Jess
Hi, I’m Jess.

Sara
And I’m Sara and we’re from the Geelong Neuro Centre. We are empowered people, empowering people, and the aim of this podcast is to empower you. Hey, Jess, how you going?

Jess
Hey, Sara. I’m good. How are you?

Sara
Yeah, good. I’m really excited about today’s podcast. Do you want to introduce our guests and tell us a little bit about it?

Jess
Yeah. So we have Christine with us today to have our conversation for the podcast. So Christine and her family live in Mortlake, a regional town in Victoria, for the simple fact of the location of their residents, they face significant barriers to accessing specialised healthcare services. The distance from major healthcare centres, limited local resources and the need for frequent travel presents ongoing challenges for their family. Despite these hurdles, Christine has been proactive in seeking out the best possible care for her two year old son, Arlo. Arlo has been diagnosed with spastic diplegia, cerebral palsy, and requires regular therapy. Christine and Dan make the four hour round trip from Mortlake to Geelong to have access to the care that Arlo needs, as well as Christine and Arlo making their way to Geelong, we also make the trip out to Mortlake for OT, enabling us to provide tailored approaches for Arlo’s care in his home environment. We are extremely grateful to Christine for making the journey to join us today and share her journey with us. Welcome, Christine.

Christine
Thanks. Thanks for having me.

Sara
Welcome, Christine. Should we start? Do you want to take us back to the start of Arlo’s journey and yeah. Can you talk to us about his diagnosis and how that came about?

Christine
Yes. So Arlo, we had his 18 month maternal health nurse appointment and he was still commando crawling and I knew that there was probably something, I mean, he was going to take a little bit longer, but I didn’t know what it was and she advised that we go and see the physio in Warrnambool at Southwest Healthcare.

Sara
How long is Warrnambool away from your hometown?

Christine
Yeah, so Warrnambool is 40 minutes away. We’re inland. So Warrnambool is along the great Ocean road.

Sara
Yep.

Christine
So go there. We have an appointment and you don’t really think anything. Well, you don’t know, like, I’ve not had. He’s my first.

Sara
Yep.

Christine
So you go and she’s assessing him and watching him do things and she goes away and then she comes back and she basically just says, flat out, I think he has spastic diplegic cerebral palsy.

Sara
Wow.

Christine
And it was kind of like, oh, okay, right. That’s a bit of a. I don’t even know what that means.

Sara
Yeah, you know, was that in that initial appointment as well that you attended? So you took him to this appointment, all of a sudden.

Christine
And Dan didn’t come with me. I was by myself because it was just like, I thought we were just going to get assessed and then maybe we’d have maybe another follow up appointment. So we’re there for a little bit, like for probably half an hour to an hour or so. And, yeah, she just laid it out on me and I was kind of like, oh, how do you tell? What do you do? Yeah, it was. She caught me off guard. And also, just, by the way, it just came out. It was just like, wow.

Sara
Yeah.

Christine
So. And then she, you know, she’s like, oh, well, I know this is a lot to take in and blah, blah. And as I’m walking out, she’s, are you okay? And I’m like, yeah, I’m fine. I’m like, I’m okay. And we’ve seen many people through this journey, and you sort of get different vibes from people.

Sara
Yeah.

Christine
And, I mean, she was doing her job, but her approach was a little rough. You know, it was just. It was just. It was very matter of fact. And you kind of, like, which I guess you need, but in the same breath when you know you’re there just thinking you’re gonna get a consult, and then all of a sudden it’s like, this is it. This is what I think he has. So it wasn’t even confirmed. And then it was just a process, which was actually quite a quick process. Had to go to the GP, get a referral. GP sort of assessed him, and this GP was an intern, but he was amazing. He was absolutely amazing.

Sara
Was that in Warrnambool as well?

Christine
Yeah, in Warrnambool. So we do everything basically in warnable and got the referral to vpRs, which is the Victorian paediatric rehabilitation services for kids. And we sort of saw them for a little bit. And basically what they tell you is, in order to get diagnosed, you need to have an MRI. And at that stage, Arlo Washington, he hadn’t turned two yet, and to do that, they have to put him under anesthetic.

Sara
Yeah. Wow.

Christine
So we’re just like, we’re just gonna hold off for a little bit. And in the meantime, we went and saw a hip specialist because they wanted x rays for his hips as well. Just in case of hip dysplasia.

Sara
Yep.

