Testimonials

Here are testimonials from just some of the happy First Step Therapy Centre patients who have received treatment from us.


Jodi, 14 Year Old Girl

My daughter who is 14 years old and was diagnosed with Autism.

She has been attending physiotherapy with Goshi for the past one year.

We have seen improvement in lots of areas such as her speech, communication skills, posture and balance and overall structure of her body alignment.

Goshi is very easy-going person and makes us feel very welcome. With Jodi you cannot force her to talk to anyone, she would rather just ignore them but with Goshi, she tells jokes has fun while doing her activities.

Jodi looks forward to going to physiotherapy and does ask us when is she going.

I would recommend Goshi for the CSP Physiotherapist Of The Year firstly because he works really hard to help Jodi reach her full potential.

He has a great friendly nature which really helps put Jodi at ease.

He goes out of his way to fit us into his schedule when it suits us.

I would recommend Goshi to anyone not just those with special needs because he always aims high to help the patient be the best that they can be.

Eoghan, 7 Year Old Boy

Out of all the people who have known my seven year old son, Goshi has been one of the very few who respected him for who he is - a wonderful and joyous little boy with huge potential.

Goshi never referred to a label, nor did he treat a label. Instead, he helped my son, a young human being who was being misunderstood, to find his own path, so he could continue his journey to who he wants to be.

From the minute my son and I met Goshi, we both knew that something special was going to happen and it did! My son responded to Goshi's treatments immediately. I can't thank him enough.

I too wish to nominate Mr Gopalan Sivakumaar (Goshi) for the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy Awards.

Goshi has provided physiotherapy to my seven year old son for the past 6 months in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

My son has a diagnosis of Autism. The appalling cost of Autism in the UK today has reached 28 billion pounds per year. Goshi and the First Step Therapy programmes, I believe, has prevented my son's needs from being factored into that pricetag.

Since Goshi began providing therapy to my son, he has extensively and further developed his writing skills, manipulation of writing instruments, verbal skills, both receptive and expressive, physical strength in arms and legs and self-confidence.

My son had great difficulty holding a pen or pencil appropriately due to limited strength in his shoulders and arms.

He only recently started attending primary school, after having been home educated for the past two years. He now can copy letters and shapes onto paper and independently draw and colour in.

Physically my son's confidence has increased substantially. Prior to therapy he had little confidence to engage in play at playgrouds or to use play equipment like merry go rounds and swings. Now he can jump on and off a moving merry go round and enjoys swinging.

My son's behaviours have improved with very little tantrumming and much much more compliance and use / understanding of language. He is self advocating as opposed to fighting for words.

The biggest change in my son following physiotherapy is his willingness to engage with others. My son's new found physical confidence has had a knock-on effect for him whilst playing with other children. He plays 'tag' and running games with other children appropriately where before he did not know how to do this.

For the first time in his seven years of life, he has been part of a summer scheme with neurotypical children. He is doing amazingly well and enjoying every minute of it! This would have been unthinkable last year!

My son has enjoyed his therapy sessions with Goshi immensely. In fact Goshi is the only therapist/interventionist that has ever achieved 'compliance' with my boy. My son enjoys going to see him and asks for him between sessions.

The information I have personally received from Goshi about how the body works, the importance of oxygen and movement, as well as the kinaesthetic benefits of movement have helped me to find daily activities for my son that will further help to enhance his growth and confidence.

Goshi's therapy has been for me, as much as it has for my son, in the knowledge that I have gained from him about how the body works. He provided me peer reviewed studies, links to websites and other resources so that I could carry out my own research and learn more.

His therapy approach has to date, not been available in Northern Ireland for children like my son, and we were very fortunate to have met him and to learn from him. His beliefs about the potential of all people, particularly children with difficulties are underscored by the fact he does not judge any one by their label.

My seven year old son is a running, jumping confident young child. This is in sharp contrast to the boy who first went into Goshi's office six months ago. Believing in my boy, Goshi worked diligently to open up pathways, both physically and mentally for my son.

He is different now, a 'good' different!! I am indebted to Goshi and I believe his love for what he does, coupled with his extensive and very unique academic and experiential background should be accredited with this award.

Helen, 2 Year Old Girl

After very negative experiences with the NHS we decided to seek private help for our little girl who has severe cerebral palsy.

We came across the First Step Therapy Centre website and made contact with Goshi, the Senior Physiotherapist, who invited us for an assessmnent session.

We found the whole experience extremely positive and now attend once a week. The First Step Therapy Centre offers a family-friendly environment for us. Goshi is very experienced and knowledgeable and has a lovely manner with the children and our little boy has great fun as well, when our daughter attends for treatment.

The sessions are value for money. Goshi works through a structured programme each week, involving stretching, core stability work and motor development with the aim of achieving six-monthly goals. Goshi has also given us a home programme and lends us equipment to work with.

To date we have been attending the First Step Therapy Centre for 2 months so far and are seeing slow, but steady improvement in our daughter's condition.

After being continually told by the NHS what our daughter can’t and won’t do, it is extremely refreshing to work with someone so positive and gives us great hope for our daughter’s future.

