cranial massage and autism - Autism Spectrum Message Board

Cantdoitagain · 01-24-2006, 10:18 AM

My son is 34 months and is non verbal. He only screams and laughs. We started seeing a massage therapist in November. My son has received 5 treatments that last 75 minutes. My son is not diagnosed as autistic or even on the spectrum yet. The DP at 25 months wanted to do the wait and see approach. Such a mistake on my part and now we can't get it and by the time we get a diagnosis soo much time will have gone by.

Any way my son is definitely developmentally delayed. He has a 16 month old sister who is surpassing him in all the milestones.

Away, since this massage treatment we have seen improvement in my son. He had shown some improvement with gross motor skills and social skills. After our last appointment last week he is actually starting to babble a couple sounds....not as much as a 3 month would, but it isn't a scream or laugh.

However, at the same time his tantrums have gotten worse. My DH and I believe that this treatment is helping, but I was wondering if there was someone else out there who has tried it that I can speak with.

Thanks

boysboysboys · 01-24-2006, 11:42 AM

Hello,
My sons are starting this therapy next week. I'm glad to hear that it is working on your child!

Cantdoitagain · 01-24-2006, 12:26 PM

How did you hear about it and why are your son's having it done. My DH and I were referred by our naturopath. It is great for children with ear infections, delayed development and has been used on children with PDD for decades according to what we have read. We when were feeling out our new patient papers we noticed that it is good for pain management and all sorts of things.

We know it is not a miracle cure, but we are not doing anything different at home and we have seen progress. AFter the first two sessions my son starting hugging a stuffy. He has never slept with covers and has never had a close relationship with anyone or thing.

It's so hard to know if you are doing the right thing for the right reasons. I don't think it will harm him. THe osteopath says that is a lot more energy in his head and things are flowing better, but there is more work to be done. It is hard to have the leap of blind faith that we are not just burning our money. Everything we have told makes sense. I guess I just want to see what other people's experience has been and how they made the decision to do this.

thanks boys...good luck, I hope it all works well for your boys.

boysboysboys · 01-24-2006, 09:26 PM

Hi,
In doing searches for Autism treatment online I kept seeing craniosacral therapy come up. I've read whatever I can find about it and decided it was worth a try. Nobody in particular recommended it to me. We are on a long waiting list for intensive in-home therapy that I thought was supposed to start in february. We just found out that there have been some delays and the that the in-home therapy probably won't start until May. I am sooo tired of waiting and decided we are going to start trying everything we can-music therapy, animal therapy, DAN doctors, special diets-heck, I'm even considering Hyperbaric Oxygen treatments. My boys are on Medicaid and the person doing the craniosacral therapy also does physical and occupational therapy and says they can bill medicaid for it. I feel like we have nothing to lose, but a lot to possibly gain. I hope we see good results like you have!

Picali · 01-27-2006, 10:43 AM

Hi CantDoItAgain

Just wanted to give you some anecdotal stuff - my little boy has been seeing a cranial osteopath for around eight months with the most incredible results. When he first went back in May, he checked 26 symptoms on a list of 'possible autistic indicators'. That number's now down to around 7, with the bulk of those being around his speech and understanding, which is still his main area of difficulty.

It's difficult for me to be specific about his improvements as he's never had a decent assessment in the UK so I can't define how far he's progressed in those terms, but to try and talk like a mum (!), I used to be so scared that he'd never get out of the little world he was in, never make friends and never have a 'real' life. He's still a long way behind his peers, but I can see light at the end of the tunnel now - he's learning things without needing to be 'taught' them if that makes any sense.

He hasn't had tantrums after treatments so I can't be much help there I'm afraid, although perhaps if he's frustrated that's a good sign that he's understanding there are things he wants to do but can't? I'd have a chat to the therapist about it and see what they think.

Good luck with it. It's working wonders for my boy - we've been using homeopathy as well and that's having equally good effects.

Take care

Janine