Christine
And we saw a brilliant person. I can’t for the life of me remember his name. But we saw a brilliant doctor in John at Barwon Heads and he said just to hold off a little bit, you know, only cause he was so young. And then it just got to the point where we were like, oh, we kind of need to do this now. So in October, he had the MRI last year.

Sara
Yep.

Christine
And probably a week or two later we got the diagnosis. So. Yeah, yeah.

Sara
And how did you go in that week or two?

Christine
Like, well, by that stage, you already kind of know. And he was progressing, but just not at the rate that a child that age is progressing normally would. So, yeah, we kind of knew, you know, and I guess to have that confirmation was probably a good thing. Cause you’re like, okay, well, what do we do now?

Sara
Yeah. Gave you some direction.

Christine
Yeah, that’s right. What do we do? So what do we do moving forward?

Jess
What direction were you given?

Christine
So after VPRs and we got the MRI done, we were, we needed to find a paediatric a Pediatrician. Sorry. And I dealt with a coordinator at Southwest Healthcare in Warrnambool, which was. She was amazing. Absolutely brilliant. And she sort of assigned us to a paediatrician and she also told us about ndis and helped us along with that and who we should go and see with regards to that. And then basically we’d have the confirmation. So she had said to us, look, the paediatrician doesn’t really want to see you because they’re just going to reiterate what you already know. But I, he basically needs, you know, possibly a physio, possibly an OT, possibly a speech therapist. So, you know, that’s what you need to be looking at. And that was up to me. That was up to me to find. So they can give you recommendations and she was amazing like that. But she also said that you, in our area, it’s an 18 month wait. Yeah. Wow. Yeah.

Sara
Yeah.

Christine
And he was not even two and a half. And it’s such a huge developmental phase. You don’t have 18 months. Like, what you can do in that 18 months. And what we have done in that time is amazing.

Sara
Yeah.

Christine
So it was kind of up to me to find out what we do. Yeah.

Sara
Did you, had you had any experience in the healthcare world before? Like, did you know what an OT was? What a speechie was?

Christine
I had to google it.

Sara
Yeah.

Christine
Thanks God for Google.

Sara
Yeah.

Christine
I wouldn’t know anything. I mean, a physio, yes. But obviously physios for children are different.

Sara
Yeah.

Christine
Ot had to look that up.

Sara
Yep. Exercise physiology.

Christine
So it did all that and then once I sort of read up on what they all did, tried to get an understanding. Okay, so these are the people that I need. And then I think it was December, mid December to late December, actually, I remember it. It was the 27 December. So it was a couple of days after Christmas, and I got online and I just started googling and searching. So we’re lucky enough to have family in Melbourne. So I thought we go to Melbourne or we go to Geelong, because Geelong is not too far away for us and we can manage the trip. So looked up in Melbourne and just found that a lot of places that I found in Melbourne were they dealt with cerebral palsy, but not what Arlo needed. So it was for hands, for motor skills, General Motor fine skills. And then I thought, you know what? I’ll look up in Geelong. And then I found GNC. And I loved.

Sara
Did we come up high in our sanctuary feedback for us.

Christine
I have to actually think about that. I think there were a couple before you, actually. But I clicked onto the. I looked at a couple and I’m like, yeah, no, no, that doesn’t feel right. Gut instinct, too. You know, what you feel when you’re looking up things and, no, that doesn’t suit. I don’t think that fits. And then I loved that there was a picture of everyone and they had a little profile on what they did. And in my head I was like, oh, I hope I get that one. But then you’re like, oh, well, maybe they’re not the right fit for you. So I remember sending the email off and the referral, because we had done everything beforehand with vprs and whatnot. I didn’t need any other referrals, basically. And we had an NDIS plan that was getting ready and I emailed and I think I heard a week. Well, because it was over the Christmas period, I wasn’t expecting to hear back straight away. And I got a reply email that day, and I’m like, yeah, I think these are my people.

Sara
Yeah, good.

Christine
So. And then, yeah, I think it was a week or two later, appointments were made and we were here.

Sara
Amazing.

Christine
Yeah, it was. It was really, really good.

Sara
Yeah, good, good. And then you. So you see Jess from Ep?

Jess
Yes. I came in a little bit later into the therapy team. So you started off with physiotherapy, OT, and speech at the same time. So you’ve got Max for OT, Rachel for speech and Joy for physiotherapy.

Christine
Yeah, we had joy. Yep. Joy’s gone now.

Jess
She’s on maternity leave.

Christine
She’s on maternity leave. Yes. We had Joy and I think it was maybe first or second appointment, possibly second appointment with Joy.

