With a focus on promoting participation, CPAdvance™ for occupational therapists provides critical training on the principles and specific interventions that are best supported by evidence for young children with, or at risk of, cerebral palsy or similiar neuro-disabilities.
Click here to view your learning journey, what’s available now and what’s coming in 2026.
Course options include:
In the first release (available now) you can choose from three purchasing options: Essentials, Core or a bundle of Essentials and Core. You will receive credit for all courses completed.
Once the remaining Elective modules and the final assessment are released in mid-2026 and completed, you’ll earn your CPAdvance™ Accredited Practitioner certification.
Occupational Therapy course options
Essentials
Cerebral palsy is the most common motor disability in childhood – yet every child is unique.
Today, we have powerful knowledge showing that diagnosing and intervening earlier can change life outcomes in profound ways for children with or at risk of cerebral palsy and their families. This introductory module establishes the three best practice key principles of early intervention that underpin each module of CPAdvance™.
By laying these foundations, this module offers learners a lens through which they can best engage with the knowledge and skill development offered throughout this program of learning, supporting real-life practice change.
What is cerebral palsy? What causes it? How is it diagnosed?
This module aims to equip learners with foundational knowledge relating to cerebral palsy, with a particular focus on how it presents in the early years.
By completing this module, learners will gain an understanding of cerebral palsy diagnostic pathways, types, typographies and prognostic trajectories, as well as common comorbidities.
By deepening knowledge of cerebral palsy, learners will strengthen their ability to support caregivers in tailoring the most beneficial interventions for their goals and facilitating truly impactful therapy.
Goal setting with children and their families is a well recognised building block for effective practice. Yet, research shows that goal setting is often overlooked. Why do goal setting practices often fall short?
This module introduces the Rehabilitation Evidence-Based Decision Making (READ) model – a step-by-step layered process to setting goals with families.
Learners will understand how to collaboratively elicit and establish goals, transforming conversations with caregivers into caregiver-led plans that reflect evidence-based interventions that drive meaningful progress.
With the various assessments available, each with a different purpose, it is easy to feel uncertain as to which assessments should be prioritised and why. Sharing assessment feedback with families can also be complex and challenging.
This module aims to upskill learners in the assessment phase of care. Through this module, learners will be able to identify best available assessments for infants with or at risk of cerebral palsy, and apply assessment information to guide evidence-based intervention selection.
This module also aims to equip learners with assessment feedback skills using the SPIKES framework, promoting family engagement and therapeutic outcomes.
Coaching is an evidence-based approach in paediatric rehabilitation, that focuses on empowering families to unlock their child’s potential.
This module will introduce learners to the principles of coaching – what it is and how to do it with families to enable collaborative problem-solving so that they may enjoy the benefits of being informed decision makers in achieving their goals.
Our everyday environment is filled with opportunities for growth and learning. But how effectively do we intentionally leverage this potential to make therapeutic gains?
This module supports learners to understand how to optimise a child’s environment to stimulate social, cognitive, motor and sensory growth.
By understanding the evidence and theory of environmental enrichment, learners will develop the knowledge and skills required to support families to enhance their infant’s environment through paediatric rehabilitation service provision.
It is well known that ‘play’ is the most important job a child will ever have. But how well do we optimise play opportunities to achieve therapeutic goals?
This module supports learners to identify strategies to integrate play into therapy interventions by developing an applied understanding of the key ingredients of play that maximises an infant’s enjoyment, motivation and skill building.
Children learn more when they are having fun – making play essential for therapy intervention effectiveness.
Research consistently shows that caregiver well-being is linked to infant development. Yet, research also tells us that caregivers of children with disability are more likely to develop mental health and wellbeing challenges.
As the effectiveness of parent-led interventions and family centred practice is increasingly recognised, the need to support caregiver wellbeing and mental health in paediatric services is also emphasised.
This module aims to equip learners with principles and strategies to embed supporting caregiver mental health and wellbeing as part of routine practice. Caregiver well-being drives infant outcomes.
