Psychomotricity and Microcephaly: A Longitudinal Case Study with an Adolescent

Abstract

In Brazil, the Ministry of Health considers microcephaly as an emergency problem in public health, and psychomotricity, in turn, offers work through activities directed at the child's motor system. These activities are intended to assist in understanding one's own body and its potentials, and play a significant role in shaping global development, acting as a fundamental component in the individual's learning process. Thus, the objective of the study was to verify the effect of psychomotricity sessions on the motor development of a 15-year-old adolescent with microcephaly. This was a longitudinal case study with 4 months of intervention, three times a week lasting between 30 and 40 min. Improvement in the score in all psychomotor elements evaluated was noted, from 4 points to 8 points in Coordination and balance, 1 to 5 points in the body schema, from 6 to 11 points in laterality, from 5 to 10 points in spatial structuring, and from 1 to 5 points for temporal orientation. There was an improvement in the body schema and temporal orientation, in which the adolescent was previously classified as having a lived body image (up to 3 years old), and after intervention classified as reorganization of the lived body (3 to 4 years and 6 months). Although quantitatively the adolescent still had a classification far below his age, there is a qualitative improvement in terms of recognition of himself and others; face to face; spatial terms; progression of size and reproduction of spatial structures; and understanding of some temporal notions. Therefore, 16 weeks of psychomotor activities led to improvements in developmental tasks involving balance, strength, coordination and laterality, and spatial notion.