How much therapy is "enough" for 2yo with mild CP? - Cerebral Palsy Message Board

09-18-2006, 06:36 PM

My son is 2.3 years old and has mild cerebral palsy. He is primarily hypotonic; he walks only with a toy walker and slouches dramatically when sitting (often losing his balance if he is doing something with his hands like motions to songs).

I know there is no right answer, but I would love some input on how much therapy he "should" be getting. (Being hypotonic, most of what he needs therapy-wise is strength-building exercises and encouraging balance).

Per his developmental pediatrician and PT, he goes 1-2 times/week for PT, 1 time for OT. (He has just "tested out" of speech therapy.) I get conflicting answers from them on how much therapy to do with him at home.

On one hand, sometimes I get so overwhelmed with our situation that I close down and we'll go a whole week doing no therapy at home (HORRIBLE, I know).

On the other hand, knowing what I do about how plastic the brain is before age 3, and how the brain can make compensatory repairs after damage, I usually feel like even if I did "therapy" with him every waking moment, it would barely be enough.

The therapy is like play to him; I use music, toys, games. etc.

I also wonder if I should be getting him more outside therapy. I'm not sure how much of our ped/PT's recommendations are considering what insurance is likely to cover & how many visits are "convenient" for the family vs. what's strictly best for DS.

Would appreciate insight and advice. Thanks.

Strawberry1 · 09-19-2006, 01:13 AM

When I was a small child, I went to PT twice a week. But on the other hand I didn't go to OT or speech therapy.

IMHO you sound a little overstressed about the home therapy. I must confess that my family was relatively lazy with those home exercises that were prescribed for me - partly because they did not have time or energy, partly because they felt that exercising 24/7 would make me lose the normal childhood.

Remember that CP is not any ultraserious condition like cancer for example, where little slips could prove fatal. It does not destroy everything if your child is without exercises for a week.

But your approach of making home therapy playful sounds very beneficial.

EddieVedderFan · 09-19-2006, 05:43 AM

My daughter has cerebral palsy - the spastic diplegia form of it and is moderately affected.She's two and a half, and can only crawl and pull herself to stand using furniture. Here in Ireland she gets seen by a physio maybe once a month if im lucky ,, and otherwise I don't get any help with her.

Strawberry1 · 09-19-2006, 12:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dagny

On the other hand, knowing what I do about how plastic the brain is before age 3, and how the brain can make compensatory repairs after damage, I usually feel like even if I did "therapy" with him every waking moment, it would barely be enough.

I think that you should try to find ways of making his everyday life more "therapeutic" for him: try to find games, toys, furniture etc. that prevent bad body positions and increase strength and balance. Separate PT sessions tend to be boring for the child.

For example, could something be done to prevent that slouching in the chair?

Malwm01 · 09-20-2006, 10:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dagny

I know there is no right answer, but I would love some input on how much therapy he "should" be getting.

Would appreciate insight and advice. Thanks.

Well, all I can tell you is my personal experience as the one with CP. I walk, have balance issues and a lot of tight muscles in my face, back legs and hands. I have a weak trunk but at this point I'm sure that is laziness on my part.

When I was really young (2-3) I was in E.I. through the school district. I remember having PT and OT several times a week. By the time I was in Kdg.-1st grade, I was doing 3 PT sessions and 1 or two OT sessions. I really have NO idea how long this all lasted (per session) but I'm sure it wasn't very long because little kids can't handle the same thing for a very, very long time.

After that I went to PT for anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes once a week from age 7 to 14. (And the longer sessions were purely my own doing, in middle school my PT doubled as my unofficial talk therapist, and she pretty much let me decide when I wanted to go back to class and we talked while worked a lot and if I wasn't done talking we kept talking I just had to keep excercising, lol.)