A PAEDIATRIC HOME THERAPY PROGRAMME FOR DEVELOPMENTAL PROGRESS IN SEVERELY HANDICAPPED INFANTS

Summary An effort has been made to influence the development of severely handicapped infants and improve the quality of life for their families in one health care district. Weekly visits to the homes by a 'developmental therapist' for 2 years after the initial suspicion of major developmental delay have taken place. The visits have been carried out by senior professional staff in the therapeutic professions who normally deal with a young handicapped population working within a closely knit team directed by a paediatrician and a psychologist. Success and difficulties met by children, families, therapists and team are described. Appreciation of the child's individual characteristics and his family's particular accommodation to them has been the task of therapists, who appear to have successfully crossed the parent-professional barrier. Evaluation of maternal attitudes in this group and a comparison group from another health care district is being carried out. This paper is the first of three. The next two will describe the observed effects in the children and the families respectively.