Jess
I did jump in. Yes, I came in.

Sara
Yeah.

Christine
Because she. Joy sort of watched him moving around and she said, you know, do you mind? I’m just going to bring Jess in. I’m like, bring in whoever you need. You know, you guys know what you’re doing. And that’s how we were put onto intensive therapy.

Jess
Yeah. Which is that collaborative approach is something we strive for at GNC. And that’s a good example of it. Joy was like, I’m just gonna get a second pair of eyes. What do you think? And then we actually caught up after that and we had a really great discussion about everything. And. Cause I know we were looking at, does he need casting or splinting for his lower limbs?

Christine
Yeah. Cause we didn’t know any of that at the time. It was just things that were thrown around that you just. We had no idea. Yep.

Jess
Cause Arlo has quite significant pronation in his bilateral feet. So. Both feet.

Sara
Yeah.

Jess
So one.

Sara
Should I go into what pronation?

Jess
So pronation is a very collapsed through the arches and slightly turned out with his toes. So we just wanted to know if that was impacting on any of his function. And then. So we just wanted to double cheque. If there was anything else that would be required to help that. But we Joy and I worked together and we recommended some first walker shoes, which are a rigid shoe. They’re kind of in between an AFO and a regular shoe. They just provide a little bit more support. And then you did go back to the vprs, I think, to get a review, which Joy recommended.

Christine
Yes. An early review.

Jess
Early review. And they recommended that the first Walker shoes were great and to stick with them and not to do casting.

Christine
Yeah. So casting, I think because he has. He actually has good flexibility and good movement. So casting, he wasn’t going to benefit from casting. In our minds, we like.

Sara
Do you know what casting was when these guys were mentioning it?

Christine
Google. That’s where I find everything.

Sara
So for our listeners, it is putting the leg or an arm in a cast which has a bit of flexibility in it, but giving that limb a bit of a prolonged stretch to try and get more range and reduce some tone.

Christine
Yeah. Well, a friend of mine has cerebral palsy and she introduced me to her mum, and her mum was a wealth of knowledge and had to do all of this many, many years ago. And she first mentioned the casting to me. So when she did it was quite confronting. Cause I’m like, oh, wow. Okay. So how long’s that on for? And, you know, like, obviously he’s not gonna be able to move and.

Sara
Yeah.

Christine
Anyway. But no, she sort of said, VPR has said that we could get the afos if we wanted to, but the shoes were doing the same thing.

Sara
Yeah. Good.

Christine
And it just seemed like, I mean, if we had the shoes, they were doing the right thing and doing what? Something where he’d need to get fitted for and we’ve got to get changed every six months. It just seemed unnecessary. I think it’s unnecessary to use the funding if you don’t need it. I’d rather put that towards buying more shoes, you know, that he needs. And he loves his shoes. He liked them really well.

Jess
He did.

Christine
He likes. So now he says shoes. When we see the shoes, he loves to put his shoes on. So, no, the shoes are amazing. They’re really, really great. And again, just having to omit that whole sizing up and then, you know. Cause they grow so quickly. So you’re having to change these all the time at a cost.

Sara
Yeah. So, yeah, I imagine during your time there would have been a lot of things you’re probably googling along the way in.

Christine
So many things. So many things.

Sara
But teams saying. And you’re like, what’s that?

Christine
Yeah. And the other thing is, too, when you google, you can go down a rabbit hole. So you’re googling things and it’s like, oh, my gosh, does this apply to me? And you’re sort of reading things that you probably don’t need to be reading, but some things are really helpful, too. Yeah, but just to be up on the terminology is kind of good. Oh, yeah, I know what you’re talking.

Sara
About, and I bet you do now. I bet you. All over the lingo.

Christine
All over it.

Sara
Yeah. Can we go back to Malt Lake for a second? Sure. Tell us a little bit about Maltlake, I think. Yeah, we were just having a bit of a chat about the roadhouse there.

Christine
Avenue of honour.

Sara
Yeah. Tell us about the town of Mortlake. And.

Christine
Yeah, I think there’s under 2000 people. It’s a very little town, but it’s a lovely town and we came across it twelve years ago and in September will be twelve years that we’ve been there, which I don’t even know where that time’s gone, but it’s a really. It’s a lovely community. You are on the outskirts a little bit, but 40 minutes away is Warrnambool and the beach and I think maybe 50 minutes to an hour is port ferry.

Sara
Yeah. Wow.

