6.9 Hours — $275 — 60-Day Access
This is the premier course for learning how and why functioning alignment influences stability and limb use as infants and children develop typically and atypically.
What if, when you created a treatment plan for your client, you knew
with 100% certainty it was founded on science, evidence, and understanding?
And what if that effective treatment plan was possible because you knew what to pay attention to?
Would it be CAREER-CHANGING and LIFE-CHANGING?
✔️ Knowing what to look for during a client evaluation — how to 'hear the story' of use the client's body is telling you.
✔️ Prepared to defend your management and treatment plan position based on science and evidence.
✔️ Addressing your client's specific challenges using informed understanding, observation, and thought.
✔️ Putting your new insights to use right away, improving your client care immediately.
✔️ Applying scientific principles and concepts to assist you in determining a client's management plan and objectives.
✔️ More confident, assured, and precise when evaluating your clients.
✔️ Setting realistic management goals and a clear path forward.
✔️ Doing away with old school thinking and one-size-fits-all approaches, embracing options and priorities based on science and evidence.
This is what you will EXPERIENCE after completing Developmental Orthopedics, an on-demand online course designed specifically for rehabilitation team members, including occupational therapy practitioners and orthotists.
Disclosure Statement: Beverly Cusick, PT, MS, NDT, COF, the author and principal owner of this course has equity ownership in Progressive Gaitways, LLC and TheraTogs, Inc. which develops and sells products related to this course.
Developmental Orthopedics was the best articulation of this subject for a pediatric PT I have heard presented.
“I have been hearing how this course is one of the best in Orthopedics … and it is. I am so glad I took this course!”
"If you plan to pursue a practice in pediatric physical therapy this is essential information."
DO IT NOW... It will make you a much better, effective and more confident therapist!"
→ Two value-packed sections
→ 60-day access
→ Previously recorded questions and answers
→ A handout of the course slides and reference lists
→ 6.9 didactic contact hours with AOTA approval
You will find a deep well of information in the most current edition of Billi Cusick's Developmental Orthopedics online course, which for the first time ever is now offered in pre-recorded format, available 24/7 for your convenience.
Since its inception in 1986, this course has helped to change the way thousands of rehab practitioners around the world see their clients, evaluate them, and prioritize intervention and management strategies using the support provided by the sciences.
Billi Cusick has an incredible breadth and depth of knowledge and does an excellent job explaining things in a way that is easy to understand. She uses a variety of teaching methods including visuals, practicing with your own body, demo on a doll, use of bones (regular and modified), videos, etc. to ensure that every type of learner receives the information in a variety of ways to ensure understanding. She consistently summarizes and reinforces the most important points. That being said, this is DENSE material. But with such complex systems in place, everything she discusses is important and highly related to my everyday work and patient caseload. Separately, the support team is top notch — quick to respond and assist with issues that were entirely of my own doing. This is by far the most worthwhile CEU course I have taken in >10 years of practice.
This course is truly amazing and so informative. Billi is simply brilliant! I learned so much and know I will be returning to my notes and possibly this course throughout my career. I wish I had taken this years ago and strongly recommend to everyone!
I would recommend this course to any physiotherapist working in a
pediatric setting. Billi is detailed in her assessment techniques and provides this info in the context of available evidence. I look forward to implementing in my day-to-day practice. Very practical and clinically relevant.
Excellent, informative course with fantastic customer support to back it up! Billie has amazing in-depth knowledge on this subject which she presents in great detail in an accessible, webinar format. Her customer support team are also excellent and responded to my emails quickly and efficiently. I would highly recommend this course to all my physio colleagues.
Three Options
To meet our student needs, you have the option to pay in full or in two monthly installments. Choosing the payment plan option still gives you immediate access to the course. If you and a group of colleagues want to enroll as a group, hit the button below to email us. Please include your organization, the number and type of clinicians in your group, and your preferred timing in your email.
One-Time Payment of $275
→ Two value-packed sections
→ 60-day access
→ Previously recorded questions and answers
→ A handout of the course slides and reference lists
→ 6.9 didactic contact hours — PT and orthotist CEUs approved, AOTA application in process
Two Payments of $140
→ Two value-packed sections
→ 60-day access
→ Previously recorded questions and answers
→ A handout of the course slides and reference lists
→ 6.9 didactic contact hours — PT and orthotist CEUs approved, AOTA application in process
The course curriculum is broken into two sessions, and features an overview of somatosensory function and development, the role of postural control in movement acquisition and physiologic adaptation of neuromusculoskeletal tissues, and features of orthopedic development of the trunk and selected aspects of the extremities.
The content has relevance to pediatric rehabilitation clinicians who set treatment goals and design management strategies to optimize upper and lower limb use in children with neuromotor dysfunction and deficits in sensory processing and postural control.
