My 8 year old son has had trouble getting to sleep for most of his childhood. He is very active in sports, yet still would not fall asleep until around 11:00 pm, or sometimes even later. We have tried many bedtime routines to facilitate sleep, and basically the end result is the same... awake, talking, tossing, and turning until 11:00. A friend of mine told me about Cranial Therapy (Turner Technique), and suggested we try it. I was a little apprehensive, but went home to read up on it. After discussing it with my husband, we figured we had nothing to lose.
We scheduled my son for his first appointment with Dr. Fiske, at White Oak Chiropractic. Dr. Fiske was fantastic! He explained the technique as well as the basic functions of the brain and the skull bones to my son, at a level he could understand. Dr. Fiske made my son feel at ease, and the treatment took about 15 minutes. My son talked about what he learned from Dr. Fiske all the way home! When we arrived at home, he was sleepy and said he felt like taking a nap. He ended up sleeping for 2.5 hours! We ate dinner and finished out our normal evening. By 10:00, he was in bed, and when I went back in his room to check on him 15 minutes later, he was sound asleep.
The next morning we already started to see changes. His spelling made a great leap and so did his reading! Both of these subjects have been a big struggle for him, and we saw improvement after one session with Dr. Fiske. He got 9/10 spelling words correct with no advanced warning or study time. He was reading more smoothly and he was sounding words out much better. As you can imagine, we were thrilled!
That night, he read an entire story (that would have taken him 20 minutes in the past) in about 10 minutes. He was so excited, he asked to read another book. Then he called his daddy at work, and read over the phone to him. This was absolutely priceless! My husband and I could see a change in his overall demeanor as well; he was a bit calmer, and more focused.
As our sessions continued, we saw further improvements. After the third session, we noticed, he was ready for bed by about 9:00, and he would fall asleep within 10 minutes of being "tucked in." As for his reading, he had jumped from level 2 to level 3 readers, and had a new excitement for reading. We recently celebrated by taking a special trip to the bookstore to purchase his first chapter book, Goosebumps, and he was so excited when he was able to read it!
I asked my son if he felt any different since he started seeing Dr. Fiske. His response: "Well, I'm definitely sleeping better. My reading is better, that's for sure." There was a brief pause, followed by, "I know! I feel like I can focus better when I'm working on something. Yes, my focus is better."
We have seen Dr. Fiske for a total of 5 sessions so far, and the results have been amazing! We were so pleased, that we ended up bringing my very energetic 3 year old to see Dr. Fiske as well. He has had 3 sessions so far and we have seen marked improvements in his concentration and focus. After his first session, he sat and colored for 50 minutes (something he never did for more than about 5 minutes in the past). He enjoyed it so much, he asked me to take him to the store to buy more Color Wonders! He is now able to focus better to work on craft projects, and he is taking great pride in his work. He is also playing better with his older siblings. We look forward to seeing his progress, as sessions continue. In conclusion, I would highly recommend Dr. Fiske at White Oak Chiropractic! read more
