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I been doing exercises for retained reflexes and it has been going ok but it is getting very hard to fit it in and we are starting to get very frustrated with the same activities. I feel like we have been doing duck and pigeon forever but she still needs the mat. We do the movements together but she is nowhere near being able to do the active ones. The stuff with bean bags and hitting balloons is still hard and she is not learning to use her eyes rather then her head. Somethings are not bad like the flashlight thing, cross crawl or bubbles. Part of me wants to throw in the towel but then I feel bad because maybe this can help her a little.

Edited by MistyMountain
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The exercises on your list are working on more than retained reflexes. You're also doing some for vision, midline, etc. That's why it's such a slog, because you've actually got a lot of areas getting worked on. Everyone has their own starting point. My dd found some of the exercises for retained reflexes so uncomfortable that we had go back to the practitioner and get them whittled down. Like the list was fine stuff, but for *her* it was too much to start with at once. The PT then whittled her down to exercises for 2 or 3 reflexes, and she has been working on those just to get those comfortable.

 

So with the things that are more about vision, it might be that her starting point is weaker than he realized and that she needs to do just the work on reflexes for a while, THEN the vision. Or maybe not. But to me, that's what I hear you saying, that you've been doing them 3-4 weeks and aren't seeing improvement, which means a precursor skill neurologically isn't there. So that's why I was saying you have to give them a call. Might be just a phone call would take care of this. I would give them a call and see if you can talk it through. 

 

The midline stuff, like the cross crawl, you could probably just keep going with. That's just midline, and it just takes time. But anything using vision, if it's really really not going well, I would ask about. He might whittle your list and have you focus on the retained reflexes first or tweak the plan.

 

And, fwiw, when we did VT we had *not* worked on retained reflexes and were not properly screened by the VT doc. I asked them AND I asked the OT. Both blew us off. VT was very, very hard for her. She got progress, but it was a slog. Now, years later, we're going back and working on the retained reflexes. It took me a while to come across someone who was really, really good at them. So I get that it can be a slog. It's just really about starting points. Like a practitioner could have a good gig of how they do things, put you through their routine/list, and you realize your starting point was lower and that you needed to back up and be more foundational to get progress. At that point it doesn't matter what the label on the door is or what ought to work. It's only whether that practitioner knows enough to be able to back up to YOUR dc's starting point and get things in reach. 

 

And I agree, if you've been doing something 3-4 weeks diligently and aren't seeing appropriate change/easing, something needs to be tweaked.

Edited by OhElizabeth
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:iagree:

 

We had a progression of things to do while working on duck and pigeon. They are cross-body, but they start at a VERY early point and go in very small steps. I don't fell comfortable posting them all publicly, but they do not have a copyright mark. I could scan and send them if you are interested--just PM, and I'll figure out how to do it.

 

Duck and pigeon is something you will do a LONG time, honestly. It's very, very hard for these kids. We did it for weeks AFTER vision therapy as well!

 

The cross crawl stuff that I am talking about from our experience is more like you start with some things, and they slowly morph from one exercise to another--you don't start with a specific crawl. I think maybe they tried that with my son and then realized that they needed to go WAY BACK. Once you get good at a level, you move up, but you warm up with the most recently mastered level before doing the new. When the new level gets comfortable, you put an older level to the test with a metronome or have the kid sing, etc. while doing the exercise, so that they are "distracted." It slowly makes it all so much more permanent. Also, you can watch to be sure that the movements are smooth, slow, controlled, etc. before moving on. You want controlled movement, not having to think super hard about it, etc.

 

It sounds like maybe the therapy could use some tweeking and/or the therapist isn't really showing you what to watch for, how fast to go, etc. That could be an experience thing, or it could be a communication thing. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I met with dd's teacher recently and she said she sees big differences in her ability to track from the board and coloring. She said even her writing is improving a little. We are still have a ways to go with some of the exercises but there is small progress with them. It is good to hear it is leading to functional changes though so I guess we will keep trucking on.

Edited by MistyMountain
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I met with dd's teacher recently and she said she sees big differences in her ability to track from the board and coloring. She said even her writing is improving a little. We are still have a ways to go with some of the exercises but there is small progress with them. It is good to hear it is leading to functional changes though so I guess we will keep trucking on.

 

:hurray:  :hurray:  :hurray:  :hurray:

 

That's a pretty big change even though it sounds minor. My son was a mess before he could copy from the board and do basic tasks. We still have some issues, but every therapy adds another layer to the picture. Right now speech therapy is helping him break down tasks and think through them. Who knew speech therapy for motor difficulties and random language quirks would improve his EF in this very specific way?

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I know it's exhausting, and the duck/pigeon exercises were some of the hardest for my son--I thought we'd never get off of them either, and he was 12/13 during that time frame. He was NOT happy, and I remember calling our local office in tears at one point, and those exercises were a big part of the reason. We were both so frustrated. The work really did pay off though, and I'm glad we didn't give up. When we finally got through all of the retained reflexes exercises, vision therapy clicked and he made huge advances. It really is important, foundational work that you are doing now. Don't give up, and try to be as regular as possible, even if it means dropping some other subject to make it a priority. I kind of did the loop-schedule during that time-frame and would rotate what we needed to drop. Not so much because of time but because of the mental exhaustion and being frazzled. It's surprising how 20 minutes or so of work could sap us--we both needed recovery time after. Anyway...hang in there!

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Yeah, the reflex work here has been really rough with my dc. Dd could hardly tolerate it, so she cut back to just a few and is trickling, doing what she can tolerate. She finds them highly stimulating (like overwhelmingly so), so she does them in the morning then does calming things (tight clothing, etc.) to calm it back down. My ds I give the phone to play on, but he was having really off the charts, like REALLY off the charts behaviors. Now they're finally, finally calming down a bit. With him, I'm doing them twice a day. He wasn't able to go to sleep afterward, but now he is. 

 

Doing the palatal expander (pain, ugh) and the reflex work at the same time, well it seemed really brilliant at the time... The offices are close together, so we can stack the appts...  But really, his behavior has been so hard to deal with. Like sell you to the gypsies, exhausting. The PT swears on a stack of Bibles in 30 days of consistent work we'll see payoff. If not, even the ABA people may give up, lol.

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