"Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect."
Vince Lombardi (head coach in the NFL, 1913-1970)
What is physiotherapy for infants and children?
Children are not mini-adults – they are built differently, and so, infants and children will benefit from seeing a physiotherapist who is trained and experienced in paediatrics.
Paediatric physiotherapists specialise in working with children from birth till adolescence. We are experts in child development, particularly in the development of movement. We assess, identify and treat developmental delay and movement difficulties. We may work on gross motor skills such as sitting, standing, and walking, as well as improvement in strength and endurance. We have highly developed hands-on skills, which we use to develop individualised therapy programs for your child.
We collaborate with your child, your family and other health professionals to optimise the abilities of your child to enable him/her to move and participate in everyday activities, and to be part of a family and community.
What is physiotherapy for infants and children?
Children are not mini-adults – they are built differently, and so, infants and children will benefit from seeing a physiotherapist who is trained and experienced in paediatrics.
Paediatric physiotherapists specialise in working with children from birth till adolescence. We are experts in child development, particularly in the development of movement. We assess, identify and treat developmental delay and movement difficulties. We may work on gross motor skills such as sitting, standing, and walking, as well as improvement in strength and endurance. We have highly developed hands-on skills, which we use to develop individualised therapy programs for your child.
We collaborate with your child, your family and other health professionals to optimise the abilities of your child to enable him/her to move and participate in everyday activities, and to be part of a family and community.
Kidzphysio Singapore Paediatric Physiotherapist
Dr. Janell Lee is an experienced paediatric physiotherapist with over 20 years of specialised paediatric experience. She has both local and overseas experience, working in a variety of settings. She sees children aged from birth to 16 with neurodevelopmental, orthopaedic or respiratory conditions. She provides home-based therapy because she believes that children learn best when they are in their familiar environment. It also allows her to tailor the exercises based on their home environment, making it easier for the family to continue with the exercises.
Besides her doctorate in physical therapy, Dr. Janell is trained in specialised assessments and treatments, such as the General Movement assessment for early identification of neurological/motor problems in infants, the neurodevelopmental treatment for infants and children, Schroth scoliosis-specific exercises for idiopathic scoliosis, and is a certified infant massage instructor.
Parents will find Janell professional yet patient, and will feel comfortable in having their questions and concerns addressed with her caring and friendly nature.
Click the button below to find out more about Janell's qualifications and experience, and how her journey to becoming a physiotherapist for kids started.
Conditions We Treat
Neurodevelopment
Paediatric neurodevelopmental physiotherapy assesses your child's developmental skills based on movement analysis. An individualised therapeutic program is then created to help your baby or child move to their best of their ability.
A neurodevelopmental physiotherapist uses therapeutic handling, to facilitate your child to use their limbs and coordinate their movements with greater efficiency. The aim is to activate optimal sensorimotor processing, task performance, and skill acquisition to enable participation in meaningful activities.
Infants and children from birth to 16 years old are seen in the environment they are most comfortable in, to encourage improved participation in the exercises.
Neurological Conditions:
Muscular Dystrophies
Congenital disorders
Genetic syndromes / Rare Diseases
Traumatic Brain Injuries
Spinal Cord Injuries
Spina Bifida
Prematurity
Developmental Coordination Difficulties (clumsy)
Orthopaedic
Paediatric orthopaedic physiotherapy corrects functional impairments of the musculoskeletal system (bones, joints, tendons and muscles), and helps your child recover as quickly as possible for him/her to return to their normal daily activities.
It takes into account your child's growing bones, muscles and joints, which may be damaged if not treated properly.
Orthopaedic Conditions:
Flat feet
Funny walk (pigeon-toed (intoeing) / Out-toeing, toe-walking etc)
Scoliosis (curved spine) / Kyphosis (hunched back)
Juvenile Chronic Arthritis
Childhood obesity
Leg or feet pains
Respiratory
Some conditions make the lungs become easily irritated or infected. This makes your child prone to increased secretions/mucus. When too much thick mucus is produced, the airways in the lungs can be blocked and affect your child's breathing. Your child becomes easily out of breath or have difficulty breathing.
Chest or respiratory physiotherapy can help alleviate these issues, and may include postural drainage, and secretion mobilising techniques, which helps your child get extra mucus out of the lungs.
Respiratory Conditions:
Asthma
Cystic Fibrosis
Bronchiectasis
Post-surgery / illness deconditioning - Inspiratory Muscle Training
Conditions We Treat
Neurodevelopment
Paediatric neurodevelopmental physiotherapy assesses your child's developmental skills based on movement analysis. An individualised therapeutic program is then created to help your baby or child move to their best of their ability.
A neurodevelopmental physiotherapist uses therapeutic handling, to facilitate your child to use their limbs and coordinate their movements with greater efficiency. The aim is to activate optimal sensorimotor processing, task performance, and skill acquisition to enable participation in meaningful activities.
Infants and children from birth to 16 years old are seen in the environment they are most comfortable in, to encourage improved participation in the exercises.
