2nd MAES Course in UK !
MAES Course: Movement Analysis & Education Strategies
4-Week course for Paediatric Therapists to specialise or further specialise in children with neurodevelopmental conditions and gain new insights, knowledge and expert clinical skills for the treatment of children with Cerebral Palsy.
A new and pioneering approach to the treatment and management of Children with Cerebral Palsy and similar neurodevelopmental conditions, based upon 25 years’ expert clinical and teaching experience 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.”
- Learn to treat dynamically
- Develop creative thinking
- Gain new ways to inform and guide parents
- Acquire new observation and analytical skills
- Develop an extensive repertoire of new treatment strategies
Unique of its kind, this course has a strong emphasis on high-level observation, analysis and clinical skills. There is an unusually high level of supervised practical sessions (almost 50% of time), 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.
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.
Course Dates:
- Part 1: 7-18 August 2017
- Part 2: 18 – 29 September 2017
Length of Course: 4-Weeks ( 20 Days) course, in two parts of two weeks. The period between Parts 1 and 2 is to ensure participants put into practice the knowledge and skills gained in Part 1, before returning for Part 2.
- Venue: The Mendip School, A371 Prestleigh, Somerset, SW England, BA4 4FZ
- Course Fee: £ 1,950.00 (Less than £100 per Day for such specialised training). Same price as 2016.
- 5% Discount per participant for any two colleagues from the same workplace that register together.
Course Lead by Jean-Pierre Maes and MAES Team:
Jean-Pierre Maes MCSP, Consultant Neuro-developmental Physiotherapist – Director MAES Therapy International
Jean-Pierre is an expert in the field of Cerebral Palsy and similar neuro-developmental conditions, with over 25 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.
For over 25 years he has been teaching and treating in different cultures worldwide (over 35 countries), giving him unparalleled experience and insight into neuro-paediatrics and movement disorders.
From 1998 to 2013 he was based at The Bobath Centre (London) as a Consultant Neuro-developmental Physiotherapist, Senior NDT- Bobath Tutor and a regular Course Leader, leading a variety of Basic and Advanced courses.
He has since progressed and moved on and now teaches the pioneering MAES THERAPY Courses.
Course format:
This certified 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 2, 3 and 4.
Registration:
For further information and to apply, contact:
Jonathan Salsbury MIoD Development Manager, MAES Therapy International
E: jsalsbury@maestherapy.com
Course Participants: up to 12 max. only
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 course in the field of Cerebral Palsy as well as to very experienced therapists who have already taken several specialist courses (e.g. Conductive Education, Vojta, NDT-Bobath, Sensory Integration, Halliwick, etc.).
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.
A few comments from Therapists who have already successfully completed the 4-Week MAES Course:
“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.
The MAES Therapy Framework makes sense to me in my new understanding of CP and with the child’s brain as the ‘conductor’.
I will be able to use this specifically for each of the children I see, to plot what skills they are missing and what they are over using and therefore plan my treatment accordingly. It also helps you to understand that the complexity of the task is a very important consideration and to think about motivation for the child to be successful in my therapy.
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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“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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“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
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“ I would recommend this MAES Therapy Course to all therapists.”
Mihaela Grubišić, Physiotherapist, Occupational Therapist
Head of Department Sensory Integration Therapy, Special Hospital for Children with neurodevelopmental and motor disorders. Zagreb, Croatia
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“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
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“MAES Therapy has given me a completely new outlook and approach. My analysis skills have grown exponentially. MAES has given me a perspective that not only makes sense, but makes changes where previously I thought you could not make changes.”
Anita Hains, Physiotherapist
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“The MAES Course has completely changed how I understand the different difficulties of CP. It has explained the aspects that could not be explained by other concepts before. It has filled in the ‘gaps’.
“Sometimes in life, you learn some new things that adds to your knowledge and skills and makes you a better therapist. I have known Jean-Pierre for a long time and this is what I expected to gain from the MAES Therapy Course. Up until Week 4 of the course, I thought it would be very useful to use elements of it as part of my current treatment approach. However, during the last week, I had quite a few ‘penny-dropping’ moments which was a pivotal moment in my career.
I now realise that there is a completely different way of looking at approaching children with CP. One which allows you to take each individual child further in their abilities than any other approach I’m familiar with.
It has given me a new perspective on what ‘holistic treatment’ means. Holistic now means that you look at CP from the child’s brain’s perspective and how the brain coordinates the child’s movement, vision, sensory processing, cognition, play etc.
Treatment therefore has to address all of these aspects as a whole instead of treating different aspects in isolation as a PT, 0T or SLT.
This is a course for all three professions and all three will come away with completely new skills and perception of CP. You will finish the course as a ‘Brain Therapist’ !
It is unbelievable that one can change so much in four weeks!
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
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“The MAES Course has completely changed my approach to cerebral palsy. I feel I have a better 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 hope 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
MAES 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 MAES 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.
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