Handle Institute

[Char]

I was talking to one of my friends the other day and she said, she had heard about a program that helps people with tics. The program is called the Handle Institute. So I decided to check out the website. The website claims that through certain exercises, it can help to alleviate tics. I read testimonials that they had and there are people who claim that it have help to diminish their tics. The one testimonial that caught my eye, was the one about the 11 year old boy. He was having very bad tics, but after doing the exercises for a couple of months his tics are pretty much gone. Has anyone heard about the Handle Institute before? If so, did anyone have good results? I just find it interesting. Any thoughts, would be great to here!! Thanks Char...

[Guest]

Hi Char,

 

I did the Handle program for a few years when I was about 12 yrs. old or so. It did help a little bit. I don't remember how old your child with tics is, but for me I was a little bit too old. The activties seemed too geared towards little kids. Therefore it was hard to get me to stick with it and practice the activities that they assigned me.

 

Carolyn

[guy123]

Is that the place where they had some guy draw or write something while wearing red-lensed glasses and winking or something and it was supposed to stop his tics?

 

I'd be interested in hearing a rational of how that is supposed to work. Sounds like some crazy voodoo "science" to me.

 

Disclaimer: I could be thinking of some other place.

[Guest]

What they are trying to do by assigning the exercieses to practice is strengthen parts of the brain that are weak. When I was there they also suggesed supplements and checking for heavy metals. You can find out more from their website at: http://www.handle.org/index2.html

 

Carolyn

[samsmom]

We came very close to taking Sam to the Handle Institute a couple of years ago. They are based here in Seattle, only 30 mins drive from us. We went to an informational evening and found that most of the discussion was around autisitic behaviors and nothing about tics. Sam had some autistic type behaviors at that time (spinning, waving his fingers in front of his eyes) so we decided to move forward and asked the people at Handle to give us some references. We really wanted to speak to someone who had been thru the course with a child with tics. They took a few days to get back to us and we eventually got one phone number from them but when I called it, the number was disconnected! We weren't able to get any other phone numbers from them. Because of that, we didn't go ahead with it. You have to pay a lot of money up front and that concerned me a bit. Anyway, we went instead to a pediatric OT and learned a few techniques from them. As Sam has grown older, he has really improved as far as those sensory-type behaviors are concerned, even though we never did much of what the OT had suggested... We ended up spending about $200 on copays for the OT visits instead of over $2000 on HANDLE.

[HolisticPath]

While the focus of the information presentation may have been Autism, The HANDLE Institute has a very effective approach for treating tic disorders. To clarify, the treatment does not involve wearing glasses and winking. That must be another approach. HANDLE activities strengthen the body's foundational systems in order to help reduce sensory related stress. Often times tics begin with the eyes because the visual system is overwhelmed. Through HANDLE activities clients begin to strengthen the systems that support healthy visual function, therefore reducing stress and alleviating tics. HANDLE is holistic so works on many other levels, including other systems in the body. The cost of the program is for a 6-8 month commitment where the parent learns to provide this special and effective therapy for their child daily, at home. The family will follow up with the therapist every 4-6 weeks. Considering that a parent is empowered to provide an effective therapy for their child on a daily basis it seems like a reasonable cost. You are getting hundreds of hours of treatment for that price. I ask myself what it's worth to me to have an effective treatment for a disorder that interferes with daily life.

Edited January 19, 2011 by HolisticPath