Child Center in Krakow


	Child Center in Krakow

Social Pediatrics (SP) is the most important field of the childhood health care. SP was created by prof. T. Hellbrugge in Child Center in Munich.
The first to introduce that preventive system to Poland was Maria Drewniak MD, Director of Child Center in Krakow.

Social Pediatrics comprises three large branches such as:

Primary prevention-includes preventive measures for healthy children-vaccination, health education, hygiene, school building etc.

Secondary prevention-includes screening tests, medical check-ups

refers to existing disorders (for example: laboratory examinations of Fenyloketonuria, Hypothreoidismus)

Tertiary prevention attempts to either reduce existing disorders therapeutically or psycho-socially or to eliminate them entirely through early therapy.

This field was described by Hellbrugge in 1981 as developmental rehabilitation.
By linking the typical biological phenomenon of "development" with modern methods of rehabilitation we give so called At-Risk Children completely new chances of development and their parents faith.
In Child Center we take care about children, whose past (pregnancy, delivery, early newborn period) includes risk factors.

By definition, developmental rehabilitation utilizes abilities of adoption and reorganization of Central Nervous System in the early developmental stages in order to help children with innate or early-acquired disorders or damage so that they need not become handicapped.
The appropriate therapy should be prescribed as early as possible. Any opportunity lost in early childhood is not irretrievable Strictly speaking this should be called developmental habilitation (not rehabilitation)since the adult functional areas are not developed in children.

In developmental rehabilitation the cooperation of pediatricians, neurologists, specialists on child rehabilitation, child psychologists, pedagogues, special teachers and therapists is extremely important.
As a rule, rehabilitation is carried in the out-patient departments. Early diagnostics is based on Munich Functional Developmental Diagnostics which is an ethological method. Ethological means based on behavioral observation.

In Child Center in Krakow the system of medical check-ups for at risk children has been introduced to avoid oversights of developmental delays. Those check-ups are a screening method, so the detection of psychomotor disorders, hearing, visual defects is still inadequate.

In the case of detection of delays the examination should be widened by testing of certain primitive reflexes and Vojta kinesiologic diagnostics based on postural reactions.
That full neurokinesiologic examination consists of:

observation and valuation of child's behavior, spontaneous motion, report with the environment

Vojta's diagnostics based on postural reactions

examination of primitive reflexes

valuation of mental development, speech development, social development according to Munich Functional Developmental Diagnostics

early detection of hearing disorders (Echo-screen test)

That complete examination makes possible to detect an impending Cerebral Palsy before the first symptoms are fully marked.
Depending on the effect of mentioned examination we apply:

Physiotherapy according to Vojta, Castillo-Morales, Manual therapy, Holding therapy, therapy of speech disorders, etc.

Psychological diagnostics and therapy

Early social integration in the family, equal age small groups (3-5 children), kindergarten

Optimal time to start early stimulation is in the first months (2-3rd month) of childs life (not later then 6th month).

Early diagnostics and early therapy gives children with psycho-motor disorders (Central Coordination Disorders) chance of the full normalization.

Remember: "Any opportunity lost in early childhood is not irretrievable".