During your child’s growing years, the alignment of their bones and muscles can sometimes look a little unusual and there is a big spectrum of normal. Flexible flat feet, bowed or knocked knees are great examples of these. Having this knowledge to aid assessment helps prevent unnecessary treatment but also ensures that the ‘not so normal’ concerns get noticed and sorted.   We have close ties with highly skilled paediatric orthopaedic and developmental consultants that we can refer you on to if further investigation and management is warranted.

Louise has been specially trained in The Prechtl General Movements Assessment (GMA) which is an assessment that has been specifically designed to help predict if an infant is at risk of developing Cerebral Palsy. This assessment is completed by reviewing a 5-minute video recording of the infant when they are awake and settled. The assessment can be completed from birth to 20 weeks of age (corrected for prematurity). If your child is not at risk of Cerebral Palsy then this test would not be completed. As part of the assessment, we would observe how your child moves in different positions and interacts with their environment looking again for their strength, coordination, quality of movement, and how they maintain their interest. Find out more at Prechtl’s General Movements Assessment fact sheet. 

This assessment allows us to track and measure your child’s gross motor improvements over time across a wide variety of areas such as rolling to walking and jumping. It can be great to help motivate your child to keep trying and practicing new challenging activities, as we sometimes forget other areas that are improving when we are focused on another skill e.g. sitting up without help and improved rolling and crawling skills.