A practical manual for occupational and physiotherapists 

Modules 

1  Family centered therapy and models for intervention 

• Family centered practice 
• Models and frameworks for intervention
• Family led/therapist supported models of intervention
• Confidentiality anf consent 
• Children's act of South Africa 

2 Working with children 

1. Role of experience in development 
2. Start with abilities 
3. Infant-task-environment interaction 
4. Enriched environments 
5. Temperament, motivation and activity levels 
6. Engaging infants and children: mirroring, building trust

3 Understanding motor development and control 

1. Infant perceptual-motor development is shaped by experience 
2. Complexity is inherent in all infant experience and perceptual motor behavior 
3. Repetition of action-perception cycles with embedded exploration and selection drives change 
4. Newborn spontaneous movement provides earliest experience 
5. Variability is needed for learning new adaptive perceptual-motor  behavior 
6. Task-individual-environment  approach to understanding infant perceptual-motor behavior 
7. Postural control and stability 
8. Development of reach to grasp 

Evidence based practice and assessment tools 

1. Early intervention: diagnosis and intervention 
2. Cerebral Palsy
3. Goal attainment scoring 
4. Hammersmith Infant neurological assessment 
5. Gross Motor Function Classification System 
6. Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM)
7. Manual Ability Classification System (MACS)
8. Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) 
9. Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PEDS QL)

Infant perceptual-motor behaviour: development, assessment, intervention 

1. Development of social and communication abilities 
2. Visual development 
3. Newborn infant 
4. Development of head control: supine and upright postures 
5. Development in supine 
6. Development of hand abilities 
7. Development in prone 
8. Development of sitting 
9. Up into kneeling and crawling 
10. Development of standing 
11. Cruising and early walking

Common developmental disorders 

Disorders of the neuromuscular systems 

1. Low muscles tone 
2. Joint hypermobility 
3. Femoral anteversion 
4. Developmental hip dysplasia 
5. Club foot 
6. Idiopathic toe walking 

Disorders related to atypical brain development 

1. Pre-term birth 
2. Cerebral palsy 
3. Cortical visual impairment 
4. Global developmental delay 
5. Living with HIV
6. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs)
7. Infants with Prenatal Substance Exposure
8. Autism  
9. Down syndrome 
10. Developmental coordination disorder 
11. Genetic disorders