Event Details


Previous MAES Foundation Courses:

Course Title:

‘Movement Analysis & Education Strategies for the Treatment of Children with Cerebral Palsy and similar neuro-developmental conditions’

 

Act on key mechanisms to improve children’s ability to keep learning and progressing, whilst avoiding (or delaying) a ‘plateau’ effect.

Target the brain: improve function of:  Basal Ganglia for clients with Dyskinetic CP, White Matter for clients with PVL, Cerebellum for clients with Ataxia, …

Highly practical in nature, this course is designed to expand your repertoire of interventions,  structure and develop clinical reasoning and clinical expertise.

A specialist course for Paediatric Therapists (PT,OT,SLT) and medical doctors who want to gain new insights, increased knowledge and develop their clinical reasoning and improved treatment skills for children with Cerebral Palsy and similar neurodevelopmental conditions. 

       

          Learn to treat dynamically

          Develop creative thinking for your treatments

          Acquire new observation and analytical skills

          Develop an extensive repertoire of new treatment strategies

          Gain new ways to inform and guide parents

Become an Expert:  Following successful completion of this course, therapists will be able to provide an expert, individualised ‘hands-on’ treatment to promote the development of skills in terms of mobility, hand function, constructive play, interaction and communication, for each child with Cerebral Palsy.

Unique of its kind, this course has a strong emphasis on high-level observation, analysis and clinical skills. 

M.A.E.S. Therapy is a pioneering evidence-based approach, underpinned by practice evidence, patient evidence and contextual evidence from 35 years’ expert clinical and teaching experience world-wide and focusing on excellent treatment skills.

Part 1:    27 October – 7 November 2025      Online – live & interactive
Part 2:    24 November – 5 December 2025   Face-to-Face      

Week 1   27 – 31 October 2025
Week 2   3 – 7 November 2025
Week 3   24 – 28 November 2025
Week 4:  1 – 5 December 2025

Length of Course:  4-Weeks ( 20 Days) course, in two parts of two weeks.

Each week is 5 Days,  Monday to Friday.

Venue for Part 2:    Johannesburg

Venue to be advised.

Course lead by:

Jean-Pierre Maes and  M.A.E.S. Therapy Team South Africa                                 

Jean-Pierre Maes MCSP,  Consultant Neuro-Developmental Physiotherapist
Founder & Director MAES Therapy International

Jean-Pierre is an expert in the field of Cerebral Palsy and similar neuro-developmental conditions, with over 35 years’ experience of treating babies, children and adults.

He is renowned internationally for both his excellent clinical skills and teaching skills, mentoring therapists and leading courses related to a variety of neurodevelopmental conditions.

From 1998 to 2013 he was based at The Bobath Centre (London) as a Consultant Neuro-developmental Physiotherapist, Senior NDT- Bobath Tutor  leading a variety of Basic and Advanced courses.  He was a Senior NDT- Bobath Tutor – one of the most experienced and influential international Senior Tutors and regular Course Leaders.

Jean-Pierre wanted to progress and improve the treatment of children further and so he decided to leave NDT-Bobath and now practices and teaches the pioneering M.A.E.S. Therapy Approach.

Due to demand, he now leads M.A.E.S. Courses world-wide, teaching the advanced MAES Therapy Approach for paediatric therapists who want to specialise, or to further specialise, in the treatment of children with CP and similar neurodevelopmental conditions and who want to gain deeper knowledge and expert clinical skills.

Course Fee:  

  • Early Bird:   £2,510 GBP    (approx. R59,500  based upon Exchange Rate at time of publication).    To be paid before 30 June 2025

  • Late Registration:  £2,885 GBP    (approx. R68,400 based upon Exchange Rate at time of publication)   To be paid by 30 September 2025

  • 5% Discount per person for any two or more work colleagues that register together.

Comparison:

In Europe, the Course Fee for this Foundation Course is  av.R75,000

We take into account the local economy in South Africa and we aim to make this highly specialised course accessible for Paediatric Therapists in RSA.

This is a significant and very worthwhile investment in increasing your knowledge and clinical skills.   Feedback from Therapists who have completed this course testify to the real value of this.

