07/13/2024
Early Action is Key: Don't Wait for a Cerebral Palsy CP Diagnosis
If your child shows signs of Cerebral Palsy (CP), acting as if they have it, even before a formal diagnosis, can make a world of difference. Waiting for a diagnosis before starting therapy or developmental interventions can hinder progress. Proactive Parenting includes early intervention. Understanding optimal development is essential, as a child's brain is most adaptable in the early months.
The Importance of Movement Evaluation:
Regardless of the diagnosis, thoroughly evaluating a child's movement structures is crucial. This includes assessing their:
* Vision: How their eyes follow, track, and coordinate with their body
* Fine Motor Skills: Breathing, spine, hand (arms), and feet (legs) movements
* Gross Motor Skills: Larger movements like moving their body, milestone accomplishments with time-dictated development reviews, that can include rolling over, independent sitting, and crawling.
Overall Structure: Skeletal and muscular alignment, eyes, body and midlines. Any issues within these areas can lead to developmental deviations, whether or not CP is present.
Counteracting CP with Movement:
CP often leads to compensatory movement patterns, where the body finds alternative ways to move due to challenges with vision, fine and gross motor skills, and their body’s structure, that include muscle tone and control. To address this, children with
CP needs intentional input and experience with the basic forces of movement. Your infant needs to experience the following skills to experience optimal development:
* Weight Transfer: Shifting weight from one body part to another.
* Transitional Skills: Moving between different positions (e.g., tummy to rolling over, sitting into all-fours).
* Rotational Movements: Twisting and turning of their body to move. There is not one milestone that can be experienced without rotational movements.
By helping children experience these movements, we can help them gain:
* Midline Development: Awareness of the body's center line crucial for core movement coordination.
* Crossing Midline: The ability to reach across the body, essential for going from horizontal development to vertical milestones needed for progress in their daily activities and functions.
* Rotational Midline: Twisting movements, important for core movement and functional coordination.
Functional Movement and Milestones: Achieving age-appropriate skills in time-dictated development that will lead to crawling, walking, and playing.
Remember: Proactive parenting for early stimulation help you to be able to focus on movements are crucial for your child’s optimal development, with or without a CP diagnosis. By providing targeted movement experiences, you can help your child develop the skills they need to thrive. Don't hesitate to continue to seek guidance from your professionals but at the same time work on your child’s monthly milestones for a personalized plan for your child's needs.
The Bottom Line: Acting early and prioritizing movement, development, and vision, can significantly impact your child's developmental trajectory, especially for those with potential CP. Empower yourself with knowledge and take proactive steps to support your child's journey toward optimal movement and independence. We are here to help you every step of the way.
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