Patterns4Development offers programmes for families who feel they want to do more for their child with mobility problems – whether due to a brain injury, genetic disorder or development delay – than is currently being offered to them by the statutory services. Programmes are designed individually for each child with the aim of taking advantage of brain plasticity – the ability of the human brain to change.
Mobility is a function we carry out at a pretty much subconscious level in that we don’t think about every movement, every step, the position of our feet etc. Each level of movement a baby develops, and repeats many times, leads on to the next – the constant repetition has laid down imprints ready for the higher level. When a baby’s limbs are affected by muscle tone that is either too high or too low, although they may develop some intentional movement of their arms and legs the patterns are wrong, the movements are uncontrolled or incomplete, and stiffness or excessive floppiness can put the limbs into abnormal positions. As the child continues to move in this way, abnormal movement patterns are imprinted on the brain which affects future levels of mobility. Patterning sets out to override these abnormal patterns by providing feedback about the correct way to move in order to try and activate new neural pathways to bypass the damaged areas – in affect it attempts to reprogramme the brain.
The exercises carried out, which are largely passive in nature, mimic the normal development patterns of movement which are often interrupted when an injury to the brain or the presence of a genetic condition or syndrome results in problems such as spasticity, low muscle tone, poor balance, a lack of coordination and in some instances poor vision and hearing. A programme is generally around 30 minutes in length and will consist of a series of activities lasting between 1 and 5 minutes each, some of which are passive and carried out by 2 or sometimes 3 people and others which involve helping and encourageing the child to produce output. The programme is repeated in exactly the same order each time to provide the repetition necessary for the feedback to be effective.