Christine
Halls gap and the Grampians are close to an hour away the other way, you know, so we’re central to these lovely little places and it’s little.

Sara
Yeah.

Christine
And, like a lot of regional towns in that area, you rely on big towns to kind of get your help. So, you know, the smaller towns like your Terang and your Mortlake and others that need help, go to Warrnambool. Hence why the waiting list are so long.

Sara
Is there any healthcare supports available in Mortlake? Are there any physios or ot’s or.

Christine
No, not that I’m aware of. There’s a GP, like, we have a GP, and that’s pretty much about it. There’s a smaller hospital in Turang for sort of minor things, which we’ve kind of gone to before, but Warrnambool, really, where you go and what they have is great. What they have is great in Warrnambool, but it’s just people rely on it. So many different people rely on it from so many different areas that, you know, waiting lists are super, super long. So it’s tough.

Sara
Massive challenge.

Christine
It’s tough for families that don’t have other options.

Sara
Yep.

Christine
Yeah.

Sara
Yeah. And it’s something that we feel really passionate about from g and Z is helping those people that don’t have the same access to healthcare as someone in a bigger town.

Christine
Absolutely.

Sara
Who lives in a bigger town and. Yeah. Just because someone chooses to live in a smaller community, which is amazing, they shouldn’t be disadvantaged.

Christine
Absolutely. It’s sad. I mean, it’s sad that we don’t have a little, you know, a few more specialties, but, I mean, it’s understandable. I can understand it, but, yeah, it just means that you have to. You have to travel.

Sara
Yeah.

Jess
And I know you travel to us quite a lot of time, but we have also traveled out to Mortlake. Mortlake. I know Max has been Max.

Christine
It’s funny because Max actually has someone in Mortlake that he sees, but whenever we try to get Max, it’s always when we’re here. So we’re still trying to get Max because he. I think it’s every second Wednesday or something like that, he’s in Mortlake. And what are the chances of that?

Sara
I know.

Christine
So we were actually just making appointments before and we’ve changed the day. So it will be great, that option, to come to our place and just to see him in his environment and moving around and how he’s adapted and then working out a way of how to make it easier for him, sort of thing. So seeing him in his place and his environment is amazing. So I’m looking forward to having Max come over.

Sara
I think he just guides everything as a therapist. I think if you can see the way that someone functions in their environment and kids are really smart and they can find adaptive ways of doing things, but.

Christine
Absolutely, yeah.

Sara
What else can. What other strategies and therapy can we try?

Christine
Because, I mean, being in that space, you kind of adapt, but there are things that you might not notice and that you might not see. And then for someone to come in and go, hey, maybe you could do this. And, oh, I never thought of that.

Sara
You know, and then putting in a lot of the strategies that, like techniques that you’re working on with Jess and how can you build that back into the home environment?

Jess
So it’s so smart, like contextual, too. So many times parents come in and go, they do it every time they’re in here, but they won’t do it at home or they won’t do it in daycare. And it’s. And technically, a skill isn’t achieved until we can replicate it in any environment. So we won’t tick off that goal until it is being replicated and it’s functional in all environments. But, oh, my gosh, kids, they come in here and they’re like, I got this. And they go back home and they go, I’m not doing that.

Christine
I’m not doing that. Yeah, and it’s because you’re instructing them to do it when someone else is doing it, they’re less, you know, not likely to push back as much.

Sara
Yeah.

Christine
So, yeah, yeah.

Jess
Kind of how we’re going with the walker at the moment.

Christine
At the moment, yes. We’ve been trialling a walker, which to start with was amazing and a novelty.

Sara
Yeah.

Christine
So he was climbing on it, ready to get in, and then in the last two weeks, it’s just been throwing himself around and not wanting to be strapped in, and it’s loose. He’s not strapped in, you know, and he can’t move. Very, very dramatical. So we’re kind of struggling with that a little bit. And then you say walk, and he’s just like, no, I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to do that. So that’s what. That’s a little. There’s a little bit of pushback at the moment, which I have to say we’ve been really lucky. We haven’t had much. So I’m hoping that changes soon because our goal is for him to walk independently. Yeah. You know, amazing.

Jess
And he’s doing a great job to achieve that goal.

Sara
He is.

Christine
He is like his strength and the DMI, which I can’t, I can’t praise enough.

Jess
When did you first hear about it as well? Actually, DMI.