 

Apply:

For further information and for a Registration Form, contact :

Shane Brassell, PT MAES Therapy & Paediatric NDT
M.A.E.S. Therapy SA Coordinator 

E:  maestherapyrsa@gmail.com

  

Course Participant’s Criteria:

Participants must be experienced Paediatric Therapists (Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists,  Speech Therapists) or medical Doctors (paediatricians, neurologists), with at least two years’ experience in treating children with Cerebral Palsy and similar neurological conditions.

The course will appeal to therapists who are about to take their first postgraduate cerebral palsy physiotherapy course, as well as to very experienced therapists who have already taken several specialist courses (e.g. Conductive Education, Vojta, NDT-Bobath, Sensory Integration, etc.).

Course Format:

Presented at post-graduate level, this certified CP paediatrics course is very ‘hands-on’. The format will include theoretical lectures, treatment demonstrations, workshops, case presentations and supervised daily practical sessions with patients during weeks 3 and 4.

Unique of its kind, this neurodevelopmental course has a strong emphasis on high-level observation, analysis and clinical skills. There is an unusually high level of supervised practical sessions, with a wide variety of case presentations, giving depth and breadth to the learning experience.

The course is specially designed to give participants time to translate theory into clinical practice and become expert in handling and managing their clients with neuro-developmental conditions.

Course Aims:

This course aims to:

  • Provide a ‘Framework’ for an effective assessment and better understanding of the challenges and needs of children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) and similar neurodevelopmental conditions
  • Gain expertise in analysis of coordination and effective and structured clinical reasoning skills.
  • Analyse Tasks in term of fine and gross motor, sensory, perceptual, biomechanical and cognitive components.
  • Relate the quality of execution of given tasks to the specific skills that the child has been able to develop and use to accomplish these tasks.
  • Predict motor behaviour (prognosis) based upon an in-depth analysis of typical presentations associated to spastic hypertonia, dyskinetic CP, ataxia, hypotonia and CP associated with preterm birth.
  • Understand the short and long-term consequences for the child to engage in complex activities, when the skills available are missing and consequently for therapists to establish priorities and short and long-term treatment plans to change the child’s natural course of development.
  • Develop high-level problem-solving skills to provide each child with specific sensory-motor experiences to make best use of their own potential for improvement.
  • Prioritise and identify which specific skills a child is missing and that need to be promoted and at the same time discouraging the compensatory strategies this child is over-relying upon and which prevents the development of more advanced skills.
  • Expand creative thinking and develop an extensive repertoire of treatment strategies and skills, which can then be applied more confidently in a range of situations to enable the child to learn new ways that he would have difficulty or not be able to develop on his own.
  • Effectively inform and guide parents during treatment sessions, including the use of toys for play and advise them how to best interact with their child during activities of daily living in a home environment.

 

Development of clinical skills:

During the 4 weeks Therapists will have:

20 x  Practical Sessions with 1 child being treated by 2 or 3 therapists.

Therapists generally work in pairs with 1 child at a time and throughout the course they have a variety of children with different presentations of Cerebral Palsy.

20 x Treatment Workshops ( Therapists’ live Case Presentations )

There will be a total of around 20 – 30 different children with Cerebral Palsy to treat during Part 2,  allowing a high level of supervised practical sessions, allowing participants to link theory into practice and become expert in analysis and handling.

 

 

Therapists and Doctors recommend this Course:

The best accreditation is from fellow professionals who judge and value the course and the new knowledge and skills they gain.

Below are a few comments from some therapists who have completed the M.A.E.S. Foundation Courses world-wide:

“This is the course that I would really liked to have taken earlier in my career, as it would have saved me many years of searching for answers to my questions about Cerebral Palsy.”

“I am NDT- Bobath trained and was looking for a course to ‘fill in the gaps’ that NDT doesn’t cover and to enable me to better treat the most complex children on my caseload; this course did this brilliantly. The course was excellent and I would highly recommend it to any therapist who is committed to developing their practice to the highest level. 

R. Davis, Senior Physiotherapist, NDT-Bobath Therapist,  London, UK

______

“The M.AE.S. Therapy Course hugely influenced my understanding and approach to Cerebral Palsy; a complete turnaround to that which I have learnt in the past.  I am better at understanding this approach and am also getting to applying the principals into practice.

