HIE- a love story
For those of you unfamiliar with HIE, and perhaps more so for those of you who are-what can HIE and a love story possibly have in common? Quite sure it will all make sense by the time you finish reading this and checking out the video.
HIE stands for Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy. That’s doctor speak for brain damage that occurs around the time of birth because of decreased oxygen and blood to the brain. There are many reasons why this can happen. I’ve seen a wide variation in the estimated incidence of HIE ranging from a conservative 2-3 out of 1000 full term births to 60% of all live premature births.
Common results of HIE are developmental delays, epilepsy, cognitive issues, motor skill development delays, and neurodevelopment delays. It is commonly believed that the true severity of symptoms cannot be determined until the child reaches the age of 3 or 4.
So on to the love story. It is directly about this little love in the photo below, and also about the benefits of early intervention- the earlier the better. It is estimated that between 0-3 (while a “wait and see attitude” is still out there) a healthy child forms about 700 new brain connections per second. Many of these happen as a result of random movements that ultimately lead to desired outcomes like rolling over to get a toy or sitting up to see the world in a new way, and are reinforced. If a baby has decreased random movement because of HIE (or other condition) critical learning does not happen.
As an Anat Baniel Method for Children (sm) practitioner I use gentle hands on work and eventually active movement and language as appropriate to help a child fill in the gaps that are impeding development always honoring where the child currently is to support of the most optimal outcome for them.
Here is what this little girl’s mom had to say about my work with her daughter.
“Her head control has improved leaps and bounds. She is starting to use her hands and her muscle tone and arching are improving every day. I would love for this to become the standard of care. I’m so happy to have an amazing ABM practitioner close by!”
Here is a video that shows the Anat Baniel Method process over several years. I don’t know Cypress’ full medical history, but it clearly seems that he has HIE.
Warning- tissues may be required!
