Anat Baniel Method for Children- Neuroplasticity — Scope | Disability forum
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Anat Baniel Method for Children- Neuroplasticity

edovey
edovey Community member Posts: 10 Listener
edited June 2021 in Cerebral palsy
(NB. Got a specific question about children with cerebral palsy? You can post it in our 'Physical impairments and cerebral palsy) discussion group - Scope)

Hi,
Just wondered if anyone has any experience of Anat Baniels method for helping children with cerebral palsy?
I have just started taking my son to London to see some practioners who use this method and after 5 sessions am already seeing improvements.
Anyone with similar experiences, I would love to hear from you
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Comments

  • Guest
    Guest Community member Posts: 1,968 Listener
    I have just been looking for something that might help my son focus as he is so distractable, and I found the Anat Baniel method on the net - where are you going in London to find a practitioner? Why did you choose to go?
  • twinmom
    twinmom Community member Posts: 14 Listener
    Hi,
    I don't have experiece of this method yet. I only actually heard about it 2 weeks ago and its definitely something I'd like to try with my son. He is 21 months old with spastic diplegia. He can't sit unaided. Just wondering what kind of improvements are you seeing? And do you continue with regular physiotherapy? I heard that you choose between the two?? Many thanks, Una
  • edovey
    edovey Community member Posts: 10 Listener
    Hi,
    I stumbled across this method whilst reading a parenting book which touched briefly on neuroplasticity. I googled this term and it came back with the Anat Baniel method for children. There are only 3 practitioners in the UK, two are based at the clinic in London where I take my son. He has had 6 lessons so far, and he is improving. He has mild spastic diplegia and his main problem is toe walking, balance and the way his whole left leg rotates significantly inwards. After 4 lessons he was able to uncurl the toes on his left foot and open them out when asked. He also managed to flex his left foot ever so slightly; this has been impossible until this point. We took him last weekend and he came out the session walking flat footed and with his leg in a much better position ( however, this is a gradual process and he has reverted to toe walking again, though his foot is not as twisted). He continues to be able to flex and open his toes.
    Regarding physio, I haven't told them that we are taking him to London to do this. If they continue to see an improvement and ask me if I'm doing anything extra, then I will tell them. I don't like keeping it from them, but I've already been told I'm overreacting and reading to much on the internet ( I dared to ask about nighttime positioning and destructive sleep positions for people with cp) so I'm keeping this one quiet.
    It is
  • twinmom
    twinmom Community member Posts: 14 Listener
    Hi Liz, Thanks for that. I'd love to hear how your son progresses.It seems very encouraging so far. What age is he? I definitely want to try it with my son, Eoin, as we won't know unless we try. We are in Ireland and there are 2 practitioners in the whole country, but one of them is only 15 minutes away from where we live! We keep doing physio with Eoin, but he is starting to resist now. He knows what we're about to do and he tells us to 'go way', so i'd love a more gentle approach.
    Many thanks,
    Una
  • finley1
    finley1 Community member Posts: 1 Listener
    Hi,

    My son suffers from Mitochondrial disease which has effected in brian, muscles etc he has had a few sesssions of Anat Baniel at The Echoes Foundation centre in Hull which is offered approx every two-three months it costs
  • edovey
    edovey Community member Posts: 10 Listener
    Hi Finley1

    Glad your son is seeing some improvements, I'll keep everyone posted how my son gets on. He is 3 yrs old and sees Chris and Doreen in London.
  • edovey
    edovey Community member Posts: 10 Listener
    Hi everyone,

    Just an update on my son and the Anat Baniel method. He continues to improve everytime he has a lesson with Doreen. His posture is improving, and his gait is getting better also. When he walks slowly, he can do really quite a good movement pattern; he needs prompting to slow down as he wants to speed up like any other child of 3yrs old. When he walks quickly he still walks on his tiptoes, but I believe that as he gets older, and as he gets more used to walking with his heels on the floor, I am optimistic that a permenant change will occur. SCOPE now list Anat Baniel method for children as therapy on their A-Z page. I would say that if you are curious to try this, then Chris and Doreen (the practitioners), are professional, welcoming and talented people who want to help your child. They also give you tea/coffee and biscuits on arrival!
    All the best everyone!
  • saphire
    saphire Community member Posts: 1 Listener
    Hello everyone,

    I found out about the Anat Baniel method by accident and I have booked my little one in to the Movement and Wellbeing clinic in London.

    Reading these comments has really helped - I'm hoping that this therapy will help Jake to move more independantly. He jas PVL and was recently diagnosed with CP. He's only 17 and a half months old - and can only roll and sit for a short time before he topples over. :)


    I will post an update after he has had his first three lessons at the end of October 2011.