This approach is more holistic in understanding the whole child and how they are finding solutions. Due to their injury they have learnt to find a solution by developing skills that are over-used or underdeveloped. In the M.A.E.S. Therapy Approach the long term outcome of the child is not limited but rather free for greater possibilities.

The course is not easy, but it is well worth learning this approach earlier, rather than later in your career. I see no other way, at present, that offers the child with CP a better opportunity to develop. The theory of M.A.E..S Therapy is strongly backed up with many practical treatment sessions that prove that this approach does work.”

Gillian Shead,  Physiotherapist,  Johannesburg, South Africa

__________

“I was hoping to learn new strategies and it has given me that and more!  MAES has helped me to understand the ‘things’ I saw and had no explanation for. 

The MAES Therapy Approach and Framework is amazing and definitely how I will work in the future with all my patients. I think it makes our treatment much more specific and long lasting!  I really think that it is very useful and includes OT more than any other course I have ever attended. 

MAES Therapy is very holistic and as an OT I will be able to integrate everything.”

Marli Smit,  Occupational Therapist,  Johannesburg, South Africa

__________

“The M.A.E.S. Foundation Course has provided the most detailed and comprehensive teaching on cerebral palsy of any course, or ‘on the job’ training I have ever received. It has changed my understanding of children’s presentations and has provided clear information on why we should view CP from the brain perspective, rather than take secondary effects of the brain lesion as a starting point in therapy. 

Lectures practical sessions and workshops have complimented one another to broaden our knowledge and help us think clearly and logically when analysing and treating children with cerebral palsy. The organisation and teaching on the M.A.E.S  Course have been fantastic. I strongly recommend this course to all paediatric Therapists treating children with neurodevelopmental conditions.”

Lauren Twin, Highly Specialist Paediatric Physiotherapist

______ 

“This course is by far the best learning experience I have ever had. I never expected to learn this much. I have a totally new and much more or in understanding cerebral palsy and how this impacts on children in and holistic way. It has also given a very detailed framework to analyse children with CP and how to then provide a very individualised treatment approach.

I now understand why I need to approach children with CP in different ways, depending upon the lesion in the brain.

The tutors have all been excellent and are very supportive, especially if you are finding something challenging. If someone has the chance to attend this course, then they should. This MAES Course is really good value for money for all that you get in return, as well as the ongoing support your provided with.  Highly recommended ! “

Hannah Westwood,  Highly Specialist Paediatric Occupational Therapist

_______

“The MAES Course has completely changed how I understand the different difficulties of Cerebral Palsy. It has explained the aspects that could  not be explained by  other concepts before. It has filled in the ‘gaps’.

I now realise that there is a completely different way of looking at approaching children with CP. MAES allows you to take each individual child further in their abilities than any other approach I’m familiar with. 

This is a course for all three professions (PT,OT,SLT) and all three will come away with completely new skills and perception of CP. Thank you JP for pioneering this approach, so that we can have a bigger impact on children with CP.”

Anel van der Merwe, MCSP  Clinical Specialist Paediatric Physiotherapist

M.A.E.S. & Bobath-NDT Trained

_________

“I have found the M.A.E.S. THERAPY Course to be very helpful and was thrilled by the way that it encompasses the principles of embodiment (embodied cognition) and principles of learning, MAES is very update with modern neuroscience.

I hope that the enthusiasm and the knowledge of MAES Therapy will spread.

I would highly recommend this course.”

Tina Bregant, MD, PhD, Paediatrician

Ljubljana, Slovenia, Europe

_________

Having completed the  Bobath-NDT Basic and Advanced Courses,  I had been looking for my “next step” to progress. 

The MAES Course has done that and given me new depth to my understanding of children with cerebral palsy. I am able to distinguish clearly between how each child presents, enabling me to adapt my therapeutic handling to specifically treat each child I see. The MAES Therapy Course has given me new knowledge and skills.  I highly recommend it to all paediatric therapists.”

