CASE STUDY OF JODIE - July 2006

Jodie is a lively six year old girl who likes to play with her little sister and friends and occasionally to spar with her big brother. She has a quiet confidence and definite sense of herself She is attending the local school and has just completed her last term and year at special school Saint Catherines at Barnacoyle.

Mum caught the Millenium bug while expecting Jodie, this occured during the second trimester, so the much awaited lively baby was welcomed into the world to join brother - and the family was now four. The first year of life was busy but uneventful except for a throat infection at one year. Being an experienced Mum some tendancy towards being emotional was noted, these seemed to be around changes in Jodie’s life.( eg new shoes would look for old ones). Jodie didn’t
like being touched on her head, having her hair or teeth brushed. Her hearing was also very sensitive.

Mum and Dad investigated these symptoms and in the second year of life Jodie saw Professor Michael Fitzgerald who concluded that Jodie had shadow Asperger Syndrome but that this would need to be reviewed when she got bigger. He urged the parents to go for a blood test for the detection of Fragile X to which a negative result was obtained. During this year while at the playground Jodie had a fall which impacted on her head.....

Parents continued intervention for Jodie with speech therapy and later occupational therapy. When Jodie was 3 she was seen by the Lucena Clinic and diagnosed to have mild to moderate autism. Toileting problems had caused some upsets at school and that was one of the reasons I was asked to call and treat Jodie. On the first consultation in May 2005 Jodie’s posture was tending towards a forward bend at times with some busy movements of the legs, which suggested the possibility of some dural tube restriction. The CranioSacral rhythm was higher on the right side of the body, the respiratory diaphragm restricted and the left knee held more restriction then the right. She liked being upside down, this was beneficial for her respiratory diaphragm and it helped me in gaining a supporting handle to her sacrum so that lengthening the dural tube in the spine was facilitated. Palpation of the respiratory diaphragm was followed by an exothermic release.

Two robots were played with both of which continually “lost their heads”. Jodie was inquisitive and I spoke about her manubrium at the top of her sternum which I treated. Her picture as a baby was on the wall and I talked briefly about when she was little. On the Consultation of 19th May the Temporal bones and Parietals were palpated and also
down through the cranium to Maxillae. Jodie is keenly aware of teeth, and she had some questions about mine as one is slightly different in colour to the others, we talked about this referring to the discolouration being a result of medication. The conversation included when she was a baby and had a throat infection when medicine was needed to make her better. During this Jodie allowed some palpation work to be done on the temporal and parietal bones. Following that
visit there was a period of screaming, with a retreat to her bedroom and under the duvet.

The next visit mainly related to Jodie’s left ear, Lumber 5-Sacrum 1, Jodie’s squamous suture and her left foot.
In the early visits jodie was not inclined to chat, at the end when I was leaving Jodie would pick a flower for me. Gradually Jodie became more talkative and her speech more clear. The strong sense of herself which Jodie has is clearly expressed in what she likes, her favourite colours, toys - characters and animals about which she has many stories. Increasingly Jodie was indicating the parts of the body on her toy characters which were “sore”.

Playing with Question:
Where?..Oh ..here?
Answer:
NO silly not there ,Here!
Question:
Like this? ...
Answer:
Yes.

Jodie would laugh and let off steam. Gradually verbal communication increased. At times teeth grinding was prevalent, some indirect approaches at mouth work were tolerated. Going inside the mouth resulted in a closing of the teeth on my fingers. Some treatments took place while Jodie was in Mum’s arms some involved the slide in the garden and some others while Jodie looked through her books. Following sessions where the dural tube was lengthened very often Jodie would have a tendancy to want cuddles from Mum. More CranioSacral work has made Jodie receptive in the main part to having her head palpated.

Jean McDonald is a Cranioscral therapist and Yoga teacher at The Novara Centre