Neurological Conditions:
Muscular Dystrophies
Congenital disorders
Genetic syndromes / Rare Diseases
Traumatic Brain Injuries
Spinal Cord Injuries
Spina Bifida
Prematurity
Developmental Coordination Difficulties (clumsy)
Orthopaedic
Paediatric orthopaedic physiotherapy corrects functional impairments of the musculoskeletal system (bones, joints, tendons and muscles), and helps your child recover as quickly as possible for him/her to return to their normal daily activities.
It takes into account your child's growing bones, muscles and joints, which may be damaged if not treated properly.
Orthopaedic Conditions:
Flat feet
Funny walk (pigeon-toed (intoeing) / Out-toeing, toe-walking etc)
Scoliosis (curved spine) / Kyphosis (hunched back)
Juvenile Chronic Arthritis
Childhood obesity
Leg or feet pains
Respiratory
Some conditions make the lungs become easily irritated or infected. This makes your child prone to increased secretions/mucus. When too much thick mucus is produced, the airways in the lungs can be blocked and affect your child's breathing. Your child becomes easily out of breath or have difficulty breathing.
Chest or respiratory physiotherapy can help alleviate these issues, and may include postural drainage, and secretion mobilising techniques, which helps your child get extra mucus out of the lungs.
Respiratory Conditions:
Asthma
Cystic Fibrosis
Bronchiectasis
Post-surgery / illness deconditioning - Inspiratory Muscle Training
Treatment Steps:
If this is the first time that your child is receiving physiotherapy for his / her condition, you may not know what to expect in terms of the therapy process. I have detailed the 4 treatment steps that your child will go through with us at Kidzphysio Singapore.
Treatment Step 1: Assessment
Treatment Step 2: Treatment
Treatment Step 3: Evaluation
Treatment Step 4: Discharge
Assessment
An assessment is done when we first see a child.
The assessment is really important to first find out what is happening, before deciding the most appropriate treatment for your child.
The assessment is divided into asking questions and observation/hands-on assessment.
Asking Questions: The assessment starts with asking questions relating to your child’s medical and developmental history. Other questions which may not seem related to your child’s condition, such as your child’s feeding history and environment, may also be asked. This is because the more we know about your child, we will have a fuller holistic picture of him/her. This allows us to identify any red flags that may need further investigation. It will also inform us of your goals for your child. If we have your permission, we may liaise with other medical professionals treating your child, so that your child has a team where everybody is working towards the same goals.
Observation / hands-on assessment: After obtaining the history, we will observe what activities your child is able and unable to do. We may do specific hands-on tests to test muscle length, muscle strength, joint flexibility, movement fluency or take specific measurements to help us better plan our treatment.
Evaluation
Evaluation is re-assessing your child to see if treatment has been effective.
Evaluating your child is on-going whenever we treat him / her. Our observations and feel of your child’s movements guide us constantly on what to do and whether any modifications of treatment are required.
Treatment
After we have a treatment plan, we move on to treatment. Treatment techniques recommended are evidence-based, and will be customised to each individual child, taking into account your child’s limitations and his/her goals.
Kidzphysio’s philosophy is to empower parents and caregivers to help their child by imparting our knowledge and skills to them. Kidzphysio believes that every parent is the expert of their child, and progress is quicker when parents are able to continue with the exercises at home. Parents know their child best and it is useful if parents can guide us as to what your child likes, so we can better engage your child.
At Kidzphysio, we hand-hold and guide our parents on what to do and how to do it. Many of our parents who have gone through our method of treatment, become competent in treating their child and also know what to monitor for progress or regression. This is different from other therapy places where the therapists are the ones to treat your child and parents do not learn the skills to help your child. This increases therapy costs as parents will have to always rely on therapists to treat their child. It also prolongs the time needed for therapy treatment as there is little carry-over at home.
Discharge
Once your child has attained the required skills, and the goals you set for your child have been met, you can discharge your child from therapy.
Treatment Steps:
If this is the first time that your child is receiving physiotherapy for his / her condition, you may not know what to expect in terms of the therapy process. I have detailed the 4 treatment steps that your child will go through with us at Kidzphysio Singapore.
Treatment Step 1: Assessment
Treatment Step 2: Treatment
Treatment Step 3: Evaluation
Treatment Step 4: Discharge
Assessment
An assessment is done when we first see a child.
The assessment is really important to first find out what is happening, before deciding the most appropriate treatment for your child.
The assessment is divided into asking questions and observation/hands-on assessment.
Asking Questions: The assessment starts with asking questions relating to your child’s medical and developmental history. Other questions which may not seem related to your child’s condition, such as your child’s feeding history and environment, may also be asked. This is because the more we know about your child, we will have a fuller holistic picture of him/her. This allows us to identify any red flags that may need further investigation. It will also inform us of your goals for your child. If we have your permission, we may liaise with other medical professionals treating your child, so that your child has a team where everybody is working towards the same goals.
Observation / hands-on assessment: After obtaining the history, we will observe what activities your child is able and unable to do. We may do specific hands-on tests to test muscle length, muscle strength, joint flexibility, movement fluency or take specific measurements to help us better plan our treatment.
