Anonymous wrote:I would also recommend looking at another movement based therapy - Anat Baniel Method. More than any other thing we've tried in 4 years with DD, this is the one therapy that I can say has made an impact. There is a local practitioner in NOVA and we've also travel frequently to NYC for intensive courses. Just something to consider.

Just wondering what diagnosis your ABM partitioner treated for? I know a practitioner in the Bay Area but she is not familiar with SPD.

We traveled to California from Oregon. Our son was diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder and PDD-NOS (he didn't fit autism or aspergers, so they grouped him in the 'catch all' category of PDD-NOS). We went to PT & OT for over a year, I believe, but did not see a lot of difference. However, we had great success with Dr. Jim Costello. We visited for a week and had 6 sessions with him while in California. Then we went back to Oregon and worked with our son for the next 7 weeks with the guidance of Dr. Costello through weekly Skype sessions.

The results we have seen from a physical standpoint are unbelievable. For example, our son could not catch a ball or jump off a step with two feet at once. After just a few session, he could catch balls without any problems and jump with two feet together. He displayed more balance and coordination than ever before and after several weeks, rode a bike without training wheels in one try (after having struggled for quite some time to ride without training wheels before).

From a cognitive standpoint, the results where not as apparent. However, our son's behavior was better after each exercise session he completed due to endorphins released while doing the session. I believe if we had continued the program in some form after our initial 8 weeks on our own, we would have seen a faster improvement in his cognitive funtion as well (his problems were intensity & not able to 'let go' of an idea/thought).

Both my husband and I feel that Dr. Costello's program was money well spent. We have no regrets at all with the results that we have seen and would recommend him.

Dr. Jim Costello is a chiropractor NOT an MD OR an expert of any kind in this field.

I am in CA. It came down to $117 per 60 min session. 16 sessions. No insurance coverage.

There is a very general assessment at the beginning and the end of the program BUT.. The parent is asked to do most of the scoring! In my mind that's a marketing trick. As a parent you want to believe things are working...especially when you already spent lots of money. The report also contains some claims that can't be backed up or was simply untrue.

Anonymous wrote:My child went through Castellos program.

Pros: the therapists are enthusiastic and my child is now more positive to excercise in general, which means he will do more excercises at home together with me. Excercises include crawling, cross-walk marching etc. Part of my child's issues are motor skills so the more ongoing regular excercise the better.

Cons: there is no evidence that these SPECIFIC excercises are more effective than what any PT would give you. Prior to starting this very expensive program, Castello, in a highly unprofessional manner, essentially promised that doing the excercises 2 times a week for two months would essentially fix most problems!! (He did that before even seeing my son.). That would be a miracle worthy of the nobel price...

PP, are you local (DC, Md., VA) and did you travel to California for the program or do you live out there. Can you share with us the cost and what did you get for that $?

My child went through Castellos program.

Pros: the therapists are enthusiastic and my child is now more positive to excercise in general, which means he will do more excercises at home together with me. Excercises include crawling, cross-walk marching etc. Part of my child's issues are motor skills so the more ongoing regular excercise the better.

Cons: there is no evidence that these SPECIFIC excercises are more effective than what any PT would give you. Prior to starting this very expensive program, Castello, in a highly unprofessional manner, essentially promised that doing the excercises 2 times a week for two months would essentially fix most problems!! (He did that before even seeing my son.). That would be a miracle worthy of the nobel price...

I would call OTs and PTs. Most do midline exercises and other movement therapies. They may be ecclectic, but you could ask if they can focus on this particular type of therapy.

I would also recommend looking at another movement based therapy - Anat Baniel Method. More than any other thing we've tried in 4 years with DD, this is the one therapy that I can say has made an impact. There is a local practitioner in NOVA and we've also travel frequently to NYC for intensive courses. Just something to consider.

You may want to talk to Dov at Dynamite Gymnastics. He runs a movement based therapy program.

Rebecca- Thank you! I hope you will share your experience with Dr. Costello after your meeting. I will check out your book recommendation!

There is a book called Smart Moves http://www.amazon.com/Smart-Moves-Learning-Your-Head/dp/0915556278 that discusses the across the body movements and provides exercises you can do at home. There are also exercises in the book for calming as well. They can be used on all ages.

We are meeting Dr Costello next month to see if his program can help our son.

Rebecca

Do the sites include any references for well-designed research showing that exercise which crosses the midline leads to more cognitive improvement than other exercises? I can't think of any neurology which would lead to this conclusion.

Thanks for your post, PP. I had to laugh at the Google University reference -- I had never heard that before. I want to find out more about whether there are practitioners on the East Coast. Looks as if he's based in California.

I'm sorry that no one has responded to your post, and I wish I had some insights here. I thank you for your post. It led me to Google University and I started to read about Jim's Neuro-fit program. I haven't seen the movie, but it looks like intensive PT with a focus on exercises that cross the midline. They use a particular piece of equipment that looks like bicycle pedals for the arms and legs. The German manufacturer claims that exercise with this machine not only aides in motor development and sensory input, but also leads to cognitive improvements. I asked my child's therapists for some local recs, which I hope will be forthcoming. In the meantime, I'm thinking I will call Costello's practice in California to see if they are aware of similar centers in DC/MD/VA. I will let you know what I find!

Does anyone know of any practitioner in the DC/MD/Northern Virginia who uses Jim Costello's Movement Based Therapy? I heard about this program after watching the movie "Autistic Like: Graham's Story" and it sounds promising.