Treatments for Cerebral Palsy: Making Choices of Intervention from an Expanding Menu of Options

Adams, Richard N.; Snyder, Patricia

doi:10.1097/00001163-199804000-00004

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Currently, each professional discipline involved in early intervention has its own training sequence (some require graduate degrees, others require undergraduate degrees), and there is no guarantee that graduates will have any exposure to young children and their families. Compounding these differences in training are differing philosophical and treatment options that affect the delivery of services within a discipline-specific area, such as motor therapy (Horn, 1997), or a specific etiology, such as children with autism (Dawson & Osterling, 1997) or children with cerebral palsy (Adams & Snyder, 1998). These challenges are complicated by a lack of professional standards specific to those providing intervention across professional disciplines.…”

Section: Where Are We Now?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Topics in Early Childhood Special Education

Voress

Holsker

2014

Encyclopedia of Special Education

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Family-centered early intervention remains an elusive goal for our field. The following stories illustrate some of the challenges associated with this goal. MICHAELOn April 29, 1999, my son Michael was born. He was unresponsive and very floppy. It was a horrible time because unlike when my daughter was born, all the nurses left us alone most of the time and kept shutting the door to my room. Because we insisted, a geneticist came to see him the next day. He ordered an MRI, ultrasound, and bloodwork and said he would get back to us the next week. Michael's pediatrician told my sister that she (the pediatrician) used to work with multihandicapped children, but hopefully Michael wouldn't turn out that way. We learned the next week that Michael had Prader-Willi syndrome.Michael's first problem was with eating. As with most children with this syndrome, Michael's low tone interfered with his sucking and swallowing. My pediatrician told me it was okay because these children have a problem with eating too much. She also said we did not need early intervention until he was older.We changed pediatricians (to one who was a father of a child with a disability) and started early intervention. After a brief phone conversation with someone from the county program, a packet of materials was sent to us (about an inch thick). My husband and I could not make sense of them, so we waited until a service coordinator came to see us. I then signed about ten forms including insurance forms, and she scheduled assessments for Michael to see if he could get early intervention.The early intervention evaluation was done by a feeding specialist and physical therapist because these were his primary needs. The two professionals came separately because they worked for separate agencies. They both expressed concern about Michael's lack of responsiveness and both told me that there was a Prader-Willi group home in the next town for when Michael was older. The reports they did on Michael were mailed to us about a week later. They were very detailed and very negative. While reading them, both my husband and I cried.Next came our IFSP meeting. My mother, sister, and another parent were there with the service coordinator and another early interventionist. The evaluations were read, and

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Section: Where Are We Now?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Topics in Early Childhood Special Education

Voress

Holsker

2014

Encyclopedia of Special Education

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Section: Family-centered Early Interventionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Family-Centered Early Intervention

Bruder

2000

Topics in Early Childhood Special Education

194

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The term family-centered early intervention refers to both a philosophy of care and a set of practices. Both have been used to guide research, training, and service delivery for well over a decade. Unfortunately, though, the universal adoption of family-centered values and practice in early intervention is problematic for a number of reasons. This article will discuss these reasons in the context of the current state of early intervention and provide recommendations for the new millennium.Family-centered early intervention remains an elusive goal for our field. The following stories illustrate some of the challenges associated with this goal. MICHAELOn April 29, 1999, my son Michael was born. He was unresponsive and very floppy. It was a horrible time because unlike when my daughter was born, all the nurses left us alone most of the time and kept shutting the door to my room. Because we insisted, a geneticist came to see him the next day. He ordered an MRI, ultrasound, and bloodwork and said he would get back to us the next week. Michael's pediatrician told my sister that she (the pediatrician) used to work with multihandicapped children, but hopefully Michael wouldn't turn out that way.We learned the next week that Michael had Prader-Willi syndrome.Michael's first problem was with eating. As with most children with this syndrome, Michael's low tone interfered with his sucking and swallowing. My pediatrician told me it was okay because these children have a problem with eating too much. She also said we did not need early intervention until he was older.We changed pediatricians (to one who was a father of a child with a disability) and started early intervention. After a brief phone conversation with someone from the county program, a packet of materials was sent to us (about an inch thick). My husband and I could not make sense of them, so we waited until a service coordinator came to see us. I then signed about ten forms including insurance forms, and she scheduled assessments for Michael to see if he could get early intervention.The early intervention evaluation was done by a feeding specialist and physical therapist because these were his primary needs. The two professionals came separately because they worked for separate agencies. They both expressed concern about Michael's lack of responsiveness and both told me that there was a Prader-Willi group home in the next town for when Michael was older.The reports they did on Michael were mailed to us about a week later. They were very detailed and very negative. While reading them, both my husband and I cried.Next came our IFSP meeting. My mother, sister, and another parent were there with the service coordinator and another early interventionist. The evaluations were read, and when the service coordinator asked me if I had any questions, I asked, &dquo;How come the reports were so negative, and they didn't say anything positive or hopeful about Michael?&dquo; She told me that the therapists were doing their job, documenting Michael's needs. The service coordina...

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“…At one time, it was de rigueur for early intervention physical therapists and others to be specially trained in NDT. This practice is derived from a neuromaturational perspective of motor development-along with sensory integration (Adams & Snyder, 1998). This perspective holds that, as the nervous system matures, adaptive behavior emerges; therefore, more elaborate behaviors represent higher levels of organization within the central nervous system.…”

Section: Therapeuticmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In no particular order, other controversial practices are relaxation and biofeedback for children with cerebral palsy, functional electrical stimulation and epidural electrical stimulation over the dorsal column (Matthews, 1988), optometric visual training (eye exercises) for children with learning disabilities, cerebellarvestibular dysfunction (antimotion sickness medication to treat dyslexia), applied kinesiology (manipulation of the sphenoid and temporal bones in the cranium), tinted lenses (also known as Irlen lenses, claiming to help people with reading problems who have scotopic sensitivity syndrome; Silver, 1995), the Snoezelen experience (using intensive sensory experiences to diagnose and treat children with severe learning disabilities; Whitaker, 1994), myofascial release (similar to craniosacral therapy but involving release of cerebrospinal fluid), articulation therapy (controversial because it is exceedingly common and unquestioned in application with children who are not yet developmentally able to articulate well), auditory enhancement (increasing volume through amplification to improve concentration), acupressure (for motor improvement, based on Chinese acupuncture theory), oralmotor strategies (noncontingent stimulation similar in theory to sensory integration techniques-and almost equally unquestioned by practitioners), and chiropractic treatment (historically controversial as an alternative to orthopedic medicine or physical therapy). Adams and Snyder (1998) provided a thoughtful discussion of options for the treatment of cerebral palsy. When considering how to help a child, why do professionals and parents sometimes choose these controversial practices over more parsimonious and usually better proven ones?…”

Section: Therapeuticmentioning

confidence: 99%

Controversial Practices

McWilliam¹

1999

Topics in Early Childhood Special Education

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Treatments for Cerebral Palsy: Making Choices of Intervention from an Expanding Menu of Options

Cited by 6 publications

References 0 publications

Topics in Early Childhood Special Education

Topics in Early Childhood Special Education

Family-Centered Early Intervention

Controversial Practices

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