September – October 2016

(And Fundraiser)

It’s been a very busy few months. Paul’s done well with his Brain Balance therapy. He’s moved quickly and excelled in many of the levels that he’s supposed to reach, and even surpassed them! For instance, they wanted him to reach level 8 for physical/motor skills, but he scored 15. We’re very excited for this progress.

However, the only progress that he’s lacking is in the focusing with his eyes. In this area, he hasn’t moved very fast. At times, it’s discouraging, but at the same time, we’re excited for the progress in the other areas.

When Paul went in for his monthly evaluation a few weeks ago, they recommended that he do another three months of Brain Balance therapy. He’s already finished six months, and we’ve seen tremendous results. But the reason for him continuing is for his eyes.

Since Brain Balance is not a prescribed therapy, no insurance benefits will cover the costs. Every penny is out of pocket which is expensive. We’ve been blessed to do six months with the majority of it paid through gracious donations.

But we still have costs that need to be met. So we’re doing a fundraiser.

For every $55 donation, we’ll send you one canned quart of homemade soup.

Please use the  Contact Tisha page for more information or if you have any questions.

Thank you for your interest, and have a wonderful day!

August 2016

http://www.brainbalancecenters.com/blog/2016/08/visual-processing-explained/?lid=142

Pray that we have success in getting Paul’s Visual Processing where it needs to be.
He is starting to work really hard with his eyes. It has taken 12 weeks to get here. He can now move his eyes independently from his head. He can track an object with his eyes only with out moving his head. Still a struggle but a huge step.
I saw him taking a mirrored object and hold it to the side of his head and move his eyes to look into it and reach out with his hand to try and grab the objects he was seeing. He did this on his own, I really wish I could show how hug this is and how excited we are about this great big accomplishment.

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Eye Focus is so important for learning. This is one of Paul’s toughest challenges. Read about some of the eye exercises he does. http://www.brainbalancecenters.com/blog/2016/08/program-peek-eye-exercise/?lid=142
We are done with our first month second session, I will share those results after we get them on Monday.

July 2016

We have completed three months with Brain Balance.

How do I even begin to explain this three-month journey?

When we started BB we were scared, disbelieving, hopeful, and desperate. Our son was struggling in every area of development. We had hit a brick wall. Through research and praying for direction, God led us to Brain Balance. My husband and I truly believe BB was the right choice.

We have a long way to go yet, but we have come so far in three months.

Paul’s three month evaluation showed a 10 month growth in his right brain hemisphere it also showed left brain growth. BB really wants his left side to take a break and let the right side catch up but he is so smart. With his right side getting stronger, it really shows much more how intelligent he is.

Now, Paul is able to tell us past tense happenings in his life. I can’t even describe how we feel when Paul carries on a two-way conversation with us! He asks questions, answers questions, and gives out information freely. He even told us what he did a few weeks ago.
His sentence structure is getting stronger and more precise both written and verbal.

Here is a story Paul wrote 6-21-16:by himself:
My story was Thorugh was the waters and a sound,
WAS CLEAN To A voice, And A clean stories again, But I Reached my story and for some more voices, We Stopped At There Exit 90.
We passed away to Toronto Road at The Exit…
A Voice To Hear. But my sounds again.
And Voices was dark, And the woods.
We did passed To That Exit There.
The Field Was clean again to a voice sounds I see for now.
The End

Sounds poetic, doesn’t it?

On a regular basis, people tell us that they are noticing a huge difference in Paul’s life. Recently, we took him to VBS, one he attended a year ago, and this time, one of the workers said, “You have brought a different boy to VBS this year.” They did not even know he was going through the BB program.

At VBS, he participated in play and craft time. PAUL SAT DOWN AND MADE A CRAFT ON HIS OWN!!!

He even won a piece of candy in assembly for being the quietest person. Sitting still in a crowd — who would have ever dreamed this? (when assembly was over he brought his piece of candy to me and said, “ here I can’t have this and handed the candy to me.. Amazing! Tears of sadness and joy at the same time. I am so proud of Paul. (When participating in BB, sugar, dairy, and gluten are not allowed.)

