Managing Children with Cerebral Palsy
This course will run for 6 weeks from 5th September 2016.
If you would like to join the next course please register here.
Course Type - Open, Online
Course Reference - PP08
Course Co-ordinators - Barbara Rau, Rachael Lowe
Institution - ICRC and Physiopedia
About this course - This online course will develop knowledge of Cerebral Palsy.
Who can take part- This course is aimed at Physiotherapy and Physical Therapy professionals, clinicians, students and assistants; other interested health care professionals interested in this subject are more than welcome to participate.
Date of next course - 5 September 2016
Time commitment - approximately 24 hours over 6 weeks
Requirements - You will complete online learning activities, engage with additional resources, take part in the conversation online and complete the course evaluation.
Assessment - There will be a final quiz and you will be asked to write a case study on physical activity.
Awards - Completion certificate.
This course is brought to you by the International Committee of the Red Cross[edit | edit source]
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Course Pages[edit | edit source]
These links will go live 2 weeks before the course starts
Introduction[edit | edit source]
The World Disability report mentions that of 93 million children between 1-14 years present a moderate to severe disability and 13 million with severe disability. In low and middle-income countries, the literature reports a prevalence ranging from 0.4% to 12.7%. It also highlights that children in low and middle-income countries are exposed to multiple risks including poverty, malnutrition, poor health, and unstimulating environment, which can further impair their condition (WHO, 2011).
The ICRC physical rehabilitation department is working in 30 countries in situation of conflicts/post conflict and witnesses that the situation of children with cerebral palsy merits increased attention and care. Indeed, not only the prevalence is very high but those children and their families often don’t received basic minimal care which ensures them an acceptable quality of life. For the families this adds an additional burden to an already challenging life (ICRC, annual report 2015).
Many professionals around the world neither benefit from any specialized training in paediatrics nor have access to the current literature. The ICRC physical rehabilitation department have identified education in Cerebral Palsy as a priority. Through this course, the ICRC and Physiopedia aim to provide physiotherapists and other health related professionals free access to quality information on managing children with cerebral palsy, the ultimate goal being to increase theoretical knowledge as a basis for sound rehabilitation practice.
This course does not intend to discuss or debate on advanced theories, techniques or build on additional advances in research as there are many specialists around the world who already do a great job. The ultimate goal of this course if first of all to provide physiotherapists and other health professionals involved in the management of children with cerebral palsy around the world basic knowledge and references which will further increase their knowledge and most probably their competences. They will then be in the position to find, read, critically appraise and choose the references and techniques appropriate to their needs and context.
We also hope that the information shared will prevent physiotherapy interventions too far away from evidence based practice or even malpractice. Indeed, children with cerebral palsy should not cry during treatment, be systematically placed under electrophysical agents or benefit merely from passive or active range of movement. Mothers should not walk for hours to get the information and hope that their children will be “cured”.
Last but not least, we hope again to bridge the gap between professionals from low and high income countries and therefore enlarge the community of practice in the field of cerebral palsy for the benefit of all, children, families and professionals. For clinicians working in under resourced regions the magnitude of this problem is self evident, a paradigm shift in response to the need is essential to begin to give children with Cerebral Palsy a meaningful life.
“Children are a quality of life ... when our children are happy, then we are better as human beings." Whoopi Goldberg
Aim[edit | edit source]
This course aims to align global understanding of Cerebral Palsy. It will provide a framework to develop introductory level principles of the management of children with Cerebral Palsy relevant in all contexts. The global network formed through this course will allow for shared knowledge and experiences to support good health care and better quality of life for children with Cerebral Palsy around the world.
Learning Objectives[edit | edit source]
Learning objectives coming soon.....
Intended audience[edit | edit source]
This course is suitable for any Physiotherapy or Physical Therapy professionals including clinicians, assistant or students who have a good understanding of the key principles of physiotherapy but little prior experience in Cerebral Palsy. It will also be of interest to any professionals (e.g. prosthetists, orthotists, nurses, occupational therapists, medical doctors) motivated to upgrade his/her knowledge on Cerebral Palsy.
Course structure[edit | edit source]
Participants will be required to complete the following tasks each week:
- Complete between 2 and 5 reading activities.
- Complete a short quiz.
- Contribute to the online discussions.
Additionally you will have the option to:
- Look at additional resources such as videos, case studies, journal articles.
In order to accommodate all internet bandwidth scenarios there are no presentations or webinars that you are required to view. There are some YouTube videos that it will be helpful if you can watch.
Time commitment[edit | edit source]
This course is 6 weeks long. Participants will be required to devote a minimum of 4 hours per week to the course. These 4 hours can be completed at a time that suits you with in the six weeks of the course, there is no requirement to be online at a specific time.
Language[edit | edit source]
The course will be run in English although participants will only require basic English skills (reading skills are more important than conversational skills). Participants will be encouraged to be respectful and empathetic to those for whom English is not their first language (e.g. in the discussion forum).
Accreditation, Assessment and Certification[edit | edit source]
On the successful completion of this course each participant will be provided with a Physiopedia certificate of completion and PP+ points (our own Physiopedia Plus points which are equivalent to CPD points/CEUs). These will be awarded provided you have:
- Contributed to the online discussion each week
- Completed the pre and post course competency tool
- Passed the final course quiz
- Submitted a case study on Cerebral Palsy during week 6
- Completed a course evaluation form
People involved in this course[edit | edit source]
Course co-ordinators[edit | edit source]
The course coordinators for this course are Ann Gates from Exercise Works and Rachael Lowe from Physiopedia. Both Ann and Rachael believe that exercise and physical activity can promote health, prevent chronic disease and illness, cut the cost of treating chronic disease, help people recover from illness and improve quality of life in those living with long-term conditions. This course could also offer the basic theoretical knowledge before a more advanced practical course tailored to specific needs.
- Barbara Rau, PT, ICRC
- Rachael Lowe, PT, Physiopedia
Course facilitators[edit | edit source]
Our course facilitators are all clinicians with a great deal of experience of integrating exercise and physical activity into health care. They have been instrumental in creating the course content and will be guiding you through the course and answering your questions in the discussion forum each week.
- Zeon De Wet, P&O, ICRC
- Verbena Bottini, PT, ICRC, Afghanistan
- Yvonne Frizzell, PT, Pakistan
- Greg Halford, P&O, ICRC, Gaza
- Lucia Bernhard, ICRC, Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Lorena Perez, PT, ICRC
- Ghanssan Husni Ali, ICRC, Iraq
- Naomi O'Reilly, PT, Physiopedia, Ireland
- Solenne Chupin, PT, ICRC/Special Fund for the Disabled, Tanzania
- Aicha Benyaich, PT, ICRC, Cambodia
Course Contacts[edit | edit source]
Throughout this course you should email us if you have any problems at all. We would prefer that you let us know about problems or difficulties that you have encountered so that we can provide assistance.
Resources[edit | edit source]
You might this list of resources useful throughout the course:
Thanks![edit | edit source]
Thanks to the following organisations and individuals for their contributions to this course:
