Non-pharmacological therapies
What are non-drug health therapies
When we talk about support, supportive interventions and non-pharmacological therapy, we are talking about interventions that aim to maintain existing skill levels, rather than requiring an improvement in the patient’s abilities.
Similarly, therapeutic goals focus on prolonging abilities, improving quality of life and functional access to educational and social environments.
*We thank therapist Elena Fossati of Lo Spazio Center for helping us write this in-depth study.
Health therapies
Physiotherapy
Physiotherapy is a medical therapy with preventive, curative and rehabilitative purposes, carried out through different techniques by university-trained health professionals.
For boys and girls with Mucopolysaccharidosis, regular physical therapy can reduce physical discomfort, with beneficial effects on inattention or other behaviors that may be driven by pain or frustration, as well as on bone health, gastrointestinal motility, and prevention of pressure sores.
Therefore, it is recommended to consider physical therapy as early as possible and perform it regularly before, during, and after the decline in motor skills.
Physiotherapy is therapy paid for by the SSN with a doctor’s prescription, but can also be provided on a freelance basis, that is, in private practice-even without a prescription-and is deductible (important for billing purposes is traceable payment, not cash).
Idrokinesiterapia
Hydrokinesiotherapy or water therapy intended for children with disabilities aims to approach movement disorders through water, taking advantage of physical properties such as buoyancy, pressure and temperature.
It is conducted by a specially trained health care provider.
The aquatic environment (if accepted by the child/children) acts as a relaxing and welcoming element, allowing them to move with a fluidity they would not experience outside the water. It thus becomes not only a therapeutic tool, but also a tool of well-being.
Hydrokinesiotherapy is a health activity in its own right, and therefore cannot be conducted in pools that do not have specific permits.
Hydrokinesiotherapy is a therapy paid for by the NHS with a doctor’s prescription, but it can also be provided on a freelance basis, that is, in private practice-even without a prescription-and is deductible (important for billing purposes is traceable payment, not cash).
Speech Therapy
Speech Therapy deals with speech and communication disorders, either in isolation or within complex clinical pictures.These disorders can affect both the expressive (the production of language) and receptive (the comprehension of language) sides, but also both areas.
For boys and girls with Mucopolysaccharidosis, care is taken with an intervention project that takes into account specific needs.
This type of intervention, aims to prolong abilities as long as possible, to improve quality of life and functional access to educational and social environments.
Speech therapy is a prescription therapy paid for by the NHS, but it can also be provided on a freelance basis, that is, in private practice-even without a prescription-and is deductible (important for billing purposes is traceable payment, not cash).
Developmental neuropsychomotricity therapy
Developmental Neuropsychomotricity Therapy is in the areas of neuropsychomotricity, neuropsychology and developmental psychopathology (age range 0 – 18 years).
The TNPEE deals with situations of disability due to acquisition delays, disorders or pathologies that limit the child’s or caregiver’s ability to accomplish what is necessary for their growth.
It is a health profession, with a degree pathway.
Using play as a tool for support, advocacy, and care, it also becomes a space of well-being for the child/children with Mucopolysaccharidosis, who can benefit holistically from this activity.
Developmental Neuropsychomotricity Therapy is a therapy paid for by the SSN with a doctor’s prescription, but it can also be provided on a freelance basis, that is, in private practice-even without a prescription-and is deductible (important for billing purposes is traceable payment, not cash).
WARNING: This therapy should not be confused with psychomotricity. The training of the relational psychomotricist is through a three-year course at a private training school or a university master’s degree recognized by professional associations (an intellectual profession defined under Law No. 4 of 2013). The psychomotricist is not a health figure, but operates interventions to support prevention, education of the individual.
Professional educators
The 2018 Budget Law established that the Social and Health Educator can work both within facilities and in cooperatives and communities. While the socio-pedagogical Educator can work in educational and social services of public and Third Sector organizations.
In other European Union countries, unlike Italy, both professions are trained through the same Degree Course.
Social and health professional educator
The social and health professional educator is a rehabilitation health professional who works within a multidisciplinary team. He or she deals with educational and rehabilitation projects within the framework of a therapeutic plan
The work of the social and health professional educator can be a service paid for by the SSN with a prescription, but it can also be provided on a freelance basis, i.e., in private practice-even without a prescription-and is deductible (important for billing purposes is traceable payment, not cash).
Professional socio-pedagogical educator
The socio-pedagogical professional educator is an education and training professional from the pedagogical area.
