Summarising the past 6 months on MAPS

In order for me to move forward and blog regularly I feel it very necesary to summarise Billee's MAPS programme and progress over the past 6 months.

Claudie explained to me that the treatment plan has been to focus, first, on her serotonin production to allow the growth of new cells, building good communication between the two hemispheres of the brain using the corpus collossum and cerebellum. No serious rebuilding exercises would be efficient without the fuel which is serotonin, and the core communication tool.


We used as the ground foundation of the treatment things as gentle as smelling nice aromas, soft touch on her body and face, and of course, listening of classical music. The first exercise used contrast of temperature, all very mild, to the hands, then teaching Billee's brain about textures.

 We do what we call gentle stretches. MAPS takes care of the entire body and movement of the joints is vital for a non mobile child. 5 times a day, we have a set of soft stretches involving the hips, the ankles, the wrists and the spine. We also have a soft stretch of the arm.

Every two weeks we have a brand new set of games for her communication skills, for her general development, for the control of the hand, arm and legs. We have a serious plan around Billee's legs which cannot, as we start the treatment, be brought straight and close to each other, which is key for standing and walking. Four months into the treatment, we are able to do this and consequently can include new exercises for the leg and the foot, with new lines of communication between the brain and the foot.

 The strategy in MAPS is to teach the brain to send the right messages to the body. We do not work on training the body with the hope this training will change the brain. This is very tedious and demanding and does not fit our family energy. With MAPS, we tell the brain where the foot is, how it feels, and gradually we can see the brain telling the foot to do tasks which are normal, such as retrieving to the contact of a funny texture.

We worked on weight bearing in a very novel manner and without causing any stress or pain to Billee, using the laws of physics and pressure instead of controlled standing.

When Billee started to show good response to the exercises, we started the day program which could be compared to a home school pre K program adapted to her, with play, reading, working out.
Billee has learnt new but essential functions such as smelling. She has very particular fast and short sniffs as soon as we bring a smell she likes to her nose.

She is full of energy and lets us know when something is not to her liking.

After Claudie's second evaluation during which Billee showed all what she had learnt and also how much she was ready to do more, we increased the level of body exercise and demand, still in a very moderate tone and respectful of Billee's reaction and response. We are now working on the voluntary movement of the arm and Billee is now showing very serious voluntary movements in exercises where she is kneeling and moving with assistance toward the mat.

Six months ago, Billee was poorly mobile but most importantly, poorly developed in voluntary movement. She was aware of her surrounding and communicating with some sounds but had some difficulty tracking and focusing visually.

 After six months of MAPS, some major developments have occurred :

 -her eye tracking has improved and she is able to hold eye contact for several minute while "conversing". Her better facial tone allows more facial expression

 - she blows rasberries and has several mouth muscles and tongue sounds.

-she discovered her hands visually as well as dynamically.

-her back tone and control of back, side and neck muscle has improved if lifted from the mat she responds with several appropriate organised muscle contractions.

-she has now control of the arm movement in a protective motion when lifted from kneeling position and lowering toward the mat. This is a crucial movement demonstrating the connection of the brain to arm and hand.

- her response to tactile information to hand and foot is appropriate and normal.

- she added sounds to her vocalization.

I hope this explains as much as possible for now and that as we move forward I am able to record observations as they happen.