A charity in Shropshire is providing life-changing physiotherapy for children.
Two-year-old Archie Klein from Market Drayton has spastic diplegic Cerebral Palsy. He is benefiting from targeted training therapy, a physiotherapy for children with movement difficulties which aims to help children gain control of their movement and gain new skills and independence.
Like Archie, many of the children who attend The Movement Centre in Oswestry have Cerebral Palsy or Global Developmental Delay, but targeted training therapy can also be suitable for children who have an acquired brain injury or Down Syndrome. Support is given directly beneath where control is an issue. As each child makes progress, the level of support is reduced, so that they can continue to develop movement control. This mimics the way in which movement control is naturally developed in a young infant, from the head downwards. Every child has an initial assessment to determine if targeted training is suitable. If so, a specialist standing frame will be supplied. Targeted training is designed to be specific and accurate, and the therapy can be continued at home, with families being asked to commit to thirty minutes a day.
Archie has been set up in a standing frame with a flat posterior support at sacral level and support directly below the knees to improve his standing and stepping abilities. Archie’s mum, Leanne Hoey, said: “Archie is at the age now where he is starting to realise that he can’t do certain things but really wants to, and that pulls at the heartstrings, so to be able to get him on his feet is going to be just brilliant. Things are now looking much more positive. I am very optimistic and think this is going to be a really good year for Archie.”
Thanks to the efforts of The Movement Centre’s fundraisers and sponsors, the targeted training therapy programme is now being fully funded by the charity. Previously, families had to pay £2,000, which was the biggest obstacle to accessing the treatment.
This has been a gamechanger for Leanne. “It is just brilliant to be able to go ahead with the treatment for Archie and not have to worry about how we are going to find the money to pay for it. We were thinking we would have to find the money somehow and didn’t know until our last appointment that Archie’s treatment would be fully funded.”
The Movement Centre
Website: the-movement-centre.co.uk
