Professor Peter Wilson
Co-Director: Centre for Disability and Development Research
Professor of Developmental Psychology, Australian Catholic University
• Leads an internationally-recognised research program in child development,
disability and rehabilitation, spanning 20 years and 100+ peer-reviewed
publications.
• Research involves two overlapping streams:
• Understanding the underlying mechanisms of movement and cognition in
typical child development and in neurodevelopmental disorders (esp.
Developmental Coordination Disorder—DCD, and Cerebral Palsy),
• Neurorehabilitation of movement across the lifespan using new technologies,
particularly virtual-reality based systems.
Unifying themes
Professor Peter Wilson
Co-Director: Centre for Disability and Development Research
Australian Catholic University
ICF framework
We’ve heard about and like the ICF Model
• It’s useful and widely used
• Sound assumptions
• Scope is good
BUT
• Does it serve as a causal model of behaviour?
• Would you know how to apply this framework?
• What are the touch points for intervention?
• Participation is not well defined
Ecological orientation to disability & development
At heart, we are “developmental ecologists”!
The child is an individual, yes, BUT
embedded within a family, that exists within a
particular sociocultural milieu, at a particular stage
in history.
Physical integrity
Cognition, motivation, etc.
Our points of intervention may differ, but the
framework & purpose is common.
Concerns the goal of a task, rules,
equipment etc.?
Qn. How can we facilitate
performance?
Performance / Participation
Social, physical, &
cultural
Expanding our view of participation
• Some key collective musings
• Participation as Process and Outcome
• We need to know what we’re measuring, otherwise let’s go fishing, ……. or surfing
• Toward multi-level measurement
• What is the relationship between attending and involvement?
• Again, we need mixed methods, including perhaps neurophysiological
• Re-thinking the notion and context for intervention: Participation as process or lever
• Predictors of participation: Participation as outcome
The “fruit salad” model of participation
A family of participation-related constructs:
where movement science, psychology, paediatrics,
and occupational therapy collide!
Or should I say coalesce!
Questions & Discussion