An inspirational testimonial
This is an inspirational message from one of our families. However, we would also like to thank them for sharing this very personal journey with us all and to wish them the very best in the future.
“I wanted to write a little about my experience with Tree Tops as I wished to read about it before I started.
I always knew my son was different. He is my third child. He cried constantly.. struggled to feed.. behind his milestones.. poor to interact.. hated loud noises.. I could go on. At age 3, I took him to a paediatrician who stated she couldn’t see anything wrong. Over the years I have seen several physios, podiatrist, neurologist and Drs. Everyone said he was fine, just behind. He even wore a soft helmet from age 2-3 as he couldn’t stay on his feet and was constantly bruised.
At age 3 he was diagnosed with a serious heart disorder. I honestly thought the way he was, was because of his heart and once on meds he would improve.. but no. His heart was controlled but he was exactly the same.
Age 4/5 he stopped sleeping and became extremely angry. He would scream for hours at bedtime. Awake during the night and screaming again for hours. He was frustrated over everything ..Exhausting us and our children to an extent I can’t explain. After 6 months we were desperate. We had not slept, our social life stopped and we really weren’t enjoying our little boy. His siblings were struggling terribly. We had honestly tried everything including a psychologist.
A friend told me about Tree Tops. I spoke to Rosie a couple of times before we were assessed. I was crying, desperate. To have someone who understood was such a relief.
We were assessed by Dawn and in the meeting after, we were told our son now aged 5 has SPD and dyspraxia. I knew this already but to be told was very upsetting. After we sat through the explanation that bamboozled us, my husband came out not convinced this ‘treatment’ would work. I had nowhere else to go. So every Friday for 10 seasons we attended Tree Tops with a 2 hour round trip.
After 5 weeks of watching our son ‘crazy playing ‘ with the OTs and myself being advised on a sensory home diet, we started to see a change. He was calmer. I could see the signs and I knew what to do. I also knew I was supported.
We have now finished our 10 weeks. My god.. we do not know ourselves. Our little boy sleeps, speaks to people, very very little tantrums.. but then he is 5. School / family / friends have seen a difference in him and he just looks happy! We understand we may return and things could slip a little bit but we are on a good path.
We are happy….. this may sound like a cheesy fairytale, but this is our story. I asked several times will this work as I needed some reassurance but could only find one post on here.. so for others starting on this journey. Go for it.. you have nothing to lose 💫”
How did occupational therapy help your family? Drop us a post or message.
#OTWeek2019#SmallChangeBigImpact