Welcome to the Skills for Action Website.

You have just joined the community of between 600-700 people from all over the world who visit the Skills for Action website each day in search of information about joint hypermobility, low muscle tone and DCD in children. 

I feel very privileged to connect with so many parents, grandparents and teachers on a daily basis and am deeply aware that this also carries a responsibility to provide everyone with the best possible, evidence based information.

About the author

I am physiotherapist from  Cape Town, South Africa. I am particularly interested in how children acquire skills and the importance of the emotional and cognitive skills in children's learning of movement-based tasks.

I have lectured full-time at universities in the UK and South Africa and still run workshops for physiotherapists and occupational therapists.

I currently hold a honorary adjunct lecturer post in the Division of Physiotherapy, University of Cape Town. In this role I have been involved in ongoing research into evidence  based management in DCD,  and am currently participating in a new systematic review.

More recently I have added a new role to my portfolio - granny. I am Nanna to Roan, Will and Toes whose care I share on a very regular basis. They have taught me a great deal about caring for young children and are a constant reminder of  how children develop at different paces and face different challenges. 

In these web pages you will often meet these three little people moving, playing and learning under the observing eyes of their Nanna and her camera.

About  Skills for Action 

All children have the capacity to improve their existing movement skills and to acquire new skills through practice. The trick is to provide the child with the right learning opportunities - and then to support the learning so that the child's efforts lead to success.

The aim is to  share with parents and teachers some very practical ideas that I have found to be useful in helping children to gain movement skills.

I also hope that it will become a place where other people will share ideas and experiences - and in this way create a rich learning environment for all of us who live and work with children who need that little bit of extra help to learn to move and do things.

Pam Versfeld
Physiotherapist, Cape Town, South Africa
sfa.tomt@gmail.com

Disclaimer

The content on this site is provided for general information purposes only and does not constitute professional advice.

All liability is excluded to the fullest extent permitted by law in respect of any loss or damage whether direct, indirect or consequential that arises in connection with the use of or reliance upon any content forming part of this site.