From philosophy student and activist to pioneer in early childhood intervention approaches for therapists, Karen Kangas takes us on a journey of developing clinical excellence. She is an occupational therapists with over 50 years of experience, specializing in pediatrics, seating, and augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). She has partic…

James Sultzer is an academic neurorehabilitation engineer and a father to a child with a significant brain injury. This conversation is a raw look at the real state of the evidene in pediatric neurodisability from the someone who is living through the reality of how it supports families to make incredibly difficult decisions as they seek out the be…

When it comes to understanding how the work that we try to do every day in the clinic actually works, this interview with Dr Susan Barry may be one of the most eye-opening interviews I have done so far - excuse the pun. Dr Barry is a a Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences, Professor Emeritus of Neuroscience and Behavior and (as she calls herse…

This interview with the OccuPLAYtional Therapist, Kelsie Olds, is an absolute treat. We cover the realities, practicalities and benefits of child-led therapy, the integration of play in therapeutic practices, push-in vs pull out services, balancing the conflicts that arise from staying true to your core values as a therapist with meeting your servi…

More than a decade ago, I asked a question which finally gets answered today. The question was 'Why, despite the poor evidence, do intelligent, scientifically minded, educated and experienced therapists still value it? Or do they?' Prof Margaret Mayston exemplifies the intelligent, scientifically minded, educated and experienced therapist. She trai…

Interoception is a key sense that has been widely studied for decades but is only now making its way into clinical applications and Kelly Mahler is an amazing occupational therapists who is leading the way both clinically and academically in understanding the role of this key sense for occupational and physical therapists working in neurodevelopmen…

A passionate and engaging conversation with Dr Julie Vaughan-Graham, PT, PhD, Advanced IBITA Instructor, Adjunct Clinical Professor at McMaster University and University of Toronto, Canada and Founder of Physio-Logic and iNeuroRehab . Julie shares insights from her research on the Bobath concept, and the importance of postural control, selective mo…

In the evolving landscape of pediatric neurorehabilitation, the emergence of therapeutic coaching has marked a paradigm shift. This approach, which marries therapeutic principles with the empowering dynamics of coaching, is designed to effect profound, tangible changes in the lives of children and their families. Occupational Performance Coaching (…

Gerti Motavalli and Dr. Alon share their insights into the work they have been doing with non-invasive spinal stimulation that is changing the lives of many children with Spina Bifida. We dig into both the theoretical and practical application of this this protocol, as well as how it compares to other electrical stimulation approaches in pediatrics…

There are many brilliant and passionate therapists in our world of neuromotor development, but few come close to Beverly Cusick in their ability to shape the lives of the children we see. I mean that both at the most pragmatic level where Billi’s teaching of serial casting and orthotic prescription has literally shaped thousands of feet for the bet…

Per is a Physiotherapist from Denmark and founder of Solemaids, a custom orthotic for children with Sever’s Disease / calcaneal apophysitis. His passion for feet and running related injuries led him to develop Solemaids more than 20 years ago which he is still supplying from his in-house workshop, despite a global reach. This was a great conversati…

In part 2 of this interview on spinal neuromodulation with Dr Susan Hastings and Dr Reggie Edgerton, we get into the questions that everyone is asking; how is it different to FES? What is the difference between the different units and parameters? Who does it work on, and more. We dig into some in depth discussions about application and precautions …

Dr. Susan Hastings is a physical therapist who stumbled upon the hidden potential of the spinal cord in treating children with cerebral palsy. In her quest to understand what she was seeing clinically, she found Dr. Reggie Edgerton, a pioneer in the field of spinal cord injury recovery. Together they have been exploring the potential of spinal neur…

Maybe not so much the OTs in our world or neurodevelopment, but certainly as PTs we have prioritised motor function over sensory function when we think about how the body works. The more we learn about the importance of the sensory pathways in the sensory-motor loop, the better we get at understanding how, as therapists who can only work from the o…

There’s nothing I love more than amplifying the voices of passionate clinicians who have the kind of wisdom and insights that can only be found through years of real world real life experiences mixed in with an endlessly curious mind and an irrepressible excitement for whats possible. That’s exactly what Julie Perfect brings to this interview. Year…

It is possible to have been a therapists for 30+ years, worked with hundreds, if not thousands of kids and have completely missed a glaring piece of the puzzle that was hidden in plane sight. That’s how I felt dipping into Dawn Sandalcidis’ world of children's bowel and bladder issues. Guilty that I hadn’t paid enough attention to the conversation …

This interview is packed with practical tips, brilliant insights and golden nuggets to take away. We get into the weeds of idiopathic toe-walking, CP and and orthotic devices in but just as importantly, we explore the realities of bringing clinical work and evidence based practice into alignment (excuse the pun). Because this interview has such a p…

This is part 2 of Anat Baniel’s 2 part interview. In part one we dived into understanding the 9 essentials and contrasting them with some of our more contemporary approaches in physical and occupational therapy. In part two we get into some hot topics and Anat answers questions sent in by curious wired on listeners. Anat is in equal measure passion…

I hold curiosity and an open mind as two of my most precious values and so I love nothing more than to step off the straight and narrow in search of treasures and possibilities.I am struck however by how much synergy there is in what thought leaders and master clinicians that I’ve interviewed are saying - and how Anat has packaged these up in her 9…

If you've ever wished for a blueprint that would guide you through the process of becoming an exceptional clinician, then you want to sit down with me for a chat with Jean-Pierre Maes. Jean-Pierre has packaged his years of learning, his experience, and unmatched clinical reasoning and analysis skills into the MAES therapy approach. This approach gi…

