Saturday, January 3, 2009

Explanations

Since J is a novice at typing she didn't want to explain all the different stuff that we do. I don't blame her a bit! It's a long and convoluted list.

The weighted vest was a gift compliments of Tudu. It's a neoprene fabric with velcro closures that is more like a pressure vest. She wore it 15/20 minutes a day usually while she was doing the Brain Games. She is still doing much better since sleeping under weighted blankets.

What she calls the Brain Games is actually The Learning Breakthrough program.

The Rubbing is explained here.

The Brain Man is actually neurofeedback protocols that she used to do daily.

Music was a sensory integration program from The Listening Program that she did daily for 10 weeks. We also listen to lots of Mozart.

Brushing is the Wilbarger Brushing Technique. It's done every 2 hours. We did that for about 4 or 5 months I think. When she was in public school it was part of her IEP (since she complained of clothes being "itchy") and the OT trained her teacher & I to do it.

Practicing: We practice how to do everything! Especially practicing talking about feelings and appropriate behaviors. We usually do it with dolls.

Tapping

To tap in a positive belief think of all the positive words you want to use. What are your goals for your child today?

This is the one that we did today:

I’m making good decisions today. I will be peaceful today.

Then tap on these spots while making the above statements:

Sequence One
Over the eyebrow
Side of the eye
Under the eye
Under the nose
Under the lip
Under each collar bone
The bone under the hole in your throat
Wrap your arms around yourself and slap your rib cage with both hands
Under the rib cage with both hands
Sides of the hips with both hands
Sides of upper thighs with both hands
Gamut (the hollow space in between the bones of your pinky and ring fingers)
Inside of pinky finger
Inside of middle finger
Outside of thumb


Sequence Two
Then tell them to inhale and then exhale
Then to close their eyes and open their eyes
Use your finger and draw a circle in the air in front of them and have them follow the finger with their eyes only.

Reverse the circle and they follow your finger.

Hum five or six bars of a tune (we use Jesus Loves Me)
Have them count to 5
Hum five or six bars of the tune again.

Repeat all of Sequence One

We also do one repeating “I forgive myself, I forgive them, and Love is stronger than fear.”

If your child won’t do the tapping themselves you can do it for them or you can do it on yourself with them close to you and it’ll still work. Tell them it works even if you do it to yourself. It’ll drive’em crazy.

There's another tapping sequence for fears but I'm tired of typing just as I'm sure you're tired of reading.

Please note: I am not a therapist nor claim to be one. Just sharing some tips that have helped us along the way.

7 comments:

Holly said...

Thanks for sharing this info, it's really interesting. I need to read more about it, it seems some of this might benefit the Butterfly sometimes.

Keri said...

They have great videos of tapping (EFT) on youtube. Someimes its easier to see it done. I had a hard time remembering it until I watched the video a few times.

I'm so glad you are posting about all that works for you & J. You are reminding me of things we used to do ( i.e, brushing) but stopped. Dont know why we stopped!

~Dinah said...

Thanks for the info on the brushing technique, I may ask B's therapist about this. Yesterday he was in major meltdown mode because his socks were icky and he felt like lady bugs were crawling over him.

The Accidental Mommy said...

um, I have a question... how many hours do your days have in them? Cuz my days only have 24 and I have to sleep too. Is it different down south?

Torina said...

I am going to have to check out You Tube for the tapping thing. Even though I have read through it a few times since you sent it to me, I am quite intimidated.

Essie's comment made me laugh out loud!

Kristina P. said...

I had no idea all these things existed!

Marty Walden said...

Thank you so much for encouraging Stephanie. Her brother is 9, also a RAD kid, as is their older sister who is 19 and estranged from us. Martin will also be writing J to talk to her. I think it will really help them to understand there are others like them. Lots of others!

You are doing an amazing job as a mom. I have 5 kids and I am also wondering how in the world you do so much.!