European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 7, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Continued from Pago 13 in of him milling his Silky Brown hair us Hoy Walch to and laugh Rob and Mallee work Well together then Effort i Media led by inc ring of the timer thai dolls them when to go of to Iho nod ask. They finish their hour Long sequence just As he next Volun cot pushes Iho Buzzer Matthew peeking was born Al Homo on a talc april thursday. Dad woke me up talc at night. We Oil had cake says Michael who joined his parents a nurse midwife and a couple of ii ions to Welcome mall new into the was Lippy cause i always wanted a Brol Hor or sister to play with and finally i got one a says. For Roseanne pecks the birth of the eight Pound Blue eyed Bond was the cumin Alidort of nine months of Mol Culous prenatal Caro that at times bordered on the compulsive. She followed a strict balanced die took Long walks and quit smoking she even made in a Point not to Slouch. Compared with Michael a demanding Colicky baby mall hew was easy. He hardly Ever cried. He was so recalls his Mother la s kind of Nice in a Way that we did t before Long though his Placid behaviour had his parents worried. It became increasingly hard not to notice that Matthew was t lifting his head or rolling Over or doing any of the other things Michael had done at his age. Thai August Roseanne and Jordan discussed their fears Lor the first time. The paediatrician told Thorn to have patience that All babies develop at different rates by and Jordan each with a master s degree in psychology knew too much about human development not to worry. One Day As Roseanne was cooking supper she dropped a pot on the Kitchen floor and Matthew did i respond. She dropped another pol Ihen another thai s when she realized her son could t hear. When do 1 Starl worrying Roseanne asked the doctor. Just Ell me because i m not steeping unlit she and Jordan took him to see a neurologist says Roseanne i was still thinking of mall hew As Deal. 1 could Deal with deaf i thought i la teach him to read lips he d be the first deaf president of the Unildo Stales. I la be the Besl Mother of a deaf child there Ever but the problem was t Matthew s oars which turned out to be Fine. The problem was rus brain. Matthew was seriously impaired. Ii was t until she happened to discuss her son with a social worker that the magnitude of his Handicap finally hit Homo. Roseanne was asking what Sorl of career Matthew might be suited for and the social worker took a Long time to answer. Perhaps someday she said finally he can earn How Loop rate alight to do the exercise called ice tickle Matthew lies on his Back on the table howling occasionally in indignation As a Volunteer gently tickles the Bottom of each Bare loot to stimulate the relic thai makes his toes Point upward rather than downward As they normally do. Next comes legs in and Matthew moves each tog. In and out. In and out. While a Volunteer rests a hand on his knee to keep i irom bending. Hoi potato designed to improve mall hew s balance requires two volunteers kneeling a few foot apart gently pushing a standing Matthew Back and Forth Between them the names of Alt 10 exercises Are realty printed on two Watt charts thai hang in tront of the table to help volunteers keep Irasek of the sequence another Chart lists the sequence for Matthew s other activities Reading math social studies typing geography language arts health neatly slacked on the living room shelves arc plastic bins filled with hash cards picture books vocabulary words and music tapes. This hour is filled by Maiisha Bernard a classical Singer whose Molher came Homo irom Church fwd years ago Wilh a Iyer boating a Pici drool a grinning Matthew and a big headline that said help Martha volunteers two hours a week and fills in Lor others when she can Matthew making it but slowly Appal Matthew does Tome exploring in his Walker with he Mother. She helps m of Liei ways Loo in april she will give a Bench concert her third Al .1 Church in Iho Middle class neighbourhood Wawro she and mall hew both live she already Lias Tut it $ 10.000 to help pay Lor the braces ladder walk Vui Walior physical i Crapy equipment thai furnishes Tuchol Iho poc Kinses living mom mall hew also goes to Willow Grove twice a year for Daylong evaluations that cos i $600 each. It was Martha who Laughl mall hew to say ouch when some Twig hurl him Mill hew turned Ilin Loa game to lakes my Noso and i say ouch Ihen to says ouch Back he s always joking Wilh you. Although he Ean l say a Rainy woos very clearly it s very Clear to me that to understands everything sometimes Matthew preen ads to be Loo tired to work but his Grin always gives him away. He likes to wait until a Volunteer s Bach is turned Ihen quietly unbuckle the braces that enable him to crawl or More recently to walk his Small hands gripping the rungs of a ladder that hangs from the ceiling. He wails grinning and unbuckled for his Misc Iii to be discovered. To see someone like mall hew with All his obstacles work in such a cheerful and positive Way makes me feel 1 should be Able to find in in myself to deaf with Rny own obstacles to not give up when something is hard Martha says. The Peck Naes first Learned of patterning As students at new York University years later dissatisfied with More traditional programs designed for healthier babies they decided to Lake a closer look. Roseanne s research led her to Sander Brown consultants in Willow Grove a suburb of Philadelphia where in Mon told Matthew was evaluated at a clinic run by Art Sander a physical therapist and Sandy Brown a registered nurse patterning Sander explained to the Pec Kinses is based on a decades old theory thai human development follows the seme Baste patterns As lesser life forms. Just As fish swim and reptiles creep so must humans pass through these stages. Crawling and creeping Lead to standing and waking. Babies who fail to pass through these developmental stages of movement fail to develop properly intellectually As Well As physically the theory concludes. During the Early years of his patterning Matthew s body was manipulated in smooth continuous motions o simulate crawling volunteers also fed him a steady Stream of information. Almost 100 Par enl of what we do in the program has As its purpose to put information into his brain says the peckinses1 written introduction to the program. This is what makes the nerve cells develop. And we have to do everything Over and Over until the pathways Are Laid Down Well and Are functional the keywords Here Are frequency in Tensity. the brain grows by says Art Sander. A child Given constant intellectual sensory and physical stimulation in a Loving atmosphere will Progress As Matthew has he says. Vote University psychology professor Edward Zigler who studied the effects of patterning on severely retarded children More than a decade ago says in places extraordinary burdens on families whose lives Are difficult enough without the false Hopes of an involved therapy of dubious in an editorial in the journal of the american oath psychiatric association Zigler said there Are no objective scientific data to indicate the ire Almen is Effa five. Despite the tact that the program is Complex and totally time consuming parents nonetheless undertake this Effort sustained by the Hope of a smite a step or a word form their special can d " Allan Crocker professor of paediatrics at Harvard medical school and Dir Cloi of the developmental evaluation clinic Al children s Hospital in Boston agrees with Zigler but says Matthew s Case sounds like a very humanistic Ozri hence " Lois of looks Louth him and encourage him and almost exhort him to respond ii sounds As though he s being cried Tor a Greal Deal Given very Strong stimulation love and . And that s very Good Foi humans " the question says Crocker is whether he could have made virtually the Sime Progress irom a less demanding less Icso Mcc Rio plating Page 14 the stars and stripes tuesday. A
