Connected Paediatrics Weekly: Build up and burst!

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Development is interesting. Mainly because it doesn’t work the way we think it does…let me explain.

Let’s take the first year of life as an example. We initially assume that it’s pretty much a straight timeline from prone and supine to roll to sit to crawl to pull to stand…and on and on…but it isn’t.

It’s much more of a “build up and burst” type of deal where all the pieces of the puzzle have to first assemble before the function can happen. And during that assembly time it looks like nothing is happening (unless you’re a Connected Paediatrics doc and you know what those mini-milestones are and how to assess them) and then all of a sudden parents will say “Just out of the blue she pulled herself up and I found her standing in her cot!”

The steady build-up of control, strength and coordination happens under the surface and then the magical moment hits where all the quadrants connect and the skill expresses itself. Understanding this and imparting this to parents (often impatient that the thing the book says should happen is not happening) is where the art of working with developing bodies comes from.

Interestingly I had exactly that happen to me this weekend (not pulling to stand…I think I have that one under control) but rather I have been on a 10-month immersion program into SOT paediatrics with Peak Potential taught by Drs Marty Rosen, Nancy Watson and Ken Cooper which culminated in a 3 day hands-on event. Through the initial phases, I felt like some concepts were sticking whilst others didn’t quite fit, some adjustments made sense and others didn’t sit comfortably…until…

This weekend the pieces clicked, the quadrants locked together and the skill started to express itself. It was a build-up over time that was sometimes frustrating, sometimes exciting but at the end of the day you cannot see the big picture…until all of a sudden you can.

And then of course you can’t unsee it.

Learning is build-up and burst. If you feel you haven’t burst yet…just know you’re still building.

Chat soon

Mike

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