He works in educational, training and pedagogical fields. He evaluates and implements educational and supervisory interventions aimed at both individuals and groups, for all stages of life, from a personal and social growth perspective.
PLEASE NOTE: If a parent under private form requires the services of the socio-educational educator, he or she will not be able to have the professional’s deduction as a health care expense for the time being.
Lesser-known health therapies
These health disciplines in Italy are not as well used as abroad in Mucopolysaccharidosis.
Occupational Therapy
The occupational therapist is the health care provider who works in the prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of individuals with physical, mental illnesses and disorders with both temporary and permanent disabilities, using expressive, manual-representational, playful and activities of daily living.
The goal of treatment is to maximize/maintain performance in activities chosen by the person, promote autonomy, and support social inclusion.
It is a treatment paid for by the SSN with a doctor’s prescription, but it can also be provided on a freelance basis, i.e. in private practice – even without a doctor’s prescription – and is deductible (important for billing purposes is traceable payment, not cash).
Psychiatric rehabilitation technology
The psychiatric rehabilitation technician is a health profession that deals with mental health in the areas of prevention, rehabilitation and research.
It collaborates in the assessment of the person’s mental disability and potential, analyzes developmental needs and instances, and reveals the resources of the person’s family and socio-environmental context.
It works in synergy with other health professionals in order to develop the highest level of personal autonomy and psychosocial functioning and promotes the disadvantaged person’s acquisition of citizenship rights.
Psychiatric rehabilitation can be defined as the set of techniques and interventions useful for decreasing the effects of the chronicization of mental distress and actively promoting the reintegration of the person into the social and work context of reference.
It is a treatment paid for by the SSN with a doctor’s prescription, but it can also be provided on a freelance basis, i.e. in private practice – even without a doctor’s prescription – and is deductible (important for billing purposes is traceable payment, not cash).
Artiterapies
The UNI 11592 standard defines the knowledge, skills and competencies that this professional figure must possess (in accordance with the European Qualifications Framework – EQF) and the tasks he or she performs, identifying five professional profiles: art therapist, dance-movement therapist, music therapist, theater therapist and dramatherapist.
Art therapy
It is characterized as a non-verbal supportive approach through the use of art materials, based on the assumption that the creative process corresponds to an improvement in the person’s state of well-being, enhancing the quality of experience.
DanceMovementTherapy
Dance-movement therapy finds its creative and therapeutic specificity in dance. It provokes positive physiological effects (blood circulation, effects on muscles, joints,…), urges the body to re-produce gestures, rhythmic forms, coordinated movements that re-establish balance and well-being in the organism. It unites and reconciles motor development with expressive-relational development.
Music therapy
Music therapy refers to a set of practices united by the belief that the experience with sound, if appropriately guided, can have preventive, rehabilitative and curative functions. In music therapy, recourse is made to ‘active’ musical experiences, in which music is produced by cultivating individual or group creative expression, or ‘passive’, in which listening to or taking in rhythmic-musical stimuli predominates.
These experiences are aimed at recovery, resocialisation and social integration.
Theatre and Dramatherapy
Dramatherapy and theater therapy bring out the intrinsic aspects of theater as a possibility for deep cognitive and behavioral change in the relationship with self and other. They are less commonly offered to boys and girls with Mucopolysaccharidosis, as an often verbal and movement relationship is needed.
Other therapies
Basal stimulation
A conceptual approach to care, aimed at accompanying and supporting people with severe and very severe psychophysical impairment, promoting communication and individual development. This is done by specifically offering elementary (basal) inputs, which can most easily be grasped, i.e. those that are first perceived in prenatal life (vibratory, vestibular and somatic stimuli/inputs).
Stanze Multisensoriali Snoezelen
It is an approach that originated in the Netherlands in the 1970s. The name is derived from two Dutch verbs – ‘Snuffelen’ (to seek out, explore) and ‘Doezelen’ (to relax, doze off). It involves the construction of a sensitive relationship between the participant, the qualified ‘Accompanist’ and a controlled environment in which a multitude of sensory stimulation possibilities are offered (visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, proprioceptive, vestibular and gustatory effects). The aim is the promotion of well-being. Very interested and useful in very severe disabilities.
NB. Our association financed the construction of a multi-sensory room in Ischia.
Pet Therapy
Numerous scientific evidences demonstrate the potential of using animals as a treatment tool. One particular situation is Hippotherapy – which makes ‘therapy by means of the horse’ an activity recognised by the Ministry of Health as a therapeutic rehabilitative service that falls within the services provided by the National Health Service.