Increasing attention is being paid to brain injuries and disorders, for everything from football to soldiers. The focus is fabulous, and now new techniques are coming to the fore that may help people recover. One new method is known as NDT (Neurodevelopmental Therapy). This can be used in many kinds of therapy, including physical therapy for kids.
Foundationally, Neurodevelopmental Therapy is a way to look at issues on a very personal level. Physical therapists use hands-on methods and the latest equipment to train patients on activities. For example, imagine a girl with neurological problems who is unable to walk due to the health problem might choose a series of small goals. One could be moving the feet and balancing using the patient's own strength. In this case, the pediatric physical therapist would guide the child by touch.
An important part of this Neurodevelopmental Therapy method is patient goal-setting. In the case of children, goals may be set by the parents. For adults dealing with injuries or stroke, the goal could involve walking, standing and more. Elite physical therapists who have used these strategies say that each patient's view of their own treatment is very important.
Besides the fact that sessions are encouraging, Neurodevelopmental Therapy truly gets real, powerful results. People treated with it need fewer assistive devices and less adaptive equipment and find it easier to get to proper positioning. Goals can be set, and reached, in speech, eating, movement and other occupational therapy tasks.
For children with disabilities, physical therapists can use Neurodevelopmental Therapy to help with things that will make these kids less reliant on others for care. This can include learning to support oneself, climb stairs, or even learning to crawl and grasp objects. Practitioners of this method believe that some improvement is within reach of almost everyone, even those with severe disabilities.
The body of research on Neurodevelopmental Therapy isn't very thorough, but the topic isn't controversial. Many of the research papers were about just a few patients, so aren't widely generalizable. However, the method seems to make sense and a growing number of physical therapists for children and other specialists have adopted its techniques.
If you need help with speech, eating and mobility, consider finding a autism spectrum disorder San Diego, CA expert for a few sessions.