Typical and in Children with Bilateral Cerebral Palsy

Bodyweight as a Mechanical Factor in the Development of Standing & Walking

2 Hours — $139 — 60-Day Access

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A 5-session deep dive into how bodyweight mechanics shape typical and pathologic standing and walking development in children with bilateral cerebral palsy — and what that means for clinical management.

Clinicians treating children with bilateral cerebral palsy often see standing and walking abilities plateau — but the "why" isn't always straightforward.

This five-session recorded webinar from Billi Cusick, PT, examines bodyweight as a mechanical driver of both typical and pathologic development of standing and walking. The course connects somatosensory input, postural alignment, and postural control to real clinical decisions — equipping clinicians to move beyond short-term fixes toward strategies that support long-term alignment and function.

Course Outcomes

Participants who complete this program are expected to be able to:

✔️Explain the “verticality drive” as a source of the acquisition of balance and movement.

✔️ Explain cephalocaudal development of balance and movement.

✔️ Discuss the role of the sensory system in the acquisition and maintenance of standing stability.

✔️ Discuss the developmental progression from vertical legs to inclined legs in the stance phase of gait.

✔️  Explain the mechanism of the ankle plantarflexion / knee extension couple. 

✔️ Describe the new walker’s challenge to upright maintenance in terms of bodyweight acceleration.

✔️ Compare the sensory processing region of brain injury associated with periventricular leukomalacia to the locus of the lesion caused by a cerebral vascular accident (stroke) in a mature brain. 

✔️ Describe the impairments in balance and limb use that are manifested by this regional brain injury. 

✔️ Describe the lower limb muscle recruitment strategy seen in children with CP ages 1 through 12 years.

✔️  Describe the common problem of COG control in children with bilateral CP.

✔️ Compare the pelvic alignment over the feet of a TD new walker with that of an ambulatory child with CP. 

✔️ Discuss the “chicken and egg” question regarding which came first: equinus gait (heels elevated) or COG acceleration. 

✔️ Discuss the suggestion to encourage the onset of early identification and intervention target a corrected age of 4 months. 

✔️ Explain Sahrmann’s advice to redirect attention from the short and stiff muscles as a primary treatment target to the strategies that fostered their adaptation. 

✔️ Relate the condition of relative hypermobility to the determination of the optimum ankle angle in ankle-foot orthosis design. 

I can do this. Count me in!
Stellar content

Ample Professional CEUs

In addition to offering a substantial investment in your professional development with Cusick-level content, we issue completion certificates automatically to those who complete all sessions, record 80% or better on all quizzes, and submit their online evaluation. 

PHYSICAL THERAPISTS: Upon course completion, you’ll earn a total of 2 contact hours which are accepted for PT CEU credits in over 40 states. Visit the CEU coverage page for the most up to date CE approval information on this course.

ORTHOTISTS/PROSTHETISTS: Coverage coming soon. 

Earn Your CEUs
A Peek Inside

The Clinical Problem

Clinicians frequently see children with bilateral cerebral palsy who stand and walk with heels elevated, hips and knees flexed, and feet pronated — patterns that seem to "work" for short-term mobility. It can be tempting to address these visible signs directly: stretch the tight muscles, brace the ankle, or inject the calf muscle to reduce spasticity. But when the underlying issue — how bodyweight and center of gravity are being managed (or mismanaged) through the body — is missed, interventions can target the wrong link in the chain, limiting long-term gains in alignment, efficient limb use, and functional participation.

Let's do this
Please note: this course is available on demand, and may be accessed at any time during your 60-day access period, which begins on the date you purchased the webinar, not the date you hit play.

This recorded, intermediate-level webinar is designed for experienced pediatric rehabilitation clinicians  treating children with pyramidal-type bilateral cerebral palsy. Delivered in five sessions, it begins with two sessions on the typical development of standing and walking, then two sessions examining how those
processes are disrupted in children with bilateral CP. The discussion centers on somatosensory input, postural alignment, and postural control — and how strategies used by typically developing pre-walkers can inform efforts to improve standing and walking in children with CP at GMFCS level III. The fifth session offers related management strategies. 

Session 1: 
Bodyweight as a Factor in Typical Standing Development

Session 2: 
Bodyweight as a Factor in Typical Walking Development

Session 3: 
Bodyweight as a Factor in Pathologic Standing Development

Session 4: 
Bodyweight as a Factor in Pathologic Walking Development

Session 5: 
Bodyweight Management Strategies 

Meet Your Instructor

Billi Cusick

Billi Cusick, PT, MS, NDT, COF/BOC, is an internationally known pediatric physical therapist whose specialty is the orthopedic development and orthotic management of children with cerebral palsy and other neuromotor deficits. 

She has been teaching these and related topics since 1978, including presentations by invitation for the APTA, AACPDM, AOPA, and AAOP and more than 460 full programs and workshops worldwide.

Billi received her BS in PT from Bouve College at Northeastern University in Boston, MA in 1972, and her MS in Clinical and College Teaching for Allied Health Professionals from the University of Kentucky in Lexington in 1988. She is an Associate Professor for the Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions – Pediatrics Program – Provo, Utah (2006-present) and is NDT basic- and baby-trained.