Alternative therapies
Many alternative and complimentary therapies are available to parents of children with physical disabilities. The Internet is a common source of information about these approaches. This page describes a number of perspectives about such therapies to assist people attempting to gain an understanding of the various issues involved.
On this page
Examples of alternative and complimentary therapies
The following list provides only a few examples of the many therapies available:
- Acupressure or Point Percussion Therapy
- Bowen Therapy
- Cranial Osteopathy
- Doman-Delacato (patterning)
- Euromed / Adeli Suit
- Homeopathy
- Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
- Metabolic Therapy
- Reiki
- Reflexology
- Vojta Therapy
- Novita supports parents in their wish to find the very best that can be provided for their child, and to this end, staff are encouraged to have an open mind to parents using other services in addition to Novita services.
- Novita encourages people who have questions about therapy approaches that are different to those used by Novita to discuss them with Novita therapists.
- A good source of information about the variety of approaches that are available is the Disability Information and Resource Centre.
- The Internet can also be a useful source, but care needs to be taken to make sure that the source is well regarded and provides accurate, reliable and up-to-date information.
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A parent viewpoint
Kathy Olliver, mother of Tayla, made a decision to explore the use of Adeli Suit Therapy. Read Kathy's story
A staff viewpoint
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Julie Smith
Senior Psychologist
Some families of children with disabilities use alternative, as well as, conventional therapies. Parents often discuss the therapy choices between themselves, as do the therapists. But do parents and therapists discuss the various choices between themselves? Is this also an embarrassing situation between therapists? What are the dilemmas for parents and Novita therapists, when parents begin to consider using an alternative therapy?
How do parents learn about their child’s disability?
Parents learn about their child’s disability and the treatment choices available from a variety of people and places:
- Their own successes and failures in caring for their child.
- Therapists who provide alternative views and treatments.
- Doctors
- Books
- The media
- The Internet
- Other parents
- Novita therapists
Therapists and doctors learn from:
- years of training
- reading the results of research
- lots of clinical experience with children and families.
This gives rise to the first dilemma faced by therapists:
“I don’t want to dash the family’s hopes about this alternative therapy, but I know from my training and experience that it may not give them what they are looking for.”
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Choosing between therapy services.
Parents have a whole range of doctors and therapists involved in the care of their child and they get to know them very well. When a family chooses to try an alternative therapy a second dilemma arises:
“I want the chance to use both ways of doing my child’s therapy, but it is hard to talk to my therapist about it, when I work so closely with them. I don’t want them to think I am ungrateful for all the work they do for my child.”
Dilemmas are uncomfortable places to be in but we often learn from them and develop new ways of thinking. Here are some suggestions about what we can do to help each other deal with these dilemmas in a positive way.
For parents
- It is your right to choose whatever therapies you think will benefit your child.
- Be open in your discussions with Novita therapists - this will build trust between you so that any differences of opinion can be talked through.
- Remember therapists are people too and after discussion you both may agree to disagree - that’s okay!
- Investigate the alternative therapy you are looking to use, to make sure it is a safe option for your child.
For therapists
- When a parent asks you about an alternative therapy, give them your honest professional opinion and be clear that it is their right to choose regardless of your opinion.
- This is an opportunity for you to stop and think, ‘Have I explained as clearly and as positively as I can, what we are doing in therapy? Do we need to make any changes?’
- Be a good listener because you can help parents problem solve their own dilemma as to the best treatment options.
- Remember, this is about parents learning and exploring what works for their child, not about what you did that didn’t work.
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A paediatric rehabilitation specialist’s viewpoint
View a video clip of Dr Peter talking about alternative therapies (this link loads a page that commences streaming of a 4.2Mb MOV file of 1 minutes, 14 seconds length - a text description and transcript of the video is provided).
Dr Peter Flett, Paediatric Rehabilitation Specialist, provides the following suggestions for parents considering alternative therapies:
Is the treatment based on sound scientific theory?
Cerebral palsy and other disabilities often result in impairments that can make activities of daily living difficult. While conventional therapies often improve how a child functions, they sometimes don't provide the amount of improvement or the cure that parents or carers might want. This can result in people being tempted to try out alternative therapies that have not yet been proven to work. These therapies can take the form of:
- methods previously used for other purposes
- re-arrangements of conventional therapies
- therapies that truly are quite different to conventional and proven approaches.
