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/

Monday, March 5, 2012

Week 12

This week at Brain Balance he did a fantastic job. My mother took Phoenix to his visit on Wednesday and was told that he did very good and that it was probably the best he's done. That was encouraging to hear. Also, this week we had a major improvement in our home... You see, when we give Phoenix a bath or a shower, he freaks out when we would rinse his hair of shampoo. Phoenix would not put his head under the water, would constantly be trying to escape, and then we would get water on the bathroom floor. However, this week, Phoenix decided that he loves the shower. He will stand under the stream of water forever and we count with each rinse, up to 10. I even leave the shower on and let him decide when he's ready to come out. On another note, we have had quite the busy month. First we went to the auto show, then to Ohio, and this week we went to The Wilderness in Wisconsin Dells with my brother and his family, my parents, and our little family. Phoenix did so well there too. He stayed by us, loved the water slides, and didn't put up a fuss at all. One fun experience to share is that we went on the big family tube together thru a dark tunnel with twists and turns and he LOVED it! Everything was so new to him, now that he understands more of what's going on. He did get a little excited waiting in lines and would flap his arms, but all in all it was a great experience. It was fun to see him independently go down a lot of slides, because we have never done that before. We will certainly do it again!
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1 comment:

  1. Dennie LouMarch 6, 2012 at 12:58 PM

    Yay Phoenix! Glad showers are now fun! It was not fun before for your parents and grandparents! For anyone who has been to The Wilderness at Wisconsin Dells, you know how much walking there is between the three indoor waterparks. Phoenix insisted on walking the entire time and stayed right by us. Amazing! Especially when you think that for each of our one steps he probably needs to take three! He especially liked the children's waterslides in Wild West. I wish I had a penney for every time he went down those slides with Gampy and I while Mom and Dad enjoyed the big slides with other family members! Phoenix is a real joy!

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