Our Early Thinking on Need

A wide range of neurological injuries can place children at risk for motor delay as they grow and develop throughout early childhood. The best developmental outcomes are promoted by alertness to risk, prompt recognition of delay, and equally prompt initiation of therapies responsive to the individual child’s progressively unfolding need. 

Therapy delivered solely at the time of clinical visits is not by itself sufficiently intense or frequent to maximize progress toward goals. Exercise outside of the clinic is therefore essential, and the home exercise program (HEP) constitutes a standard component of clinical best practice. 

Implementation of the HEP naturally falls to parents and others who care for the child day-to-day. Family caregivers, however, frequently experience doubt and lack of confidence in administering their children’s programs on their own. 

While an important goal of extending therapeutic practice outside the clinic into the child’s day-to-day environment is to promote exercise frequency and intensity, it is just as important to promote exercise quality. Technology that integrates smart toys and exercise monitoring apps has the potential to automate the documentation of a child’s HEP, track both the how much and the how of exercise and consolidate the information so both families and therapists can detect a suggested need for course correction and consider it for more timely collaboration and decision making.