The important thing is to find out as much as possible about the alternative therapy and think carefully before taking it on.
Have there been scientifically designed trials to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment offered?
The best trials are placebo-controlled with blind assessments .
- 'Placebo-controlled' is when, what is thought to be the active ingredient, is given to only a proportion of the people involved in the trial, while the other people are given something that appears the same, but has the active ingredient missing.
- A 'blind assessment' is where none of the people in the trial know whether they have received the active ingredient or not - not even the researcher knows until the results of the trial are analysed.
The reason for using these methods is to make sure that it really is the active ingredient that is making the difference, rather than just people's impressions that this is the case. This is not to say that there is not a place for positive stories about an alternative therapy in its early stages. However, eventually it is important that proper scientific research is done to try to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that the therapy works.
An important part of the process is for the results of such trials to be published in scientific journals so that other researchers can see if they can duplicate the results of the trial. If they can do this, the case for stating that the therapy really works becomes stronger.
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Other things that make it hard to prove that an alternative therapy really works include:
- the fact that children often improve anyway because of growth and development
- the fact that development for particular children may be delayed or may level off for periods of time, resulting in progress occurring slower than usual
- the type and severity of each child's disability may vary
- the expectations, motivation and experience of each child may vary
- the expectations, motivation and experience of parents may vary
- the skills and experience of treating therapists may vary.
All of these things may be causing the changes that are observed, rather than the therapy approach being used. This is why using an objective scientific method for measuring all of these things becomes important.
What are the commonly experienced benefits of alternative treatments?
- They usually offer hope and enthusiasm.
- They send a strong message that ‘something can be done’.
- They are a way for parents to provide regular (if not intensive) therapy and devotion to their child.
- They make people feel good in the face of adversity.
What concerns are there about alternative treatments?
- The way that they are marketed frequently involves the use of phrases like ‘scientific breakthrough’ or ‘miraculous’ progress or ‘special clinic’ or ‘Dr.’ prefix to names.
- They often report unpublished case histories and testimonials, and avoid scientific trials of their effectiveness.
- They sometimes claim that there is a conspiracy between government and the medical profession to stop people finding out about their benefits.
- They are sometimes motivated by commercial gain - the charging of high fees can be a sign of this.
- Often it is said that such treatments are natural and have no known side effects, but this is not always true.
- If progress is too slow, this is sometimes blamed on parents lack of patience and commitment - this can result in a very unfair 'guilt trip' for parents.
The real responsibility lies with the the people who are providing the alternative therapies to prove scientifically that they work. It is also important to remember that many conventional therapies help children with physical disabilities to reach their potential and become independent in movement, self-care and communication.
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Other things to keep in mind when considering alternative therapies
- Have definite goals for the therapy so that you can see if it is being effective - these should be short term goals, which can be achieved quite quickly so that you can see the small changes that contribute to your long term goal (for example, if Ben’s goal is independent sitting, then short term goals might include leaning through his arms, being able to bend at his hips, being able to balance his body in the middle for 5 seconds, and so on).
- Ask for evidence that the therapy works - now, more than ever before, all people providing therapy are expected to be able to prove scientifically that their therapy works.
- Try to keep up with the latest scientific news - this site provides access to research news items and links to other sites that provide information about treatment methods.
- Ask how you can include the therapy in every day life - long sessions of intensive therapy can be tiring and disruptive to family life and are hard to keep up over long periods of time - think about whether the improvements are important enough for the costs and effort involved.
- Talk to other parents or older children about their experiences with the type of therapy in which you are interested.
- Talk to your Novita therapists about any information they might have about the therapy - they can provide you with useful information and will be interested in your opinions and thoughts.
Disclaimer Detail: The above information on is of a general nature only and does not constitute advice. Novita Children's Services makes no representations, express or implied, as to the accuracy, usefulness, suitability or application of the information to a child's particular circumstances. Use of the information above is at your sole risk, and you should seek professional advice before acting or relying on the information. Novita Children's Services accepts no liability for any damages or loss that may arise from the use of, or any omission from, the information provided.
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