G/F.O.T.T.® | Ground Course children
Five-day inter professional course in theory and practice on the assessment and treatment of the oral tract and face in children and young people with central lesions, including neurogenic dysphagia. If necessary, this course can be offered as a two-part course variant.
In this course the basic knowledge of the F.O.T.T.® concept by Kay Coombes is taught. It is aimed at children and young people with special needs due to complex disabilities and includes an e-learning module.
Target group
Educational specialists, e.g. curative education nurses and curative educators, special needs teachers as well as examined nurses/carers, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists from educational or medical rehabilitation facilities for children and/or young people with complex disabilities
Eligibility requirements
- Completed professional training in one of the above-mentioned professions.
- Work with children/adolescents who suffer from neurological disorders of the facial-oral tract (e.g., problems with swallowing, food intake, facial movements, oral care, breathing and voice) in addition to their complex disabilities.
- Basic skills in handling, transferring and positioning patients with typical neurological movement impairments.
A Bobath course or an introduction to the Bobath concept is helpful but not a prerequisite.
Course leaders/number of participants
1 F.O.T.T.® Instructor with 10 participants
Course objectives
- Develop an understanding of the relationship between posture and movement and facial-oral functions.
- Apply principles, methods and techniques in the examination and treatment of children/adolescents and modify them according to their needs.
Course content
- Fundamental elements of children’s movement development and facial-oral functions, including anatomy and physiology of the facial-oral tract.
- Possibilities to support as well as function and activity-oriented treatment approaches in the context of everyday life for typical sensory-motor impairments of neurogenic cause (e.g., problems with swallowing saliva, food intake, with breathing, as well as voice and facial expression).
- Therapeutic and assisted eating.
- Therapeutic oral hygiene.
Methods
- Teaching of theory, practical work of the participants with each other supervised by the course leader, self-experiences.
- Presentation of a child/adolescent by the course leader followed by clinical reasoning with the course-group.
- Examination and treatment of children and/or young people by the course participants supervised by the course instructor and subsequent video analysis.
There are currently no English-language offers of this course. At the moment, this course is only available in German language from organisers in Germany and/or Switzerland. Please contact
