Frequently Asked Questions

The questions we're most often asked are:

Olivia Group

 

What is the difference between BIRD's treatment and other forms of treatment?
The treatment at BIRD is known as 'Developmental Reflexive Rehabilitation'. BIRD's approach is a method of treatment for a wide variety of conditions. The Centre takes a strong developmental approach, and aims to improve the quality of life for the individuals we work with, from severely affected people to people with specific learning difficulties, by obtaining improved functions and abilities. At BIRD we will work with the full range of severity of condition and do not exclude on the basis of condition, geographic location or cost.

Some approaches seek to achieve by helping a child to perform a task in whatever turns out to be the best way possible for the child, whereas BIRD seeks to help a child to develop the correct neurological equipment - our aim is to treat the associated dysfunction. Some intensive programmes require teams of volunteers and its long daily duration can result in neurological overloading of the patient. It also asks for behaviours for which the patient may not yet have the correct neurological equipment. With a shorter programme of treatment, and with two people helping the patient, BIRD attempts to uncover abilities and free the patient to obtain additional input from other therapies and education. The aim of the BIRD Centre is to treat anyone who may benefit.

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What does the BIRD treatment involve?
Our treatment involves an average of two people, both helping the patient with the programme of 'exercises' for on average 20 - 30 minutes per day. The programme is monitored, added to and reviewed throughout the year with regular visits to the centre. Progress is checked, and only if we obtain technical measured improvement as well as improvements in the activities of daily living do we continue for a further year of treatment. BIRD combines the efforts of the patients and their carers, working together for progress.

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Can we pursue other treatments whilst on the BIRD programme?
Yes. From the outset we recommend to family and friends that if the patient could progress with our treatment, and at the same time receive the support of other necessary help, the patient would be the beneficiary. Our approach is compatible with specialised physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, special educational input, and so forth.

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Why is the BIRD treatment not available on the NHS?
The approach is labour intensive and time consuming. The shortest time we appoint with any patient is one hour, and our assessments take 2 hours on average thus the time required may not be available in busy organisations such as the NHS. The BIRD treatment also requires specialist training that is not available in the NHS; the method currently is only available from BIRD.

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Where do patients come from and how do they find out?
We are a small charity with limited resources and have to rely mainly on word of mouth to promote our work - though we have been the subject of media coverage. Many patients come to us after trying a variety of approaches and after discharge from other treatment regimes. We currently have a website and are starting a community outreach programme to raise awareness of the work of BIRD.

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How can parents and friends become involved?
To undertake our treatment, parents and friends must give up time on a daily basis and commit to the programme towards the one goal of starting to achieve a better quality of life for the patient.

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What is the cost of the treatment?
To support our work, we request an initial £50 at the start of the treatment programme. After this initial appointment, we invite all families to make a voluntary donation at each stage of the treatment programme.

However, we do recognise that families have different levels of financial pressure on their income - so we leave the level of voluntary donation to the discretion of each family.

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How is BIRD funded?
We do not receive any statutory funding and rely totally on charitable donations. As we are a registered charity we strive to fundraise in many ways to cover the cost of treatments. Parents, carers or partners are asked to support BIRD by raising money either through donations, by fundraising with work colleagues, or any other way they can help. We will be delighted to discuss the many different ways to support BIRD. Nobody has ever been turned away because as a caring charity our vision is to bring hope through treatment to all people with neurological impairment.

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Does the BIRD treatment work for everyone?
Over more than two decades of practice there has been appreciable technical improvement in the majority of our patients to date - improvements which are noticeable in everyday life. In a minority of cases there has been some technical improvement that is not as clearly visible, and some cases that have shown no improvement; these represent a very small minority of our patient population.