New ideas are great for treating neurodeficiencies, including problems at birth, disorders and traumatic injuries. Unfortunately, physical therapists who try these techniques can be hard to find. The new method is neurodevelopmental therapy, or NDT.
Basically, NDT is a way to look at problems on a very personal level. Therapists for kids with disabilities use hands-on methods and the latest equipment to teach tasks. For example, consider the case of a child with special needs who is unable to walk due to the health problem might set incremental goals. One might be moving the feet slightly using the patient's own muscles. In this case, the physical therapist would guide the child with touch and support.
A particularly important part of this NDT method is patient goal-setting. In the case of children, families play a role. For adult patients dealing with injuries or stroke, the goal could involve walking, standing and more. Some physical therapists who try these techniques say that the patient's perception of treatment makes a huge difference in their healing processes.
Besides the intuitive sense that it works, NDT truly works. Physical therapists say their patients need fewer assistive devices and less adaptive equipment and improve at proper positioning. Improvement is possible in speech, eating, movement and other occupational therapy tasks.
For kids with disabilities, physical therapists can use NDT to help them have more control. This can include learning to support oneself, maneuver stairs, or even learning to crawl and grasp objects. Experts believe that some improvement is within reach of almost any patient, even if they have been diagnosed with lifelong conditions.
The research about NDT isn't very thorough, but the subject isn't controversial. Many of the research papers were about small groups of 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 are starting to use it.
If you or a family member struggle with mobility, function or even speech and language, consider finding a what is autism spectrum disorder San Diego, CA expert in your area.