Physiotherapy Treatment For Global Development Delay

In our previous blog, we've have covered the key information you need about cognitive behavioural therapy. While cognitive behavioural therapy is key to understanding children, it's also important to recognize other issues with children's learning as well, especially when it comes to global developmental delay and their physiotherapy treatment for global developmental delay.

In this article, we'll explore what exactly is global development delay (or simply developmental delay) its various causes, and the available physiotherapy treatment for global developmental delay.

What Is Developmental Delay In Children?

Developmental delay is a term used to describe when an infant or child is delayed in one or more areas compared to the normal timeline and range of development.

These areas can include fine motor skills, gross motor skills, speech and language, cognitive, intellectual, social and emotional development. 

While we will discuss the various causes and risk factors of developmental delay among children, it’s important to understand the root cause of the developmental delay to properly diagnose and plan the right physiotherapy course to make progress in overcoming it.

In most cases, children can improve in their affected area and even catch-up with the normal rate of development with the right physiotherapy treatment and management.

This can be achieved with the right intensive therapy, support and programs.

Global Developmental Delay Diagnosis Criteria

• Difficulty manipulating objects
• Delay in meeting motor milestones (e.g. rolling, sitting, crawling, standing, walking)
• Muscle stiffness or floppiness
• Speech delay
• Swallowing difficulty
• Clumsiness
• Muscle spasms
• Difficulty communicating needs
• Difficulty understanding and producing speech
• Difficulty problem solving
• Lack of independence
• Poor socialisation
• Slowed learning
• Behavioural problems

The Impact of Covid-19 For Developmental Delay Physiotherapy Session

While developmental delay can be effectively addressed with the right physiotherapy treatment, the advent of Covid-19 has brought several challenges to to how treatment sessions are run.

In fact, it's not just the increased risks of Covid-19 exposure to both the physiotherapists and children. The additional challenges include:

• Interruption of face-to-face consultations
• Restrictive need of following infection, prevention and control guidelines
• Requirements of using of personal protective equipment (PPE) for close-contact services

This is compounded by the fact that Covid-19 has brought upon the need of optimising staff count, modifying the appointment timelines and also supporting the physical and mental health of everyone.

However, this has brought forth newer methods of delivering physiotherapy for children with developmental delay. One of them includes tele-rehabilitation, where video-call-based therapy sessions can provide support and treatment to minimise the impact of missing physiotherapy sessions for children with developmental delays!

If you're seeking an alternative way of having physiotherapy treatments for your child during this Covid-19 pandemic, you're welcomed to contact us to find a solution that fits your child!

Physiotherapy Treatment For Global Developmental Delay

Firstly, physiotherapy can assist your child to develop the skills required for play, fine motor, self-help, and problem solving or cognition. This usually starts with directive and fun therapy intervention in order to work towards success in identified goal areas.

For example, physiotherapy exercises can be as simple as kickstarting engaging activities that may promote basic play skills such as “take out” and “put in”, or more complex fine motor skills such as the pincer grasp that allow your child to participate in preschool table-top activities such as puzzles, threading and drawing.

Physiotherapy can also assist with the eventual transition to school and fine motor and cognitive skills required during the school years. Equipment prescriptions or environmental solutions may also be required for home or school.

Here are some benefits that physiotherapy can offer for a child with developmental delay:

• Understand a child’s medical history
• Take a family-centred approach that is goal-focused
• Undertake a thorough assessment of their developmental skills
• Design a personalised neurological rehabilitation program that is holistic
• Provide hands-on treatment to teach a child how to move better or more efficiently
• Provide advice on facilitating skill development and transfer into a child’s daily life, and education on how to best support a child’s health

Choose Well Rehab as your trusted physiotherapy centre for developmental delay in Malaysia

Ensuring a child's future and quality of life improves by overcoming developmental delays drives all of us at Well Rehab.

As Malaysia's leading provider of physiotherapy treatment, we are the preferred, qualified and certified professionals that are trusted nationwide.

For more information about our developmental delays, therapies or services in Malaysia, you may contact us at +60 12 512 8487 or email wellrehabmanagement@gmail.com.