Motor learning in cerebral palsy & home programs-for parents

Facts and evidence for interventions on children with cerebral palsy have changed last years, based on research and on advances in neuroscience, with Neural Plasticity, Motor Learning Theory and Dynamic Systems Theory changing all we thought until recently about physiotherapy and home interventions. This course will offer parents of children with cerebral palsy the chance to understand the basic brain-related mechanisms underlying motor performance and motor improvement and, therefore, understand what type of activities could be beneficial (or even harmful) for their home-programs. All evidence-based knowledge will be translated into simple, non-experts language. Practical tips  will be presented and analyzed so that knowledge attained will be easily transferred into everyday home practice. After this course, parents will have a whole different opinion on what they do and on how to change it, for promoting motor benefits for their children.

The basic fields of knowledge that will be presented in this course (Neural Plasticity, Motor Learning Theory and Dynamic Systems Theory) will be analyzed in a way that will respect both their scientific value and the level of specified knowledge of the students (which most parents probably lack, since they are not experts). Also, these fields of knowledge simply cannot be presented to their full extend in this course, that’s why I will try to pick the most relevant and important aspects of them.