Pediatric Physical Therapy: Children With Disabilities

Question: Describe about A case study is posted below for D.J., a child with Down Syndrome. Like many children with Down Syndrome, D.J. is overweight and generally inactive. He does not have an ongoing fitness routine. How might you help him develop a daily or weekly physical activity or conditioning program? What special considerations would you need to make considering D.J.’s impairments including his educational level or cognitive status, and his family situation? Answer: In this case study, the major concern is the 10-year old child having Down syndrome. The Down syndrome is a genetic disorder and generally has an additional piece of chromosome 21. Symptoms include the birth defect, mental retardation, inactivity, hearing impairment, lack of activities. Therefore, these children need additional care. DJ has low muscle tone, hearing disability and frequently suffers from fatigue during hard work. Therefore, he needs additional care and proper treatment for combating with his health status(Campbell, Palisano & Orlin, 2012). It has been noticed that DJ and his parents are not actively participating in the physical exercise; he is not involved in community sports programs or any recreation program. Therefore, his weekly physical activity program should include awareness about physical activities and sports. DJ was born with a ventricular-septal defect and suffered from a middle ear infection. Therefore, physical activities are important for him to improve his body strength. Therefore, DJ can be recommended to increase daily physical activity with the special sports program, for normalizing his growth and reducing weight. His exercise programs should be concerned about the movement skill development and should be focused on his interest. It has been addressed that, DJ spend his free time by watching television. His parents can be recommended to go for a short trip or arrange some entertainment program for his son, watching television will enhance his weight. Besides regular physical activity, these entertainment programs at the weekend will help in DJ’s growth and help to keep him healthy and motivated. Incorporating them in community programs and resources will help him to achieve lifetime benefits (Campbell, Palisano & Orlin, 2012). In the case of DJ, he is a Down syndrome patient and he has some special needs for making his exercise beneficial. He is having developmental disabilities and becoming overweight. Therefore, exercise plan will help DJ to reduce the risk of obesity-related secondary disorders. However, there are some barriers to physical activities. It has been revealed that he is more interested in watching television than playing in the garden; he is not confident about his sports skills. Additionally, his parents are not interested in regular exercise and this is affecting the cognitive perception of the child. Therefore, he and his family need a learning session for becoming aware of the importance of physical activity (Batshaw, Roizen & Lotrecchiano, 2013). Exercise And Recreation Plan The priority of the exercise plan is to give a health promotion lesson to DJ and his family for making them aware of the physical activities and its benefits along with the benefits of healthy diet DJ’s parents are recommended to participate in community activities and start regular exercise, including jogging, cycling and aerobic exercise. Participation of parents will have emotional influence on DJ to show interest in physical activities DJ’s parents are also recommended to become members of indoor YMCA swimming pool in the community for encouraging their child in swimming Different community programs, mainly recreational program are recommended for his cognitive development (Shields, Synnot & Barr, 2012) Weekly Physical Activity Program Details Strengthening DJ has a low muscle tone; thus, he should strengthen his muscle. DJ should undergo formal exercise program, can join gym for four days a week in alternative days, he can use resistance bands and weights The therapist should focus on physical education and adaptive physical education class for developing his exercise plan Cardiovascular Cardiovascular exercise will help DJ to increase his ability to walk throughout the school day without fatigue, in this way he will not have to take more breaks while playing, it will improve his sports activities A swimming program can be recommended for him on the alternative days of gym During his free time in spite of watching TV, he can use trade mill, under supervision of a therapist On weekend, parents can have a walk with their child for refreshment; it will also motivate him and help in growth (Esposito et al., 2012) He has a tricycle by do not have a bicycle, so he has the interest in cycling. His parents are advised to provide a cycling lesson with the provision of a bicycle As he is starting PA, he should start slowly like 10 minutes walk per day (Wuang & Su, 2012) Balancing Activities DJ’s exercise plan should be developed by including balance tasks, as these are more enjoyable and helps to improve sports skills and mobility Stationary activities like balancing leg with hands on hip can be more entertaining and influence for him His exercise plan can be improved by including proper schedule, where 60 minutes exercise per day will be the aim per day. 10 minutes walk to school, 15 minutes basketball during recess, 30 aerobic exercise or swimming at evening and 5 minute warm up or skipping at morning can be scheduled with the proper diet plan. His therapist or dietician according to his age and weight should set his diet plan. This exercise plan will also help to lose weight (Murphy & Carbone, 2012). Reference List Batshaw, M. L., Roizen, N. J., & Lotrecchiano, G. R. (2013). Children with disabilities., Brookes Publishing Campbell, S. K., Palisano, R. J., & Orlin, M. N. (Eds.). (2012). Physical therapy for children (4th ed.). st Louis, MO. Elsevier/ Saunders. Campbell, S. K., Palisano, R. J., & Orlin, M. N. (Eds.). (2012). Physical therapy for children (4th ed.). st Louis, MO. Elsevier/ Saunders. Esposito, P. E., MacDonald, M., Hornyak, J. E., & Ulrich, D. A. (2012). Physical activity patterns of youth with Down syndrome. Intellectual and developmental disabilities, 50(2), 109-119. Murphy, N. A., & Carbone, P. S. (2012). Promoting the participation of children with disabilities in sports, recreation, and physical activities.Pediatrics, 121(5), 1057-1061. Shields, N., Synnot, A. J., & Barr, M. (2012). Perceived barriers and facilitators to physical activity for children with disability: a systematic review. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 46(14), 989-997. Wuang, Y., & Su, C. Y. (2012). Patterns of participation and enjoyment in adolescents with Down syndrome. Research in developmental disabilities,33(3), 841-848.

Pediatric Physical Therapy: Children With Disabilities

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