Treating Cerebral Palsy in Children: Ages 3 to 6 Years

12-Month Subscription

Unlimited access to:

Thousands of CE Courses
Patient Education
Home Exercise Program
And more

Subscribe Now

First Chapter Free Buy Course

Video Runtime: 69 Minutes; Learning Assessment Time: 43 Minutes

This course will provide an overview of effective therapy modalities for children with cerebral palsy, including goal-directed therapy programs, CIMT, and BIT. Students will learn how to plan programs using the modalities’ key ingredients and then reflect on the treatment session for future sessions.

Learning Objectives

Select therapy programs that incorporate a therapeutic dosage to achieve functional goals
Implement and analyze the key ingredients of the goal-directed therapy into treatment with cerebral palsy (CP)
Implement and analyze the key ingredients of constraint-induced movement therapy into treatment with CP
Distinguish between the various types of bimanual intensive therapy programs
Integrate bimanual intensive therapy key ingredients into a therapy session and analyze the effectiveness

Meet your instructor

Heather A. Mahnken

Heather Mahnken is a pediatric occupational therapist with over 20 years of experience. She has worked in many settings including outpatient therapy, acute care, school, and early intervention. Her passions include working with children with neuromotor diagnoses, including CP, ASD, and coordination disorders; creating motor…

Read full bio

Chapters & learning objectives

1. How to Create the Right Program to Achieve Your Functional Goals

This chapter will explain what dosage is and how this helps in designing therapy programs. In addition, it will review three evidence-based programs and explain how to select a program based on a comprehensive evaluation.

2. Therapeutic Approach: Goal-Directed Therapy

This chapter will dig deeper into understanding the key ingredients in using this therapeutic approach in treatment. It will provide therapy guidelines for clinical practice along with a clinical demonstration.

3. Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy (CIMT)

This chapter will review the history of CIMT and its application with the pediatric population. Upon instruction of the key ingredients of a CIMT session, the concepts will be reinforced with a clinical demonstration.

4. Bimanual Intensive Therapy (BIT) Programs

This chapter will compare and contrast two therapeutic modalities: HABIT and BIT. A demonstration of BIT in practice will be used to reinforce clinical application.

5. Strategies to Maintain Engagement During Therapy Sessions

This chapter will teach techniques that can be used to address avoidance behaviors and will share therapy tips to assist with successful sessions.

More courses in this series

Cerebral Palsy in Children: Diagnosis, Presentation, and Evaluation

Heather A. Mahnken

Treating Cerebral Palsy in Children: Birth to 3 Years

Heather A. Mahnken