The two sessions span an overview of biomechanical, kinesiologic, and physiological sciences at work in orthopedic and sensorimotor development, both typical and pathologic. The operating mechanisms of movement-based modeling of the growing skeleton are reviewed and applied to children with unilateral and bilateral cerebral palsy, and to the upper extremity in children with brachial plexus palsy. The mechanisms at work in the acquisition of —cand the role of — postural control are reviewed in the context of building effective limb use, with suggestions for assisting a child to develop this essential foundation.
Inside the course your instructor, Billi Cusick, describes selected musculoskeletal assessments and the clinical implications of their findings and brings them to therapeutic and orthotic management planning designed to optimize bone and joint development via building postural control and movement skills. The relevance of the findings obtained in the musculoskeletal assessment to target selected interventions is made evident in videotaped cases.
Note: We are pleased to offer our learning content online, complete with a full audio track. Should you require additional access, please do not hesitate to contact us. Our team is here to support you in your learning journey and ensure that you have the resources you need to succeed.
Skeletal modeling and kinesiology of movement acquisition
3 hours, recorded Q&A included
Postural control and lower limb muscle tone – typical and pathologic
3.9 hours, recorded Q&A included
👉 Describe these features of normal, postnatal immaturity of skeletal structure and alignment: thoracolumbar kyphosis, scapular and upper limb segment alignment, hip flexion contracture, genu varum, and leg and foot medial rotation.
👉 Distinguish between strain and load and apply this distinction to the skeletal modeling process and to modeling potential in an aging child.
👉 Relate movement-based loading history to bone growth rate in children.
👉 Explain the significance of the innate drive for verticality.
👉 Discuss the significance of postural control in movement acquisition and limb use.
👉 Explain the presence of symmetry in supine and prone positions at age 4 months as evidence of fundamental postural control.
👉 Describe how the normal neonatal hip flexion contracture influences the early modeling of the lumbar spine in the sagittal plane.
👉 Relate ideal, full‐term neonatal lower limb joint alignment to the acquisition of skilled transitions between quadruped and sitting positions.
👉 Relate the achievement of competent weight shifting in the frontal plane to emerging upper and lower limb use.
👉 Describe the torsional status of the radius and ulna of the affected side in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy.
👉 Describe the upper limb modeling errors in brachial plexus palsy that limit shoulder lateral rotation and forearm supination.
👉 Discuss the components of Targeted Training that apply to the enhancement of upper limb use.
ORTHOTISTS/PROSTHETISTS: This on-demand online course earns you 6.9 Category I scientific credits
through the American Board for Certification (ABC). Full participation in this program is required to be eligible for the full amount of credits approved; for this course, you must watch all components of the 6.9-hour long course, answer quiz questions, get 80% correct to pass, and complete an evaluation form.
OCCUPATIONAL THERAPISTS: This on-demand online course earns you 6.9 Category I scientific credits
through AOTA.
10 content-rich topic videos as Billi walks you through how functioning alignment influences development, stability, engagement, and limb use in infants and children
Links to pre-readings to help familiarize you with the terminology used and concepts covered
Downloadable and detailed course materials (i.e. course slides and reference lists)
Four pre-recorded question and answer sessions
Peer-to-peer discussion forums available for each topic, and monitored by the CCL Team
Well-earned continuing education units for 6.9 contact hours
When you learn developmental orthopedics, the muscle activation and movements are needed to develop bone and build adequate biomechanics and adequate movements beginning from feet, you have the "house of thinking" about the child, which guides you to clinical decision making."
Billi's reputation for taking a "deep dive" into the world of developmental orthopedics inspires me to take this course every few years! She presents foundational knowledge of musculoskeletal development pertinent to every child I treat. Her analysis and synthesis of the research is amazing. The concepts in her courses directly relate to and improve my clinical practice."
“The developmental orthopedics class is jam packed with foundational information about how children develop from utero to adulthood. This class should be mandatory for all PT students and practitioners alike. I have taken this class at least 3 times so far and plan to review the material regularly as my year and career continues to develop. Beverly (Billi) Cusick teaches at a high level and at lightning speed (and clarity). She truly is one of our thought leaders in Pediatric Physical Therapy."
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.
Very well organized. Full of awesome information!
Amazing course. So thorough and I will go back to my notes forever. Thank you for all of your hard work putting this together, Billi.
Very clear and thorough explanation of all concepts immediately and directly applicable to treatment with children related to boney alignment/development, muscle activation patterns, and ways to intervene to improve postural control.
This course was created to help you learn and understand essential concepts and principles relative to orthopedic development, with the hope and expectation that:
— You can confidently apply this knowledge to ensure that your client receives the best possible outcomes while under your supervision and care.
