We started doing ABR exercises in 2006 through a recommendation from a friend. Like my daughter, her son was quadriplegic. Together, we went to Singapore for the training sessions. In the first two years we saw immense improvement. My friend’s son saw lots of improvements too, and we encouraged each other as we went through training together. My daughter’s trunk was extremely weak and she had little ability to move. ABR exercises strengthens the trunk, and I started seeing improvements in her movement abilities, and she started doing things she never used to be able to do. I was further encouraged with these changes and put in even more effort into her exercises.
Based on the GMFCS curve, my daughter is a severe level 5 Cerebral Palsy child. As a result, I don’t have any expectations of her walking. But I do hope to see improvements in her quality of life, and that her movements would continue to improve. ABR does not make miracles happen, nor is it a quick-fix, but with utmost effort, I am positive that my daughter will continue making progress. Because that has been the case throughout our ten years in the ABR program, I am very sure that my daughter will continue to improve.
My daughter is now the joy of the family; her bright smile contagiously spreading on to everyone. On top of that, her ability to do things have been getting better, and the quality of her abilities have also been getting better. Her quality of life has definitely improved.
-Leny
The pictures below were extracted from our progress report prepared by ABR:
1 Improvement in the drop of her head: The head needs to be independent on three planes; the transverse plane, sagittal plane, and coronal plane. The rotational movement of the head is from the transverse plane. Head flexion and extension movements (forward, backward and sides) is from the sagittal plane. Lateral head movement comes from the coronal plane.
July 2005
Bring the head forward lifts the entire shoulder and upper chest all the way to mid chest level
April 2013
Bring the head forward now lifts only the shoulder. But jaw still depresses into the mouth floor
June 2014
Jaw no longer depresses into Mouth floor
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July 2005
Unable to maintain sitting without External support
Nov 2005
Maintain sitting position without external support. She does not fall even with the lift of her legs
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Nov 2005 Head is tilted backwards Maintain sitting with Excessive muscular Efforts (with hands Support) |
July 2007 Head is no longer tilted backwards. Able to maintain sitting with legs crossed. |
Mar 2008 Able to reach out in sitting ie increase repertoire in sitting |
July 2010 Able to reach out with full extension of arms and yet maintain upright and strong sitting position |
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July 2005 No lateral arm protective reaction when she is Tilted to her side |
Feb 2008 Arm protective reaction but not stronger enough to push herself back to upright position |
Feb 2009 Strong enough to push herself back to upright position |
Nov 11 Iris rocking Nov11 GIF Rocking movement - transition towards transportation |
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Mar 2006 Unable to maintain quadruped Position |
Mar 2007 Begin to maintain quadruped position |
July 2010 Able to maintain pentapod position ie head is independent enough to support quadruped position |
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Feb 2009 Need maximum external support to get into short leg position (kneeling) |
July 2010 Need reduced external support to get into kneeling position |
Nov 2014 Iris Knee Nov14 GIF Impressive transition from quadruped position to kneeling position |