I have to take a moment to praise all the therapists that worked with Paul on so many issues and played a great role in his achievement. A shout out to Janna, Veronica, Jamie, Michelle, Stacey, Pat, and many others.

Paul is eager to do his home program. He wakes up and has to be on the road early three days a week. He has an hour of therapy and 4 hours of travel, comes home and begs to do his home exercises. He even came home late from VBS and wanted to do his exercises before bed.
When we started BB, we feared he would never get it. It took two of us prompting, bribing and almost lassoing him to get the therapy done; now, he begs to do them. We are so proud.

We started the next three month commitment and with that came another $6,500 plus about $1,800 travel expense. Although we still owe a portion on the first three-month commitment, we praise the Lord for the gracious gifts from people like you that has made Brain Balance possible for Paul.

From going into BB scared and doubtful to being confident and eager to go with the next three months, this journey is fruitful and our son is gaining so much. Someday, Paul may do great things and you will have been a part of that. Thank you.

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The Vestibular System (the GPS for the body’s functions) is a struggle that most kids with SPD and Autism face.
To read about about this you can view it here, it is a good read: http://ilslearningcorner.com/2016-04-vestibular-system-your-childs-internal-gps-system-for-motor-planning-and-attention.
We are so thankful that we found BRAIN BALANCE. BB focuses on this core area of Vestibular System. Since we started BB two months ago, we are definitely seeing improvements in almost every area of Paul’s daily life, areas such as riding a bike and climbing up and down ladders. Before BB, ladders were off limits, and now he climbs them with ease. He has showed so much improvement — he can turn the pages in a book one page at a time, using his fingers; and he is thinking of and typing some very good stories. ( I will try and post one of those soon). He is also swimming! Well, sort of. He at least can now be in the pool without a floating device. Before BB, he needed two life jackets to keep him a float. Tears of joy for this momma! His thought process is becoming more structured, and his ability to follow instruction is coming along. We will be finishing up our first 3-month session soon. Paul will need one more session if not two. Every session costs $6500 and travel expenses are $150 a week every week we travel over 600 miles. We have to pay all costs out of pocket because BB does not accept insurance. We are so grateful for Brain Balance, for every one that has given financially and we are thankful that Paul is improving with each session.

June 2016

When you hear your son tell you “GOOD NIGHT DAD”as you are walking out of the room after tucking him in, it’s priceless . It’s taken six years to hear this, but worth the wait. Paul is showing us daily that the 3 day a week and 600 miles are worth it. Little things that most take for granted are huge milestones for us like carrying in a bag of groceries from the car to the house. He said yesterday as we made the trip to BB “I love BB” #itisallworthit

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We received the results for Paul’s 12th session (one month update) There were improvements in some sensory goals, but nothing in his visual goals. Paul struggles with tracking, the ability to use his eyes effectively to utilize what he is seeing a serious issue for him. BB works on strengthening all 5 senses. At this point , his vision is the biggest struggle and big motor muscles coming in second. We are seeing improvement in his reading . For those of you that know Paul know he has always known how to read and never had a lesson; when I say he is reading better somewhat doesn’t compute unless you understand the way his eyes track. Paul struggles with reading word for word in a sentence structure We are seeing improvement with this. He can spell just about any word you ask him to if you allow him to type it. He can not spell verbally. One great excitement we have seen is his ability to sing out loud with the music. So many things to work on. BB is the best thing we have found so far for Paul. Please Pray for us as we travel the 600 miles a week. Please consider helping if you can and share this with others. Thank you.

May 2016

Finished our 12th session of BB. This was a re-evaluation session to see how things are progressing. We will get the the report results on Monday. We have seen many good things so far we do have our moments but, this week we had three successful days of home therapy., and he started singing the words to music this week. This was a BIG step for Paul. We are traveling 4 hours a day three times a week for the therapy. The time and money spent to see these kind of results are worth it. Thank you for your support. Please share our need and help us reach the financial goal. Thank you again.

