I met this incredible woman at a APTA conference. I spoke to her for about 30 minutes over a terrible boxed lunch about her background. Out of PT school she planned on working on sport injuries but she got a scholarship through the NYC Board of Education and committed the first 2 years out of school to working in a NYC public school with kids. She had her last affiliation working with kids with neurological damage and has been working in Pedatric PT since.
The incredible part was when she would describe her techniques. She has been known to be unconventional but effective. With a kid with CP, she would bandage his legs together to help him with crawling. I'm guessing that the legs of kids with CP are usually splayed when they are born. Some people would be appalled at the idea of tying any baby's legs together but with the permission of the kid's parents, she would do it. She says parents with kids with disabilities are more open to these ideas because they want to do everything in their power to help their kids live a normal life. I gathered in my studies that kids have to reach their developmental milestones -crawling, standing, walking by a certain month or risk being severely setback by their disabilities.
In this case, she said the wrapping of the legs worked. She's seen the kid grow up and walking with some assistance from crutches. That was one of her cheerier stories. She discussed the downsides of working in early intervention of kids with disabilities but she seems energized by the success stories. In addition to helping babies, she finds the field extremely interesting. There isn't a ton of manuals on how to handle the various presentations of CP, down syndrome, autism, muscular dystrophy, etc. With this population, she gets to be really creative with her interventions. And she supplements her knowledge with continuing ed classes like the one I met her in, pediatric vestibular dysfunction.
I never thought about working with kiddies but this really amazing woman turned me on to the idea.
Picture from Torticollis Therapy Blog.
