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FAQ's for children and young adults with brain injury If you have a question you would like answered that is not covered in the FAQ's, please fill in the form below and we will attempt to answer your question.
1. The Scotson Technique - What is it? 2. What can be treated? We also treat spinal injury. 3. Where is it? 4. What does it do? By treating the respiratory system in close connection with other muscle groups its aims are:
5. What happens at
Advance? Five, 5-day return visits are made in the first year and 4 in the following year, after which the frequency and duration of return visits become more individual. The atmosphere is warm, friendly and dedicated to ensure the teaching is optimum. 6. How is progress
predicted? By extensive structural measurement by which each child’s structure is compared both with its own previous assessment and with normal trunkal growth patterns. By computerised measurement of abdominal and thoracic breathing patterns which are compared both with normal values and with each child’s previous assessment. By 3 dimensional computerised spinal probe measurements looking at the dimensions of the spine and its relation to the shoulder and pelvis girdles and comparing these both with normal values and to each child’s previous assessments. 7. Why does The Scotson
Technique show step-by-step restorative results? The technique pays careful attention to the metabolic balance between the individual child’s developing respiratory capacities and the increasing demands made on his or her respiratory system as muscular and connective tissues improve in strength and responsiveness. The Technique is based on a coherent explanation of the far reaching central role respiration plays in human development and the evidence for the extensive but often subtle reduction in respiratory strength and responsiveness after brain injury. 8. Why is the technique
different? The focus is first upon weakness in the respiratory system which is viewed as a serious barrier to the brain’s restorative potential. Respiratory development is seen as crucially underpinning the development of trunkal structure, posture, movement, speech, vision, digestion, understanding and general health and the neurological capacities on which these all depend. Over time the results aim to provide the necessary enhanced foundation for the child’s more normal future development. 9. What about the
brain damage? However, to do so the brain must be able to receive a clear electrical picture from the body tissues involved in day to day activities such as movement, vision, speech. This electrical picture has been found to depend on blood flow more specifically the movement of red blood cells and the tansport of minerals across the cell membrane which makes each cell into a little battery. If the blood flow to a muscle is too low the brain has no electrical picture and so no knowledge where to send a signal. By increasing blood flow through the micro circulation the Scotson Technique seeks to gradually restore the electrical activity of weak, immature muscles and connective tissues so that the brain can gain and begin to react to an enhanced electrical picture of the child’s muscular skeletal system. Cerebral blood flow must be able to shift quickly about the brain to meet the varying metabolic demands of sensory motor and cognitive activity. The results of the technique suggests that it allows the brain to respond more quickly to these varying metabolic needs. 10. What about sleep? It is particularly difficult for the respiratory system to adapt to the demands of dream sleep. Because of this, brain injured children often wake up when they begin to dream. The technique allows breathing pattern to change to support sleep states, giving children (and their families) an increasingly good night’s sleep. 11. What about intelligence? Also, intellectual ability depends upon the brain’s ability to process new information, including the ability to co-ordinate breathing with metabolic demand (the tissue’s need for nutrition as a result of activity). Improved breathing may help to improve oxygen availability to the thalamus and the reticular system brain structures close to the respiratory centres thought to influence breathing and to be involved in processing incoming and outgoing information so that it can be memorised and stored for later use. As use of the Scotson Technique progresses, breathing becomes much more responsive to sleep states and children begin to gain a good night’s rest. 12. How soon can I
expect changes? After 3 months identified structural abnormality has reduced and functional change begins to show. By 6 months photographic comparison indicates the clear changes in the rib cage, abdomen, shoulder girdle, neck and spine which are forming the foundation for continued functional change. As the strength of the respiratory system increases, the effect of the child’s increasing height and weight ceases to create an extra overload on the respiratory system. From this point the child’s own breathing and spontaneous movements begin to interact to make a positive contribution towards its more normal growth and development. As you continue to work with your prescription you will become aware that many of the previously chronic symptoms of brain injury such as poor digestion, acid reflux, poor sleep, head lag, constipation, seizures and so on are now in the past. The respiratory foundation for more normal movement and developmental abilities will have substantially emerged and you will be encouraged by the continued observation of steady change. Changes increasingly bringing your child’s structure and function nearer to the structure and function of the normal child. After 3 years with Advance you can expect to have become the perfect therapist for your own child, and if necessary can continue therapy under minimal guidance and at minimal cost. 13. Is there outside
monitoring of results?
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