Unlocking potential with Exercise for NDIS clients - 3 Insights from an Exercise Physiologist

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jQCWxJ7EF6AubU-73qlcl8hnYdIjdm_O/view

Everything that we do at Kids Heart Pilates is based around principles of movement that are applicable to both typical and those with developmental concerns or delays. We receive a lot of enquiry from NDIS clients asking if our courses are appropriate for children with disability or developmental delay and my answer is simply- yes. At Kids Heart Pilates we work with children holistically and focus on their development rather than their condition or diagnosis. 

This article reflects on a recent session with a client where some challenges arose and outlines three effective ways for successful exercise intervention for children with disability or developmental delays.  

• Focus on development and function over condition.

•  Avoid making assumptions about the child’s ability based on their condition or NDIS diagnosis.
• Take into account that all clients sit somewhere on the spectrum and the environment of the clinic will affect us all in some way.
• Each system will develop at different rates and times so milestones are unique to the individual and should be tracked accordingly.
• Each child has a unique set of symptoms, displaying them in different ways.
• Take the opportunity to promote your client’s development holistically. 
• Conditions don’t come with a set of rules. They impact children in different ways and equally not all interventions, strategies and techniques will have the same effect on our clients. We need to be malleable and remain open minded when prescribing exercise and activities for childhood development.

1. Communication at 3 important levels 
• The facility

The Clinic: If you are a clinic owner, or practising at a clinic, be mindful that communication with your client and their carer may come indirectly.  Ensure communication from your team and administrator is streamline, clear and in line with your own values of communication.

Educational Institute: When communicating with schools, childcare centres or other educational institutes, ensure you are communicating at management level so the people with the power understand who you are, what you are doing and why you are doing it. This engagement piece is particularly important not only to protect the child’s NDIS funding but to ensure there is a clear understanding about what you, as an Exercise Physiologist, have been entrusted to achieve with the client.  

• The key influencers

Strong communication and engagement with key influencers, like the carer, parent or NDIS support worker is crucial to ensure the sustainability of your service. If ‘Mum’ has a clear understanding of what you are trying to achieve and is engaged and happy with the service, she will instil positive thoughts in her child about the session which ultimately leads to a more successful intervention. 

• The child/client 

Of course, clear and concise communication with your client/the child is every practitioner's priority. Your style of communication will vary from child to child and over time you will develop a good flow as you work out what is mutually effective. 

1. Set yourself up for strong engagement -Do you have a sensory checklist? 

Engagement with your client is one of the most important considerations for successful intervention. We recently had a little client, who needed some help with engagement in her session. I had witnessed and overheard a few sessions and noticed that she was overstimulated in her session and not experiencing the full benefits of the intervention. I was worried we were going to lose our ‘key influencer’, aka her Mum and so we set about resolving the overstimulation issue and re-empowering my practitioner who felt a bit defeated by the situation. 

Here’s how:

We were not setting the child up for success because the environment (the room) was not suited to her sensory system. The room was too loud with more equipment than necessary and her session consisted of too many exercises to keep her attention and consequently a flight fright response was triggered.

 Enter… The Sensory Checklist: (Download our free Sensory Checklist ) 

 For the next session we did the following and the results were astounding. 

• We dimmed the lights 
• We put a nice scent on 
• We played relaxing music  
• We reduced equipment in the room 
• We reduced the exercises and prescribed exercises that would calm her sensory system. 

In one session, she went from being over stimulated to calm and engaged. Mum was back onboard and seeing the difference in her child went from feeling stressed and disengaged to writing positive reviews on our social media. 

As a bystander, I could literally see and hear the difference in both client and practitioner and I knew that it was a mutually positive experience.  My practitioner feels empowered and able to run her session confidently and now applies the 3 step structure above to all her sessions.