    Good luck everyone!
    x x x
  • mart72
    mart72 Community member Posts: 3 Listener
    Hi everyone,

    I just wanted to say that I have a 3 and a half yr old daughter who had a PVL and is quad spastic (diagnosis), although her tone is mixed and she also has cortical visual impairment. She has received the usual NHS therapies, which have been very good and she has private Bobath therapy twice a week also. This is a little girl who would cry if anyone tried to move her, she had seizures for over a year and is still delayed.

    Her vision has greatly improved now - she will see me enter a room, reach for toys, watch the tv, interact with people. She is delayed in her mobility, but rolls and sits for a short time. Recently, I decided that due to her age and her starting nursery next week that it may be time to consider another therapy. After extensive research, we decided to try the Anat Baniel Method (ABM).

    We are in the early stages with our lessons, but I see small differences in my daughter every week. She sees Doreen or Chris on a weekly basis and enjoys each lesson. They work her hard but she relishes it. The therapy is a little bit more radical than the usual NHS/Bobath approach and I think this is what she has needed and is ready for.

    The main difference so far (after 5 weeks) is her behaviour. She is more vocal with her sounds (she does not have speech) and more determined and insistent on making herself heard. She rotates more and definitely has more strength, trying to pull herself up. She is not an easy child to feed and has improved in the last year, but I would even put her 1lb gain, this week, down to her feeding being improved. On the whole, already she seems more focused - it's like the therapy is turning on a switch in her and you can see it.

    From what we have experienced so far, I would recommend giving ABM a go to anyone with a child that has similar issues. Doreen and Chris are very professional, knowledgeable people who, more importantly, will make it clear to you after a few lessons, if they feel they can definitely help your child. I find that many therapies can be ongoing and not necessarily work for every child. After all, we are not all "round pegs".

    I wish you luck and hope you decide to try this approach. If you want to contact me and discuss - please feel free to let me know.

    All the very best and keep your fingers crossed for my little one too xx
  • ali79y
    ali79y Community member Posts: 1 Listener
  • mart72
    mart72 Community member Posts: 3 Listener
    My daughter had her ultrasound and they found that she had a PVL and when she later developed epilepsy (which is controlled with meds), a further MRI was done and confirmed the PVL. She is nearly 5 and she sits unaided for short periods, but her posture is much better and the use of her hands are much better. She also used to hold her head to one side and now holds her head confidently. She will stand (aided) and although she does not speak, she will reach/point for what she wants and is making more and more noises. I personally find the ABM stimulates her better than any other therapy she receives from the NHS and she has come a long way since her early days and is very aware of things.

    I cannot tell you what it means when the doctors say to you that there are no areas of PVL evident. A PVL (as I understand it) is a severe brain bleed, so your doctor is either saying there is no brain bleed which would be unusual if the ultrasound had picked it up earlier. The cysts are the bleeds, but maybe your child has had a bleed, but not to the severity of a PVL - these are usually graded by how severe the bleed is.

    At this stage of 25 months, there seems to be some issue over your daughter's development, if she cannot stand up yet, but I am sure you are getting some advice from the NHS on this?? If not, you need to ask for a referral for physio and get some help with some equipment to help her progress.

    As for using ABM, I would suggest you perhaps give it a try. You don't have to commit to anything long term, but maybe a couple of lessons and you will see if it is of any benefit to your daughter.

    I hope this is of some help to you. Let us know how Aya gets on.
  • thara
    thara Posts: 49 Courageous
    No although I have heard of it. I would like to take Abby to ABM sessions as I think it will help her.

    However, there are no practitioners in Utah. Well, there are although they arent trained to work with children with CP. (I asked them).

    And, I'm not going to be able to travel all the way out to California.
  • fatimafaisal
    fatimafaisal Community member Posts: 3 Listener
    Hi edovey are you still with the ABM ppl.. ny updates.. I have 4 yr old boy with cp csn any one else too make any suggestions any experience to share
  • renacahill
    renacahill Community member Posts: 145 Courageous
    Elliot had around 6 months of ABM when he was around 3 (now 5). They were free lessons so could not be done in the optimal way. 2 weeks intensives with several lessons per week.

    He just had weekly sessions with a few weeks having 2 per week. We did notice an improvement in the fluidity of movements and variations in his general movements, but not to the point it gave him any 'milestone' movements.

    We decided not to continue when the lessons were no longer free. Not because they were so expensive but because the improvements couldnt really justify the high expence.

