Little Leaps Physical Therapy

What a great weekend becoming TASES certified and learning all about the amazing benefits it can have! This is a great addition that can be added to intensives and DMI to help kids even more!

Thank you Mirav for such a great hands on course and providing me the knowledge to add this great tool to my treatments!

Sweet Maddie worked so hard during her intensive this week! Her body responded so well to DMI with noticeably decreased tone and improved posture! She also improved head control with more distal support, initiation of head and trunk flexion and righting, and improved trunk and pelvic alignment!

This girl is truly a fighter and has come so far! Check out her page and consider sharing or donating if you can!

Thank you for letting me be a part of your journey, Miracle Maddie !

https://gofund.me/fec3e6c2

Tall kneeling is a GREAT position that I love working on with my kiddos. Whether with support or not, attaining and maintaining this position strengthens multiple muscle groups and sensory systems. This is an area I consistently see MARKED gains in during an intensive!

Tall kneeling is required to attain half kneel and pull to stand at a support. Therefore, it is the foundational position for many transitions making it oh so important!

It requires core and glute activation to attain and co-activation to maintain, along with head and trunk control, hip flexor length, and pelvic and trunk mobility. Assisting kiddos into this position improves all of these things with one activity!

This position promotes integration of the TLR (tonic labyrinthine reflex) as it requires neck flexion with hip extension. When this reflex is not integrated, the kiddo will extend their neck initially in this position when the therapist promotes hip extension. When neck flexion is promoted, they will flex their hips and trunk.

DMI focuses a lot on verticality, or the upright position. Even for kiddos who are not standing or walking, or even sitting independently, verticality is crucial.

Being vertical provides our body with loads of sensory information regarding where we are in space. This sensory input in turns helps tell our head and trunk where it needs to be, thus improving head and trunk control and combating the forces of gravity

When feet are on the the ground, verticality facilitates weight bearing which helps to provide input and strengthen our muscles.

It is important to introduce verticality at age appropriate functional level versus in sequence of mastering developmental skills.

Traditional therapy refers to weekly treatment sessions, usually 1-3 times a week for 30-60 minutes. I utilized this style for almost 5 years and my patients progressed their skills and improved strength and stability. However, once I was able to incorporate the intensive model into some patient care, I was blown away at the improvements my patients made.

Intensives work because they target the following principles:

Repetition: Practice, practice, practice! When learning to ride a bike, would it be best to practice 1 time a week, or every day for 3 weeks? Practicing every day for 3 weeks would yield better results because of the repetitive nature of the task. Repetition is a key component to neuroplasticity and motor learning.

Neuroplasticity: Intensives foster neuroplasticity because therapists can expose the child to novel and challenging activities day after day after day. This creates new pathways and thus new skills.

Overload Principle: The overload principle states that muscles must continue to be challenged with increasing demands in order to improve strength and endurance. Intensives promote progressive and safe “overload” of muscles over the course of 1-3 weeks (typically). This allows advancement to higher level activities with more automatic movements and less support.

Motor planning & motor learning: Motor planning is the ability to coordinate HOW to do any activity or task. Motor learning is the ability to complete this activity automatically. Therapists use handling skills and DMI techniques to stimulate specific motor actions- we are teaching the child, through use of position and sensory input, how to actively create movement. This translates into development of a motor plan for activities. As an intensive progresses and the child begins the process of motor learning, we can change both our facilitation and sensory input to optimize mastering of skills.

Little Leaps PT is scheduling now for intensives! Learn more at www.littleleapspt.com!

Learn more about DMI at www.dmitherapy.com!

Little Leaps is excited to now be an approved FES provider (formerly Gardiner). This means that funds received from this scholarship can be used to finance Little Leap intensives! Little Leaps has a few openings available for Summer 2023 so email now at [email protected] if you are interested!

Find out more information about the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Unique Abilities and updates for 2023-2024 at stepupforstudents.org

Many kiddos experiment with W-sitting at some point, usually as a quick transition in and out if sitting. However, W sitting is not optimal as it places the knees and hips in end range positions, which can lead to tightness and muscle imbalance over time.

W-sitting can be a result of decreased core strength and sitting balance as the child’s base of support is increased, making this sitting position markedly easier than a classic ring sit position. Over time, the core muscles continue to be less engaged which further decreases muscle strength.

As discussed previously, weight shifting is incredibly important. The child’s legs are acting like kickstands on a bike which limits their weight shift in the side to side direction. Therefore, the side of their hips and core decrease strength.

Focusing on proper sitting posture early on and strengthening weaker muscles is important to ensure proper alignment with future mobility!

What is all this neuroplasticity stuff anyways?

The brain is an amazing thing and neuroplasticity simply refers to its ability to change! This means that if someone has an injury, whether from birth or not, the brain can create new pathways and connections and thus improve movements and patterns. Promising, right?!

What is at the center of DMI techniques, however, is how BEST to provoke this neuroplasticity in order to create change. Performing the same activity in the same atypical pattern will not create change.

For neuroplasticty, the tasks must be novel. They must be challenging. They must be specific. They must be repeated.

That is why DMI works! It loads the child's brain with stimuli in the form of positions, feedback, and input which provokes specific motor responses to improve movement patterns.

This is the creation of the new
connections. This is neuroplasticity.

Check out www.dmitherapy.com for more information and great resources.