Therabytes

Professional sporting and Paralympics  Today we discussed what modified and accessible sports are available to families who might be feeling motivated after watching the Paralympics. If your child has an interest and enjoys or has friends already playing a sport they want to play with, then you can start there. Do they like throwing a ball, bouncing a ball, kicking a ball, swimming? There will be...

What is the perfect balance of therapy and school?  On today's podcast Dayna and I discuss what the ideal balance could look like once your child starts school or daycare. Being told it was time to slow down on therapy and let our child be a child was an important permission I needed to alleviate the parental guilt associated with reducing the therapy schedule, changing the therapist’s role a...

This was another really important topic we discussed today as it's a question we get a lot in the clinic and that is about sending a child with a neurodisability to daycare. There are many reasons a family will send a child to daycare, so the parents can work or get some respite or it may be to socialise their child. Dayna and I discuss the benefits and importance in some circumstances of sen...

When to present to ED (or call an ambulance) A lot of the time it can be very clear when you need to call an ambulance or present to ED such as for seizures, breathing issues, and severe illness but there is also a lot of gray area with some of our children and i know a lot of us do our best to avoid the “bugs” in hospital’s and unnecessary medical trauma. Some tips and tricks we share for ED visi...

How to troubleshoot when something is wrong with a non verbal child. It can be so distressing for everyone involved when something is wrong with your child and they can't tell you what, it's really hard to know where to start sometimes, when to take action and who can help. A lot of families have to rely on intuition and sometimes this intuition won't always match a typical clinical...

This has been a common question and topic not only within the neurodisability community but also the families and carers of neurotypical children.  What is too much screen time and when is screen time a bad thing? The research covered in this article is available here: Mallawaarachchi S, Burley J, Mavilidi M, et al. Early Childhood Screen Use Contexts and Cognitive and Psychosocial Outcomes: A Sys...

GMFCS - When to expect a GMFCS score and can this change over time? As parents and carers of children with neurodisabilities we can't help but hyperfocus on the few bits of information we can get when our children are young that give us insight into our children's future.  The Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) is one of those tools available that indicates how a person f...

This week we discuss all things self-regulation and behaviour management.

Therabytes - Taking medication, when should I contact my medical team if things don't look right? A conversation about observations, intuition and lines of communication between the child, the family and the medical team/s.

Unlock the Power of Goal Setting! TheraBytes is back with another stellar question and answer - this week we tackle the concept of SMART goals. Why do you set goals? There is huge power in setting goals - it helps you and everyone in your world to prioritise what is important. SMART goals: 🟠 Specific - be as specific as possible 🟡 Measurable - make sure it's objectively measurable 🟢 Achiev...

What to do if you feel like your child is not making the right amount of gains in their skills or you believe you are seeing some skills being lost. It can be very complicated and knowing what to record, observe and report can be so valuable.

All about using equipment to encourage movement!

On this week's TheraBytes episode, we delve into the science of early walking, uncovering its benefits and significance. It's all about mobility as a human right!

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All about trunk control and hypotonia!

All about Dysphagia! Dysphagia means that an individual may have impaired swallowing. It is an impairment that can be observed in people with cerebral palsy or neuromuscular diseases. It occurs when the individual isn't able to safely swallow due to changes in muscle tone or altered coordination. It is so important to identify dysphagia because it can have some serious consequences on lung he...

This week on TheraBytes we cover the topic of Dystonia - what it is, the causes, the symptoms and treatments.

All about high tone - Spasticity - describes something that happens to our muscles when we have an upper motor neuron injury. A discovery of more than just a simple understanding of the ‘elastic band’ theory, especially within the context of cerebral palsy. Spasticity is another diagnosis that originates from the injured brain either at birth or post birth or even the spinal cord. It is a common r...

An episode that highlights how important those hip X- Ray appointments are, as a standard monitoring program for children with CP. It makes us understand why we wander through the hospital corridors every 6 or 12 months and answers what it is the Doctors are looking out for.  Family discussions post X- Ray being taken, and the Doctors point to the most obvious bones of the ‘ball and socket’ on eit...

Is pain in therapy ok? Why the concept of "no pain, no gain" is an outdated and dangerous philosophy.

This week we discuss the "magic" of stem cells. Families have many questions - and in our byte-sized episode - we try to answer some of the more common questions we're asked about stem cells. What are they? How do they work? What effect do they actually have? Where can I get them? and so much more.

The Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM) and the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS).

How do you know what therapy is best? Use the traffic light system! 🔴 Don't do it 🟠 Maybe do it 🟢 The best available All based on the latest science, knowledge, understandings, evidence and research. https://cerebralpalsy.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/11910_2020_Article_1022.pdf

The financials - how do I make my (NDIS) funds last?