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Healing Stories
Susan's Client
by Susan Spencer
Susan was an
HK™ teacher in England for several years before she retired from
teaching. She continues to practice HK™ in West Sussex, England.* She
sent us this case history about her young client, Tom.
Tom was born with poor
coordination and muscle control, but the reason was never determined. His
parents noticed how much he was falling over once he started walking, and he
would never attempt to climb as do most toddlers. He appeared rather floppy,
and his physical reactions were slow, making him look generally awkward.
Tom's speech did not develop as expected since his mouth
and tongue muscles were also poorly controlled. He had very few words, and
they were mostly mispronounced. He had difficulty with consonant sounds in
the middle of words: “daddy” was “da-ee”. He was quite
intellectually alert, but he chose not to try to communicate verbally since
it was so hard for him to be understood. Beginning at age 3½ Tom was
given regular speech therapy. He was systematically taught how to produce all
the sounds of speech, then to fit them into single words and gradually into
groups of words. When he did start to speak, the simple words and expressions
that he wanted just did not come to him. Rather than attempt a difficult
word, he would often describe the word instead. His speech was still very
disjointed and almost impossible to follow.
Despite all his
frustrations, Tom had the personality, mental ability, and determination to
cope with his situation. He made significant progress when an Educational
Kinesiology practitioner taught him to cross-crawl. A new world of physical
freedom opened up to him. He made progress bit by bit, but it seemed like
trying to fill a barrel with a teacup. When he started school his speech was
immature but understood by his classmates, and his movements, although still
rather clumsy, did not hold him back. Most importantly he was one of the
class; all of them had strengths and weaknesses, and his did not stand out
from the others.
Although Tom's situation had improved over the years, he
still had his problems. After a couple of years of no therapy at all, Tom's
mother heard me give a talk on HK™ and thought that the HK™
approach might well benefit Tom further. Tom has had HK™ sessions every
3 months for the past 18 months. The priority issues which have been
addressed have come in an obvious sequence: gross motor control, fine motor
control, speech and communication, and social interaction. Tom has always
been very cooperative, as he is eager not to seem “different”
from his peers, and he realizes how much he has benefitted from his HK™
sessions.
Tom has made excellent
progress. He reads aloud now, acts in front of an audience, plays the piano,
swims and plays football, and it is no longer obvious that he has had
problems. He will soon be 9 years old and has a brightness about him that
nobody thought would ever appear. There are still a few problems remaining,
but everyone is confident that with the support of HK™ and the
continued effort and determination of Tom and his parents, those remaining challenges
will soon be overcome.
*Susan is listed as an HK™
Practitioner on the HK™ site in the United Kingdom www.HK™4health.co.uk
Look under West Sussex.
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