Physical therapy intensives

 

At In Harmony Pediatric Therapy, we believe every child has the ability to grow, learn, and participate more fully in the things that matter most to them. Intensive therapy provides a focused period of increased therapeutic support designed to help children work toward specific goals with greater frequency and consistency to promote neuroplasticity.

An intensive program brings together a concentrated series of daily therapy sessions over a few weeks. This allows your child and their therapy team to spend more time practicing skills, building confidence, and creating strategies that can carry over into everyday life. Research behind intensive therapy sessions states the child can make the same progress in 3-4 weeks that they would have originally made over a 6-month time period. That is a huge gain in a short amount of time!

 

What is intensive therapy?

Intensive therapy is a short-term, goal-focused approach that provides a higher frequency of therapy than a child's typical schedule. An intensive therapy session can be anywhere from 2-4 weeks, 3 hours a day, every weekday. 

An intensive may be recommended when a child would benefit from increased focused practice in a particular area, they are close to meeting a goal, progress has plateaued, there has been a change in physical status, after a surgery or medical procedure, or the family and therapy team identify an opportunity to make meaningful gains through increased repetition and support. 

Every intensive is individualized. We begin with your child's strengths, challenges, and goals to build a plan around what will be most meaningful for your child and your family.

 

why should my child participate in an intensive?

Children often learn through repetition, consistency, and meaningful practice. Increasing the frequency of therapy over a concentrated period of time can provide more opportunities to practice a skill, receive feedback, make adjustments, and continue forward. The use of high repetition allows us to tap into neuroplasticity and make meanigful changes with a child's mobility and motor planning. 

An intensive approach may help: 

Increase opportunities for practice: More frequent repetition can provide additional opportunities to work on targeted skills in a supportive environment. 

Build consistency: A concentrated schedule can help reinforce therapeutic strategies and routines across multiple sessions. The consistency will really tap into seeing those goals being regularly met and maintained in the future. 

Support specific goals: Intensives allow the therapy team to devote focused attention to a particular skill or area of development with increased ability and time to break down the different areas of a goal to work on all impairments or limitations the child needs to meet that goal.

Help families feel more confident: Caregiver education and hands-on coaching are an important part of intensive therapy, helping families understand how to support their child's progress outside of therapy to ensure the child is set up for the most success.  

Promote carryover into everyday life: The goal isn't simply to perform a skill during a therapy session. We work toward helping children use their skills during play, school, routines, and other meaningful activities. The intensive causes an increase in neuroplasticity that will promote a change in the child's mobility and allow them to use and maintain the new skills learned at home as well. 

when would my child benefit from an intensive?

Intensive therapy is appropriate for children of all different diagnoses and medical complexities. Intensive therapy may be appropriate if they:

  • Have specific skills they are working to develop or strengthen

  • Benefit from increased repetition and practice

  • Are working toward a functional or developmental milestone

  • Have experienced a plateau or change in status

  • Are preparing for an upcoming transition or change in routine

  • Have an upcoming medical procedure 

  • Have goals that they are close to meeting and may be addressed effectively through a concentrated period of therapy

 

What does an intensive look like?

At In Harmony Pediatric Therapy, our physical therapy intensives can incorporate specialized equipment and therapeutic approaches to provide children with focused, repetitive opportunities to work toward their movement goals.

Our intensives are based on the TheraSuit® model. We utilize both the Universal Exercise Unit and Therasuit. Our physical therapy intensives are three hours a day every weekday for 2-4 weeks based off need/desire, recommendation, and tolerance. This high frequency and duration is the foundation of the research behind the progress made during an intensive. The research states the typical progress a child would make in 6 months can be made in that short of a time period. 

The Universal Exercise Unit (UEU) is a versatile therapy system that uses a series of adjustable cables, pulleys, and supports to help children practice movement in a controlled and supported environment. The pulley system promotes isolated muscle strengthening while reducing compensatory patterns. The adjustable cables and "spider" portion provide support that can be modified in any functional position while working on numerous activities. This support can help therapists modify the amount of assistance a child receives while encouraging active participation. 

The UEU can allow therapists to:

  • Provide graded assistance or resistance during movement

  • Support children as they work on strength and motor control

  • Practice isolated or specific movements

  • Facilitate as much active participation as possible

  • Work on transitions, balance, coordination, and functional movement in a safe way

  • Modify the level of support as a child's abilities change

Because the system can be adjusted to each child's needs, therapists can create opportunities for children to actively participate in movements that may otherwise be difficult to perform independently. 

The TheraSuit® is a specialized therapeutic suit system designed to provide external support and sensory input during movement-based therapy. The suit consists of components that can be adjusted by a trained therapist based on the child's individual needs and treatment goals. 

When incorporated into an intensive, the TheraSuit® may be used to help provide additional proprioceptive input, support alignment and positioning, and create opportunities for children to practice functional movement with increased feedback and body awareness. The suit can be used to promote engagement of different muscles we are trying to recruit while participating in dynamic movement. 

 

we’re interested, what should we do next?

For more information or any questions, please email Shanda at scheduling@inharmonypediatrictherapy.com.

You can also reach us at 770-687-2542 for more information.