    I would certainly advise anyone to try them for a few months. The results can be amazing in some children (Elliot is quite severely affected). I wish we could have tried them when he was much younger. That may have been more successful because he would not have developed bad motor patterns then.
  • cuongtl
    cuongtl Community member Posts: 2 Listener
    [quote=renacahill]Elliot had around 6 months of ABM when he was around 3 (now 5). They were free lessons so could not be done in the optimal way. 2 weeks intensives with several lessons per week.

    He just had weekly sessions with a few weeks having 2 per week. We did notice an improvement in the fluidity of movements and variations in his general movements, but not to the point it gave him any 'milestone' movements.

    We decided not to continue when the lessons were no longer free. Not because they were so expensive but because the improvements couldnt really justify the high expence.

    I would certainly advise anyone to try them for a few months. The results can be amazing in some children (Elliot is quite severely affected). I wish we could have tried them when he was much younger. That may have been more successful because he would not have developed bad motor patterns then.[/quote]

    how is he now ?
  • gigglersmum
    gigglersmum Community member Posts: 7 Listener
    Our son had a few of sessions of ABM in London when he was 4-5 months old (he is now 2 - he has quad CP).

    At the time we were seeing what additional physiotherapy was available beyond the NHS because we were concerned that NHS physio wouldn't be intensive enough. ABM seemed to have some merit but in the end we decided to go down a more tried and tested route and he had 2 blocks of treatment at the Bobath Centre under the helping hand scheme:

    http://www.bobath.org.uk/children/helping-hand/

    Bobath was great. We felt it provided a very sophisticated programme that really engaged with our son
  • My_angel
    My_angel Community member Posts: 18 Listener
    HI, are there anyone else there tried Maes centre? any feedbacks? looks quite an intensive course, I wonder how much they charge?

    thanks
  • KateandHenry
    KateandHenry Community member Posts: 2 Listener
    We have been taking our son (now two and a half) to see JP at Maes Therapy for about a year and we are also really happy with his progress. We have gone on the intensive route as we feel Henry is responding best to seeing JP more than once a week and when he is in the UK we see him up to three times a week. We also did an intensive session with him last year where we went every day for a week. At the end of the week Henry started bearing weight on his right arm which was totally new for him.

    Before going to JP we were seeing an NHS physiotherapist once a week for blocks of six weeks at a time and we weren't really seeing any results. We spent a lot of our time trying out various pieces of equipment and measuring Henry against various matrixes. While I loved our physio and I know she was doing her best within the restrictions I felt that I wanted something more in these early years.

    We definitely see going to JP as a long term part of Henry's treatment so if you are looking for quick results I don't think it would be for you. Having said this, Henry is a very different child to what we think he would have been without JP. He is more confident and comfortable in his body and we feel more confident in holding him and positioning him when he is playing/eating/sleeping to maximise this.

    If you are curious I really recommend going along to the parent day he is organising in early March.
  • rezwana
    rezwana Community member Posts: 2 Listener
    Evening 
    I would like to introduce myself 
    Rezwana Patterson
    www.brainbodyconnection.co.uk
    I am a Anat Baniel method practioner of neuromoverment 
    I am based in the north west of England 
    i have been trained in ABM for 4 years now 
    www.anatbanielmethod .com 
    look forward to helping your child ,move beyond their limitations with the latest brain science based neuro development 
  • JunfangZhang
    JunfangZhang Community member Posts: 1 Listener
    edovey said:
    Hi,
    I stumbled across this method whilst reading a parenting book which touched briefly on neuroplasticity. I googled this term and it came back with the Anat Baniel method for children. There are only 3 practitioners in the UK, two are based at the clinic in London where I take my son. He has had 6 lessons so far, and he is improving. He has mild spastic diplegia and his main problem is toe walking, balance and the way his whole left leg rotates significantly inwards. After 4 lessons he was able to uncurl the toes on his left foot and open them out when asked. He also managed to flex his left foot ever so slightly; this has been impossible until this point. We took him last weekend and he came out the session walking flat footed and with his leg in a much better position ( however, this is a gradual process and he has reverted to toe walking again, though his foot is not as twisted). He continues to be able to flex and open his toes.
    Regarding physio, I haven't told them that we are taking him to London to do this. If they continue to see an improvement and ask me if I'm doing anything extra, then I will tell them. I don't like keeping it from them, but I've already been told I'm overreacting and reading to much on the internet ( I dared to ask about nighttime positioning and destructive sleep positions for people with cp) so I'm keeping this one quiet.
    It is
    Hi, 

    I have also heard the recommendations from other parents. My son has a rare genetic disorder and it's affecting his motor development. I would like to know more information about this method. Could you please tell me where are the ABM practitioners based in London, and their contact details. 

    Many Thanks 

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