Christine
So actually when I was researching, to start with, when I was looking at places, there was a place near my parents house, actually, like right around the corner from my parents place. And initially I thought, well, it’s near mum and dad’s place, I don’t have to travel far. They get to see him, spend time with him. And then I was reading a little bit about it and as the word says, I guess it sounded quite intensive, you know, and I thought, but this was more so for adults. I think they did do children as well, but I was just looking at the times and I’m just like, oh, is that a lot for a little person? I don’t know.

Sara
So DMI is a therapy technique.

Jess
Yeah. So dynamic. I’m sorry, DMI stands for dynamic movement intervention. So it’s a technique that treats motor delays in children by improving automatic postural responses. And what we’re trying to do is facilitate neuroplasticity to achieve developmental milestones. So we are challenging their motor skills. We assess and where are they at currently? And then we prescribe a really. It’s a movement based intervention and trying to get them to achieve their subsequent milestones. So we’re using gravity to our advantage and we start off by being quite hands on and helping them to start off with, but the goal is to get them more independent so they’re less reliant on us and we’re challenging those motor skills. Yeah. And we do that in an intensive intervention most of the time.

Sara
Which is a consolidated amount of therapy in one time. And so every day for a week or something like that.

Jess
Yeah. Our programmes here, we go from anywhere from one week to three weeks and anywhere from 1 hour to 3 hours. It could be one discipline or multiple disciplines. So with Arlo, we do adjust those intensive frequency and times based off the client’s goals, how regulated they are through the session as well, and how much they can tolerate, and then based off their condition as well. So with Arlo, we do about an hour and a half to 2 hours.

Christine
Yeah.

Jess
And he tolerates that really, really well.

Christine
He does, yeah. Yeah. And I have to have snacks. We need lots of snacks if anyone’s thinking about doing it. Lots of snacks. What’s your favourite? We do tiny teddies last fortnight, I had M and M’s, and that was just for physio. That wasn’t even intensive. Sometimes fruit. Grapes. Grapes.

Sara
To keep them going.

Christine
Yeah.

Jess
There is research into that with intensive therapy, too, doing regular food breaks, especially in CP, they are using so much of their energy that you need to replenish that energy, of course. And it’s fascinating. Yeah, it’s very fascinating. But if you think about it, if you’ve got a marathon runner, Sarah, actually, marathon runner, and you’re going to take gels and you’re going to replenish your stores throughout that marathon. It’s the exact same approach with therapy, too. We need to be replacing these energy stores so they’re not fatiguing and we can keep challenging them.

Christine
And it gives him a little break.

Sara
Yeah.

Christine
Has something it kind of forgets that he was annoyed and then you kind of get back into it.

Sara
Yeah.

Christine
But when you see the look of recognition when he’s done something and he kind of looks at you and we’ve gotten some footage of that, like, I did it, it’s worth it, you know, and it’s hard because, you know, like, you have to push them and you have to be tough.

Sara
What sort of things are you doing with the DMI therapy?

Christine
Oh, lots of things. Yeah, lots of things. So we did our first two week session, but it was about three or four days a week, I think, for two weeks. That was in January. And from then to the next session, which we did in April. Yep, I think it was April.

Jess
The next intensive?

Christine
Yeah, yeah, the next intensive was in April. Like, there were things that Jess tried that he wasn’t really ready for yet. Sort of like standing up from a squat position with support. Support. And then doing that in April. Smashed it.

Sara
Amazing.

Christine
Like, you know, even just within one day. So when you look at. And then when you look at the videos of everything put together from day to day, you kind of. You’re blown away, you know? And so you know that you’re doing the right thing, and that’s massive.

Sara
For home, it means that he can pick up a toy and play with it. He can.

Christine
Yeah.

Sara
Start working on some of those self care skills.

Christine
That’s right.

Sara
And you sort of just interact with his environment.

Christine
That’s it. You don’t really notice it until you come home and he’s moving differently. Or, of course he does it when you’re not watching and then you catch a glimpse of it and you’re like, oh, great, I missed that. But testing himself. So he’s been testing himself with balance.

Jess
Yeah.

Christine
And letting go of things. So the last intensive, we wanted him to take an independent step off the wall, so that didn’t happen. Yeah, but we’re so close, like, so, so, so close.

Jess
He is able to stand independently now.

Christine
Yes.

Jess
Which is what we. Our very first intensive, he wasn’t there yet. And through that second intensive, although we’re really great at taking supported steps with quite minimal support, I would say towards.

Christine
The end they were.

Jess
Yeah. But what he is doing is he’s standing independently now, which is great because that we need that to be able to then have that independence through gait and work into that dynamic balance.

