From Despair to Hope: A Parent’s Journey - Part 3
Published: 2 May 2025
Thank you everyone for coming on this journey with me. This is the final part of this series where I share my experience raising a child with special needs, and how it led me to discover MNRI and learn more about how much our gut health impacts our overall health. I am so grateful that this has resonated with so many of you. You can catch up here for Part 1 and Part 2. - Hsiao
From this moment forward we were thrilled about all the positive changes in our daughter.
I tried my best to carry on the MNRI work at home however I felt I understood very little. Feeling overwhelmed but determined to make it work my husband and I knew we needed MNRI education ourselves. Thus I flew to India to attend the MNRI Neurotactile Integration and MNRI Dynamic and Postural Reflex Integration courses!
Travelling to India was my first time leaving K ever, and it was not a light decision due to her very serious seizures. This was how committed we were with MNRI. As parents, we could not un-see the result of what MNRI had already done for our child. We were 100% sold that MNRI was the way to go.
MNRI is known for reflex integration. However, equally important is the sensory aspect in the MNRI method. K had many medical and developmental challenges and they were all very much impacted by a stressed nervous system and weakened health. The MNRI NeuroTactile protocol improved her self regulation and soothed her highly agitated nervous system.
In the few months after the MNRI courses I relied heavily on some simple Neurotactile touch techniques such as the embrace squeeze, limbs and joints stretching and rotations, and the greeting. I chose techniques that I felt most comfortable with as I knew I needed to be consistent with the work and I wanted to increase my confidence. To me, these were less technical than other techniques, thus more accessible as a new parent learning MNRI.
Over time, I added reflexes and other techniques as I expanded the work. I worked with K daily, squeezing pockets of time throughout the day and also before school, which accumulated over time. It was clear to see the calming effect MNRI had on K and her nervous system. Children are intuitive and know when something feels good. She asked for MNRI "massage" often as it helped prepare her for the school day and settled her for bed in the evenings. I have since come to appreciate the profound effect of touch. This cannot be underestimated. It’s no wonder when you consider that the skin covers the entire body and it lies directly over muscles, fascia, ligaments, nerves, and bones.
At the same time, we also worked on improving the other side of the coin: her gut health. K was often on antibiotics having been sick since young, with resulting doctor visits and hospital stays. By the time she was 9, I knew that we needed to tackle her immune system and began by focusing on the quality of her nutritional intake, digestive and elimination processes.
We did comprehensive allergy tests and adjusted her meals due to her food intolerances, extremely fussy eating, and nutritional needs. A clean diet with whole foods was ideal however it was impossible to get all the necessary nutrients from just food consumption. We added quality, pharmaceutical grade supplements as a boost, and home made fermented foods - brewing kombucha and kefir to get more good bacteria into the gut. At one point, my kitchen looked like a lab with all of the jars and containers of fermented foods! K became regular in her bowel movements, compared to just once every 5 to 7 days. This was huge!
As a result of increased MNRI and better immune health, K had less allergy issues and better sleep quality. She fell asleep faster and stayed sound asleep throughout the night. As sleep had a direct impact on her having seizures, this was a welcome relief. Better sleep, more rest, less illnesses led to a decrease in her seizure activity.
Initially for the first two months of MNRI, the frequency of seizures increased slightly but the seizure severity and length decreased. Within four to six months, K was having less seizures. Her overall health continued to improve and as at February 2022, K has been seizure free.
After four years of consistent MNRI work and paying closer attention to her gut health and nutrition, K is a very different child to when we first began this journey. Some changes are visibly obvious. Some are subtle and are not always immediately noticeable. However, they are clear to those who haven’t seen her for an extended period of time. It is common for her grandparents and close family friends to make comments about her grounding, developing maturity, her increased cognition and abilities, her body coordination, and most importantly her happiness and healthiness.
This journey has had a profound effect on our family. K is now developing into an increasingly independent young teenager. She is participating in many new activities and is enjoying school as she continues to develop and find her place in the world. It took us some time to get to this point as parents. While it was not always easy, trusting our gut to simplify to go deeper and zooming in on MNRI and gut health turned out to be one of the best decisions that we ever made. We are forever grateful to Dr Masgutova for giving MNRI to us and the world. Thank you Dr Masgutova and thank you MNRI!
At Neural Connections, we focus on offering treatment and protocols to help integrate the reflexes - schedule a Discovery Call with us today to see if we can help.
