Parent involvement in physical therapy: a controversial issue

Children with physical disabilities are often treated in physical therapy without a parent present, under the assumption that the parent may "interfere" with therapy and/or the child will be too distracted if a parent is present. The effectiveness of a therapy program with parental involvement was compared to a program without parents involved. Results indicate that training with the mother present was as effective as training without the mother. Our data showed that therapists working with parents can accomplish the goal of therapy in a shorter time period than when the child is treated without the parent.