— You will become more confident and precise in evaluating your clients and setting realistic and successful management goals.
— You’ll have a stronger foundation upon which to adapt your treatment activities based on your client’s progress.
— You will be more prepared to defend your management plan based on science and evidence.
There will probably be several surprises. For example, as therapists, we are frequently taught to pull on muscles and treat them individually. This way of thinking is not only too narrow and shortsighted, but science has repeatedly demonstrated that it is ineffective.
Specifically, this course is intended to shift and expand your thinking about the foot and trunk, and how these two areas of the body are frequently overlooked and misunderstood, despite the fact that they hold so many clues to the client’s ‘body story,’ and are the building blocks to the rest of the body.
Not really; the goal is to give you a better foundation, to get you to a point of understanding, observation, and thought so you can solve your client's specific problem. It’s not all theory, though: we’re confident you’ll finish the course with pearls you can put to use right away and insight you can rely on without reservation.
Yes, each module provides a discussion forum, which we will monitor, and where we’ll provide additional clarity and resources relative to the course content.
However, the discussion forums will not be a place to ask specific “I have a client who…” questions. The course is not about providing clinical advice on individual clients. It’s intended to help you develop an understanding that can lead you to solutions and approaches that make sense for your clients.
If a separate consult is desired, we have a fee-based offering through which you can make arrangements.
Billi’s reputation for constant updates is well-earned: she’s never taught the same DevOrtho course twice. The current content was overhauled last summer for optimal delivery in this online world. If you took DevOrtho 20 years ago, it would have been a very different program; if you took it five years ago, you’d find that the current version is stronger, clearer, and more up-to-date.
If you attended any of the live DevOrtho webcasts in the last 18 months, you’re probably up to speed… and in a perfect position to tell your colleagues how important it was to your growth as a therapist.
Yes, we provide you with links to pre-readings that will help familiarize you with the terminology used and concepts covered, particularly pertaining to muscle physiology and pathophysiology. The content presentations are based on this terminology and these concepts, so doing the pre-reading will improve your grasp of the sometimes-complex content.
There’s no prior experience required. If you’re a student planning to work with children, you should take this course as an undergrad, so that you'll be ahead of the learning curve when you begin your practice. If you’re a practicing pediatric therapist, bring an open mind to what may be a totally new framework for your practice.
If you practice outside the pediatric community, you'll discover a lot of common ground between pediatric and adult orthopedics, and gain a better understanding of what makes children different from adults.
You may also discover that adult clients' problems stem from their childhood development. After all, the body adapts to its history of use, and everybody tells a story.
Yes! You'll not only learn how to be a better therapist, but you'll also gain the continuing education credits associated with the 6.9 hours of online learning content - which you get to take at your own pace.
Some lessons require the use of an articulating femur to practice and really get the concepts under your belt. You don’t need an expensive skeletal model (although if you have one, great!). You can order a handy Articulating Femur Bone Pen (US only; $10 includes shipping).
Alternatively, we can send you a video link showing how to make your own model from aluminum foil and a regular pen - because that’s how rehab clinicians roll, right?
You will have 60 days to finish the course, once you pay and register. The content segments require you to proceed in order — finishing Session 1 before proceeding to Session 2, for example, but you can backtrack and review prior sections as often as you like.
You may keep your copy of all downloadable materials for reference. The handouts are detailed and complete, to help you continue to master the content. Just make sure that you download them before your 60-day access period expires.
(We'll send you weekly reminders of your progress, also.)
We recognize the value of community, and we're currently kicking around some ideas for how to create an alumni forum so that the peer-to-peer conversation and learning continue after your 60-day access period expires. More to come on this topic but rest assured you'll be among the first to be invited to the party once we're ready.
You can also schedule a personal consult with Billi: follow the link for details on our fee-based offering through which you can make arrangements.
When pandemic conditions allow, Progressive GaitWays offers Developmental Orthopedics alumni three in-person labs to build practice skills based on what you learned in the DevOrtho lecture series:
— Inside the DevOrtho lab you’ll learn how to evaluate and assess children according to the course principles, featuring supervised hands-on practice with pediatric volunteers.
— Inside the Certified TheraTogs Fitter (CTF) labs you'll need to demonstrate key DevOrtho principles by practicing basic TheraTogs applications that manifest those principles. The CTF-1 lab focuses on the spine, trunk, and upper extremity applications; the CTF-2 lab focuses on lower extremity applications. CTF-1 is a prerequisite for CTF-2; each receives a Certified Fitter credential that entitles you to relationship benefits with TheraTogs, Inc.
Although we do not have any in-person labs currently scheduled, we will monitor the geographic concentrations of DevOrtho graduates and will invite you to events in your area when they are scheduled.
