Description
This collection brings together three linked workshops focused on the sensory motor foundations of movement and praxis. It is designed for therapists who want to deepen their clinical reasoning beyond broad descriptions such as poor coordination, clumsiness, postural weakness, movement seeking or dyspraxia.
Across the collection, participants explore how proprioceptive, vestibular and visual systems contribute to body awareness, postural control, spatial orientation, gaze stability, movement through space and motor planning. The collection also examines the cerebellum, basal ganglia, cortex and motor pathways, helping participants understand how movement is learned, refined, adapted and expressed in skilled action.
The workshops place strong emphasis on clinical reasoning. Participants are supported to consider how sensory input, postural control, arousal, motivation, feedback, feedforward, ideation, planning and execution interact in real functional movement. Through teaching, discussion and video-based examples, the collection helps therapists develop more precise hypotheses about what may be contributing to movement and praxis challenges.
Rather than presenting sensory systems as isolated topics, this collection shows how they work together to support participation, confidence, motor learning and adaptive action. It also considers how movement and praxis challenges may affect autistic individuals and how sensory motor reasoning can support clearer explanation, intervention planning and clinical advocacy.
Workshops included:
- Sensory Contributions to Movement and Praxis: Proprioception, Vestibular Processing and Postural Control
Explores how proprioceptive and vestibular systems support posture, movement, body awareness, spatial orientation and praxis. - Vision, the Cerebellum and Sensory Motor Integration in Praxis
Examines the role of vision and the cerebellum in postural control, sensory motor integration, timing, sequencing, prediction, motor learning and adaptive movement. - From Sensory Input to Praxis: Motor Learning, Basal Ganglia, Motor Pathways and Clinical Reasoning
Brings sensory and motor systems together to explore motor learning, basal ganglia function, motor pathways, ideation, planning, execution and clinical reasoning.
Learning outcomes
By the end of this collection, participants will be able to:
- describe how proprioceptive, vestibular and visual systems contribute to posture, movement, body awareness and praxis
- explain how sensory systems interact with cerebellar, basal ganglia, cortical and motor pathway functions to support skilled action
- identify clinical signs that may suggest sensory motor contributions to postural control, motor planning or praxis challenges
- differentiate between ideation, planning and execution as components of praxis
- recognise the importance of active movement, feedback, feedforward, repetition and variation in motor learning
- use video observation and clinical examples to generate more precise sensory motor hypotheses
- consider how movement and praxis challenges may influence confidence, social participation and occupational choice across development and adulthood
- reflect on how integrated sensory motor reasoning can strengthen assessment, intervention planning and communication with clients, families and teams
Participants will learn through focused teaching, clinical explanation, video observation and discussion, connect sensory input with movement, motor learning, and praxis, apply the concepts to real clinical examples, reflect on assessment and intervention reasoning, and take the learning back into practice through more integrated sensory-motor thinking.