Kelly, 5 Year Old Girl

Kelly is 5 years old and up to December 2009 Kelly had made slow developmental progress. She seemed on the verge of crawling for many months. She was receiving some physio at school and additional exercises at after school.

When the school physio staff were pushed on the level of treatment Kelly was receiving I was told she was frequently "tired and aggressive" and they would not persue treatment when she was like this.

Goshi began treating Kelly in early February 2010, within a very short time she had started to move around in a crawling-hopping movement.

I cannot emphasise how important this step was for Kelly. She was no longer trapped in one location when on the floor at home or elsewhere and now had complete freedom to move around and explore her world.

This had a huge impact on Kelly's general well-being and she was much calmer and easier to care for. (once the kitchen cupboards had catches fitted!)

Kelly has had 4 full months of treatment from Goshi and in the past 5 years of her life everyone talked about how it would be a miracle if she ever walked, now however it is discussed in terms of how soon exactly and how many more months it is likely to take.

Kelly's progress and development throughout the 4 months has been excellent and the comments and feedback from everyone who is involved in her life including the staff at her school have been extremely positive and almost shock at how far and how fast she has improved.

Goshi has an intensive therapy programme that he has implemented with Kelly and during the 1.5 hour sessions there is total focus on getting Kelly to walk and moving her development forward in all areas.

Kelly is far from an easy patient and is very vocal and physical during the sessions, Goshi handles all this with great tolerance and understanding and pushes onward while entertaining Kelly.

The only place I have seen this style of treatment before was in the Pathways Centre in Illinois in the USA. An extremely well known treatment centre for special needs children, sadly however also extremely expensive and far away.

Goshi has helped us to look forward to the next few years with Kelly with great excitement and anticipation.

His positive outlook and "can do" attitude is infectious and I can not thank him enough for his good work.

Alan, 20 Year Old Man

I wish to nominate Goshi as our son's physiotherapist for the CSP award.

Speaking as a parent and as the co-ordinator of Welcome Trust Disabled care group, Goshi has been professional using his training and skills to meet his patients' complex needs.

I am thankful to the Upper Springfield/Falls Community Service for their forethought in bringing Goshi to Belfast.

The treatment has been life-changing for our son and the family. We believe having access to this type of physiotherapy is truly a great step to providing physical and personal development for people with severe learning disability.

I have observed many physiotherapists over many years and I have never met a more dedicated and professional physiotherapist, focusing totally on the patient's needs.

I have received positive feedback from all the children's parents and have seen the improvements when working with the individual patients.

Alan is always on the outskirts of a setting, unable to communicate and he can not fit in socially.

He is hypersensitive to touch, noise and he needs routine. When Alan first attended he could not co-operate and was constantly moving around the room confused, and it's fair to say a little upset which is very normal for him in a new environment.

Alan has been attending regular sessions with Goshi and we have been delighted with the results to date:

Alan can for the first time in over twenty years:

• participate in a full therapy session
• tolerate and cooperate in full body exercise
• lay down on a therapy bed
• work independently with therapist

Physically, our son would always stand and walk bent forward from the waist and rock a lot. After several treatments Alan's posture is tall and straight and the rocking has practically disappeared.

His fine motor skills and hand posture are better, improving his hands as before they sat tight and palsied with poor circulation causing a purple colour.

His music therapist and the day care staff have recorded the massive change while at his day centre as we have at home. Alan has always had a large grip movement but now he can use individual fingers and use detailed movements.

Intellectually, Alan has more body and spatial awareness he is taking more in and is able to take part in daily life more and able to cope with change.

Emotionally Alan is less stressed an agitated. We have had little-to-no outbursts as we would have had and this has such a positive effect on the whole family.

Socially, Alan is making more eye contact and is able to interact on a new level. Alan's improvements have made a big difference to everyday things that we take for granted, for example, he is now able to sit in a dentist chair and although he is not yet co-operating for a detailed check, he has never got this far before.

Always needing to be anesthetised to have treatment/checks. He is taking part in group activities and is now able to relax more, the benefits have been amazing. This is a most valuable therapy for our children, aiding an essential part of their development.

I feel it is important to highlight this physiotherapist work and to award him the recognisation he deserves. I wish him every success in the future.

Michelle, 6 Year Old Girl

Michelle is 6 years old with Rett's Syndrome. Michelle has no verbal skills, poor balance and co-ordination, she also suffer from scoliosis and breathing difficulties with hyperventilation.

Presently, Michelle is walking but due to her condition, she may lose the ability to walk therefore it is necessary for Michelle to have physiotherapy regularly.

Michelle attends The First Step Therapy Centre in Newry. Goshi's therapy is concerned with identifying and managing the quality of life and movement of Michelle including the physical, psychological and emotional well-being. Goshi's therapy has helped Michelle to maintain her balance, eye contact, concentration, social and emotional behaviour.

Michelle used to hyperventilate regularly causing dizziness; it is now controlled due to specialised Neuro-respiratory techniques treatment given by Goshi.

As parents of Michelle, we are very pleased with her progress due to Goshi's professionalism and excellent care and dedication to the patient's specific needs and working closely with family members.

Read Michelle's Case Study Here