COMING SOON

Every Movement Counts

Understanding Motor Skill Acquisition

Participant technology requirements: Latest version of Zoom, enabled computer camera, functioning audio capabilities and 2.5 Mbps (upload and download) bandwidth. 

Key Take Away: Role of exploratory behavior and environmental affordances in skill acquisition

Format and Method of Instruction: lecture, discussion, and video observation lab
1 Hour WEBINAR - Cost: $35 (USD)
How and why do children acquire motor skills? This course will answer these questions using the primary concepts of the Perception-Action (P-A) Approach supported by current research into the role of variability, complexity, and adaptability in the developmental process. The development of exploratory behavior, and the relationship between motor and perceptual development will be discussed. Cross-cultural research on milestone norms, including their timing, sequence, and prevalence, will be highlighted to challenge the traditional methods of developmental assessment. Video cases will be used to illustrate the P-A Approach concepts and facilitate the discussion of observed movement and posture in infants and children with typical and atypical development.

Through the introduction of the P-A Approach concepts in this course, participants of all clinical disciplines will gain a new insight into the development of functional skills and the importance of perceptual-motor experiences for the child’s global development. Occupational therapists, physical therapists, and speech and language pathologists will each extract from the course material information that is useful in their discipline-specific interventions.

Learning Objectives:


  1. Compare and contrast the traditional and Perception-Action (P-A) Approach views of motor skill acquisition
  2. Explain how a child acquires a new motor skill using the following P-A Approach concepts: role of the environment; spontaneous exploration; variability; complexity; and adaptability
  3. Recognize observed inefficient movement strategies and explain them from the P-A Approach perspective
  4. Identify the possible reasons for functional skill limitations in children who develop atypically
  5. Describe at least 2 intervention strategies that use the P-A Approach view of motor skill acquisition
  6. Obtain information helpful for designing discipline-specific intervention, including the following: Making connections between exploratory behaviors and the development of visual scanning and bimanual manipulation skills (OT, PT); New knowledge about the importance of active problem-solving for the development of transitional movements (PT, OT); and Relationship between the child’s postural alignment and oral-motor abilities and speech production (SLP, OT)

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