For the past few summers, PTC has held NDT-based therapy intensives based on Neuro-developmental Treatment theory. This is a three-week intensive therapy “camp” for children who can benefit from intervention to improve their gross motor, fine motor, and oralmotor/speech skills.
During the three weeks of therapy, each participant receives up to 3 hours of treatment per day including Physical, Occupational and Speech/Language therapy. The results have been incredible, with many of the kids who participated in the 3-week camp making big leaps in their development. In fact, most of the kids saw statistically significant improvement in their gross motor function in just the 3 weeks; a development that can take up to 6 months under normal treatment intervals.
“We see such big improvements because unlike other therapy treatments, we teach the kids a new way to move. We also give them the skills they need to continue to improve on what they learned,” Jane Knowlton, a physical therapist at PTC says, “NDT is a dynamic way to do therapy and the evidence shows that more intensive therapy works better.”
The success of NDT treatments for the kids who participated in intensives was recently highlighted in a case report published in “Neurorehabilitation” showing the short and long-term effects of the physical therapy from the NDT-based treatments used during PTC’s intensive camp. Physical therapists Denise Powers and Jane Knowlton used the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM) which is a standardized test used to evaluate change that occurs over time in the gross motor function of children with cerebral palsy and other movement disorders. The paper shows that the GMFM scores increased at a statistically significant level for the who participated in the intensives. Even better, the results showed that none of the children regressed on their GMFM scores when tested 6 months after they completed their intensive treatment.
“We saw kids every day for 3 weeks and all the kids held onto the changes they made,” Jane confirmed, “it’s such an amazing thing to see.”
The children also showed significant progress in their speech and occupational therapy sessions. Many of the parents were thrilled to see the improvement in their child’s speech, feeding and fine motor skills as well.
If you’re interested in signing your child up for intensives this summer, give PTC a call or visit their website at www.ptckids.com to fill out a registration form. Spaces are limited and camp fills quickly.
“We have kids that participate in typical therapy during the year who also attend our camp and some who only come for intensives and we see major improvements in all of them,” Jane adds, “Your child will get a lot of benefits from participating in this program.”
Pediatric Therapy Center (PTC) offers exceptional, patient-centered occupational, physical and speech/language therapy for children. If you feel your child is struggling developmentally in any way, call PTC at 713.772.1400 for a consultation with one of our experienced therapists today.