保護者様の声 Parents' voices

Ｓ君のご両親

息子はセラピーを受ける前までは、言葉も発することができず自分の意思を私たち家族や周囲の人たちに伝えることがままならない状態でした。

また行動も特定の興味を示しているものにしか関心がなく、食事についても偏食が激しい状態が続いていました。

そうした状況に対して、息子が表現する仕草や発語を少しでも理解しようと努めたり、言葉は出ないけど文字を書かせることで意思疎通を図るようにしてきました。

そうした中、セラピーを受けることで言葉については一語から二語、三語と少しずつではありますが発語がでるようになり、更には自分が興味を持っているものを話したり、今では幼稚園や小学校の音楽で歌を歌ったりするようになっています。まだ文章を話すというレベルではありませんが、学校の授業でも先生の質問に対して積極的に挙手して発言する様子を先日の授業参観で見る事ができました。たしかに発音の部分についてはまだ発展途上のところはありますが、何より息子が自分の意思で積極的に言葉を出そうとしていることは、セラピーを受ける前までは想像もつかなかったことで、それだけでも私たち家族にとっては大きな驚きであり喜びでもあります。

また行動についても絵本の読み聞かせや迷路のドリル、身体的に体幹を鍛えることなどを通じて心身両面において落ち着くようになり、これまで関心を示さなかったものに興味を持つなど大きく変わってきました。

さらに食事についても少しずつではありますが、色々な食べ物を食べれるようになり、以前は旅行に行ってもホテルの食事が食べれないことで本人には別でお弁当を用意するなど、窮屈な想いをさせていましたが、今ではだいぶ外食などの機会も増えました。また学校の給食を完食する時もあったり、走るのもしっかりと姿勢をとって早く走れるようになったりと身体的にも日常生活においても徐々に成長してきております。

これも石橋先生が教えていただいたことをベースに、本人の自我の成長が結びついてきた結果として表れてきているのではないかと思います。

やはり親の前では甘えの部分があるので、こうしたセラピーを受けることで本人が自主的にやろうとする意識を持ったことも、大きな成果に繋がったのではないかと思いますので、今後もこれまで教わってきたことをセラピーだけでなく家庭の日常でも実践していきたいと思います。

R's parents

   Before we started working with Masanori, our son was in a mainstream classroom, however, they were struggling with helping him. He would not sit and work quietly at a desk, or even sit nicely during circle time. He would run around the classroom, and many times get frustrated enough to throw tantrums and scream. He has communication difficulties, among other things; so he would not share toys very well, and was not very good at playing with or talking to other children or adults. He wouldn’t participate in any group activity or performance. 

   We realized early on in his life, that getting upset with him when he behaved poorly only ever seemed to make the situation worse, but we were at a loss on how to make things better. We had tried to work with him at home and with his teachers to always speak calmly and slowly to help teach him to use a nice “inside talking voice”, instead of screaming to get what he wanted.  We tried different rewards such as stickers, or treats for good behavior, but he was not quite grasping the concept. We even tried several medications recommended to us to help his attention span and to calm his behaviors. 

   He did show some very slow progress to some of the techniques we tried, but he seemed to make some big progress, and then take a few steps back. We were really struggling to help him learn to cope in the classroom. As he was only in Kindergarten, it was very important for him to be able to function at school for the rest of his life. He was coping, but it was a struggle for all involved. 

     After we started working with Masanori, our son made GIANT leaps. Both the school, and we at home saw huge changes. It was amazing. He learned how to finally sit and listen during circle time, and to sit and do worksheets during lesson time at school with the rest of the class. We got regular reports home from school that he had been playing together with his peers for the first time ever! His eye contact also jumped dramatically, as well as his use of full sentences when he requested something. He also learned to try new things, and Masanori worked with him to start eating a new variety of foods, which had also always been a struggle. We were so very happy about that! He even learned to participate in the group presentations, and most recently performed and sat nicely on the stage for his Kindergarten graduation! It was a miracle. Most importantly of all, his screaming behavior finally started to diminish. 

     Masanori has worked so well with us to create a comprehensive plan to help with his target behaviors, including tantrums and his sensory issues with food and clothing. We have been able to observe Masanori with our son, and then practice the same technique with success at home. He has helped us fill in the missing piece as well, with communication with our son. After following his advice on how to talk with him, and prepare our son appropriately for future events our life at home and at school changed immensely.  We have also been given excellent methods for working on schoolwork with our son now as well, and they have helped our little boy make incredible progress academically. Although he still has a long way to go, a year ago I couldn’t have imagined the progress our son has made with the help of Masanori. It has truly been amazing, and we will be forever grateful. 

   Masanori has helped us have the confidence to help our son learn new, more appropriate behaviors, even when at times it seems an uphill battle. We have seen incredible changes and results, so we know we can trust what he asks us to do in our home program.  

A's parents

We started therapy for our son in the beginning of March 2022. He was 3 years 3 months old when we started therapy. We had sessions thrice a week. It has been 8 months since we started ABA intervention. 

Before, he just played by himself and watched nursery rhymes on tv. He would always scream/cry when he wanted anything, frustrated as he couldn’t use his words. Due to Covid situation he mostly stayed indoors and would cry when we tried taking him outside. 

Now, his field of view broadened significantly, he enjoyed going to the river side to throw stones, then to the big park and even started going on the big slide on his own. He started exploring more outside. He started riding his strider and enjoys it a lot. Masa san taught us various exercises which helped our son say things like ‘thank you’, ‘help please’, ‘hungry, eat eat’, ‘“let’s go, come on’. He is trying his best to use words to ask for things instead of just pulling our hand and taking us to the things he wants. He is enjoying school more, as the therapist also did school shadowing. He used to not go to various places in his school for different activities, but now he can go any where in the school.

He can do many self help activities like wearing and taking off his jacket, washing hands, shoes and socks (with little help), eating with a spoon by himself. He is also trying to share toys with his peers and learning to wait for his turn. 

We feel he has improved a lot, he is a happier and calmer child. At home and outside he is enjoying things more. He is also saying bye bye, giving high five with eye contacts to people he is meeting for the first time.

In the future, we hope he is able to express himself more and make friends. We had a wonderful experience with his therapist and if we didn’t get a job transfer elsewhere we would’ve continued his therapy with Masa san for another year in Tokyo.