Early Release Core Course
Cerebral palsy is the most common motor disability in childhood – yet every child is unique.
Today, we have powerful knowledge showing that diagnosing and intervening earlier can change life outcomes in profound ways for children with or at risk of cerebral palsy and their families.
This introductory module establishes the three best practice key principles of early intervention that underpin each module of CPAdvance™. By laying these foundations, this module offers learners a lens through which they can best engage with the knowledge and skill development offered throughout this program of learning, supporting real-life practice change.
All children with cerebral palsy have some level of impairment in their motor development. Early intervention emphasises the importance of practising specifically what the infant and the family want to learn, rather than general milestone-based programs.
Task-Specific Training is a powerful approach grounded in neuroplasticity and motor learning principles designed to develop skills in specific functional tasks.
This opening module aims to help learners understand the neuroscience evidence-base related to task-specific training and outline the principles of this approach for application in clinical practice.
Reach – a fundamental motor skill that opens the door to exploring the world and connecting with people.
Reaching is an essential component of most tasks – yet can be challenging for infants with motor difficulties.
Extending from Task-Specific Training – General Principles, this module applies these principles to the task of reaching.
Through this module, learners will be able to identify the stages of reach, the factors affecting reach for infants with cerebral palsy, and how to effectively tailor task specific training to progress an infant’s reaching skills.
Effective hand function requires both grasp and release. Just like reach – grasping and releasing is a fundamental motor skill that enables exploration, discovery and independence.
While every infant is different, grasping and releasing can be challenging for infants with motor difficulties.
Extending from Task-Specific Training – General Principles, this module applies these principles to the task of grasping and releasing. Through this module, learners will be able to identify the stages of grasp and release, factors affecting grasp and release for infants with cerebral palsy, and how to effectively tailor task specific training to progress an infant’s grasping and releasing skills.
Head control is foundational to postural stability, visual engagement and functional movement.
With greater head control comes development of higher-level motor skills and greater independence.
Extending from Task-Specific Training – General Principles, this module applies these principles to the task of head control.
Through this module, learners will be able to identify the stages and function of head control, the factors affecting head control for infants with cerebral palsy, and how to effectively tailor Task-Specific Training to progress an infant’s head control.
Sitting is a pivotal task, allowing infants the freedom to use both hands to explore and interact with the world around them whilst building the strength and control for future movement.
However, sitting can be difficult for infants with cerebral palsy due to the muscle tone, balance, and coordination required to maintain an upright position.
Extending from Task-Specific Training – General Principles, this module applies these principles to the task of sitting.
Through this module, learners will be able to effectively tailor activities to develop sitting balance, weight shifting and transitions as part of task specific training to progress an infant’s sitting skills.
Many, but not all, children with cerebral palsy will learn to stand and walk. The complexity of controlling trunk and limbs whilst defying gravity is challenging and can take a long time to develop. Yet, standing and walking is often identified as a priority area by families to target.
Extending from Task-Specific Training – General Principles, this module applies these principles to the task of upright mobility.
Through this module, learners will be able to design task-specific training activities to develop weight shifting, cruising, stepping, walking and high-level mobility skills.
When something captures an infant’s interest, the desire to get closer inspires rolling, pivoting, reaching and crawling. These early movements support infants to decide where to go and how to get there, fueling curiosity and connection with their world.
For infants with cerebral palsy, type, topography, severity and associated impairments all impact how and when infants start to move on the floor.
Extending from Task-Specific Training – General Principles, this module applies these principles to the task of floor mobility.
Through this module, learners will understand the benefits of early practice in prone and develop skills in task-specific training activities to support infants to mobilise and explore on the floor.
How well have you understood task specific training?
Task-Specific training: Examination offers a unique opportunity to consolidate learning from all task–specific training modules.
This module requires learners to apply Task-Specific Training knowledge and skills to a series of real-life clinical scenarios, including being able to identify factors affecting goal attainment, stages of motor learning, and key concepts to support motor skill acquisition including specificity, grading, repetition, practice and feedback.
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