Monday, July 15, 2013

ABM Week!

  I'm sorry it's taken so long to update you on the entire week, it's been a long one! We got home Saturday afternoon and bummed around the house for the weekend relaxing, barely even got online!

   This week was amazing and I can't thank you enough for the donations, support and believing in our bug :)  Naysa did wonderfully in her morning lessons with Neil and really took to him. He had a very gentle yet purposeful touch and a calm, silly demeanor which she responded well to. She really seemed to get the most out the lessons with him since it was first thing in the morning. He said she moves beautifully and all of the tools to crawl, walk and so much more we just have to help her get there and learn the natural movement patterns to achieve these goals.

   ABM (Anat Baniel Method) is very different from Physical and Occupational Therapy. This method does not force children (or adults) into unnatural positions they wouldn't otherwise be able to get to on their own. For example, when teaching her to come to sitting we roll her to the side (from a supine position) so her elbow and hand touch the ground before bringing her upright. If you think about how you naturally come to sitting from laying on your back, this is exactly what you do otherwise you're doing crunches. Though the week was focused on these smaller movements, we saw big changes! Naysa no longer 'frogs' her legs up ALL the time, she stretches them out and has really been discovering what her body can do and that she is safe to explore. She's been rolling over a lot more, even bearing weight on her arms to help her from tummy to back! She has much better trunk control and can sit unassisted longer than 60 seconds! She is babbling more, happier and I think starting to really realize SHE is in control of her body and can make it do anything. She grabs for toys that are further away from her and has even been tracking a few here and there!
 
   Her afternoon sessions with Chris didn't always go so well since it was right at nap time, not to mention she wasn't used to twice a day lessons within a few hours of each other. He got a few good ones in where she wasn't fussy and showed him her potential in which he was very impressed. The things that most seemed to amaze him was her binky skills, haha! She would feel or see her binky, take it in her hands and turn it the right way before sticking it in her mouth. There are so many little things like that we're just used to because she's always done them or gained the new skill a while ago, but seeing these practitioners really made us realize just how amazing this little girl is.

   This was really the first time Ben got to see ABM in action since he's at work when I take her to lessons and I'm so happy he believes in this work and is so on board, especially with my dream of getting certified! :) We saw Anat Thursday and she did a lesson with Nay, unfortunately it was the witching hour of 3pm so that made for an interesting time! She must be used to missed naptimes and grumpy kids because she just worked through it and distracted Nay with different toys, sounds and of course...the binky. She talked about the potential she was in her and how intelligent she is, my heart has never been more proud of my girl. At the end of the lesson Ben sat Naysa on his lap to give her a little snack while we spoke more with Anat and she taught us a lot on methods to teach Nay to be more self sufficient with her feeding, which has definitely proven to be useful since we got home. Not so much when spoons are involved but finger foods, one step at a time.

  All in all it was a successful week and we will be doing it again when we can, until then she will continue her lessons with Kristi and wait for more changes :)





2 comments:

  1. It's really lovely to see that everything was so positive for Naysa and yourselves. I'm sure when little brother is mobile, that will spur Naysa on too =) Thanks as always, for taking the time to share your beautiful little girl with us. We love her too =) xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Glad to see she's doing so well .
    Well done little bug keep up the good work you can do it your a fighter :-) xxx

    ReplyDelete