw Colin progressing again. Is he walking? No. But he is gaining strength in his body, and the improvements are seen in small increments each day. 

Because of that, I really wanted to see if I gave Colin the opportunity to do this for more than just a few hours each week, would we see better results. Which lead us to the program in Michigan. 

I will talk more about it in another post. The basic info is the place is called Conductive Learning Center, it was started with the guidance of the Peto Institute in Hungary, and they run a year round program. 

As our interest grew, we soon found out that our dear friends the Franks family from North Carolina were planning on going to the center too! But they were planning on going sooner then we had planned. 

So because we can, we decided to go at the same time. That way not only would Colin have a friend in the 4 week program, but so would Mommy!

Yes, I am scared, yes I am overwhelmed. 4 weeks in a city that is having a high of 40 degrees! Are we nuts?!?! Probably. But most of all, I just pray that this is the right direction for Colin. It's gonna be a lot of hard work for my little boy. 

So please pray for strength for Colin, good health for us, and a great experience overall. Onto the next adventure!