Some History...

We welcomed Phoenix into our family on November 24, 2007. I was 37 weeks pregnant at the time, but our little boy came into this world weighing 3 lb. 14 oz. Come to find out later it was due to a blood clotting disorder I didn't know that I had at the time. Phoenix scored low on his Apgars, was groaning, and did not cry (he never has cried to this day). He was sent to Children's Hospital in Milwaukee where he spent his first three weeks of life surrounded by loving nurses, visitors, and family. Doctors there found that Phoenix had been experiencing minor seizures, which went away after a few months time.

As Phoenix grew, we noticed that he didn't meet the normal developmental milestones that he should have. There were times where we would say, "can he see?", "can he feel pain?", "can he hear?", "can he talk?", etc. Phoenix was involved in the Birth to Three program from the age of 3 months to 3 years. At the age of 3 he started Early Childhood Education.

Due to his developmental and social delays, we had him evaluated at age three to see if there was anything that the neuropsychologist could tell us. After extensive testing, and 4 long visits later, they informed us that Phoenix had Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified, which is to say Phoenix diagnosis falls on the low end of the Autism Spectrum.

As parents, we wanted to do everything that we could for our little man. We implemented a gluten-free and caisen-free diet, which has helped tremendously. At age four Phoenix is acedemically developed every bit of his four year age; however in other areas of developement Phoenix is still at a 2.5 year old level or below. Trying to be an informed parent, we searched the internet looking for a way to help Phoenix. This is when we stumbled upon a site for Brain Balance Centers which uses a natural, non-drug approach to normalizing brain and body functions. We are fortunate to have a center in Mequon, about 40 minutes away from our home. After talking to parents who have sent their children to Brain Balance with positive success, we started taking Phoenix as of 11/28/2011. This blog is Phoenix's Journey towards an improved way of life.

How It All Started...

A few months ago, I was researching Autism and options to help Phoenix with his PDD-NOS and came across a website for Brain Balance: Achievement Centers. As I looked at the site, I noticed that there were seminars in the area that gave an overview of the program. On a Wednesday night, my mother and I went to meet Dr. Jeremy Fritz and hear a lecture on what Brain Balance is all about and what the program entails. My mother and I were very impressed. It made complete sense... Through research they understand that the underlying cause of many of the disorders is a functional imbalance of brain activity between the right and left sides of the brain. After much discussion and reading the book Disconnected Kids by Dr. Melillo (the founder of Brain Balance) we scheduled an appointment to have Phoenix evaluated to see if he was a good candidate for the program. A week later, we met with Dr. Fritz who went threw the evaluation results. Being very cautious I recieved a list of parents that have taken their children to Brain Balance and asked them about their children, their experience, and what thoughts they may have. It was AMAZING! They had success with their children. There was one parent I talked to that her son was nonverbal and within the first 4 weeks he started to talk. There was a parent as well that her son had sensory issues and was not calm at all and within weeks he was calmer. The mothers I talked to, including one I met in the waiting room today, said that the time and expense were worth the success their children have had with Brain Balance. A few days later, I called and signed Phoenix up for this new program. I can't wait to see the little or big successes that Phoenix will have. http://www.brainbalancecenters.com/

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Week 8

This week had many ups and a few downs. Starting on Sunday, Mike was able to go to primary at church and sit with Phoenix. In the past Phoenix had an assistant and would act out and have trouble sitting. However, with Mike there he sat the whole time. According to his leaders, this Sunday Phoenix again sat the whole time, paid attention, did hand motions, and even said "star" when they were having discussion time. To go along with the church theme, my mother and I found out that Phoenix knows quite a few church songs. On our way home from a visit to my brother's home, we were singing primary songs. Phoenix sang "I Am A Child of God," "Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam," and "I Love To See The Temple." It is amazing how much knowledge he is keeping inside that little brain of his. I can't wait to see what else he reveals to us in the near future. As I mentioned before, my mother and I went to Illinois to visit my brother and his family. Phoenix did so good, minus switching the lights on and off a fair amount of time. My brother's family was gathered in the little T.V. room and Phoenix was with us for I would say 70% of the time. There were periods of time when he sat in the chair nicely just hanging out and sitting on his cousins' laps. He loved watching Seven Brides for Seven Brothers with us, especially when the songs came on. One thing that I noticed that had not happened before when we visited their home was that he was rather calm and interacted with his cousins more. We have noticed that Phoenix may be recognizing emotion a little more. There was an instance when his cousin wanted to play with his LeapPad and Phoenix DID NOT want to share and got very upset about the fact that it was his. In the past he would just let it go and walk to something different, but that is changing. To us, that is a little glimmer of what may be his recognition of his emotions. So far he knows happy and mad... I am currently working on sad with him. Another thing that has really come to light is his ability to pretend. We recently bought him a magnetic train book and he will move those trains about and make noises. He has been pretending that he is driving a car by taking the Wii wheel and making sounds and moving the steering wheel. This too is another step in the right direction. The down of this week was that he had somewhat of a hyper week when out at school or at Brain Balance. I pray that next week will be a little calmer. Luckily for me, his time at home or at the store was peaceful and cooperative. Till next week...
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1 comment:

  1. The SchaefersJanuary 30, 2012 at 9:24 AM

    WOW! Way to go Phoenix! We have found with Will, as he progresses in some areas, he finds some new areas to act out in. Hang in there! It is so cool to see such progression each WEEK. He is on fire!

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