***

We have completed two weeks of BB. and I must admit the first week was very challenging.
Because of the overload of sensory requirements, Paul became violent, frustrated, and worn out. It was a lot of work trying to make him wear his glasses that block the vision on the right side, wear an ear plug in his right ear, and wear a vibrating tool on his left leg while listening to his music. While he thought the sensory learning was unbearable, he has to do many physical exercises that we still are struggling to help him complete. We are constantly trying to introduce them to him is different ways. Elaina is eager to show Paul how to do the exercises, but Paul can’t.
Only a few days into BB,we thought it would be good for Paul to go the park. When we arrived, there were some kids playing tag. Paul climbed on the playground as if he were ignoring the children until one little boy ran to him and tagged him. Everyone stared at Paul expecting him to play. Paul ran up to a little girl and tapped her arm yelling, “Tag!” He actually played WITH those kids after that–for the first time. Usually he stands on the side lines just excited to watch.. This time he PLAYED.
The second week has shown some jaw dropping things. While sitting on the patio one evening, I asked Paul to get Dusti’s bike from the garage for her. He said, “I will. Wait right here. I’ll get it.” and completed this task. We sat there in astonishment. The next day he was riding his bike and we were playing with him and told him to go to Walmart and bring us a gluten free pizza. He said, “OK,” ( this was different, he usually does not respond appropriately) Then after speeding away on his bike, he came back saying, “Here is your GF pizza.”. He did this over and over with several different request. One time he came back and said that the store was all out of peas. (that is imaginative play).
You may think this is no big deal but to us it is golden. BB is helping Paul achieve the ability to play as a normal child.
One very important thing for the first time ever and I do mean ever was when Paul sat still during dinner time, ate his food and talked with us. He got up once but we asked him to come back and he did so immediately with out any outbursts or melt downs. He is cooperating with some of the therapy program while driving in the car. We look forward to accomplishing these things in different settings as well. I am so thankful we found BB.
If you would like to help support this program for Paul go to : www.gofundme,com/bbforpaul I assure you every penny will go to this program.
Please keep praying. We as parents all want to see our children reach their full potential and this program will give Paul the ability to reach his.
Sincerely,
The Martin Family

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After over 600 miles and a lot of work we finished our first week of BB only 13 more weeks to go. Paul is struggling with adjusting to the exercises but we are committed : )

April 2016

We will be starting our 600 mile a week drive on Monday the 11th,
Please Pray and pass along this need. Your support for Paul and this time would be a huge blessing.
PLEASE SHARE and subscribe to our updates.

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sorry, I did not realize the links would not show up
to read about SPD go to : http://www.brainbalancecenters.com/who-we-can-help/processing-disorders/
to read about PDD-NOS : http://www.brainbalancecenters.com/who-we-can-help/pdd-nos/
to read about ADHD : http://www.brainbalancecenters.com/who-we-can-help/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-adhd/

***

Dear Friends,
It has been recommended that our son attend Brain Balance therapy. He will be starting in April.
Paul started various therapies when he was 18 months old and has continued them until present. He is facing the next step. He was evaluated and tests showed moderate to severe right brain hemisphere weakness. Some of the reasons he was evaluated was was because of the increasing processing problems Paul is faced with, (his processing deficits include: auditory, vision, fine motor and olfactory the last one doesn’t even work)
He has tested at a 2 year old in most of the testing with reading being at 3rd grade. to learn more about these processing disorders click here
Brain Balance works on the brain weakness, The root of the problem.
Paul also has PDD-NOS to read about that click here he also is suspected of ADHD to read more on that click here
The therapies he has been attending have been very good for Paul however they work on the symptoms of the problem, Brain Balance works on the problem. The week brain.

Brain Balance Centers do not accept insurance of any kind as they are not a facility that will promote medicine. They start with nutrition and exercises. I am really excited to be working with someone that encourages whole food as a means of treatment instead of medicine. Our other great step by taking him to the center for treatment is the nearest one is about a two hour drive thus increasing the financial burden. if you would like to give financially click here If you would like to give financially and do not do the online thing that is ok too you may give cash or if writing a check please make it payable to Brain Balance Center.

Although our goal is to raise money for this treatment and travel expense we are not asking you to give. We are asking for you to pray. Pray that Paul reaches his full potential.
We as parents are committed and are excited to see what Paul can become when the right side of his brain catches up to his very advance left hemisphere brain.

One last thing if you could forward this to at least ten people we would be grateful.
Thank you for your prayers and support during this time.

The Martin Family