On my rural prac, I was introduced to a young 6 year old girl who ahd been referred to physio with gross motor delay, especially for balance and ball throwing activities. One of the things I didnt know is that her parents had just recently been divorced and she spent most of her time during her week going back and forth between her mum and dad's houses.
The first two treatment sessions with my supervisor and the patient's mum didn't really go according to plan as we were unable to get what we wanted out of the session. The fact that the patient kept asking for her daddy also didn't help.
We sat down and talked to her mother and asked if it was at all possible they could negotiate and get her father to come along to the treatment sessions as well.
The 3rd session saw all three of them come along and we got what we wanted out of the session plus a lot more. The fact that both of her parents worked on their differences and both attended a physio session for the sake of their daughter, speaks volumes for parental input for a child's well being and motivation.
If I was ever to come across a situation with a child who had divorced parents and wasn't participating properly at all in sessions, I may again choose to use the same approach. The thing to remember is that not every approach works on a particular paeds patient. As a physio, you have to develop an arsenal of different approaches so hopefully at least one of them can help you out when this particular situation arrives.
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3 comments:
good post hendo.
Unfortunately, haven't had the chance to treat any kids yet. It's good that you put a post up like this, so if i was to have similar encounter i could use that approach.
Thanks!
I agree, that was a really good solution to the problem and one i'm not sure I would have thought of. Maybe its our inexperience, but it really is hard to treat patients holisticallya and take into account social issues. I think that was a really good solution that was in the best interests of the patient..
Heya Hendo...I totally agree with you! Good insight into this kind of a situation. I also believe workin with kids and trying to get them to work with you is a whole other ball game. its about finding out what works with them and boy does treating them become soo much easier once youve gined their trust!
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