Re: Re: Coming along with lots of words!! A success story

[Guest guest]

Dear Jane,

While we have not done hippotherapy and the other girls can respond to this....

I rode horses for many years throughout my childhood. The unique thing about

riding is that it works whole body muscle tone. It is the one rare exercise

that does this. Well.... jumping on a trampoline does this too but not nearly

as intensively. So, the muscle tone in the arms,hands, legs, and yes, even face

is worked while doing this exercise. The movement of the horse stimulates the

entire body. The closer to the pony the better thus try working with your boy

on his new best friend using a flat saddle as much as possible.

You did GOOD! Even without prescribed hippotherapy, riding can do wonderful

things for body tone!

Enjoy.....

Janice

Mother of Mark, 14

[ ] Re: Coming along with lots of words!! A success

story

+

I would very much like to hear more info on the hippotherapy. We just

got the kids a horse for Christmas. I had no idea this could help my

little guy. He'll be 4 in two weeks. He is making progress and made

a big step after I did 3 sessions of Interactive Metronome Therapy

with him. Could you share some of your reasons why you think

Hippotherapy worked for your kiddo?

Thank you kindly,

Jane

[Guest guest]

Christian has all the signs of apraxia.  He has very low tone, some soft

signs,noodle body and the cherab look.  He could not talk at all.  The only

thing he would say was " es " .  When asked to repeat things or sounds he didn't. 

Christian also was a " quiet " baby. He hardly babbled and rarely put things in

his mouth. Actually never.  He also didn't use his tongue for exploration.  I

thought that this was normal.  I didn't know the difference until my younger

baby came along.   When it became time to hear words coming out of Christian he

would not try to mimick sounds.  He was always embarrassed and would bury his

head.  When the SLP saw him she said he was a classic apraxic kid in that he had

so much to say but just could not get the words out.  He was stuck in his body. 

His receptive language was impressive.  He understood everything.  We started

speech therapy in a clinic 2 times a week.  He didn't really start to show

improvement

and was getting frustrated.  I heard about hippotherapy being this amazing tool

used for so many things.  Since Christian's trunk control was poor I though why

not give it a chance.  His body was like a noodle.  Anyway, we did that 1 time a

week.  As I was talking to a mom that was there she told me that her son was

apraxic but when they bumped the service to 2 times a week they started to see

some real progress.  So, with that we bumped Christian up to 2 times a week and

3 months later he just started exploding with attempts and new words.  The hippo

therapist has been working with apraxic kids for over 35 years and said that

sometimes kids really respond well to hippotherapy.  It does so much for thier

neurological systems as far as helping them organize themselves.  She described

Christian as having his electrical plugs in his brain all plugged in the wrong

sockets.  The messages were not getting to his mouth.  The horse provides input

to

thier systems and helps organize it.  I am just grateful that this is working

for him and that we are able to hear him talk.  He is very intelligable (for the

most part).  I am very educated in my field and have worked with many special

circumstances.  I do not doubt that he is apraxic.  I do not think he was just a

late talker.  Something more was going on with him.  He was lost.  And I found

him.  We had to go through 3 horses to find the " right " one for him.  His horse

provides just enough input that he needs. 

I hope that this helps those that do not understand the whole story....I am

typing furiously as my 1 year old sits her pulling on my leg.  I am sorry if I

have made mistakes but that is the way it goes when you have 2 young kids at

home with a firefighter husband that works on Super Bowl Sunday! 

 

Yvette

>

> Well, since my last update on Christian (2 1/2 year old apraxia) we

have had so many more new words.  He has at least 100 +!  He is

imitating every word he hears and he is pretty clear and

understandable!  I am so proud of my little one!  I just wanted to

tell the parents that are still awaiting that little voice that it

HAPPENS!  Don't give up!  I thought it wouldn't and the SLP at

hippotherapy said that one day it would just " click " and it has!  I

also wanted to tell people that I think there is something to the

hippotherapy and why my son is speaking so much and so clearly. 

Christian's regular therapist (clinic) has said that what she is

seeing with Christian is not " usual " and is amazing.  I think with

the combo of speech in the clinic and hippo it really has made the

difference.  When we leave hippotherapy Christian can't keep himself

quiet.  The horse really stimulates his nervous system! Here is a

quick history on Christian for those

> that don't know him:  Christian never babbled much at all.  He was

a quiet baby.  He said maybe 1 word at a year of age.  He would say

the word " es " and point to everything.  I think he was communicating

with that word but we didn't understand.  He still says that word

here and there but now labels everything.  He didn't ever put

anything in his mouth...nor did he ever use his tongue (sticking it

out, licking).  Now he does more of that.  He was my first so I

wasn't aware of what was normal or abnormal.  I now have a 1 year old

and she puts everything in her mouth!  Anyway, that is a quick

summary of Christian.

