Page 18 - Mobility Management, June 2019

ATP Series
Early-Intervention Priorities
Welcoming a baby is a stressful event under the best of circum- stances. When that baby is diagnosed with a condition that will cause developmental delays, and a seating and wheeled mobility team is brought in, what should that team’s priorities be?
It’s a complex question with so many possible answers.
Supporting Early Development
Gabriel Romero, VP of Sales & Marketing for Stealth Products, noted a number of priorities related to a special needs child’s development.
“Look at a child who is 6 to 8 months [old],” he said. “If you see somebody holding that child, they’re cradling the neck and head area.”
For children who use complex rehab technology, however, muscles might not develop the way they typically would. “They can be low tone,” Romero said, as an example. “Even at this very early age, there’s a lot of corrective positioning that needs to be established. It’s structured positioning.”
When he first sees a very young child with cerebral palsy, as an example, “I put them into one of two groups: low tone or high
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tone. That doesn’t explain everything, but at least it tells me what I need to look at. For low tone, I might want to do a neck noodle, because they’re dropping their chin. For high tone, I have to be sure they’re not triggering from the sensory feedback that they can get rubbing from their face or not having their head properly supported.”
Romero also prioritizes getting the child properly oriented: “You’re really trying to understand their breathing, where their eyes are, and a lot of different things because you want to make sure that they’re properly developing. You want to make sure their ears aren’t covered up: In a car seat, the kid’s ears can be [accidentally] covered, depending on how the car seat’s posi- tioning is working. You’re thinking about developmental chal- lenges, and you need to consider all the senses.”
And depending on the diagnosis, such an infant might not be able to reposition himself, which could lead to issues such as flat head syndrome, which can occur when a child lies in the same position for too long.
“You’ve got to monitor [special needs children] who are not able to decide they’re not comfortable in a position so they
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