Christine
So it just shows strengthening, you know, like, he’s definitely strengthening.

Sara
Yeah. Amazing.

Christine
His hips and his leg. And his leg muscles. And it seems more confident because I find more than anything, it’s not the lack of ability, it’s the lack of confidence. So when you see that look of recognition of, oh, I did it, it reinforces to him. You can do it. You just need to try, you know? So he’s still a little bit fearful about. So he’ll come off the wall.

Jess
Yeah.

Christine
But not take that second step because he’s. What we found is if we’re there, he’ll just free fall onto us because he knows that there because he can. That’s right. So it’s kind of like, can’t free fall anymore. Mum’s not gonna. But that’s hard too. But you have to do it.

Sara
You must be as hard as a mum.

Christine
Yeah, it is. It is. But when you look at the end goal, you know it’s worth it. Yeah, it’s worth it for sure.

Sara
And he’s not gonna hurt himself. Like, it’s in a controlled way. You’re not expecting this. Concrete protective reflexes.

Christine
Yes, he does. He does. He’s got very great protective reflexes.

Jess
We were. And something that’s really helped his gait pattern is his walker. So Joy Physio has prescribed a walker for Arlo. And like you were saying before, first few weeks, loving it, suddenly not liking it too much. But that’s been amazing for his gait pattern.

Christine
Absolutely. Like, the steps are stronger, they’re more prominent, and then we do them. At first I was doing them because one of the things that joy was saying is the shoes are great, but you also want his muscle memory to try and hold his feet straight and not become reliant of his shoes. So we do walking with no shoes and shoes as well. So half the day I don’t even.

Sara
Be into that very much around our foothouse. Wearing your flat shoes over there.

Christine
So, yeah, we do no shoes and shoes, which is comfortable in both. You know, but it’s just trying to get him to like the walker. Yeah, again.

Sara
Yeah, again.

Christine
So I find that if we’re outside, it’s amazing because it’s a different level of him looking at things so he can see things higher as an approach to looking up.

Sara
Yeah.

Christine
So he’s noticing things at a standing level and then. Yeah. Now that the weather’s gonna get a little bit yucky, it’s gonna be hard to do those walks outside. But we’ll do our best.

Sara
Yeah, yeah.

Jess
And we spoke about. We were just talking before in the hallway. How do we do our ad hoc.

Christine
Conversations where we come up with all the best ideas?

Jess
We are gonna do hydrotherapy as well with our cloak. So excited about. Yeah, we’re gonna go to the pool where it’s about Addy’s chest height and work on his independent walking in the water just to take some of that weight off for him to. And he loves water.

Sara
Loves water.

Christine
Loves water. And I was saying to Jess, so the only place where he’ll attempt to stand from a squatting position on his own is in the bath.

Sara
Yeah.

Christine
Obviously to give me a heart attack. Yes. But also, I don’t know, warm water, maybe muscles are relaxed and whatnot, but he’s. And I guess he feels safe.

Sara
Yeah.

Christine
Because the baths around him and if he needs to hold on, he does. But very confident in water. So when Jess. When I read the report, her report and she mentioned hydrotherapy, I was like, amazing. Yeah, I can’t wait.

Sara
Yeah, good.

Christine
Yeah.

Sara
Good. And you’ll do that at a local pool in Geelong.

Jess
Yeah, yeah. We’ll go down to Leisurelink, which is a council pool about five minutes from the centre. Yeah. I’ve been using their kiddie pool quite a lot for therapy lately.

Christine
I think. Think he’ll respond to it great. I think he’ll love it. I can’t wait.

Sara
Tell us about some of the things you’re working on in your other therapies as well. So your speech therapy and your professional therapy.

Christine
Yeah, so speech. So sometimes we do our speech and occupational therapy appointments together. And that’s another thing that I love about GNC is because his whole team’s here, so it’s, you can just pull up someone and have a conversation with them. Oh, you know, this is what we were thinking. So Arlo’s really started the sentence, putting sentences together and that’s just been in the last week or two. So with speech, it’s just engaging in that and just trying to push that forward with Ot. His fine motor skills are amazing, so there are really no issues there. Max just pretty much observes how he moves around and sort of comes up with different ideas of maybe how we can approach things. The speech we do once a month, we see Rachel once a month. Yeah, we see Max for OT and physio, which is now Megan, every fortnight.

Sara
Yep.

