WHAT IS INTENSIVE THERAPY?

 

There are lots of new and exciting therapies becoming available for children with special needs. One of these therapies is intensive therapy or the TheraSuit method. Intensive therapy originated from Europe and since 2001 has been available throughout the US and many other countries.

Intensive therapy is a method of applying different physiotherapy techniques alongside the use of a specialised suit that acts like an exoskeleton to provide increased proprioception feedback to the muscles and brain. It guides movement and helps to retrain the central nervous system to move in a more fluent and coordinated way. It also applies some mechanical force to the joints and helps the child to build muscle strength and bone density as a result. Typically the therapy consists of a block of 3 or more weeks of therapy, at 3 hours a day, 5 days per week. It is quite expensive but with the introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) will become more affordable for families.

A WORD ON INTENSIVE THERAPY FROM OUR FAMILIES

 

Our son Ashton who is 5 has hypoplasia of the corpus callosum and hypotonia among other things. He has just completed four weeks of this therapy and we have noticed a big difference in his movement and the positioning of his knees. The repetition of the physiotherapy exercises has helped to improve his standing balance and he is transferring his recently learnt skills to doing more standing and cruising at home. Ashton also took some unassisted steps for the first time whilst wearing the suit. We hope that by continually doing one block of therapy each year will bring our son closer to walking on his own.

Sarah Hancock

What a big month Abby and I have had!! A month in Adelaide doing intensive conductive education therapy. The therapy is a Hungarian idea that has been brought over to Australia and is helping children achieve amazing things. She went from Tuesday to Friday from 9 to 12 for 4 weeks. We used the rest of our Better Start funding and they also let you pay with NDIS funding.

While I was there I witnessed some amazing things with the other children and Abby has become much stronger too. I’m so happy we did it although it was very hard being away from family. Lucky we stayed with a lovely couple and had Rebecca Evans and her family to keep us company. Also we got to meet Aggie and her family as they were on holidays. Abby and I also kept busy seeing the sights. Harndorf was a favorite. The Future Footprints team at Mike End South Australia are wonderful and I highly recommend the therapy.

Niki Harrison