Featuring Erin Garrison, PT, DPT – Co-Founder & Lead Therapist at Climb Intensive Therapy Center
At Maryam Parman Foundation for Children, we are proud to support so many incredible children on their therapy journeys, many of whom attend intensives at CLIMB. To help our community better understand this powerful therapy, we sat down with Erin Garrison, PT, DPT, co-founder and lead therapist at CLIMB, to answer your most common questions about Dynamic Movement Intervention (DMI).
What is DMI Therapy?
DMI (Dynamic Movement Intervention) is a specialized therapy designed to help children with developmental delays improve how their bodies move and function.
In simple terms, DMI uses targeted, hands-on movement patterns to help a child’s brain and body communicate more effectively. When a child struggles with certain movements, it often means their brain hasn’t yet built the pathways needed to perform them. DMI helps create those pathways, allowing children to move with greater coordination, strength, and confidence.
How is DMI Different from Traditional Therapy?
DMI stands apart in several important ways:
- Advanced Training: Therapists undergo additional certification beyond standard physical therapy training, investing in specialized techniques not typically taught in school.
- Root Cause Focus: Instead of treating delays broadly, DMI identifies exactly where a movement pattern breaks down and addresses that specific challenge.
- Whole-Body Learning: Children are exposed to a wide range of developmentally appropriate movements, even more advanced ones, to stimulate brain engagement and learning.
- Dynamic & Engaging Techniques: From working against gravity to using unstable surfaces, DMI activates multiple systems (balance, vision, sensory processing) at once.
- Intensive Format: DMI is often delivered in concentrated sessions over several weeks, allowing for faster progress through repetition and consistency.
What Does a Typical DMI Intensive Look Like?
A DMI intensive is designed to maximize progress in a short period of time.
- Schedule: 2–3 hours per day, 5 days a week, for 2–3 weeks
- Customized Approach: Every session is tailored to the child’s needs, goals, and responses in real time
- Wide Range of Skills: From head control and sitting to walking, running, and climbing
- Integrated Techniques: Therapists may incorporate additional tools like electrical stimulation, therapeutic suits, vibration therapy, or the spider cage
No two children are the same, and every program is carefully adapted to support each child’s unique journey.
What Kind of Progress Can Families Expect?
Progress looks different for every child, but meaningful changes are always happening. During an intensive, families often see:
- – Improved strength, coordination, and body awareness
- – Faster, more consistent responses to movement
- – Increased confidence and independence
One of the most exciting aspects of DMI is the “carryover effect.” Gains made in movement often extend into other areas, including:
- – Speech and communication
- – Feeding and oral motor skills
- – Fine motor development
- – Breathing and respiratory health
Many families report breakthroughs after returning home, as children begin applying what they’ve learned in everyday life.
How Can Parents Support Progress at Home?
Parents play a vital role in their child’s success.
During an intensive:
- – Prioritize rest and recovery
- – Ensure proper nutrition and downtime
After the intensive:
- – Practice therapist-recommended exercises at home
- – Incorporate movements into daily routines
- – Celebrate small wins as new skills emerge
These consistent efforts help maintain momentum and build on progress.
Why is Early Intervention So Important?
Early intervention allows therapists to support the brain while it’s actively developing foundational skills.
By starting early, children can:
- – Build strong movement patterns from the beginning
- – Avoid developing compensations or inefficient habits
However, Erin emphasizes an important truth:
It is never too late.
Thanks to the brain’s neuroplasticity, children of all ages can continue to learn and grow. In fact, DMI intensives have helped children achieve milestones, like taking their first steps, even years later than expected.
A Therapist’s Perspective
After more than a decade as a pediatric physical therapist, Erin was inspired to pursue DMI after seeing firsthand the transformative impact of intensive therapy.
What stands out most to her?
Being invited into a child’s journey and witnessing their “firsts.”
For Erin, the most meaningful part of her work is partnering with families, supporting, encouraging, and celebrating each child’s potential every step of the way.
Why This Matters
DMI therapy can be truly life-changing, not just for children, but for entire families.
Through grants from MPFC, more children are able to access these powerful intensives and reach milestones that once felt out of reach.
As Erin shared so beautifully, this support allows all of us to play a small part in a child’s story, and help them achieve their biggest dreams.
