Of course kids' brains are yet to be programmed so there might be a chance other parts of the brain will take over (plasticity), so there was at least hope with intensive physiotherapy the side of the body affected could be trained up to function and that was started immediately.
But nothing was to be done about the cognitive as there were no known therapies and it was deemed hopeless. (This is a large university hospital, best in the country so it was definite).
I couldn't believe or face that the kid would be a retard with nothing done and after a lot of searching I decided to bomb the kid with amino acids (fatty fish (mackerel)) and music during the night (since I assumed that's when the brain was healing/growing) as we know the music not only appeals to the creative part of the brain, it has mathematical properties as well and so gets both sides working. It also stirs something emotional in us so I guess it works on other levels too. Primitive as well as the cognitive.
I had by chance heard before that Vangelis - L'Apocalypse D'es Animaux had been used in early music therapy tests for children and since it's anyway some of my all time favorite music I played for every and the whole night 4 tracks on repeat (tracks compressed a bit to avoid loud peaks) :
- La Petite de la Mer
La Mort Du Loup
Création du monde
La Mer recommencée
This went on for several years. During the day we would watch music videos on TV and he would love those more than any kiddie show.
The kid is now not only not a retard, he is a fully functional one, just slightly delayed. He is like 1-2 years behind in everything but largely following the curve. The head doctors at the university calls him the wonder boy and it's really amazing considering the damage.
The left side of the body that was not working properly in the beginning has thanks to intensive physio and exercise been completely cured and he is normal and you can imagine our joy and relief with the outcome.
In my mind the music played a big part of it. Of course I'm biased to music and there are no scientifics to prove that music had anything to do with it, but something must have stimulated the brain to find new paths and connections and whatever happens there and it's more hard to believe it was diet alone.
In the same way, even if music was the curing factor, there's nothing to say it was Vangelis' music that did something better than what other music could have, but maybe it did. I think so.
Sure is interesting though.