an intensive home program

The last time I updated this blog, we were taking Gus to an ABM practitioner in St. Louis. This monthly visit was worth its weight in gold. Gus improved each time and it made the other therapies worth the time and effort to go. Splints were needed less and less and Baclofen was decreased. We were happy with the progress and appreciated the insight that both ABM and Feldenkrais practitioners have shared with us. Their knowledge, kindness, and understanding put hope back into us. It was during this time that we found The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential, http://www.iahp.org/

Because of this, we are taking a radical change in our daily life: from the myriads of doctors' appointments, therapists, splint appointments, etc., to spending all day, every day doing therapy at home. Time in the car traveling from place to place is almost nothing now. Instead, we live by the timer, constantly set at 5 minutes to do the next thing. Everything we do is part of a program specifically designed for Gus. The program is incredibly intense.

We have learned so much from The Institutes that we'd like to share, but with time limited, I'll share a little bit:

The first big change for us was with food. The diet we had to start Gus on took a lot of adjustment: no dairy, wheat, soy, corn, bananas, tomatoes, rye, salt, processed fats or sugar. We started to change his diet last December, just after the course but now we have the exact amounts of protein, fat, and carbohydrates that he needs. The process is a little complicated with lots of diet sheets to fill out (especially for me who doesn't know how to count calories). He complained at us for the first few weeks but after that, he's had no problems eating his food. He doesn't even mind eating greens three times a day.


He is happy almost all of the time now. He loves this program and although it is a lot of work, we love the difference it makes for him.

Here are some pictures of Gus doing a lot of what he normally does everyday: