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Sunday, January 17, 2010

Family Hope Center in PA - anyone have success?

A parent on my Infantile Spasms list serve mentioned that her son's miracle http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/matthewgleason/journal/1 came from attending the seminars and workshops at the Family Hope Center in PA http://www.familyhopecenter.org/english/conditions/epilepsy.aspx - but it is expensive - the three day seminar - is $615 for one parent - $1000 if both parents attend (It is my understanding the child may not attend this session - so even if I was to attend- I have no idea as to who would watch Brextin) - Here is the agenda for all three days:

First Day:
Introduction – the Staff – Objectives and Goals
Understanding Your Child
The Source of Your Child’s Symptoms
The Degrees of Neurological Disorganization
The Integrative and Developmental Progression Chart
Evaluation and Diagnosis of Your Child
Questions for the Staff

Second Day:
How the Brain Functions
How the Brain Grows
The Principles for Creating an Excellent Program for Your Specific Child
The Foundation of Your Therapy Program – an Integrative Medical Approach
The Vital Importance of Oxygen for Your Child’s Success
How to Improve the Sensory Pathways
Teaching Your Child – the Fundamentals
How to Improve Your Child’s Ability to Learn
How to Improve Your Child’s Coordination
Questions for the Staff

Third Day:
The Vital Importance of Excellent Nutrition for Your Child’s Success
How to Improve Your Child’s Mobility Function
The Importance of ‘The Family’
How to Help Your Child Mature Socially
‘Mastering the Hour’ – Getting the Most Out of Your Day
Parent’s Certification and Comments

You would then pay an additional $3,450.00 to participate in a two-day appointment - Click this link to learn more - http://www.familyhopecenter.org/english/services/Two-Day-Appointments.aspx (Some parents said some insurance carriers do cover this appointment - since mine won't even pay for the feeding tubes to feed our son via g-tube my guess is that they will not approve it)

My husband of course is leery - I have emailed the center to receive some more information - I want to try anything that might help our son - I just don't want to be taken for our money - and given false hope!

15 comments:

  1. I know this is old, but I wanted to let you know that the Family Hope Center works miracles. Truly.

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  2. I just heard about the Family Hope Center and tried to contact them. I waited 15 minutes to speak to somebody and finally left a message. I also emailed them but haven't heard from them. My only question is how much does a therapy and treatment like theirs cost?

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  3. Well I need to clarify, I'm refering to the two-day treatment. And how often would a child need two-day treatments?

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  4. I'm sorry, I was so anxious. The answer is posted for the cost. But, is there a need for more than one two-day treatment? Monthly fee? Reevaluation?

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  5. I happened upon your blog and want to say that FHC's protocol has restored my son from autism. It is everything they say it is and then some. 6 yrs ago, we paid $1000 to attend the seminar and $3200 for the individual evaluation. They teach you how to evaluate your own child at the seminar and how to create a program. Looking back, we wouldn't have needed to have our son evaluated individually, because they taught us how to do it.

    May God bless your journey. FHC is an absolute miracle.

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  6. Hi there, I'm hoping you will get this. Please let me know if you tried the Family Hope Center Prog and did it help and in what areas? Thank you I a parent that is desperate to find programs to help my son progress...

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  7. i recently went to the two day evaluation this week, and i found it to be very useful. the fhc would be considered as 'alternative' according to the mainstream medical field, however, if you understand their philosophy and the science behind what they do, it is actually very conservative.

    my daughter has a genetic disorder. while we were there for the 2 day, there were 5 other families there,... one from from norway, denmark, italy. the rest of us were from the usa. the children ranged from having cerebral palsy, autism, and genetic disorders.

    we found out that 4 of the families go on a regular basis for a reevaluation. the fhc wants to see your child every 6 months, but many families go back every 6-8 months.

    we met one family who has an eight year old autistic child, the mother said that the first 3 years with the traditional pt, ot, and speech didn't help her son very much. however, one year into the plan the fhc gave them caused tremendous growth in her son that she is now bringing him in for regular visits.

    the fhc gives you a 6 month plan on what to do with your child. the daily plan is very involved and it takes at least 4 hours of your day, 5 days a week. families have found that even doing a few hours a day on the fhc plan has given better results than doing the traditional therapy for the same amount of time.

    we are going to give it a go. we saw them this week, and i am going to take this month to get things started. i am going to start slowly and build up to (hopefully) doing the entire program.

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  8. How can a center that refers to Down Syndrome as a treatable brain injury be any way credible.

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  9. I have a 5 month old son with down syndrome. While there is no current way to get rid of the extra chromosome, there are so many things I am finding that can be done to alleviate the effects of this extra chromosome. Having the extra chromosome causes physical changes in the body through complex processes. Scientists are beginning to put a finger on these processes and a handful of doctors and specialists are using the information to try to "undo" the chemical differences through nutrition and proper stimulation. We plan to rely greatly on the information given to us by the Family Hope Center as we seek to do the best we can for our child. Don't look backwards. Look to the future of medicine!

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  10. Wow $3000 is a lot of money. Do they offer payment plans or do they want the money up front?

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  11. my daughter with cerebral palsy has done their program for 2+ years. i would pay any amount of $$ for their program. it has truly changed my life and my daughters life.
    we did the 2 day conference and do the 2 day evaluation appts every 6 months.
    mommy in ny

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  12. i have done the fhc program with my daughter with cerebral palsy for 2+ years. truly amazing program. has totally changed our lives and hers.
    i would urge you to try it. i really cannot say enough about it.
    mommy in ny

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  13. We attended the seminar and 2-day treatment eval years ago. While it is always good to look into different philosophies and try different things, and we did practice what they taught and it possibly helped and definitely did not harm... I feel this and centers like it play into hopes and desperation of special needs parents to load their pocket books ultimately. They are experimenting. They are targeting a specific vulnerable population. At one point, one of their "experts" claimed that craniosacral therapy could have cured my child from hydrocephalus without a shunt if administered at birth.

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  14. Our child eventually underwent epilepsy surgery. Successful. And still has a shunt. She will enter high school next year with As and Bs... Her hemiplegia is still present. I rec. The seminar to possibly learn some new things if you are stuck and not seeing any advances. That is it though.

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  15. I think that parents who want to 'fix' their children will pay any amount to help them get better. What if your child isn't broken, isn't sick - is just different. An extra chromosome does not prevent a child from, and I quote FHC, "leading a full and normal life". They play on a family's need to make their children 'normal' and charge thousands to tell you to interact more and focus on your child's development.

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