Optimising Paediatric Upper Limb Function

Optimising Paediatric Upper Limb Function: A 2-Day Practical Course for Therapists

Cost: £300 plus VAT

Ready to strengthen your assessment and intervention skills for children with upper limb challenges?

Presented by Dr Jill Massey, clinician–researcher at Evelina London Children’s Healthcare & King’s College London, and Clinical Consultant for the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Australia. 

Course overview: Strengthen your assessment and intervention skills for children with upper limb challenges in this interactive, evidence-informed 2-day course. Gain practical tools and clinical reasoning strategies to design activity-based upper limb programmes that enhance functional outcomes for children and families.

Across two engaging days, you will:

• Deepen your understanding of upper limb development and impairment profiles
• Strengthen assessment, goal-setting and clinical observation skills
• Apply motor learning and neuroplasticity principles to practice
• Develop confidence delivering mCIMT, bimanual and hybrid approaches
• Integrate action observation and goal-directed training
• Adapt interventions for children with CP and complex presentations
• Embed family-centred and multidisciplinary strategies

Day 1 – Foundations, Assessment & Evidence-Based Practice

• Upper limb development and movement analysis
• Assessment approaches (clinical and standardised tools)
• Functional goal-setting (COPM, GAS, family-centred frameworks)
• Understanding impairments: tone, weakness, neglect
• Neuroplasticity and motor learning principles
• Activity-based vs impairment-focused approaches
• Practical video analysis and case discussion

Day 2 – Practical Delivery of Activity-Based Rehabilitation

• Implementing modified Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy (mCIMT)
• Designing bimanual and hybrid intervention models
• Action observation and goal-directed training
• Adapting for complex cases (CP, DCD, brachial plexus injury)
• Overcoming sensory, cognitive and behavioural barriers
• Designing a structured 6-week upper limb programme

Format: Interactive teaching, practical labs, video analysis and case discussion

Leave with practical strategies, structured programme planning tools and greater confidence to deliver impactful upper limb rehabilitation.

Who is it for? Paediatric occupational therapists, physiotherapists and therapy professionals working with children

About the presenter

Dr Jill Massey is a paediatric occupational therapist and clinician–researcher specialising in upper limb rehabilitation, early intervention and co-design in childhood disability.

She leads the Evelina REACH (asymmetric pathway) service and co-leads neonatal and childhood stroke services at Evelina London Children’s Hospital. Jill also works internationally as a Clinical Consultant with Cerebral Palsy Alliance (Australia).

Jill led the first global Experience-Based Co-Design (EBCD) study in childhood-onset disability, resulting in nationally adopted resources including the Guide to Understanding Hemiplegia.

As an educator, she supports clinicians to translate evidence, lived experience and clinical reasoning into meaningful, person-centred upper limb intervention.