quigong sensory massage - help?

[kaPOW!]

Hi all, are any of you familiar with Qigong Sensory massage for treatment of kids with autism and sensory disorders? My son's OT is offering to let him be part of a study that involves the massage. He's currently got sensory and emotional issues that are basically classified as "undiagnosed developmental delay" or something like that. The study is a major time commitment, 1/2 hour sessions once or twice a week, one saturday a month for 1 hour, and 15 minute daily home massages. The office is about 30 minutes away, so I'd have to add an hour to any visit.

On the one hand, I'll be on maternity leave for much of this so it's kind of a once in a lifetime opportunity - I wouldn't be able to do it if I were working.

On the other hand, I'll have a newborn and will have to cart the newborn all over town. This was not a fun thing to do when my son was a newborn.

I don't know enough about Qigong to decide if this would be worth it. Any thoughts/experience?

[kaPOW!]

nobody? i'm thinking i might pass..

[The artist]

I'm just wondering if the hassle/stress this commitment will cause you (with a new little one to boot) will leave you with less patience and energy for your 5 yr. old. If you're already tired from new baby crying all night, and big brother acts up trying to get to his appt., and you happen to be a human and fly off the handle, well....that's a bit counter-productive when you're trying to get in the car to get him a massage.

Qigong is not something I'm familiar with, and I would hate to tell you not to do something for him that could help, but you could always ask if they could send you a copy of the results of the study. If it has impressive results or cures autism altogether, I'll start a collection for both of us to send our kids! :) If not, then you don't have to beat yourself up over a missed opportunity.

[babygirlie]

I'm not familiar with the term. It was a natural mommy instinct for me to do squeezes. I don't know why. dd is a hugger and I hug her TIGHT. I squeeze up and down her back. When she's laying down a squeeze her legs.. her feet. I don't mean break her hard.. but it's firm pressure squeezes. She will hold completly still for it. When I first met EI they saw me hugging her like I normally do. Super tight methodic squeeze and she said oh good you're doing it right! And every teacher subsequently has done legs and arm squeezes. I guess it's something some autistic kids find relaxing. So I don't know that particular method but I do do this at home.

[dairy2dogs]

I thought Quigong was something similar to Tai Chi?  For that reason it sounds a little made up to me.  That doesn't mean it wouldn't be benificial.  I just need more information.  Despite that,  Massage is great and I would probably go for it. 

[melissa17s]

Op, I would contact the person doing the study. Ask them questions and tell them your concerns about the distance with a new baby.  I would also ask if participation through the whole process is mandatory.  Your child might benefit a lot by just having you learn how to do this type of massage. I would also ask if there is compensation for your participation.   My ds participated in a kinetic study, and received gift cards for showing up.  He was very excited about it and dh took time off work to take him. Unfortunately, even though ds was willing to participate in all the sessions, one of the college students performing the study never scheduled him to complete it their portion.  

[kaPOW!]

thanks for the responses!!

it's real. and it's had really great results in other studies. http://www.qsti.org/

i wouldn't be able to see the results of this study until it was over, so after we'd gone through the whole study, unfortunately. but i've heard really good things.

i asked some facebook friends about it and one of them is currently reading the book and it sounds like it's really designed to be a home therapy. so, while it would benefit my son to have a trained professional who knows what she's doing to do the massages every week, supposedly i could do it myself at he'd still benefit.

i wouldn't be compensated for this study, which i thought was really weird. and i'd have to make a major commitment, and also forgo any other new treatments - which would suck because my son is on a "social learning circle" waiting list that will probably pull his name at some point.

so, i think i'm going to pass. if a whole slew of mdc mamas had responded with "Yes! do it! what a great opp" i'd think longer and harder about it.

[melissa17s]

Could you ask your OT to incorporate some of the Qigong into your ds's therapy or teach you how, so you can get some of the potential benefits?  

[babygirlie]

You can see them do it on youtube. Just saying... ;)

[PNWmama]

Originally Posted by melissa17s 

Could you ask your OT to incorporate some of the Qigong into your ds's therapy or teach you how, so you can get some of the potential benefits?  

Yes, this!  Our OT gave us a mini lesson on how to do Qigong and gave us the book as well.  We do it at home, and our OT has come back to check in on our technique and make sure we are doing all the movements correctly.  It is meant to be a home-based therapy between the child and a loving caregiver.  We've only been doing it for a few weeks and haven't really noticed a difference or anything yet, but it's become a really nice part of our son's bed time routine, and he enjoys getting his massage.  If anything it's nice way to connect with your child.

[kaPOW!]

yes, that's exactly what i was thinking i would do. borrow my friend's book and dvd and learn the technique, and then have the ot check it out to see if i'm doing it correctly. seems like a better option than making that crazy time commitment that benefits the study more than it does us (as compared to just doing it at home w/out participating in the study). 

thanks for the feedback everyone! i'm glad to hear it's going well for you pnw. i wonder if there's been a push for this more in the northwest or something? 

[PNWmama]

Originally Posted by kaPOW! 

 i wonder if there's been a push for this more in the northwest or something? 

If I remember correctly the OT who started the Qigong massage study is based in Portland.