More and more attention is being paid to brain injuries and disorders, from sports concussions to congenital defects. The attention is great, and now new techniques are becoming available that may help victims. One new strategy is known as Neurodevelopmental Therapy (or NDT). This can be used in many kinds of therapy, including therapy for children with special needs.
Foundationally, NDT is a way to look at problems on a targeted, individual level. Pediatric physical therapists use hands-on exercises and the latest machines to train patients on tasks. For instance, consider the case of a girl with disabilities who is unable to stand due to the disorder or injury might break it up into incremental goals. One could be lifting the feet from the footrest on a wheelchair using the patient's own strength. In this case, the pediatric physical therapist would help the patient hands-on.
A particularly important part of this NDT method is patient goal-setting. In the case of children, goals may be set by the parents. For adults dealing with issues like stroke or TIB, the goal could be about balance. Elite physical therapists who try these techniques say that the patient's perception of treatment is very important.
Besides the fact that sessions are encouraging, NDT truly gets real, powerful results. Professionals in the field report that need fewer supports and find it easier to get to proper positioning. Gains can be made in a variety of functions.
For kids with special needs, physical therapists can use NDT to help with things that will make these kids less reliant on others for care. This can include learning to support oneself, learning to climb stairs, or even stand up without help. Practitioners of this method believe that some improvement is possible for almost all people, even if they have lifelong conditions such as cerebral palsy.
The scientific research about NDT isn't very extensive, but the topic isn't controversial. Many of the research papers were about small groups of patients, so aren't widely generalizable. But the ideas are pretty commonsense and a growing number of physical therapists for children and other specialists are starting to use it.
If you're facing difficult problems with speech, eating and mobility, consider finding a autism symptoms in children San Diego CA expert in your area.
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