I promised those who asked that I would put a post on to let you know how we got on at B.I.R.D yesterday. The assessment took around an hour and a half with lots of talking and asking Ben how he felt about things and what troubles he had, Ben was brilliant and very honest (how a younger child would cope I dont know as Ben is now 16). After the initial chat Sarah then did some physical assessments, very easy and not stressful at all for Ben and only took around 10 mins to complete. From this she assertained that Ben had all 4 primitive relexes present (which should have gone at least by the age of 3). The four relexes she did were on the feet, both arms and legs, both hamstrings and elbows and bottom of lower back – very gentle and no squeezing or pushing or pulling.
We are therefore going to proceed and the next stage is a full body assessment which Sarah said will take around an hour – she will check all of Bens reflexes and also his sences (which is a big stuggle for Ben). From there Sarah will put together an exercise plan which we will be shown how to do and will require doing every day for around 20 mins, not all Bens reflexes will be required to be exercised at once just the ones which are causing him more trouble ie arms, legs and feet mainly. Sarah explained because Ben is using the back muscles in his arms and legs at the moment his brain will be fighting to use the correct front muscles therefore overload is taking place and this will be making any task a lot more difficult (hence headaches, tiredness etc..) which made sence to Ben. Also because the brain is sending incorrect messages to his feet he walks with a stoop and a gate (again Ben agreed with this).
I am not saying that the exercises will cure Ben as we all know they wont, however, if it helps in any way I think its worth a go.
Will keep you updated..
For those going to BIRD I found it easy following there map, however, once you turn into church lane (which is beaufitul) you need to go past the church on your left and its the next turning on the left, there is a little sign post but I missed it.
