When is the Critical Time for Children with CP?

Have you considered that there is a critical time for therapy for children with cerebral palsy (CP)?

From the ages of about zero to three, and again in puberty, children’s bodies and brains grow quickly. Intense therapy is important during those both of those times.

A Few Reasons Why:

It’s normal for bones to grow faster than muscles during growth spurts. This is where growing pains come from! In kids who don’t have CP, their muscles will eventually catch up in length. Spasticity makes this much harder for kids who do have CP, and those muscles get tighter and tighter during rapid growth. It’s so important to keep muscles as flexible as possible, because it’s really hard to fix once they get tight.

When kids grow bigger, their bodies get longer and heavier. Bigger bodies are harder to move and things that used to be easy become harder. Skills have to be practiced regularly, otherwise they might be lost.

Kids brains are growing rapidly during the ages of zero to three and again in puberty. This is the best time to practice good movement patterns! The brain is ready to learn and will remember things that are practiced in these times best. This is the aim of Conductive Education, which is founded on the premise of neural plasticity.

Critical Times Can Be Easily Missed

If a child with CP isn’t diagnosed soon enough, they might not start therapy early enough. If the child gets discharged from therapy when they are doing well right before puberty hits, they might not get therapy when they need it the most.

Karen Pape discusses these concepts in her book, The Boy Who Could Run But Not Walk: Understanding Neuroplasticity in the Child’s Brain:

“Diagnosis-specific treatment should be available during the important first four years of exuberant body and brain growth. There is no logical reason to wait. This is the time when there is the best possible chance for normalizing function.” 209

“Convince a teenager that the intensive, purposeful practice is worth it and he will improve, usually by one or two levels of function. It is a golden opportunity. This period, then, is a prime opportunity to work around established maladaptive habits.” 243

Share Your Thoughts on This Topic

Here are some questions to get the discussion going:

• Did you know about these critical times for therapy?
• What do you think can get in the way of getting therapy during these windows?
• What changes have you seen in your own child during these phases?
• How can we at the Center help support your goals for your child during these times?

Find us on our Facebook page to share you thoughts.