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SN children

Here are some suggested organisations that offer expert advice on special needs.

Anyone have any experience of this?

8 replies

PhylP01 · 30/01/2012 15:24

Hi I have a little boy with quite severe cerebral palsy and I have been looking at things we can do to help him. Last week in the 'Daily Mail' I came accross an article about a little boy who had recovered from brain injuries with the help of a programme supplied by an organisation called 'the Snowdrop Foundation.' Then I found a link to the article in a press release. Here is the link. www.free-press-release.com/news-boy-overcomes-severe-brain-injuries-with-help-of-neurodevelopmental-stimulation-programme-1327578370.html

I was just wondering if anyone has any more helpful information about this, or even better, if anyone has any experience of using their therapy.

Thanks.

OP posts:
outofbodyexperience · 30/01/2012 15:48

it looks like a fairly ordinary way of encouraging development to be honest - he's just taken the standard early years programe across the board and put it all in one place (or that's what it looks like reading between the lines of the website). if you are getting slt, physio, ot and vi services th bones of the programme are already in place, you just do them more often. from reading his website he's doing nothing new, just talking about brain plasticity and the importance of regular daily (or more) therapy across the board.

he will fill the need for people who do not have access to the whole range of therapists, or who prefer a 'one stop shop' approach, rather than running several different programmes from several different therapists concurrently (or those who do not do the suggested activities daily or more frequently from current therapists). similar results can and are achieved using the standard nhs programmes run daily or more frequently. the only difference is, nhs therapsits can be variable and reluctant to tell parents to up the frequency of therapy to see more results (they tend to 'are you managing' rather than 'you need to do more' ptherwise parents complain Wink. i do remember our physio being faintly horrified by the frequency and extension of exercises that i was putting dd through. she came round pretty quickly though. Grin

all kids benefit from having the absolute maximum amount of different experiences as early as possible. reducing their social or physical experiences will close down opportunities for development. the more you do, the better the chance of results.

snowdrop looks fine if you need one programme designed for you. but also look at brainwave or any of the more established programmes as well. check out cerebra, they usually have a good grip on what's about, too. and sometimes will give you grant money if you aren't able to access the nhs therapys or need help to work on a particular area. snowdrop looks like another version of the same - it's absolutely fine, but doesn't look particularly ground breaking or 'new'.

i'm prepared to be told otherwise though. it looks fine. do they offer grants? is it a charitable or not for profit foundation? or is he running it as a business? are local charities funding programmes for kids designed by snowdrop?

IndigoBell · 30/01/2012 15:49

I haven't heard of Snowdrop before. But it says it's a nuero-development therapy.

I've had great success with nuero-development therapies and ASD / Dyspraxia / Dsylexia - but I've never heard of it being used to treat CP before.

My personal opinion is, if you can afford it, go for it. The only way to tell if it will help your little boy is to do it.

In general I know neuro-development therapies work. But no one can tell you if this therapy will work for your boy.

PhylP01 · 03/02/2012 11:34

Thanks. I have just got his book 'Brain Injured Children. Tapping the Potential Within' and from what I am reading 'outofbody' you are mistaken. He provides evidence for the lack of effectiveness of NHS promoted therapies like physio, SLT and OT whilst also providing evidence for his own view that if we are to change anything positively with our children, we must influence the brain. Looks interesting and different. I'll let you know if we try it.

OP posts:
saintlyjimjams · 03/02/2012 11:42

He posted on here years ago! If you search for snowdrop you might find the thread, I seem to remember he was given a bit of a grilling. I didn't ever use his services but I chatted to him off board for a bit and felt he was genuine and his books made some sense. I thought he had more experience of CP than ASD, but I may be being unfair and I haven't looked at his book for a long time (and my own opinions about ASD and the best way to treat it have changed over the years, so I may completely agree with him now! Grin )

PhylP01 · 04/02/2012 09:39

Thanks. I did the search with the term 'Snowdrop.' and found the thread. No sign of a 'grilling' though, he just explains what he is about and answers questions. He seems to give a pretty good account of himself. I might just make a few enquiries next week. We'll see how I go on

OP posts:
IndigoBell · 04/02/2012 11:56

Please report back if you do it. :)

nightcat · 05/02/2012 17:46

Phyl, is there any practical advice in the book? It's not in the library so not sure if worth buying.

lovethesun1 · 26/02/2012 19:40

Hi, we are on the programme with my son - have sent you a PM.

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