Advanced Intervention for Ideational Praxis
with
Dr. Teresa May-Benson, ScD, OTR/L, FAOTA 

Challenges with ideational praxis—such as generating ideas, planning actions, sequencing movements, and coordinating bilateral skills—can significantly interfere with a child’s ability to engage in meaningful occupations. These differences often affect basic self-care tasks like dressing and feeding, as well as more complex activities including play, learning, social participation, and executive functioning skills, ultimately impacting independence, confidence, and overall quality of life. This advanced course is designed for professionals seeking effective, occupation-based intervention strategies to address these ideational praxis challenges in children.

Grounded in an occupation-centered, sensory integrative framework, the novel intervention approach introduced in this course focuses on recognizing and acting on action and object affordances, along with strengthening the ability to navigate representational thought, which underlies ideational praxis. The course integrates both top-down approaches—such as adaptations that support meaningful participation—and bottom-up approaches targeting foundational sensory and motor components, all embedded within an occupation-based sensory integration model.

By deepening understanding of the relationship between ideational praxis, executive function, and occupational performance, and emphasizing the critical role of meaningful engagement in daily activities and play in supporting child development and well-being, this course equips clinicians with advanced, practical strategies to improve participation, independence, and engagement in daily life for children with praxis challenges.