Clover House Therapy - The Complementary Therapy Centre for Children

When we first came to visit you for an initial assessment in December 2002, we brought along with us a very sad and angry little boy.  Charlie, a child with learning difficulties and behaviour difficulties, had received no one to one support in school since starting in September 2001. As a result of this he was unable to cope in the school environment, was not accessing the learning programme and had become very stressed and anxious.

 

Charlie is a confident and extrovert character and when faced with situations he can’t understand or cope with, he doesn’t become withdrawn or shy.  Quite the opposite, he gets angry and aggressive, shouting and hitting out and refusing to comply.  Unfortunately this behaviour gets him into difficulties at school and he has been restrained often by a number of adults.  He has also been punished for his behaviour with exclusion from school.

 

We see very little of this behaviour at home.  Probably because Charlie feels happy and safe and part of a secure loving family.  He understands the home environment, respects the boundaries and has support from 4 family members.  We just couldn’t relate to the Charlie we were hearing about at school.

 

By the time we came to see you, Charlie was extremely distressed.  He had lost his confidence and was very run down.  Charlie was at this time only able to attend school for afternoons and just wanted to spend the morning watching videos and eating.  He no longer wanted to go for his swimming lessons or his weekly horse riding lesson, activities he used to enjoy.  He had started wetting himself and was not sleeping well.  It was heartbreaking to watch this little boy ‘shrinking’ in front of us.  We felt unable to help him and felt every time we took him to school we were almost betraying him.

 

Although Charlie wasn’t the easiest child for you to work with, we followed the advice you have given us.  Charlie now drinks goats milk, has no flavoured crisps and we look carefully at the labels when buying food.  Charlie is on a course of multi-vitamins and oil supplements.  He receives regular aromatherapy body massages when he seems a little stressed or over tired.

 

Charlie started back at school in January with full support and started visiting Clover House weekly.  The difference in Charlie has been truly amazing.  He is happy, confident and thoroughly enjoying school again.  His behaviour, though still challenging, has vastly improved and he has not been restrained or excluded in the seven weeks he has been back at school.

 

He has stopped wetting himself, is sleeping well and is generally full of beans. He can’t wait to get dressed and get into school.  He is showing an interest in books, computer games and asking about letters and numbers.  Such a change, because he had closed his mind to any learning and talking about reading, writing or numeracy made him react very angrily.

 

Charlie has been invited to tea with three different school friends, has been to two birthday parties and is socialising well with children in his class.

 

He has received two swimming certificates, has changed to a higher ability riding class and has received a school certificate for 100% good behaviour.  He recievd a glowing report at parents evening.  Students visiting the school again this year can’t believe he is the same child.  We have our son back.

 

I could go on and on……….!!

 

Thank you so much for the time you gave us.  It was a very healing experience for us all.

 

With love and thanks.

 

Charlie’s Mum and Dad