"the amount of time babies and toddlers with cerebral palsy spend strapped in buggies or car seats should be cut down"
"toddlers with cerebral palsy should be allowed to move around or be physically active for at least three hours a day"
"The new guidance reflects growing concern over children with cerebral palsy who do not exercise enough, which can be linked to obesity and brain development"
"recommendations include encouraging babies with cerebral palsy to move about and be active from birth, for example on activity mats or swimming"
"there is considerable international evidence that letting children with cerebral palsy crawl, play or roll around on the floor is essential during early years"
OK. OK. Hands up ... I added "with cerebral palsy" to each of the quotations above. The quotations are taken from a BBC News report of guidance published jointly by the Chief Medical Officers for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
It has long seemed self-evident to me that there is a clear link between physical activity (let's call it "play") and brain development (let's just call it "development"). I just do not think this is controversial or surprising.
It has long seemed evident to me (about 28 years, to be precise; my daughter Sarah's age now), that children who cannot readily play for some reason, such as cerebral palsy for instance, need specialist help to do so.
It has long seemed evident to me that this should be so in Sure Start centres, Children's Centres, and in Nursery, Primary and Secondary school settings - and is not.
It is the lack of such specialists - learning specialists, educators, conductors - that seems to me controversial and surprising. It is the lack of discussion about who is teaching what and how - in other words trained specialists who understand pedagogy and curriculum in relation to children with cerebral plasy from birth, that seems to me controversial and surprising.
Yet so often it is the suggestion that we need conductors - or any trained educators at all - that is regarded as controversial.
The SEN Green Paper, for instance, is largely silent on these issues.
