Physical Therapy for Kids with Disabilities
New ideas are being used to treat brain problems, including many kinds of congenital, acquired and traumatic issues. However, physical therapists who employ these ideas can be hard to find. The new method is neurodevelopmental therapy, or NDT.
Basically, Neurodevelopmental Therapy is a way to look at impairments on a very personal level. Pediatric physical therapists use hands-on exercises and advanced tools to guide patients through activities. For instance, consider the case of a kid who can't manipulate a fork might set a goal to do it. The therapist might guide the child through picking up the hand, reaching for the fork and noticing its sensation and then picking up its weight. It's one step at a time, and hands-on from the time the session begins until the task is accomplished.
The most valuable part of this Neurodevelopmental Therapy method is patient goal-setting. For kids with disabilities, families play a role. For grown-ups dealing with problems such as TBI and stroke, the goal could involve walking, standing and more. Some of the best physical therapists who try these strategies say that the patient's ideas about their treatment can make all the difference.
Beyond the fact that sessions are encouraging, Neurodevelopmental Therapy truly works. Physical therapists say their patients need less help and fewer devices and find it easier to get to proper positioning. Improvement is possible in a variety of functions.
For kids with disabilities, pediatric physical therapists can use Neurodevelopmental Therapy to help them have more control. They can learn to bear their own weight, maneuver stairs, or even crawl or stand. The best pediatric physical therapists believe that some degree of improvement is realistic for almost all people, even if they have been diagnosed with lifelong conditions.
The scientific research about Neurodevelopmental Therapy isn't very thorough, but the topic isn't hotly contested, either. Many of the studies have been done on relatively small sample sizes, so aren't widely generalizable. But it all makes sense and a growing number of physical therapists for kids with special needs and other specialists are starting to use it.
If you're facing difficult problems with function and mobility, consider finding a autism spectrum San Diego, CA expert to help.