Back to: Therapist
Questions & Answers - Developmental Concerns
I am a mother of a 10 month old baby boy who has stiffness or
hypertonicity in his ankles and keeps his leg claw shaped. By 10 months
he has to should be showing independent sitting and crawling but my baby
is not doing so. He was able to roll on tummy before and is not even
doing that for the last two to three months.
His doctor suggested physio exercises. We are doing those and we have
started him in a course of physio therapy under a trained pediatric
physiotherapist. But we are a little concerned regarding the status. Our
baby had seizures three days after his birth and was hospitalized for 15
days in NICU but once out of NICU, he has not had seizures, but
developmental delays concerns me.
I can tell you are concerned about the motor development of your 10
month old son. By ten months old a baby usually can hold his/her head up
well, push up on arms when on belly, roll, sit independently and creep/
crawl to get around, among other skills.
It's great that you have started having your son see a pediatric
physiotherapist for therapy. I would recommend that you talk to your
physiotherapist about your concerns about your son's delays. Your
therapist should be able to help you understand what is causing the
delays and teach you ways to help your son.
I would also suggest further medical evaluation if that has not
already been done. In the city where I work the major pediatric hospital
has different clinics for different neurological problems where babies
and children are evaluated by a team of pediatric medical specialists
including a pediatric physiatrist, pediatric neurologist, pediatric
orthopedist, pediatric physical therapist, occupational therapist and
speech language therapist. The medical specialists determine which
evaluations a child might need, these are done and then the group meets
as a team to make recommendations for each child. The team looks at all
areas of development including motor and cognitive development. I don't
know if you have such a place where you live but the families I work
with have found a comprehensive evaluation such as this useful in
helping to plan treatment to help their children.
My last suggestion would be to go on the web and look up the NDT
Association and see if any therapists who are trained in NDT
(Neurodevelopmental therapy) where you live - if there is one you may
want to contact them or you may be able to contact the
NDT organization with questions.
Back to: Therapist
Questions & Answers - Developmental Concerns