There is a new garment called TheraTogs that some therapists are finding helpful in other disorders, aside from cerebral palsy for which it was originally intended to be used for. It seems that the garment can also provide a soothing effect, much like when one is being swaddled.
AngTherapist.com provides an excerpt of the article.
Physical therapist Beverly Cusick invented the garments called ‘TheraTogs’.
“If you turn your shoulder this way and you want to raise your arm, you’ll raise your arm, you’ll just use all the wrong muscles. So kids with movement disorders do that, purpose prevails over the way they use their bodies. They’ll recruit whatever they got to get to where they’re going. So with TheraTogs, we can say, ‘okay go, but do it with a better body.’”
Two and a half year old Emily has autism. Her occupational therapist had used TheraTogs in children with cerebral palsy, but after trying them on herself, she decided Emily might benefit as well.
“It kind of was the effect of swaddling an infant. It gives that calming soothing sensation that I thought, if that works, we need to try it.”
Emily’s mother Linda says her daughter seemed better able to concentrate and focus and it was something her speech therapist picked up on.
“She said that Emily wasn’t rocking back and forth anymore. That was the first time she had seen her with the TheraTogs.”
No clinical research has been conducted on TheraTogs, although there have been smaller studies measuring changes in the way children walk while wearing the garments. Cusick welcomes research, and in the meantime, enjoys the changes she sees in clients.
Source: ABC7 News
No Comments on “Garment offers help for autism and cerebral palsy”
You can track this conversation through its atom feed.