Case Study 1 - age 4 - Difficulty with transitions
H is a 4.5 year old boy (at the time of Sleeptalk commencement) who lives with his parents and younger sibling. H’s mother has concern for H’s level of anxiety, which appears complex and pervasive. After completing the initial assessment for H, it is clear to see that his level of physical ability, co-ordination, ability to remain calm and general ability to co-operate and deal with new situations or issues is quite poor. H has a difficult time being left at child care too. H’s mother is concerned for him as the age of school approaches and wonders how he will cope with the transition.
After assessing H's situation 6 weeks after commencing Sleep Talk, we could see a marked improvement in H. His co-ordination and interest in sport, as well as physical ability had improved dramatically. He was now asking to kick a ball with his dad or climb on things at the park, which his parents had never seen him do before.
H’s attitude to child care changed (“one of his five favourite places in the world now”) and he “now makes friends everyday at childcare”. He is more able to be left, has less melt downs at home and his general happiness and levels of confidence had grown significantly.
Some months later... H has started school with great confidence and success! Much to the joy of his parents, H seems to have overcome his anxieties and has approached the transition to school with calmness and confidence.
Case study 2 - age 8 - Bed wetting & soiling
N is an 8 year old girl presenting with bedwetting and faecal enuresis. Her parents have tried numerous strategies in the past and she has been undergoing couselling in the past year. Though a very bright child, N’s parents report extreme anxiety and difficult behaviours, notably a troubled relationship with her elder sister.
On commencing Sleep Talk, we saw enormous changes in N within the first fortnight. Though in the past she had been afraid to go anywhere on her own and would struggle to deal with anger and anxiety – mostly resulting in “melt downs”, within the first weeks, N had showed a significant turn around.
N’s parents reported of a number of changes after three weeks:
1. More able to talk through concerns calmly without melt downs
2. walked to the shops and scouts on her own
3. Asked to go to school camp
4. Had her first dry nights of her life
5. Stopped hiding (and lying about) soiled pants and stopped soiling
6. Happy to talk on the phone to people
Enormous positive feedback! And these are just some of the main examples. Even with such positive changes and feedback, N’s parents expressed there was still some way to go with N’s ability to deal with anger, with her self esteem and they expressed significant concern over N’s continued troubled relationship with her elder sister.
We chose to add in to N's Sleep talk statements a statement relating to her sister and her love for her to assist with the sibling relationship. Almost instantly after adding in the sibling support statement, N regressed. She began soiling and bedwetting again and was less cooperative. We chose to continue but not change the statements whilst N was unsettled- and this is an interesting insight into the way that our brains can have difficulty accepting something if we deem it not to be true. But persist! Because the positive message will be accepted eventually.
Some weeks later...N has left the troubles of wetting and soiling behind her. She is calmer and happier and has a [more] peaceful relationship with her sister! She is more able to recognise anxiety and talk about it rather than react to it, and has show confidence in many new areas. Her progress has not been a linear forward movement but enough to say it saw dramatic improvement and got there in the end!
Case Study 3- age 20 months - Wakeful
S is a 20 month old little boy. His parents (at the time of commencing Sleep talk) report serious sleep issues and seek to be gentle in their approach. It was clear that S’s parents are happy with every facet of his development except for his sleep. No issues were present that were outside the norm of a 20month old learning how to engage with other people. He was generally confident, generally calm and generally a very happy little boy…who was very wakeful.
S’s parents felt that as in keeping with his age, his main and only struggle was the separation from his mother and the fear of losing his attachment with her. He woke up to 7 times a night and sought breastfeeding to calm himself and connect with his mother. The parents were happy enough to co-sleep with S, but wakefulness still ensued despite having company throughout the night.
6 weeks later... S's parents reported that his sleep had improved dramatically and he and his mother were able to cease their breastfeeding relationship without stress. They were extremely happy with the Sleeptalk process and continued it as part of their nightly family ritual.
