Wendy is very excited about what is happening: she has noticed significant changes in her body -not so much in her walking pattern as in her ability to move in certain ways and to perform tasks she was not able to do prior to her Rolfing. Although she thinks she will need more work before her fellow employees notice changes, Wendy is aware of many. Her center of gravity has shifted, and she stands further back on her feel. Her mid section is longer; her fanny does not stick out as much: it is possible to reach for things more easily. What her friends notice is that Wendy oaten sings or whistles as she goes about her daily job and school routine.

Kevin has slopped falling off his bicycle, and now gets to ride a little motorcycle. That’s how much better his folks see his balance since his Rolling. Fie can bend over and touch his toes, and his flexibility in running is tremendously improved. These activities – and not having skinned knees and elbows from falling down – are really important for this young man coming into teen-age. Kevin was our first subject to complete the entire sequence of the program and it’s apparent in talking to his parents that whether or not the test results show these changes, they are aware of and firmly acknowledge the benefits of the Rolling process to Kevin’s life.

Mary Lou’s left foot is still turning out more than she’d like, and she definitely has more balance, and her heels are down. Ellen is showing great improvement and her parents have suggested other sources of referrals to us, namely their colleagues in the field of developmental disabilities. Theresa is having a hard time with pain from a fall she had this year, but she’s happy to be able to move her feel for a change, and her legs and feet don’t (eel cold and look bluish. In fact, she looks vibrant and lively!

Diane … well, Diane hadn’t gone through three sessions of Rolling before her mother started getting Rolled, and Diane started writing poems about her Rolfer and Rolfing. She can hardly bear to get past the waiting time and her final test procedure so she can have more Rolling … and I’ll let her poem speak to you of her experience (her poem is on page 8), except to share with you her comment that she can now skip a step going upstairs (something most high school kids do a lot). and she doesn’t get knocked down in the halls like she used to every day.

This is the Jones Project, a piece of research initiated Dr. Margaret Jones of UCLA and Dr. Ida P. Rolf early in 1975. By 1976 we had finally come to agreement with Rancho Los Amigos Hospital in Downey, California, as to how they would test the subjects, and by that time project proposal, subcontract, and consent forms had gone through many iterations. Rancho Los Amigos has a fine Pathokinesiology Laboratory, headed by a powerful figure named Dr. Jacquelin Perry whose expertise is oththopaedics. Dr. Perry is intrigued by the possibilities that Dr. Jones tells her Rolling may provide for the problems of spasticity in Cerebral Palsy. For Dr. Jones, it is a matter of choosing an approach … either she could figure out how Rolfing works and then try application, or she could see what the effects of Rolfing are and then figure it out. I can tell you quite frankly that this “little old lady”, who’s supposed to be retired from practice at UCLA, clings tenaciously to the principle of action! In the early months of 1976 we had received enough donations to this project to hope to start work by ‘summer, and indeed one subject had been started by the time our Annual Meeting in Mill Valley took place. We have been plagued by false starts and unfortunate contacts … and we are very persevering!Patricia Wandler, Jim Asher, Chuck Sienters and Roger Pierce are participating in this project, Rolling the subjects, and Dr. George Kassebaunt has consulted with us and shared the experiences of his own work. Recently Dr. Kassehaum spent a day in Los Angeles meeting with Dr. Jones and me, and examining the procedures for testing at Rancho while Diane had her first post Rolfing tests.

The sequence is pre-Rolfing test procedures following selection and examinations, Rolfing, first post-Rolfing tests, and then second post-Rolfing tests three to six months later on. All subjects stop any forms of physical therapy for the entire period.

The subjective data is positive and the objective measures are still an unknown story. The end of the project is a long way off. Dr. Jones is extremely cautious in making contact with families with a C.P. child. Her reticence to take on subjects without having known the doctor or therapist previously has made this a very long process of recruiting subjects.

As we examine referrals – hoping for selection – some are rejected because of the amount of surgery already performed, some are too young to follow three lions sufficiently to get through the tests at the lab, some are older than we want, or too severely mentally impaired. We have even progressed through portions of the test phase with three children before concluding that they were not able or were not willing to participate in the procedures. Sometimes it’s the harness for oxygen collection that upsets them, or it may he the placement of the electrodes. And we then have the awkward plight of an enthusiastic parent … who has seen the possibilities of Rolling… and who cannot convince, cajole, bribe, badger nor threaten the child into performing the not too-pleasant tasks. For these, and for those who are rejected outright, we are all left with the sense that Rolling would be good … it’s the tests the child couldn’t handle. I encourage then to seek out a doctor or educate their own to prescribe Rolfing. This, by the way, is part of our need for collecting reports of insurance company payments from you Rollers. Some of these kids won’t ever he Rolled without insurance coverage.

I know Dr. Jones is disappointed in the response from her colleagues to her call for referrals. She expected by now to locate or be referred to many more kids who meet our criteria (our goal is to have four more); we both find it aggravating that we have not been besieged with requests for participation. Nonetheless, we are very much getting through this project.

Although Dr. Jones and Dr. Perry (in charge of the lab work at Rancho) are not intending to make any analysis of the project test results until all subjects have been through the post-Rolfing tests, perhaps these comments and the contribution of Diane Dror have provided Some understanding of our progress.Rolfing Children with Cerebral Palsy