Christine
And sometimes Max comes in with their physio appointments as well, and just sort of helps along and just watches his movement. But for the moment, for the time being, I guess he’s kind of happy with how things are going. We’re in the process of obtaining a walker, so we were just trialing the walker.

Sara
Yeah, great.

Christine
So I’ve just sent all that stuff through NDIs and that will be the next thing. Walker and then possibly our next DMI session. Yeah, in the next couple. Couple of months, maybe.

Sara
Yep, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jess
I’ve got some dates. I’ll check out it.

Christine
I was thinking about it, I’m like, well, when are we gonna go next?

Jess
Yeah, going back to that, how do you find. We’ve spoken about, like, the intensives. I know we’ve got like, conventional therapy, which we do as well, but that’s more that, like one session a week or fortnight, which is kind of what you’re doing more with physio and OT in speech. That conventional style at the moment for you. What’s the big difference with the intensive therapy and conventional therapy?

Christine
I think it would have taken Arlo to reach the goals that he has longer if we didn’t do intensive.

Sara
Yeah.

Christine
And each therapist is different.

Jess
Yeah.

Christine
The way they look at things, not to say anybody’s better or different, they’re just different. And because it was. And funding is also another thing because you have to sort of work out, okay, well, this is how much I was allocated, and because I haven’t done this before, you don’t know how many sessions they need and how often they need them. And so we’ve worked out, or the team’s worked out out that once a fortnight for physio and OT, once a month for speech, and then we throw DMI in the mix and we’ve been able to do that, thankfully. But I don’t feel that he. I mean, when you look from day one to day six of intensive therapy, it’s mind blowing, absolutely mind blowing at what their little bodies can do and what their bodies remember, you know, and so had we not done that, I think he would be where he is now later on in the year, you know, because we’re only going once. I mean, and it probably would have been once a week, but I just, I don’t feel that that’s enough. They’re little, but they’re resilient and you don’t push them any further than what they can do. But the DMI is, like I said, when you see the difference and you watch the videos. Cause when you’re in it, you’re kind of like pumping him up and trying to get excited. Well, not trying to, you’re excited and, you know, getting through the session, depending on how many tantrums or whatever they have. But then when you look back and you watch your videos, you’re like, oh, my God. Like, the strength from day one to.

Sara
Day eight, it’s amazing.

Christine
Is insane.

Sara
Yeah.

Christine
So.

Jess
And although we do challenge kids, it’s still led by the child. It’s still fun.

Christine
That’s right.

Jess
There’s still. It’s functional play. We’re not pushing them above a threshold where we’re starting to inhibit neuroplasticity. We’re always, we’re working with the child and sometimes there’s a few grizzles. So you go to a heavy squat at the gym and you go, oh, that was hard.

Christine
Absolutely.

Sara
We all grizzled.

Jess
Yeah, sometimes you get those grizzles and that’s okay. But it’s always led and motivated by the child.

Christine
That’s right. And I think if he didn’t like it, the minute we’d pull up to the building, he’d hate it. But the minute we pull up, he’s got a smile on his face and we come in and we see the therapist. And I was actually just saying to Dan before, like, did you see him with Max? Like, he was just leaning on Max, playing with his cars and just, like, completely flopped on him, you know, so he’s completely relaxed.

Sara
Yeah.

Christine
And children, they remember if they’re not happy with something or they’re, you know, they’re not going to want to do it again. And then it comes down to, he knows what he can do, you know, so the little looks of recognition or the smiles, you’re like, I did it. And sometimes he says, we did it. That’s when you know, you know, like, no, we’re doing the right thing, you know, we definitely are. So, yeah, yeah.

Sara
There’s a lot going on for you as a mum and a carer and having your own life and what, life? Yeah. Kind of goes out the door as a mum, doesn’t it? And Arlo as well. And. Yeah. How do you. Do you have things to cope, like strategies for you to cope?

Christine
You have your support groups, as in friend groups. So I have some really amazing friend groups. They’re always checking in. I have a mum’s group on Snapchat where we talk every day, although I’m a bit behind on the Snapchats at the moment. They’re always checking in. We send through videos of his progress sent through one the other day, and they’re like, my God, that’s amazing. But they’re always checking in. So how are you doing? You’re doing amazing, you know, and that’s really important. And also, I think, just taking the time out to do things for you on your own, even if it is just grocery shop quietly, it’s still a chore. But if you can do it quietly on your own, listen to a podcast on the way there. That’s the one thing I do like about the drive to Geelong, is I get to put my podcast on or whatever, and that’s kind of my time.