> Well, if anyone has any questions on hippo I would be happy to

answer.  I am very familiar with how and why it works.  I highly

recommend it!

>  

> Yvette

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Jane,

Hippotherapy is the use of the horse as a tool to cross all disciplines (PT, OT

and Speech).  I too thought maybe I would just buy my own horse for therapy

reasons but apparently it isn't that easy.  Our place has over 20 horses to

choose from and they all vary in the amount of input that they deliver.  Some

deliver less and others more.  I asked our lady and she said if we wanted to buy

him a horse to make sure that the horse did 119 steps a minute...nothing more. 

I'm not sure what that is about.  But, I do know that my son has gone through 3

different horses before we found the right one.  The first had a flat gait which

didn't give his sensory system enough.  We bumped him up 3 times and the one we

have now does just that....gives him just enough.  We had to watch him after

therapy to see if he had any issues calming down...he didn't.  Some kids have a

hard time calming down because they are getting too much input.  Make sense?  I

think

that it would not hurt to use that horse of yours to see if you get results. 

They do alot of different things that work at speech.  Sometimes they speed up

the pace to give more input and sometimes they put him in weird positions on the

horse.  They have had him backwards, kneeling and side sitting.  I guess they

all work different areas of the brain.  Whatever the case is...it WORKS!  

Hope this is helpful!

 

Yvette

From: cvtchvac <cvtchvac@...>

Subject: [ ] Re: Coming along with lots of words!! A success

story

Date: Sunday, February 1, 2009, 7:05 PM

Hello,

I was wondering what Interactive Metronome Therapy is? thank you.

Jenn

>

> +

>

> I would very much like to hear more info on the hippotherapy. We just

> got the kids a horse for Christmas. I had no idea this could help my

> little guy. He'll be 4 in two weeks. He is making progress and made

> a big step after I did 3 sessions of Interactive Metronome Therapy

> with him. Could you share some of your reasons why you think

> Hippotherapy worked for your kiddo?

>

> Thank you kindly,

> Jane

>

>

[Guest guest]

+

Thank you so much. It's amazing. I'll have to do some research on this. I

knew that horseback riding was good for the vestiular system but I had no idea

about all of the possibilities.

Jane

www.KidsHealthNaturally.com

[Guest guest]

http://www.americanhippotherapyassociation.org/

 

Here is a link to the american hippotherapy association.   fyi.  our duaghter

did not do well with this as you have to wear a helmut and have persons on each

side of you to catch you if you fall.   she does not like to be controlled and I

think she was young (3) and felt out of control.  We plan to try it again, now

tht she is older (8).

 

 

sl

 

 

[Guest guest]

I just find it odd how different our place is from so many others.  We do not

wear helmuts.  Our SLP has been doing it for 35 years and she is the owner.  Her

beliefs is that the helmut gets in the way of the message to the brain.  I am

going to ask her what the reasoning is.  I find this interesting.  We have 1

person holding on....by a leather belt. 

 

Yvette

From: sharon lang <flipperlang@...>

Subject: Re: [ ] Re: Coming along with lots of words!! A

success story

Date: Monday, February 2, 2009, 5:49 AM

http://www.american hippotherapyasso ciation.org/

 

Here is a link to the american hippotherapy association.   fyi.  our duaghter

did not do well with this as you have to wear a helmut and have persons on each

side of you to catch you if you fall.   she does not like to be controlled and I

think she was young (3) and felt out of control.  We plan to try it again, now

tht she is older (8).

 

 

sl

 

 

[Guest guest]

Jane,

Sorry, I missed this post because I was out of town and needed to catch up! A

flat saddle brings you 'closer' to the horse and the feel of the movement. It

also works your balance extensively as you are required to sit tall and 'feel'

the horse in order to remain stable. For some reason, our low toned kids often

do better with higher sensory feedback and the closer to the horse you can get,

the better.

I spent half of my youth riding bareback (when not training) and it is a

wonderful feeling to have the horse next to your skin. You become one with the

animal and learn to anticipate every movement. I developed nice long calf

muscles which have stuck with me through adulthood so that was a definate plus!

In addition, my horse/pony was my very 'bestest' of friends and he listened to

all my troubles and woes without prejudice. On any day, you could find me at

the barn, napping on top of my horse, head on his rear end and legs crossed over

his neck. We spent many, many hours together in vigorous fun and quiet

solitude. He was my special place.... my beloved and adored one.

Janice

[ ] Re: Coming along with lots of

words!! A success story

>

>

> +

>

> I would very much like to hear more info on the hippotherapy. We just

> got the kids a horse for Christmas. I had no idea this could help my

> little guy. He'll be 4 in two weeks. He is making progress and made

> a big step after I did 3 sessions of Interactive Metronome Therapy

> with him. Could you share some of your reasons why you think

> Hippotherapy worked for your kiddo?

>

> Thank you kindly,

> Jane

>