OUR PHILOSPOHY AND EXPERIENCE
Movement and Milestones Physiotherapy
Bangor, Northern Ireland
ABOUT ME
Julie Edler BSc (Hons) Physiotherapy
This photo was taken a few years ago during my time living and working in Haiti. It is one of my favourite photos from my 7 years there as it shows exactly what I loved about being there - providing a physiotherapy service for children who didn't otherwise have it. My time in Haiti was challenging, stretching and rewarding all at the same time.
I'm Julie and ever since I can remember I have wanted to work with children but I have taken a very unusual route to get here. Out of the past 15 years I spent 7 living and working in Haiti setting up the physiotherapy department at Bethesda Medical Center - a Christian clinic in the North of Haiti. When my family left Haiti in December 2021 Bethesda had a fully functioning and Haitian run physiotherapy department with three full time Haitian staff. It has been my life's work and I am so thankful for how God helped me plan and set up the department to be able to change the quality of life for what is now thousands of patients who come through the doors every year.
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Movement and Milestones has come out of personal experience with one of my own children. He struggled with all areas of development: gross motor, fine motor, speech, attention, emotional regulation, you name it he was behind. Those first couple of years we were in Haiti his behaviour was so challenging that I was just trying to get through the day and could not provide good quality treatment for him.
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By the age of 2 and a half he could run, walk, climb, jump, ride a balance bike and a scooter. So, he wasn't a typical patient for physiotherapy but what I began to notice is that the way he moved was so poor. He had achieved all the gross motor skills but his quality of movement was pretty awful. He could never slow down and really struggled to stay still and sit on the floor. We were able to get him into speech therapy for about a year which really helped with his speech and attention issues but he still had other problems.
Finally I was able to try some of the treatment techniques I had been learning and only then did we start to see a big change. Over time we began to see improvements in his quality and control of his movement, sitting posture and ability to squat which he was not able to do before. What really surprised me was we also saw a big change in his speech, attention, and emotional regulation. He still struggles with a lot of those things but is so much better than he was.
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This sparked something in me about how I could use my knowledge and skills to help other children and families as well as my own. I have spent the last two years studying, preparing, and planning to open Movement and Milestones.
MY APPROACH
Goal centered individualised care
As a mum of three boys, one of which has struggled with his development, I understand how busy life is and how difficult it is to take extra time out of your day to complete exercise programs.
Once I have completed an assessment I will work closely with you on what your goal is for your child and figure out what is the best possible way we can reach that goal together. I will give you activities and exercises that can slot easily into your day, that are fun and that won't add extra load onto your already busy life. My goal is to support you and your child. I want to take some of that load off you and help your child reach their full potential through having a strong foundation of efficient gross motor skills.
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EXPERIENCED CARE
Qualifications and courses
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University of Ulster - BSc (Hons) Physiotherapy 2007.
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Fully certified APPI instructor
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APPI Pilates courses including Pilates for kids and teens, Pilates in standing, Pilates for the pelvic floor, Pilates for hypermobility, Pilates and all the small balls and Antenatal and Post natal Pilates.
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Total motion release level 1 and 2 (Susan Blum)
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Dynamic core for kids (Shelley Mannell)
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Developmental Orthopaedics (Progressive Gaitways)
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Introduction to Paediatric Physiotherapy (University College London)
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Fundamentals of Paediatric Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy (University College London)
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Paediatric physiotherapy program (Physiopedia)
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Introduction to Sensory Integration (Sensory Integration Education) ​
HCPC (health and care professions council) registered
A member of the chartered society of physiotherapists.