INTERVENTIONS FOR CHILDREN WITH NEURODEVELOPMENTAL DELAY

Objectives. To review studies in the scientific literature of five phy sical interventions commonly recommended for children with neurodevelo pmental delay. Design. A literature search for and a review of the res ults of controlled and other studies conducted in the course of the la st 25 years. Setting. institute of Child Health, University of Cape To wn. Subjects. Patterning; neurodevelopmental therapy; sensory integrat ive therapy; optometric visual training; auditory integration therapy. Outcome measures. Findings and conclusions drawn in the studies revie wed. Results. Controlled studies fail to provide evidence to support c laims made for the five interventions examined. Conclusions. In the ab sence of scientific evidence for efficacy patterning, neurodevelopment al therapy, sensory integrative therapy optometric visual training and auditory integrative therapy cannot be recommended far children with neurodevelopmental delay.