Movement starts with infants and early experiences Flashcards
What is the leading cause of long term neurologic disabilities in children?
- perterm birth
What are some problems that premature infants face
- breathing problems
- feeding difficulties
- cerebral palsy
- developmental delay
- vision probelms
- hearing impairments
What can be observed in infants?
- behavioral observation: must guide session and parents teaching in physical therapy
- Infant behavioral organization concepts are the conerstone for understanding infant readiness to participate and maintain stability
What are the priorities for therapy in infants
- facilitating and supporting infant behavioral organization
- reinforcing movement and postural components of infant self regulation
- facilitating and supporting mutual affective regulation between parents and infants
Early experiences with infants and why they are important
- infants learn to move based on early experiences
- the ability to recruit certain muscles is based on ealy positioning
- can result in overactivation of certain muscle groups causing Atypical movement
- proper positioning in flexion espeically of neonates can impact the diaphragm oxygenate with less oxygen
Why would a baby extend too much
- positioning
- imbalance
- relexes
- reflux
- impacts breathing
What is the purpose of head control
- widely considered to be its pivotal role in the development of postural control to enable other skills
How do head control and vision work together
- typically developing new-borns tend to track with eye movements as far into the periphery as possible before head turn occurs
- this is thought to relate to poor head control as infants at one month old can visually track when their heads are supported for them
- horizontal smooth pursuit arrives around 4 months
Look at the head control scale
What can occur with elevated and retracted scapulae: MSK + developmental considerations
- musculoskeletal issues
- difficulties with hands to midline,
- difficulty with use of UE,
- difficulty reaching,
- attachment
What can occur with elevated and retracted scapulae: physiological considerations
- changes overall alignment of upper trunk,
- difficulties with full expansion of upper chest results in stiffness
- ultimate lack of upper chest breathing
what can happen with pre-terms infants and infants with hypotonia: MSK considerations
- externally rotated hips
- MSK considerations
what can happen with pre-terms infants and infants with hypotonia: developmental considerations
- interferes with movement transitions,
- crawling,
- prolonged wide base of support in walking,
- pronated feet bilaterally needing corrective orthotics
what can happen with pre-terms infants and infants with hypotonia: physiologic considerations
- physiologic considerations: places the trunk into extension (poor place for diaphragm to be)
Postural control: internally generated vs externally generated
- internally generated: a desire to move
- externally generated: a response to move
How to pick up an infant therapeutically
- everytime you pick up a baby you should rotate him sitting
- this helps to strengthen the muscles on the side of the body and the rotational muscles that are important for smooth dissociated movement
How to carry an infant
- your hands and body can provide sufficient base for the child to learn to support himself
- you can gradually reduce the base as the child learns to position
How should interventions be planned/created (to do what)
- helping the child’s environment
- providing toys or tools for learning (at home, daycare, school)
- teaching parents skills to position, carry, and nuture the child
- social interactions include the family when possible
- adapting equipment to make life easier to rear this child
- find community services assist
head control with preterm babies
- preterm (24-34 weeks gestation)
- head lag and poor ability to lift their head in prone beyond four months of age = poor motor outcomes later
