Cerebral Palsy: Twin boys are stricken

Cerebral Palsy Causes Many Challenges to Overcome

Matvey and Timofey crawl, creep and walk their way to wellness.

Matvey and Timofey are twin brothers.  They were born two months premature and both weighed less than 2 kilos. Immediately after they were born, they were placed in incubators, monitored and tube fed for two weeks. Doctors told their parents that both boys had suffered severe hypoxia during delivery. One month after they were born, their MRIs showed brain ischemia. This is one of the many cerebral palsy causes in children.

By the time the little boys were 14 months old, they had made some milestones but were significantly behind other children their age.  It was at this time that Matvey and Timofey were diagnosed with cerebral palsy.

The boys had traditional physical therapy without any significant results.  Mother learned about the work of The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential and immediately began to learn more.

Cerebral Palsy Causes Are Overcome With Our Program

Although the boys had the same clinical diagnosis, Matvey seemed to be farther behind his brother in mobility.  Timofey was able to creep on his hands and knees, but Matvey could not move forward on the floor at all.  Matvey had always been a bit tighter and more rigid than Tim. In language, both boys were significantly behind their peers.  Matvey could not say any words at all. Timofey, only slightly better off at 3 years of age, said only 15 words. Mother attended the “What To Do about Your Brain Injured Child” Course and immediately began a treatment program at home with her boys. The program was intense – it included unlimited opportunity for the boys to move on the floor, a dynamic and enjoyable reading program, tactile stimulation and an excellent nutritional program.

Mother focused on getting them moving as much as possible on the floor. The boys did their program side-by-side. Mother focused on giving Matvey many opportunities to crawl on his belly. She gradually coached him until he was crawling hundreds of meters daily all over the house. Once he could do so, he got up on his hands and knees and started creeping. While Timofey could creep, he was unable to walk. Mother now understood that the key to getting Timofey to walk was creeping, creeping, and creeping. So that is exactly what he did. Timofey reached 1600 m (1 mile) of creeping, and became faster and stronger.

He then started to walk under an overhead ladder.  After a year, Timofey began to take his first independent steps. Today he walks for transport on many different terrains.

Matvey now creeps everywhere for transport. Like his brother, he has now reached 1.6 km of creeping. While Timofey does his walking program right by his side, Matvey is learning to walk using the overhead ladder.  He walks over 400m (1/4 mile) daily.

The boys always work together and, although they work very hard, they have lots of fun while doing it too.  As a reward, Matvey and Timofey like to dress up as pirates and their favorite super heroes as well.

As the mobility of the boys improved, their ability to breathe also got better. This improved their language. Mother also gave them a great deal of intellectual stimulation through her reading program. She taught single words, sentences and gave the boys many homemade books about interesting topics. The physical opportunity and intellectual stimulation help develop their language. The boys started to speak more and more. Matvey, who once could not say a word, now uses thousands of words and expresses himself fluently and clearly in sentences. Timofey’s language is also superb.

Matvey and Timofey have the best coach in the world – their mother who motivates them and works with them every day to help them get better. Mother could have been overwhelmed by the prospect of having, not one hurt child, but two children with very significant problems. She did not lose hope – instead she and her boys have become a fantastic team. Cerebral Palsy causes can be overcome in children but it takes persistent work by the parents and siblings.

They are on their pathway to wellness now. We look forward to their future victories and amazing accomplishments.