H is a 4.5 year old boy (at the time of Sleeptalk commencement) who lives with his parents and younger sibling. H’s mother has concern for H’s level of anxiety, which appears complex and pervasive. After completing the initial assessment for H, it is clear to see that his level of physical ability, co-ordination, ability to remain calm and general ability to co-operate and deal with new situations or issues is quite poor. H has a difficult time being left at child care too. H’s mother is concerned for him as the age of school approaches and wonders how he will cope with the transition.
After assessing H's situation 6 weeks after commencing Sleep Talk, we could see a marked improvement in H. His co-ordination and interest in sport, as well as physical ability had improved dramatically. He was now asking to kick a ball with his dad or climb on things at the park, which his parents had never seen him do before.
H’s attitude to child care changed (“one of his five favourite places in the world now”) and he “now makes friends everyday at childcare”. He is more able to be left, has less melt downs at home and his general happiness and levels of confidence had grown significantly.
Some months later... H has started school with great confidence and success! Much to the joy of his parents, H seems to have overcome his anxieties and has approached the transition to school with calmness and confidence.
Case study 2 - age 8 - Bed wetting & soiling
N is an 8 year old girl presenting with bedwetting and faecal enuresis. Her parents have tried numerous strategies in the past and she has been undergoing couselling in the past year. Though a very bright child, N’s parents report extreme anxiety and difficult behaviours, notably a troubled relationship with her elder sister.
On commencing Sleep Talk, we saw enormous changes in N within the first fortnight. Though in the past she had been afraid to go anywhere on her own and would struggle to deal with anger and anxiety – mostly resulting in “melt downs”, within the first weeks, N had showed a significant turn around.
N’s parents reported of a number of changes after three weeks:
1. More able to talk through concerns calmly without melt downs
2. walked to the shops and scouts on her own
3. Asked to go to school camp
4. Had her first dry nights of her life
5. Stopped hiding (and lying about) soiled pants and stopped soiling
6. Happy to talk on the phone to people
Enormous positive feedback! And these are just some of the main examples. Even with such positive changes and feedback, N’s parents expressed there was still some way to go with N’s ability to deal with anger, with her self esteem and they expressed significant concern over N’s continued troubled relationship with her elder sister.
We chose to add in to N's Sleep talk statements a statement relating to her sister and her love for her to assist with the sibling relationship. Almost instantly after adding in the sibling support statement, N regressed. She began soiling and bedwetting again and was less cooperative. We chose to continue but not change the statements whilst N was unsettled- and this is an interesting insight into the way that our brains can have difficulty accepting something if we deem it not to be true. But persist! Because the positive message will be accepted eventually.
Some weeks later...N has left the troubles of wetting and soiling behind her. She is calmer and happier and has a [more] peaceful relationship with her sister! She is more able to recognise anxiety and talk about it rather than react to it, and has show confidence in many new areas. Her progress has not been a linear forward movement but enough to say it saw dramatic improvement and got there in the end!
Case Study 3- age 20 months - Wakeful
S is a 20 month old little boy. His parents (at the time of commencing Sleep talk) report serious sleep issues and seek to be gentle in their approach. It was clear that S’s parents are happy with every facet of his development except for his sleep. No issues were present that were outside the norm of a 20month old learning how to engage with other people. He was generally confident, generally calm and generally a very happy little boy…who was very wakeful.
S’s parents felt that as in keeping with his age, his main and only struggle was the separation from his mother and the fear of losing his attachment with her. He woke up to 7 times a night and sought breastfeeding to calm himself and connect with his mother. The parents were happy enough to co-sleep with S, but wakefulness still ensued despite having company throughout the night.
6 weeks later... S's parents reported that his sleep had improved dramatically and he and his mother were able to cease their breastfeeding relationship without stress. They were extremely happy with the Sleeptalk process and continued it as part of their nightly family ritual.