W-sitting, Botox, walking vs wheelchairs, fixing vs participation and the inside view on RCTs and Evidence Based Practice. These are just a few of the hairy topics that came up for discussion as I sat down to talk about childhood disability and the F-words with Professor Peter Rosenbaum. Peter is the co-founder of CanChild, arguably one of the most…

I had a hard time trying to come up with a word that best described Susan Hastings because I couldn’t choose between innovative and insightful. The truth is that Susan intertwines these two qualities into her therapy approach with such single-minded brilliance that she has developed her clinical practice into something that is arguably the most exc…

Passionate, straight-talking and someone who not only teaches this stuff - but lives it. We're talking 24-hour-postural management, body symmetry and nighttime positioning with Sarah Clayton from Simple Stuff Works. Sarah is passionate about posture! And her passion is highly contagious. She has worked with families of children living with complex …

A fundamental skill for therapists working in neuromotor development is the ability to analyze movement. The GMA (General Movement Assessment) takes it to a whole new level and Colleen Peyton has a wealth of knowledge about just how to do this. As a licensed GMA instructor, Colleen combines her many years of clinical work as a physical therapist wi…

We talk about multi-disciplinary and we talk about being wholistic therapists that see the whole child, but Dr Mary Massery lives and breathes these concepts (excuse the pun). Mary Massery is probably most well know for her soda pop can theory of postural stability and in our interview I was expecting to focus on breathing and core - and we did a l…

I’ve been interviewing amazing clinicians for well over a year now, and therapists often reach out to me and make suggestions about who they think is worthy of an interview. Susan Blum has been recommended more than most, and if you haven’t at least heard her name mentioned alongside TMR tots & teens, I’m thinking you’re probably a wee bit isolated…

Oren Steinberg is the founder and chairperson of Sensory Treat, a revolutionary programme that supports therapists and parents to work together in creating home exercise programmes for children with sensory processing difficulties. Oren comes from a background of tech, currently working for a healthcare and technology company on a mission to make c…

Esther is a physiotherapist from the Netherlands whose passion and energy for all things related to pediatrics is stunning. Maybe best know for her work in elastic therapeutic taping she is also keenly interested in Bindegewebsmassage (German CTM method) and scoliosis management.As past chair of IOPTP (International Organisation of Physical Therapi…

Today's guest is Dr. Cylie Williams.Cylie is a podiatrist and a senior research fellow at Monash University’s school of physiotherapy. Besides being an active clinician, she has been involved in a wide range of interesting research from whole body vibration therapy to developing clinical decision-making tools in cerebral palsy. She is passionate ab…

Cole is a physical therapists, a professor, a researcher, an innovator, a designer and a neuroscientist with a post doc in developmental psychology. He is changing the world of rehabilitation using enriched environments for brain neuroplasticity and he is on a mission to make technology not only functional, but beautiful and affordable. Get the rea…

Pia Stampe is a physical therapist who earned her doctor of Physical Therapy degree in the US and her undergrad degree from Denmark. This has given her a unique set of skills that, under the mentorship of Dr Karen Pape, she has used to develop a systematic and considered approach to delivering an intensive therapy model that is showing spectacular …

Nancy Hylton is one of the most influential physical therapists in the world of dynamic orthotics. She has been key in bringing us both SPIO compression garments and Cascade dynamic foot orthoses. She is a brilliant example of a therapist whose clinical skills and intuitive analysis of movement has directed her interventions and paved the way for n…

Dr Brian Hoare is an occupational therapist from Australia, probably known best for his contributions to the field of CIMT and bimanual training in children with unilateral cerebral palsy. At the time of this interview, he had more than 34 publications (including 2 Cochrane Reviews and an RCT) under his belt AND some cutting-edge research underway.…

From craniosacral therapy to biomechanics and neurobiology, attachment theory, neurodevelopment, sensory integration, mental health, and trauma. Kim Barthel is eclectic, grounded and everything in between. She is an OT, an author, a teacher and a visionary. Kim has worked with the World Health Organization and consulted at government level on polic…

Jo-Anne has worked as a paediatric physiotherapist in South Africa, America, New Zealand and Canada - in hospitals, early intervention, schools and private practice. Her clinical knowledge is multifaceted and she has a life long love of hands-on learning, but her specialty is Cuevas MEDEK Exercises. Listen to the interview to find out more about CM…

Karen Pape,MD, is a neonatologist and clinical neuroscientist who knows about neuroplasticity and is excited about what we can do as pediatric therapists. She is challenging the common belief that cerebral palsy and brain injuries do not recover and inviting us as pediatric therapists, parents and people living with cerebral palsy to not accept les…

Judy Carmick, MA, PT is a physical therapist that excels at weaving together the philosophies and approaches that form the bases of pediatric neuromotor rehabilitation - even ones that seemingly conflict like Brunnström and Bobath!But she doesn't stop there, she has taken their teachings, mixed in with the current literature and applied it with a c…

If you want to be an effective pediatric therapist, start here. Shelley Mannell from Heartspace PT brings a wealth of wisdom and analytical brilliance to addressing the underlying components of therapy that make everything else work better. She addresses not only what our kiddos need to improve their dynamic core and function, but what we can do ou…

Liesa is a pediatric physical therapist who is leading the field in treating idiopathic toe-walking. Liesa gives us some amusingly honest insights into how she developed her skills and knowledge as well where you can go to start or progress your own clinical expertise in this area. Jam packed with advice and actionable tips for treating and assessi…

Beverly Cusick, better known as Billi, is the inventor of TheraTogs and a leader in the management of equinis deformities in children with cerebral palsy. What are her thoughts on Bobath and NDT? What do you need to do to improve your problem solving skills? Pop some headphones on and enjoy listening and learning from this straight talking, no fluf…