Cerebral palsy is a neurological disorder caused by damage to a child's brain while it is still developing. Most signs and symptoms appear in infancy or the preschool years. It mainly affects movement and muscle coordination, and it can affect balance, posture, reflexes, muscle tone and, in some cases, oral motor skills. Cerebral palsy often leads to muscle stiffness, which in turn limits the range of movement. Symptoms vary widely in movement, intellectual capacity and other conditions that occur alongside it.
The First-Step team has worked with many children with cerebral palsy and achieved amazing results. Below are the stories of Lias, Mila and Emma.
Lias's story
Lias was born in 2011 in Dietlikon, Switzerland. He was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, epilepsy and low muscle tone. With the support of the KMSK association, his family started the First-Step therapy process in Switzerland and later continued in Tel Aviv.
After the intensive therapy process, Lias was able to sit and hold himself up. He became more present and responsive, and he can play functional games. Throughout the process, the First-Step team supported his parents. With the knowledge, training and tools they received, they contributed enormously to Lias's development.
"We are very happy that we started with First-Step. Lias has made a lot of progress since then. The therapists gave us perfect instructions on how to do the exercises with him at home. This helps a lot to achieve further improvements and to strengthen his muscles. And the best part is that Lias loves doing these exercises!"
Conny, Lias's mother. Watch the video about Lias
Mila's story
Mila's parents, Anne-Claire and Nelson Tiago Ferreira Fernandes, tell her story and describe their experience of First-Step therapy:
"Mila was born on 1 July 2013 after a so-called normal pregnancy, by vaginal delivery with an epidural. At birth everything seemed normal, except that her head circumference was one centimetre below average. Her Apgar score was 9, 9, 10. Her first two months went the same way. Her head circumference kept growing along a smooth curve, always slightly below average. Apart from long, intense crying, there was no major sign of other problems.
During her third month, however, signs began to appear. Mila's arms and legs became hypertonic and her trunk hypotonic. We were referred to medical specialists and therapists to find out what was wrong. It turned out that Mila had suffered cerebral palsy during pregnancy, which caused severe damage to both hemispheres of her brain. There also seemed to be some mild epileptic activity. We were offered palliative treatments and advised to continue physiotherapy, which Mila had started at six months, to keep her limbs from becoming stiff. Benzodiazepine was prescribed to relax her muscles and reduce the myoclonic jerks. Given the many side effects of this drug, and because we wanted our daughter to wake up to life rather than be put to sleep by a drug, we decided not to use it.
In the meantime, we heard about the First-Step Method through a friend of a friend who had used this therapy for her daughters. Thanks to the very fast and effective help of AEMO (Association for Children & Rare Diseases), we met Shai Silberbusch in November 2014 at the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) for an assessment. What first appealed to us about this method was that instead of focusing on what has become impossible, all efforts go into what can still be done and improved.
First-Step therapy began on 8 February 2015 in Tel Aviv, Israel. There Mila met a team of attentive professionals focused entirely on developing her potential. Thanks to intensive work, with exercises for Mila and training for us parents so we could continue at home, real improvements were visible within just three weeks. Mila, who had been hypertonic in her arms and legs and hypotonic in her trunk, now has much more relaxed limbs, and her trunk tone is starting to improve.
Mila makes better eye contact and seems more attentive to her surroundings. She can now stay, and even sleep, on her tummy. She holds her head up better, and her posture and balance are visibly improving. She also sleeps better at night and lets people other than her mum or dad talk to her and pick her up. Finally, during our stay, when put in the right position, Mila almost straightened up completely onto her knees, leaning on her hands. This is not a complete list of the improvements we have noticed since starting therapy. Still, we know we're only at the beginning of a process that will take a lot of time, effort and perseverance to give Mila every chance of developing as fully as she can.
With the help of AEMO and the First-Step Method, we're ready to keep going. We would like to thank everyone involved for their commitment, professionalism and empathy."
Emma's story
Emma was born with cerebral palsy. The First-Step team met her when she was three years old. At that time she hardly used her arms and legs. A few months into the therapy process, she was able for the first time to crawl forward on her tummy and to roll from her back to her tummy and back again. Today she uses her arms and legs much more. She feeds herself and can hold a toy or a pencil.
"First-Step gave us the support, tools and knowledge we needed to help Emma make a huge jump in her development. Just about a year ago, Emma had little head control and stability in her trunk, and we had to do everything for her. Now she rolls over, can commando-crawl and uses her hands with much more precision. She is learning to be independent, and that is changing her life and ours."
Maggie and Guillaume Goudy, Emma's parents