Nikki Kennedy,  NDT-Bobath Physiotherapist, UK

______

“My understanding and approach to children with CP has changed for the better.  Rather than seeing specific problems with, for example, muscles, movements, ‘spasticity’,  I now have a better understanding of these as ‘symptoms’ and that therapy focus needs to be on the fact that the brain is the problem and therefore understanding how this affects the child and their movements is essential.

I enjoyed the small group and I enjoyed the video analyses as it gave more examples then we could have had from just our practical sessions and workshops and they also illustrated MAES Therapy  in action and how to progress.

I would highly recommend this course to all of my colleagues, including OTs.

This course will be a complete turn around point in any therapist’s career, whether they are very experienced or more recently starting to work with children with CP. It makes you think and understand CP from the brain rather than looking at symptoms of only and as a therapist you’ll be up to progress your Child’s potential more.

You will also understand the importance of play and using toys as part of your therapy. It is amazing how much you can learn and change as a therapist in four weeks!

I am very excited to continue working with children with CP following this course.”

Michelle Jordan , Senior Physiotherapist,  Surrey, UK

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“Take your skills of assessment and treatment to a higher level; a level that is not offered in other courses I have undertaken. With MAES Therapy I can now achieve in one session what took me months to achieve prior to the course.”

Rachel MacLoughlin, Senior Physiotherapist, UK

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“The M.A.E.S. Course has completely changed my approach to cerebral palsy for the better. I now have a much deeper understanding of CP. The explanation of the approach and the use of the analogies was clear and from my experience of CP ‘looking for spasticity’ and it not being there –  this approach makes sense. I will now be more equipped at treating the whole child and identifying their priorities and now I understand much more about all the factors that contribute to the movement we see and to look further than that. I am a very different therapist and intend to build on this.

This course has changed how I understand cerebral palsy, the impact of play and how to use it to complement what I do and how to use my hands to provide an environment in which a child can develop new skills and opportunities to move

M.A.E.S.  enables you to identify the problem and priority for the child in a holistic way, rather than looking at the physical manifestation you see as the problem.

We saw real differences with children during the course and parents reported a difference at home in transfers and head control. The parents who are at the beginning of the week reported that they only position to their child and equipment and didn’t do ‘therapy’, on day three asked to be shown how they could put this into practice. They saw a difference and wanted to be involved.

The M.A.E.S. Course  is THE  course to do.  I really look forward to continuing to develop my skills and share this approach to help therapists provide opportunities for children to learn new skills and reach a higher potential.”

Helen King MCSP  Paediatric Physiotherapist, UK

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“The MAES Course was excellent.

I will go back home and I will be able to understand all my neuro patients better and I will plan my treatment sessions more effectively.

The MAES Therapy Approach and Framework helps you to analyse movement disorders in terms of skills and tasks and to effectively combine motor, sensory and cognition during therapy sessions.”

Beth Campos, Speech & Language Therapist,
NDT-Bobath Tutor,  Brazil

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“The course has challenged the way in which I think about neuro-developmental problems in children. The MAES Approach makes a lot of sense to me.

I like the fact that the first two weeks are more general and the focus is on task analysis and understanding;  and the break in between the two parts of the course helps to consolidate that information. Then the last two weeks puts the first two weeks together to get to treatment.

I no longer look at things like tone and patterns to classify and put into groups. I now know that I was previously just looking at symptoms and treating symptomatically.  This course has helped me to get to the root of the problem

The MAES framework helps you to separate signs/symptoms from core problems. When you know what the skills are that the child is missing and the ones that are being overused, you can see where you want to go with treatment.

I think MAES Therapy is beneficial for all – PT, OT and SLT, as it provides a new way to see and analyse our patients. It looks at the whole child and doesn’t separate upper limbs, lower limbs etc., which I believe is the correct way to view our patients.

Roxane Jason, Physiotherapist, South Africa

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#cerebralpalsy
#CP
#neurodevelopmentaldisorders
#preterm
#developmental delay
#prematurity
#neurodevelopmental
#spasticity
#hie
#periventricularleukomalacia
#movementdisorder
#earlyintervention
#pediatric

M.A.E.S. Therapy is the new gold standard for treating children with Cerebral Palsy and similar neuro-developmental conditions and movement disorders; with more effective long-term outcomes compared to other therapeutic approaches such as Bobath-NDT, Vojta, Medek.