​​​Massage ​​Qigong (QST)

​"We first learned about Qigong sensory therapy for children with Autism through a newspaper that caters to the Special Needs community. Word of mouth put us in touch with Sophie, the OT who would carry out the therapy over 5 months.

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Zachary was 6 when we began the therapy, and had had a medical diagnosis of Autism for almost a year at the time the therapy began. 

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I wasn't really sceptical about the Massage, but I  Qigongwill admit that I didn't really have many expectations regarding the effects it may or may not have on Zach's behaviour. I am a special needs teacher myself, and my partner works in medical diagnostics - we tend to put our faith in concrete studies, we give our kids antibiotics when they're ill, and we were struggling so much with Zachary's impulsivity and certain discipline issues, we really weren't ready to accept that a massage would magically 'fix' the issues that always come up with Zach in day-to-day family life.

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I was shocked when after 2 or 3 sessions, Zachary's bowel movements turned brilliant blue and green. We had read about the Qigong having a de-tox effect, but this was such a blatanly physical reaction, I found both my partner and I were almost forced to question our doubts; I mean, this was physical 'proof' that we could see with our eyes.

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Later on, Zachary began to try new things. He jumped off of the side of the side ledge into the swimming pool, something he never would have done before. He tried to DIVE head first into the swimming pool! He started to try to ride a bike. He began to play with the neighbours' kids. He ate a granolar bar - I mean, the textures in a granola bar are outrageous! Those are things that were all just completely off the table for Zach prior to Qigong with Sophie.

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In the end, for the first time in his life, I was able to make it through the entire summer holidays from school with only a week of 'help' from my parents - I can't begin to convey the significance of this. Weekends and holidays are something that we generally dread in our house because the behaviours just get too intense. I'm not saying they disappeared, but they definitely subsided to the point where their intensity and frequency were something with which I could cope, as opposed to something that was crippling for the whole family.

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The massage itself is easy to learn and really only took about 15 minutes to do every day. We worked it into our bedtime routine, and it just became something we did everyday.

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Zachary's teacher spoke to me recently and commented on how far he's come with his handwriting. Zach is a child who at 6, could barely draw a circle or a straight line, who certainly could not draw a recognisable picture, and who struggled even to trace simple letters and numbers. Qigong finished in September, and now in October, Zachary is writing spelling tests composed of words that are dictated to him, which he has to spell and write down correctly on a paper in front of him. This absolutely would NOT have happened last year. This teacher commented on the skill of our OT, saying she must be doing some great work with Zach to produce results like this with his handwriting. I told her that yes, Sophie is certainly excellent, but that it was Qigong we were doing this summer, not classic fine motor skills work such as pen grip and printing skills. If anything speaks to the success of the Qigong therapy, I think it's definitely this.

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Once again, I'll say that my expectations were very low going into this - which has made the outcome all that more impressive. We'd recommend this to any families dealing with Autism."

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Stephanie Winterford,

Mother of a child with Autism &  Special Needs Teacher

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October 2012

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