Does your child face difficulty in performing physical activities? Does he have handwriting difficulties? Have you ever noticed him struggling to maintain his balance and coordination? Does he find it difficult to concentrate on things or interact with others?
If yes, he might be suffering from psychomotor disorder (psychomotor development issues). This is when psychomotor therapy comes into play!
What Is Psychomotor Therapy (PMT)?
Successful balance and movement skills hold immense significance for the psychomotor development of children. In contrast, children with poor psychomotor skills often suffer from low self-confidence, and this issue persists even in adulthood. Psychomotor therapists(PMT) help children develop impaired psychomotor skills in children.
In other words, this therapy involves a technique that helps develop coordination movements, maintain balance, and improve gross motor skills (whole body movement) and fine motor skills (movement of hands and fingers) of children.
Since an individual is a unity of emotional, physical, and cognitive actualities that interact with each other and the surrounding environment; therefore, psychomotor therapist also supports an individual’s personal development.
This therapy combines physical, cognitive, emotional, and symbolic reactions and responses of the body. Psychomotor therapists initially assess the difficulties in a child’s motor development and provide treatment accordingly.
Who Can Benefit from Psychomotor Therapy?
Psychomotor therapy intervention can help children with:
- Gross Motor Skills
- Final Motor Skills
- Delay in Early Psychomotor Development (specifically for infants)
- Motor Coordination problems (clumsiness and difficulty maintaining balance)
- Spatial and time perception problems
- Short span of attention
- Unusual Low or High Activity Level (difficulty paying attention, hyperactive)
- Unusual fear of heights/movements
- Difficulty maintaining eye contact
- Slow written output/ Problems with handwriting (such as grasping a pencil, pressing too high or too low pressure on the pencil, uncertain formation of letters)
- Lack of safety awareness (tripping over and bumping into things)
- Bizarre cravings for rough play
- Speech delays (problems with cognitive skills and motor coordination)
- Delayed drawing skills (difficulty copying letters/ shapes)
- Problems with cognitive tasks like problem-solving, following instructions, and visual organization
- Problems with self-care activities (such as combing hair, brushing teeth, tying shoes, buttoning a shirt, and using
- forks and spoons)
What Does Psychomotor Therapy Focus On?
This therapy focuses on:
- Gross and fine motor skills
- Handwriting skills
- Muscle tone regulation
- Communication Problems
- Lateral dominance
- Sensory Processing
- Space and time concepts
- Cognitive abilities such as visual memory, visual attention, planning and problem solving, visual analysis
- Emotional history affects behavior, activity level, interaction
Domains of Psychomotor Therapy
- Physical– Laterality, Spatial & Temporal Organization, Muscle Tone, Gross/Motor Skills
- Psychological– Non-Verbal Communication, Initiative Taking and Body Controlling, Body Image, and Other Interactive Skills
- Intellectual– Executive and Cognitive Functions, Praxis Planning
At Hope Abilitation Medical Center, our psychomotor therapists utilize various equipment for early intervention and therapy. More importantly, psychomotor therapist uses mirrors to mediate motor feedback and communication. Play therapy (drama techniques) is also used to support children’s dealing with their traumas and psychological conflicts. This is because these incidents directly impact their psychomotor skills (cognitive and motor development).
Our psychomotor therapists let children experience and practice new behavior and skills to develop physical, psychological, and behavioral skills to create a psychomotor balance. Each child is given a customized treatment plan based on their specific needs.
Our skilled and trained PMT employ both physical and psychological capacities in the children and strive to consolidate a healthy relationship between their body and the mind.