ABSTRACT

The data shows how the motor impairment itself may deprive the spina bifida child of sensory-motor or social stimulation in the pre-school period. Perceptual problems, and problems of co-ordinating vision and hand movements may also mean that he benefits less or more slowly from experiences than a normal child. The role of the parents in the training and treatment of pre-school children handicapped in a variety of ways is now being increasingly recognized and is likely to be even more fully developed in the future. Such children are often emotionally immature in consequence and this may have repercussions upon intellectual development. Help and advice for parents in the pre-school period is most important. Elizabeth Grantham the Medical Adviser to the Peterborough and District Branch of the Pre-school Playgroups Association notes that on first joining a normal playgroup a handicapped child tends just to sit and watch the other children this alone is often a novel experience.