Welcome to Active Start Active Future! Are you interested in your child with cerebral palsy being move active? We can help. We know all young children should be active, at least 60 minutes each day for good health and well-being. The benefits include:
- Develop muscles and bones,
- Build relationships and social skills,
- Helps brain development and learning,
- Encourages movement and co-ordination,
- Improves sleep, and
- Maintains health and weight.
Unfortunately, children with cerebral palsy are less active than their peers and are also more sedentary (sit more) and we want to address this early.
As a parent, you have a critical role in helping your children to be active.
We want to test an early childhood intervention ‘Active Start Active Future’ which aims to help you and your family support your child’s physical activity, and, consider your own physical activity. The program will use coaching, motivational interviewing, teach physical skills and promote strategies to reduce barriers to physical activity and sedentary behaviour for young children with CP at home, in their community including at pre/schools.
We aim to recruit 40 children aged 3-7 years classified in Gross Motor Function Classification System levels II-V (children who walk through to children who need support to move) to either immediate Active Start or Wait List control (receive the intervention after 6 months).
The physiotherapist will visit you once a week, for 8 weeks with 24 week follow up (no travelling for you and its free!).
Our program is designed to empower families to access additional or new physical activity opportunities across a range of settings and to value physical activity as a lifelong choice.
We would love to hear from you!