We offer a holistic and transdisciplinary approach in care for your child. We focus on improving mobility, strength, balance, coordination, motor planning and other gross motor skills for children with developmental, neuromuscular and congenital conditions.
Our physiotherapist Alena specialises in early intervention paediatric physiotherapy and pre-school age rehabilitation. Alena will guide you in learning more about all developmental milestones by age and teach you how to encourage motor development, positioning for play and how to implement spot on exercises into a daily play to support your child’s development.
Even though her main passion is to work with kids from birth to 6yrs of age, she can also help school-aged children with any difficulties they can face when growing up.
So why your child might need a physiotherapy at early age?
Some of the reasons why your baby or pre-schooler might need physiotherapy are difficulties with coordinating movement, physical and learning disabilities, developmental delays in the achievement of head control, sitting balance, crawling or walking skills and breathing problems such as asthma and cystic fibrosis.
What an early years paediatric physiotherapist do?
Early Years Physiotherapists are experts in understanding how babies learn, move and play. Our Physiotherapists are highly qualified to assess, identify and provide intervention for many different motor difficulties and developmental concerns. During an infant assessment, a thorough screening of development, reflexes and motor function is performed to provide the most accurate intervention and home programs.
Early intervention in paediatric physiotherapy is about identifying and addressing physical or developmental challenges in children as early as possible. This can lead to better outcomes compared to interventions that start later.
Some common conditions we treat:
- Developmental delays
- Pre-term babies or emergency C-section babies
- Torticollis, Head shape management (Plagiocephaly)
- Developmental concerns associated with positional talipes and Developmental Dysplasia of Hip
- Low muscle tone (Hypotonia)
- Difficulties with tolerating tummy time
- Difficulties with head control
- Problems with wind or Colic
- Breastfeeding problems due to tongue tightness
- Musculoskeletal and Gait Abnormalities such as Toe Walking or In-Toeing
- Joint Hypermobility
- Concerns with balance, coordination and strength, etc.
We are also passionate about offering a preventative developmental screening for your child even if it means only giving you more ideas for purposeful play and things to consider supporting your child’s development.
We help parents of babies who might:
- Struggle with tummy time
- Have a flat spot developing on their head
- Aren’t rolling yet or have ‘forgotten’ how to roll
- Refuse to crawl ‘the right way’
- Aren’t sitting like other babies their age
- Refuse to stand, and prefer to sit or bottom shuffle instead
- Or are taking quite long to let go and walk by themselves.
- Has limbs or body which feel very stiff or very floppy compared to other babies
- Using one hand noticeably more than the other
We also help parents who:
- Aren’t sure how to play with their new baby
- Would like accurate and evidence-based information on typical child development
- Want to support their baby to learn new skills through play
- Want to know what baby ‘equipment’ is recommended to support development (and what is not!)
- Or just need some guided reassurance they are doing the right things and baby is developing as they should be.
A few interesting facts about early childhood:
Your baby’s brain will double in size by 12 months and reach 80% of its adult volume by age 3. While it is growing at this extraordinary rate, you have a window of opportunity to also influence your baby’s learning THROUGH MOVEMENT in the first 2 years of life.
Movement is like a brain booster for a baby!
Scientific research tells us early physiotherapy is extremely important for babies with a developmental delay. It is also important for those at risk of delay such as babies born preterm or prematurely.
Simple daily tasks help children develop both physically and cognitively when they are a toddler. These tasks help strengthen their motor skills and coordination, develop problem solving, gain ability to follow directions, improve physical strength and so much more. It is suggested that both structured play as well as unstructured play should be incorporated throughout the day.
To sum it up:
Whether you have any concerns about your child’s development or simply want to get more ideas on how to support your child to reach their milestones and boost their brain development, we got you. You can simply call us on (08) 9313 3414 and book an appointment with our physiotherapist.