Sara
Yeah.

Christine
And I’m doing something that I want to do.

Sara
Yeah.

Christine
Because when you’re at home, it’s.

Sara
You’ve got all the daily things that you need to be doing.

Christine
It’s chores, it’s child. It’s everything, you know? So. And sometimes you put yourself on the back burner, because that’s just what you do sometimes. But you do have to remember to. No, I’m gonna take 5, 10, 20 minutes out to just not do anything, you know, so. But you have to remember to do that. You have to be a little bit selfish.

Sara
Yeah.

Christine
Or you’ll lose your mind.

Sara
Sounds like you do a great job at it. And you just highlighted the benefit of the online world as well, like the digital world. And being able to use Snapchat to catch up with your friends

Christine
Trying to.

Sara
Find time for a coffee might be.

Christine
But that’s the thing. When you, you know, when they’re mums and they have their own babies and their own things to do, it’s virtually impossible to try and organise catch ups and that kind of stuff. So if you can cheque in over the phone, you know, with a chat, say, I’m still alive, or I’m not, it’s important.

Sara
Yeah, yeah. Well done. I.

Christine
Thanks.

Sara
Do you have any advice for any other parents that might be in this situation?

Christine
I would say do your research. Always go with your gut, and if you need to take a minute. Take a minute. Whether it be, oh, I can’t deal with this right now, or this is a bit too much, give yourself that space to do that and that time to do that. But research is your. Is your thing and take the time to do it. I mean, yes, there is a bit of it, not a time limit, but, you know, especially with kids as. As young as Arlo is, and that developmental stage is really important. But don’t rush into anything. You know, do your due diligence and if you have an appointment with someone and you’re just not feeling it, then you’re not feeling it.

Sara
Yeah. And that’s okay.

Christine
And that’s okay. Yeah, that’s right. Because at the end of the day, you and your child need to be comfortable and happy and the team, you all need to be on the same page. And sometimes they know better than you, sometimes they don’t. As the mum part, I think, you know, I don’t mean that in a negative way.

Sara
You’re the expert on your child.

Christine
Yeah, yeah. But. And don’t be afraid to push them either, because they’re resilient and, yeah, it’s. Yeah, you can. I mean, I don’t know if you can hear it, but he’s outside now doing his physio and he was kicking up a storm.

Sara
That’s him. He did well zoning that out.

Christine
That’s him. Oh, yeah, that was. I’m just like, oh, God, stop. But just listen to your mum gut. Listen to your mother instinctively and do what’s best for you and your child. You know, and if something’s given to you and it’s not, you’re not the advice, you’re not sitting right, then go somewhere else.

Sara
Yeah.

Christine
You know, I think that’s important. You have to be happy and your child has to be happy. Yeah. And we have that here.

Sara
Yeah, great.

Christine
We do. He’s super, super happy. I mean, he doesn’t sound it right now because we’re asking him to do things, but he’s generally happy.

Sara
And. Any advice for anyone else in a rural area? Living.

Christine
Research. Yeah. And it’s really hard because we’re in a position where I had the option, if I needed to go to Melbourne, I could, you know, I have family there. My parents are there, I have friends there. So we had somewhere to stay. If we had appointments we could get to, you know, and you do the drive, you do whatever you can and what you need to, but utilise what’s around you and ask questions. The coordinator at the paediatric place that we deal with. She’s incredible. Absolutely incredible. And so I haven’t heard of too many people in our situation. I just know that there’s a really long waiting list. And if you do have the option to go somewhere else or, you know, try and find help elsewhere, then do it for sure. It’s hard, though.

Sara
Yeah.

Christine
And they do have support groups and things, but. Yeah, I don’t think they’re specific to one group or it’s just parents with special needs children and other things. Things. And use those support groups if you don’t have the support network like friends and family, because that’s what they’re there for, to help. And sometimes you do need to just be able to vent with a parent in the same instance as, you know. But apart from that. Yeah, I think that’s it.

Sara
Good advice.

Christine
Thanks.

Jess
Great advice. Thank you so much. Oh, you’re welcome to have a chat to us today.

Christine
Thanks for having me.

Jess
Yeah. And excited for what Arlo is going to achieve next.

Christine
Me too. I’m really looking forward to this hydrotherapy.

Jess
Yeah. Let’s book that in after, I think.

Sara
So.

Jess
Let’s do it. Thanks, Christine.

Sara
Thanks, Christine. Thanks for joining us.

Christine
Bye.

Sara
Thank you.