In this blog I would like to share with you the insights I have gained watching and re-watching a series of video clips of three infants learning to stand with support.
Elethu is a alert and friendly 6 weeks old (corrected age) little boy. He was born preterm at 32 weeks and spent 5 weeks in the NICU. Elethu's mother Zuki has brought him to the early intervention clinic for his 6 weeks developmental check up.
In this blog I argue that any PT or OT intervention should start with identifying what the infant is able to do, in other words, with her or his abilities, and use these as a the starting point for expanding the infant's range of abilities.
Each therapy encounter is an opportunity to provide the infant or child with the very best possible environment to foster learning from experience and thereby promote function and participation, as well as confidence in their own ability to figure things out for themselves and willingness to persist and ability.
Infants with developmental delay, joint hypermobility, Down syndrome and preterm infants often lack the strength, flexibility, coordination and effective balance responses needed for active prone kneeling.
A common assumption, held by physical and occupational therapists, is that balance is a generic process that can be improved by a set of activities that challenge balance responses/reactions.
An example is exercises standing on a rocker board to improve "balance" in a child who falls a lot. Therapists will often have favorite set of exercises to improve a child's balance.
What lies at the heart of every encounter between a therapist and an infant or child? And what is it that we as developmental therapists wish to achieve?
For me the answers to these two questions are quite clear and really quite simple.
Firstly at the heart of each and every moment I spend with a child is a positive and enabling relationship based on trust that values and honours the infant's or child's feelings, needs and goals just as they are in that moment.
In a new series of TOMT 0-3 blog posts I would like to share with you some video clips of my three grandchildren that have led to Ah Ha! moments, shifted my perceptions, challenged my assumptions or illustrated a particular principle.
In this weeks video clip you see Will, aged 8 months, who is new to standing with hand support. I was particularly struck by how he "knows" how to lean on his forearms when he needs to increase his base of support and free his hands for exploring a toy.
After reading the study by Ragnhild Håkstad and colleagues research article Let's Play. I thought it would be interesting to take a closer look at my own play skills and ability to play in a cooperative manner with infants and toddlers.
In this TOMT Blog I will be looking at some of the ideas that have influenced and challenged my own thinking, and show how I have integrated them into my clinical decision making.
Two important questions
What lies at the heart of every encounter between a therapist and an infant or child? And what is it that we as developmental therapists wish to achieve?
Each time I review a video clip of one of my grandchildren engaged in a new manipulation activity I am impressed by how they use a combination of repetition and exploration.
In this video clip you see Max (16 months) exploring different ways to playing with a serviette ring and threader attached to a ribbon.
Recently I was asked about the development of standing up from floor standing in toddlers and young children. This sent me trawling through my library of video clips to find examples of children rising from standing and here is my answer to the question.
Toddlers who have recently learned to walk fall a lot. Karen Adolph counted the number of times toddlers fall per hour: 12- to 19-month-olds averaged 2,368 steps and 17 falls.
Falls will usually decrease over time and with experience and most toddlers and young children fall infrequently.
In this blog I argue that any PT or OT intervention should start with identifying what the infant is able to do, in other words, with her or his abilities, and use these as a the starting point for expanding the infant's range of abilities. 
Infants with developmental delay, joint hypermobility, Down syndrome and preterm infants often lack the strength, flexibility, coordination and effective balance responses needed for active prone kneeling.
In this weeks video clip you see Will, aged 8 months, who is new to standing with hand support. I was particularly struck by how he "knows" how to lean on his forearms when he needs to increase his base of support and free his hands for exploring a toy. 
Building the case for a principled, structured, systematic approach to early intervention one blog at a time 
Each time I review a video clip of one of my grandchildren engaged in a new manipulation activity I am impressed by how they use a combination of repetition and exploration. 
Recently I was asked about the development of standing up from floor standing in toddlers and young children. This sent me trawling through my library of video clips to find examples of children rising from standing and here is my answer to the question. 
Toddlers who have recently learned to walk fall a lot. Karen Adolph counted the number of times toddlers fall per hour: 12- to 19-month-olds averaged 2,368 steps and 17 falls.