Hi Jen! Thank you for the great video! I'm not sure where the Q&A happened, I'm not on many socials but I wanted to check: What is your experience with dystonia? What do you find improves it? my son has been doing ABM intensively for a few years and his pelvis, spine head connection has improved loads, however, he still struggles with his right had (most affected arm) it seems to get hi-jacked by dystonia when he attempts to move it. Other dystonic movements have improved with differentiation but I'm not sure how to help him with this. Thanks! Aideen
Hi Aideen! A big welcome to my little corner of the internet! lol. Great Question! Unfortunately, Dystonia is really challenging. But there's a few things you can try. The overall best thing is to find those moments and movements that are calming to his nervous system. So giving his brain more 'time' in a calm state. Which you've probably seen him in during ABM lessons and hopefully he's experienced periods of 'calm' after his lessons too? So, you can support him at home just by using those same techniques of moving him slow, gentle, bring awareness to himself, etc. Then try to figure out exactly when his arm gets "triggered" and play around (get curious!) about another way to 'reach out' that reduces the trigger. So maybe if he looks away from the object he's reaching for, it might disrupt whatever pattern his arm goes into. But it could be an infinite number of variations to try! It might help if his head is in a different position, or his left hip, or his shoulder (try to reach the object from below, instead of reaching from above, or to one side). Play with the position of his wrist, fingers, how he leans, where his feet are, there's so many different combos to play with! Does it happen when the object is to the left/right, up/down, close/far from him? Basically, try to find the trigger point that leads his brain into that pattern and 'do something different', so you're disrupting the pattern, before it starts. Allowing his brain to explore another option. I hope this helps! Of course each person and brain is unique, so it's hard to give specific movements, but hopefully this gives you some ideas of where to start!
@@MindFullMoves Thank you Jen! This is brilliant. I hadn't really thought of it from that perspective so I will have to explore these options with him to see if we can work it out :)
So many changes! Of course, it depends on the child, but the more general changes I've seen are: better coordination, balance, better sleep, longer periods of engagement, eye contact, more awareness of what's going on around them (and interest in what's going on around them), better self regulation, more speech, less toe walking. Basically, these slow, gentle movements gives the brain the chance to make sense out of the incoming sensory information. When the brain can better organize incoming information, anything is possible!
Hi Jen! Thank you for the great video! I'm not sure where the Q&A happened, I'm not on many socials but I wanted to check: What is your experience with dystonia? What do you find improves it? my son has been doing ABM intensively for a few years and his pelvis, spine head connection has improved loads, however, he still struggles with his right had (most affected arm) it seems to get hi-jacked by dystonia when he attempts to move it. Other dystonic movements have improved with differentiation but I'm not sure how to help him with this. Thanks! Aideen
Hi Aideen! A big welcome to my little corner of the internet! lol.
Great Question!
Unfortunately, Dystonia is really challenging. But there's a few things you can try.
The overall best thing is to find those moments and movements that are calming to his nervous system. So giving his brain more 'time' in a calm state. Which you've probably seen him in during ABM lessons and hopefully he's experienced periods of 'calm' after his lessons too? So, you can support him at home just by using those same techniques of moving him slow, gentle, bring awareness to himself, etc.
Then try to figure out exactly when his arm gets "triggered" and play around (get curious!) about another way to 'reach out' that reduces the trigger. So maybe if he looks away from the object he's reaching for, it might disrupt whatever pattern his arm goes into. But it could be an infinite number of variations to try! It might help if his head is in a different position, or his left hip, or his shoulder (try to reach the object from below, instead of reaching from above, or to one side). Play with the position of his wrist, fingers, how he leans, where his feet are, there's so many different combos to play with! Does it happen when the object is to the left/right, up/down, close/far from him?
Basically, try to find the trigger point that leads his brain into that pattern and 'do something different', so you're disrupting the pattern, before it starts. Allowing his brain to explore another option.
I hope this helps! Of course each person and brain is unique, so it's hard to give specific movements, but hopefully this gives you some ideas of where to start!
@@MindFullMoves Thank you Jen! This is brilliant. I hadn't really thought of it from that perspective so I will have to explore these options with him to see if we can work it out :)
@@AideenMcIlroy it was such a great question! I just did a video about it: 2 Ways to Help Dystonia: th-cam.com/video/W5RcTSJ7I8U/w-d-xo.html
What changes have you seen in autistic children?
So many changes! Of course, it depends on the child, but the more general changes I've seen are: better coordination, balance, better sleep, longer periods of engagement, eye contact, more awareness of what's going on around them (and interest in what's going on around them), better self regulation, more speech, less toe walking.
Basically, these slow, gentle movements gives the brain the chance to make sense out of the incoming sensory information. When the brain can better organize incoming information, anything is possible!