Smile

[Pages:2]THE BRILLIANCE OF

Smile

62 Playtimes

Max Armstrong* was facing a life of eccentric behaviour and social ostracism until his family found SMILE. His mother, Elizabeth*, tells us of the highs

and lows of living with Max and the overwhelming relief and gratitude at finding a life-changing therapy.

Our therapist gives my seven-year-old son Max a crazy straw ? the sort of curly, wurly one for milkshakes which makes you suck really hard. We are near the end of a two-day session with SMILE (Specific Movement for Integrated Learning Effectiveness) which includes a three-hour evaluation and a video-recorded physical exercise program designed to help many children suffering from dyspraxia, dyslexia, ADD or ADHD. I am about to write a cheque for $HK5000 and this straw is supposed to help with my son's inability to get dressed in the morning and poor handwriting! Hmmm. The funny thing is, my seven-year-old asks to test it out with a glass of water straight away, to him it makes total sense. Apparently as we suck, cranial nerves are stimulated and they help regulate our vision, including the ability of our eyes to converge or focus on a target. Rachel also hands me a hoola hoop and a smiley green ball for games which will help Max know where his body is in space and a thorough explanation of why we need to integrate several reflexes which are not working properly. I think, how are we ever going to timetable this in? But I start off positively, lay the law down to my alpha male, workaholic husband to help out, and pay Max a whopping $1 an exercise. It works! For three months, give or take a couple of days, Max throws himself into the exercises and does them well and the results at home and further testing at the end of nine weeks are unbelievable.

How has Max changed? Well he now looks after his belongings, plans his day, talks more sensibly and does not jump all over the furniture. He can sit to play Junior Monopoly without falling off his chair and can accompany me to lunch without disaster. Max is dramatically more confident, table manners are up 100 per cent and general eccentric behaviour, fighting with his brother and tantrums are well down.

Here is our story, the highs, the lows (the very lows) and then SMILE.

My first son was a beautiful baby ? big round brown eyes, blond hair ? that sort of chubby little infant you see in posters for Victorian England dressed in sailor suits. As a toddler Max would join in the dancing at weddings for hours, and even do 90piece puzzles at the age of 2 years ? this talent drew crowds at the village pub. Other children loved Max, while he was full of confidence to try new things and could sit for hours while I read stories aloud.

"What a dear little boy", everyone said, "haven't you done a marvelous job!"

Then worrying things began to happen. A nursery reports Max clumsier than others, later at pre-school (age four) he refuses to try and write his name, just scribbling all over the page. All writing and drawing material at home is on the floor within minutes, paints are tipped up with fingers and hands straight in ? the mess unbelievable. Stories I read with counting

July/August 2007 63

I HAVE AN ARTICULATE CHILD WHO LIES AWAKE AT NIGHT READING MEDICAL ENCYCLOPEDIAS AND ASKING ME ABOUT WORLD POLITICS AND DEEP RELIGIOUS QUESTIONS. HE MAY STRUGGLE TO WRITE HIS OWN NAME, BUT HIS BRAIN WORKS

themes mean little, he cannot count things on a page up to 10 despite hundreds of games and books promoting simple number exercises. Also, letters are not recognized. How many times can you teach a child A is for apple? Surely, our house must hold the record. Then he starts to find group activities and traditional sports classes stressful, he does not want to go to swimming and the teacher makes fun of him daydreaming.

School starts, simple homework is a mountainous task. Teachers stop me after class and show me scribbled pages in notebooks.

Max starts to scream before school and runs around the house in a panic and getting him out the door dressed neatly becomes the most difficult thing I have ever had to do in my life. After school he lies on the sofa with "brainache". Table manners deteriorate, he rocks back and forwards on the chair ? food going everywhere, falling off hurting himself several times a day. What are we doing wrong? Where is my confident, happy, little toddler. School gets worse, his confidence taking a battering every day as other children leap ahead while his progress is slow and he starts to stutter. His teacher, seeing potential, privately despairs but the official line is don't worry he'll be OK. "Some boys don't develop for several years". But I don't accept that. I have an articulate child who lies awake at night reading medical encyclopedias and asking me about world politics and deep religious questions. He may struggle to write his own name, but his brain works. I contemplate home-schooling. What is the point in sending a little boy to somewhere he is so unhappy?

Then we move to Hong Kong. His new teacher at an ESF school is inspirational and Max likes him. The school sharply moves Max into a special program to improve literacy. He is OK and popular. But at home, behaviour, which he manages to hide from peers and most adults in authority, continues to range from eccentric to downright unbearable. Max appears stressed and teary and I have a nagging feeling something is wrong.

After meals at restaurants, he rises and walks into people; goes to cross a busy road without looking; and cannot use a knife and fork. He also bullies his little brother, fails to complete tasks such as putting toys away or even simple lego projects, and some strong smells send him berserk. I am also not enjoying Max's company ? his behaviour is making my life, with two younger children, very difficult. When Max should be setting a good example, he lies on the floor in public places, runs in a strange way and generally makes me feel as if I am the mother of a mad family.

Although we reprimand him, it is useless because he is not deliberately naughty. "My brain," Max says, "is not connecting with my hands." This, I have to admit, has a ring of truth to it.

I start some research. Talking to an educational occupational therapist at sports day and reading on the internet leads me to believe Max has symptoms of a child with dyspraxia, ADD, and/ or dyslexia. I go to the doctor, he assesses concentration and refers Max to a medical clinic and uses the word `medication'. I am relieved my child may be classified a Special Needs kid and someone might be able to help us but I am scared of prescribing drugs of any kind, a common route in Hong Kong, the US and the UK.

Then I go to a SMILE (Special Movement for Integrated Learning Effectiveness) talk and the next three months are life changing. Therapist Rachel Schumacher empathizes with Max. She does not think he is clumsy or naughty. Rachel sees a very bright little boy under great stress, trying to be good and not understanding why he can't sit still and finish school work or eat his dinner nicely. More importantly she tells Max she can help him. He believes her and starts to change his life.

BEHIND THE SMILE

Many children diagnosed with ADD, ADHD and dyspraxia in Hong Kong take drugs to change behaviour, and this can help them concentrate better and improve their fine motor skills. But there are other ways. SMILE, set up by Rachel Schumacher, incorporates groundbreaking Integrated Learning Therapy techniques and uses physical exercises to help children reach their potential. Happy Valley-based Schumacher is part of a growing number of therapists who do not believe in prescribing drugs to young children for behavioural issues and learning difficulties. Formerly in the sports profession, she noticed many children who were having trouble with physical education also performed poorly at school. She now plans programs for children based on sensory hyper/hypo sensitivities, reflex integration, birth difficulties, general health, nutrition, allergies, environment, stress and emotional difficulties.

"If for some reason during childhood important development stages have been missed out ? usually formed through play ? then delayed neural processing of the left and right sides of the brain can occur, so the body struggles to work smoothly and effectively," she explains.

"These developmental gaps can be filled in later and new neural pathways can always be formed in the brain." Rachel is a HANDLE screener and a qualified Integrated Learning Therapy (ILT) practitioner. ILT was developed in South Africa by Shirley Kokot who is currently on the executive committee of the World Council of Gifted Children. Kokot established a South Africa school for gifted children and found many pupils were struggling with physical development and basic things such as poor handwriting and clumsiness.

For more information go to: / ilt.co.za / movetolearn.co.au Or email Rachel Schumacher at rachel@

64 Playtimes

* Names have been changed

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