Neuro-Developmental Treatment (NDT)
What is NDT?: NDT is a holistic approach to therapy that addresses all aspects of an individual’s living skills. It is a management approach that is used to treat individuals with central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) involvement. NDT considers the physical, emotional, and cognitive development of the child when designing an individualized treatment strategy. The NDT approach utilizes knowledge of normal movement patterns and applies that knowledge in the assessment of a child’s alignment and movement. By analyzing the child’s alignment and movement, the therapist determines what physical challenges are impacting the child’s posture.
How Does It Work?: NDT strives to facilitate normal movement through the use of therapeutic handling. A child may initially require a lot of handling and guidance to produce a desired movement, but with time, the goal of NDT is to reduce and eventually eliminate the amount of handling necessary for a child to complete a given movement. As the child grows, and their movement needs change, the therapeutic handling strategy is altered to meet the child’s needs.
What is the goal of NDT?: NDT strives to maximize movement quality in all environments including home, school, work, and community. NDT focuses on helping individuals achieve meaningful, practical, and sustainable changes by showing the child how to use their new movement strategy to achieve a goal that is important to them, like reaching for a toy, standing up to receive a hug, or walking to a parent.
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