Treatment
After we have a treatment plan, we move on to treatment. Treatment techniques recommended are evidence-based, and will be customised to each individual child, taking into account your child’s limitations and his/her goals.
Kidzphysio’s philosophy is to empower parents and caregivers to help their child by imparting our knowledge and skills to them. Kidzphysio believes that every parent is the expert of their child, and progress is quicker when parents are able to continue with the exercises at home. Parents know their child best and it is useful if parents can guide us as to what your child likes, so we can better engage your child.
At Kidzphysio, we hand-hold and guide our parents on what to do and how to do it. Many of our parents who have gone through our method of treatment, become competent in treating their child and also know what to monitor for progress or regression. This is different from other therapy places where the therapists are the ones to treat your child and parents do not learn the skills to help your child. This increases therapy costs as parents will have to always rely on therapists to treat their child. It also prolongs the time needed for therapy treatment as there is little carry-over at home.
Evaluation
Evaluation is re-assessing your child to see if treatment has been effective.
Evaluating your child is on-going whenever we treat him / her. Our observations and feel of your child’s movements guide us constantly on what to do and whether any modifications of treatment are required.
Discharge
Once your child has attained the required skills, and the goals you set for your child have been met, you can discharge your child from therapy.
Testimonials
"Janell, you are mega-Super professional, knowledgeable with lots of experience. You helped massively to guide us on how to start and move on, especially when Tatiana just got diagnosed and we were lost and scared. At that most difficult moment, you gave us hope and actual instructions on how to help her sit, stand, walk and improve coordination. These first years are critically important. We were so lucky to get your support and guidance (as I truly believe you are the best in Singapore!) Tatiana is now doing ballet and gymnastics at school – we couldn’t even imagine that a few years ago. Thank you lots!!"
Natalia, Tatiana's mum
"Thank you Dr Janell for the session with our daughter. She has progressed well after just one session. Thank you for your very detailed explanations, and for being firm when needed."
Jarett, Ellieana's dad
"Thank you very much Janell for being so accommodating with the timing of your sessions. Thank you too for being easily contactable with our questions, and for addressing our concerns, even when we are not in Singapore."
Pax, Cayden's mum
"We would like to thank Janell for her guidance. The sessions were ideal. We felt Janell was very polite and clear in her communication. She was quick to spot progress or regression in our son. She also listened carefully to all our concerns and responded to them during the sessions, and even after.
Overall, we are very happy with the progress and style of the sessions. We will be recommending her to our friends who need help."
Shradha, Dylan's mum
"Thank you so much Teacher Jan! We are so thankful to have found you! We couldn’t have asked for more. You are so caring, helpful, committed, professional... we will definitely HIGHLY recommend you to others!"
Lee, Jayden's mum
Janell, you are excellent! You will definitely be recommended. You are very caring and helpful, and you tailor your treatment to our family’s needs, which works very well for us. Your overall attitude and care is amazing, and it gives us a lot of comfort knowing our baby is in good hands. You also don’t look at the clock or do things by the hour. You give your full attention to Ayda, which is really appreciated.
Amir, Ayda's dad
Jan is very knowledgeable and is a teacher at heart! She not only takes time to diagnose and implement the right exercises to help my 5-month old baby, she also takes time to explain the rationale and go through the exercises with us until we get the hang of it.
We never quite understood the purpose of home visits, until we realised that adjusting some habits can also help to improve his condition!
We highly recommend Jan for her genuine interest in improving our baby’s well-being, her sincerity and personal touch!
Gim Kok
Jan, you were amazing! You were very gentle with our baby, which made us feel confident. You were also playful with her, and she loved it. The exercises you prescribed were effective.
So keep on doing what you are doing!
Roxana, Elia's mum
Dr Jan, you did well to critically observe how we did the exercises, eg: techniques, and corrected all the specific issues that we had. This was indeed something you got correct.
Pei Qing, Weizhe's mum
Thank you Jan for everything you did to help Nicolas progress in his development!
Your patient care is amazing! I loved how you always taught us to prepare for the next step of his development, and gave us relevant exercises to do based on the stuff we had at home.
Most importantly, Nicolas loved you because you are so gentle and always led by the child.
We would like you to assist with our next newborn, who arrives next month. We feel the impact of your sessions was amazing, and we want our next baby to have the same opportunity as Nicolas to develop well and have physical confidence.
Vimaljit, Nicolas Dauw's mum
Thank you for being such a dedicated and compassionate therapist!
It is never easy handling little ones, but your passion made you go above and beyond. Our family feel so blessed to know you and have you as Vera's physiotherapist. She is able to start walking at 16 months because of you.
We wish to convey our gratitude so that people know how extraordinary you are!
Angel and Eugene, Vera's parents
Thanks Janell for helping Noa so much from such a young age. Sending you a very proud message from the Netherlands. Noa is now 20 months old and taking her own steps for the first time, even without having balance organs. This is such a great achievement!
Thank you for being a part of her success story. She could not have done this without you.
Aniek, Noa’s mum
Please feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions or would like to make an appointment for your child with our paediatric physiotherapist.
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